Monday
There was another lovely sensory set-up for the children to enjoy today, this time exploring different landscapes and animals. Fun little details included a river with real sand and water (down which the pirate ship was sailing) and a farmyard where toy pigs wallowed in "mud" (actually coffee grounds mixed with cold water). The detail in this set-up provided many different make-believe opportunities for the children. At story time, the children enjoyed an enactment of 'Room on the Broom' in our story theatre, with stick puppets of all the characters used to bring the story to life.
Tuesday
Do you remember the pumpkin exploration activity the children enjoyed in the last week of Term 1? Well, the seeds they scooped out of the pumpkin have been germinating over the half term holiday, and today the children had great fun potting them up in soil. Are you planning on planting out your child's seedling? If so, choose a sunny, sheltered spot and give it plenty of water. If your child is showing an interest in what makes the pumpkin grow and wants to learn more, here is a useful short animation that explains the process.
Wednesday
This week, our role play area has been transformed into a post office. However, our practitioners soon realised that the children have had little experience of being in the post office so today they spent time scaffolding how the children could use the area in their imaginative play. The next time you are going to the post office, why not involve your child in the process? Show how you address a letter and affix a stamp, explain what you're doing when you fill out a form, let them post letters for you. This connection with the adult world is a great stimulus for your child's imagination, and through their play they "practise" being a grown-up.
Thursday
We're all getting excited about Bonfire Night at nursery, so today was all about FIREWORKS! Outside in the garden, the children enjoyed doing firework splatter painting (messy, but so much fun). The pictures they created were really impressive too, and they were all very proud of their results. Inside the nursery, we got glittery making firework play dough - the children chose different coloured glitters to mix into black play dough, which created the effect of fireworks exploding in the night's sky. Later, the children extended the play by adding pipe cleaners to the play dough to mimic rockets shooting up into the sky.
Friday
The children were being scientists today at nursery, as together we made exploding firework potions. The children mixed together bicarbonate of soda, glitter and food colouring, then carefully poured vinegar on top. They were delighted to see the chemical reaction of the bicarbonate of soda and vinegar create an eruption of coloured, glittery foam! This is an experiment that can easily be replicated at home, and it never fails to delight. The children found the eruptions fascinating, and wanted to learn more about volcanoes. Our practitioners used the interactive whiteboard to bring up images and facts about volcanoes in order to answer the children's questions - a great example of child-initiated learning.
