We had the bikes, cars and scooters out later in the week and set up a track where an adult would hold up red for stop, orange for wait and green for go. The children soon began to take over holding up the colours and encouraging the others to follow rules and listen to the instructions.
Some of our new children met Sammy the Snail for the first time and were very excited to see him eat his cucumber and then climb up the side of the tank. Please feel free to ask your child to introduce you to Sammy when you collect them.
A group of children helped Gill to make lovely Giraffe height chart and we will soon be able to monitor how the children grow during their time with us.
We have explored colour mixing this week by encouraging the children to mix their own paint from the dry powder and to try and create different effects. A simple activity like this is a wonderful introduction to the science of how materials can change to create different effects, textures and consistency.
We have focussed on the story of Going on a Bear Hunt this week. The children love to join in with the sound effects and repeated phrases and many have enjoyed drawing pictures of the bear. One child asked to make a cave out of boxes to create the part of the story where the bear is discovered. We have many craft materials and try to encourage the children to make different things by selecting for themselves what they feel they might need. We are always there to guide them and encourage them but it is wonderful to see the children independently working out their ideas and become more confident in their choices as the week go by.
Other activities have included using magnets to see what they stick to, creating a long human train (eight children covered in coloured net circling the garden) and lots of play in the sand, the mud kitchen and with the water wall.
The week ended with builders putting up scaffolding in the garden to fix the roof. This meant that sadly on Friday we were unable to use the garden but many children thoroughly enjoyed watching the builders through the window and mimicked them by putting on builder hats and using their own tools. Some children decided that they were building a tower for Rapunzel and we had fun speculating on what might be at the top.
As you can see we have had a busy week. It is amazing what the children can get out of what might seem the most simple activities. At their age everything is new and a wonder and it is nice to stop and watch. Don't forget to look at the fun activities
on our website if you would like some ideas of what to do at home. We hope to gradually add to these and are currently putting together some home/pre-school packs you may like to borrow.