On Wednesday we placed small coloured blocks of wood onto the large mat and one of the children found a small circular mat which she then decided to build a house onto. Other children joined in by selecting circular, square and triangular mats onto which they then built their own small models. The children had themselves found a way of keeping their own models contained onto a small area. Other children left them alone to build as they had their own creations to work on. Often the most simple ideas come from the children themselves as they learn to problem solve, adapt and build on previous activities.
We have been talking about textures and smells this week and some children have created pictures using many different materials from the craft trolley. This is a wonderful opportunity to look at new describing words as we have tried to come up with new ways of expressing what we smell, touch or see.
A few children did some tracing this week and this is something we intend to focus on in the coming weeks. This gives the opportunity to develop hand eye co-ordination, precision and to practise the skill of holding a pencil correctly.
The story of Handas surprise was popular this week. The children enjoyed taking on the different roles using the objects in one of our story sacks. These act as prompts for the children to retell the story and to identify what happens next.
There have been some very energetic games of football in the garden this week with staff members taking on the role of goal keepers. The children like to keep us running around!
Words we have learned this week:
Texture
Material
Ideas to continue this weeks fun at home:
If you have childrens safety scissors let them cut out pictures from magazines or comics. They may look like small snips of paper and not be perfect, but your child is developing those valuable cutting skills.
Help your child to hold a pencil correctly. They may appear to be scribbling or producing something that is difficult to identify, but again they will developing a very important skill for when they start school.
Cutting and sticking seems to have been the most popular activity this week.