We know you love to hear what your children have been up to at nursery. We also know that when you ask them, they can never remember...! We hope that your new Tapestry account is giving you some insight into your child's time at St Mary's Nursery, however even this does not give a full picture of all the activities that the children enjoy during the week. So, from now on, every Friday we will be publishing a post here on the website letting you know what's been going on in the nursery over the past week.
Monday
Outdoors, there was a large tray of rice coloured in autumnal shades of red, orange and yellow. The children loved the sensation of scooping it up in their hands, and had fun mixing the different colours together. More sensory play was available elsewhere, with the children enjoying playing in the tray of flour and glitter; number-shaped moulds helped to support their numeracy skills. Inside, other children had fun painting. It was definitely messy play Monday at the nursery!
Tuesday
Today, the children explored ice frozen into numbers - again, this supported their numeracy while also giving them a fascinating sensory experience. They loved handling the ice numbers and seeing how they slowly melted. In the afternoon, during story time, we had an uninvited guest in the shape of an ENORMOUS spider! We gently encouraged it into one of our bug jars, which meant the children could examine it up close. The children were captivated by this extraordinary creature, the staff... not so much.
Wednesday
It was time for an autumn-themed painting activity today, and the children had fun printing using different autumn squash to create patterns on their paper. Several children were also intrigued by the feel of paint on their skin, so we explored that also, painting our hands to further experience the texture and colours. When children play in this way they are doing so much more than just getting messy. Sensory play is a way for children to investigate and understand the world - they are little scientists, constantly questioning and using their senses to collect data. Though getting covered in paint is a lot of fun too.
Thursday
More spider action today, as the children discovered another (much smaller!) spider spinning her web next to the playhouse. The children's interest in this led to some spontaneous planning from our practitioners, and they developed an activity where the children used string to spin their own web in one of our activity trays. We hope it doesn't attract any more spiders!
Friday
Our focus on numeracy continued today, with the children making numbers out of play dough (this is a great idea to try at home). The children also had more fun painting, this time using cotton wool to dab the paint onto the paper. It is exciting for the children to use different things to make their artworks - next time you are painting with your child, why not ditch the paintbrushes in favour of something more unusual? This site has some super suggestions.
We've all had a fantastic week at the nursery, and we hope your children have enjoyed themselves. Have a great weekend, and see you all next week for more fun!
