Monday
Welcome back! We hope you all had a great week off. The children all looked refreshed and were raring to go for another fun week at nursery. Today's small world learning was about the natural environment, with the children exploring logs, leaves and grass. Their attention to detail was challenged in a Hexi-snaps activity, where they needed to create a shape that corresponded to a pattern on a picture. It really got their brains working after their week off!
Tuesday
The children were learning about oral health today - our practitioners had laminated pictures of teeth, and had coloured in "plaque" which the children had to brush away using real toothbrushes. All the children took great care to get rid of every last bit of plaque - we hope they are as conscientious about brushing when they are at home! We also talked about cavities (hopefully something that none of our children have experienced!) and how they are dealt with. Elsewhere in the nursery, children were getting creative with the stickle-bricks, creating a car wash for the toy cars. We used the iPads to look at different sorts of car washes so the children could decide how they wanted theirs to look.
Wednesday
We were thinking about emotions during circle time today. We read a book based around "emotion faces" and also did a photo puzzle where children had to guess what the emotion was that was being shown. Emotional literacy is a learned skill, and children need guidance if they are to understand the nuances of different emotions. It is also helpful for them to be able to put a name to their own emotions, as it enables them to understand and process these big feelings that they have! We also had fun today with a raucous game of tag outside (which segued into a game of hide-and-seek); other children engaged in a "party" role play, and made pretend party bags out of sandwich bags filled with small pieces of cut up paper and material as the "sweeties".
Thursday
We finally finished off our papier-mâché heart today, with the children showing some excellent colour-mixing skills. The left over paint was used for a free-painting activity, with some lovely pieces of art being produced. There was more messy play elsewhere, as we made moon sand out of cornflour and strawberry conditioner - this is excellent fun to play with, and smells great too! It can be formed and moulded, and has such a great texture that kids find it irresistible. It's super easy to make, so why not try it at home? You can find a how to here.
Friday
Today we made visual timetables to help the children's understanding of what happens over the course of the day. This is another simple idea that can be great to use at home, as young children often struggle with the concept of time. There are some useful resources here if you think this would help your child. We also revisited our activity from October when we planted the pumpkin seeds - we talked about planting the seeds and about how they grew, which led into a discussion about Spring and how the new growth will soon be coming. Although, looking at the weather forecast for next week, I think we may be waiting a little longer for Spring to appear!