Monday
This morning, Hannah joined us for another gymnastics session in the school hall. We learned how to do roly-polys, and Hannah set up activity stations which explored different ways of moving, bending and stretching our bodies. This required plenty of turn-taking and patience from our children. Back in the nursery, we were constructing towers with wooden blocks and going on mini-beast hunts in the garden. One of our children found a snail, and wanted to find the rest of its family because they were worried it might be lonely! It is so lovely seeing such empathy in our children.
Tuesday
The children were still talking about the butterflies we released last week, so today we made butterfly pictures. The children carefully painted one side of a butterfly shape, then pressed the paper in two to print the design on the other side. This led to a discussion about symmetry, and we looked for other symmetrical things in the nursery. We also had fun with a beach-themed area: a tray with sand, number moulds and fish, and on the carpet was a boat with a boating view on the smart board. Outside, the children were enjoying balancing on the river stones and hilltops; they also devised a game where they had to throw beanbags through a hoop. Most excitingly, some of our school leavers went for a visit to Reception class at St Mary's Catholic School. They all behaved impeccably, and loved their trip to "big school".
Wednesday
We had fun in the sand pit today, with the children digging, building sandcastles and burying treasure. Inside, we were getting creative with paper - Jade showed the children how to make origami animals, and we also made fans (useful on such a hot day!). Other children used the pipe cleaners to make necklaces and spectacles.
Thursday
The children were engrossed in a sorting activity this morning. We gave them a huge range of different objects, and they first sorted them according to category (insects, dinosaurs, fruit, bears, etc.) then according to colour. Some of our children also counted the number of objects in each category. Another very popular activity today was pizza making. We discussed the safety procedures - hygiene, food storage, how to use cooking implements correctly and safely - then the children took turns to make their pizzas: spreading the tomato sauce, cutting the ham/pepperoni and grating the cheese.
Friday
While some children continued with our pizza making activity today, at the sand table there was lots of imaginative play going on. Some children used the kitchen to make sand "birthday cakes", using shells and cars for candles. Many skills were at play here - co-operation, counting, and using positional and mathematical language. And, most importantly, it was a lot of fun! We hope all our children have a fantastic half-term holiday. See you all in a week's time!