Monday
We made a pond for our farmyard role play area today, showing the different stages in the life cycle of the frog to tie in with our tadpole pond in the garden. The children are excited to see if any of the tadpoles have turned into froglets yet. Continuing the farmyard theme, some children set up a pretend tractor ride using chairs and the steering wheel. There will be plenty of tractors out on the roads in the coming weeks, why not see how many your child can count?
Tuesday
There was further development to our farmyard today, as the children helped to turn a cardboard box into a barn - we painted the outside brown, and created a thatched roof with straw. In the garden, one of our children found a worm and we discussed how important it is to be kind to all animals. The children took this lesson very much to heart, and built the worm a house out of mud and sticks. What kind-hearted children we have at nursery! There were also several make-believe games going on simultaneously today - some children initiated a petrol station role play, which led to discussions about money and the consequences of driving off without paying ("Call 999!"); elsewhere, there was a Sleeping Beauty role play, with poison apples, and in another part of the nursery some children set up "Sophie's Salon".
Wednesday
The children were making farm animals out of play dough today; we also made patterns in the play dough with the wheels of toy tractors and footprints using toy farm animals. In our craft area, we were making farmyard pictures using various craft resources - grass was made from tissue paper and the stems of flowers were made from straws. Our children were also in a very musical mood today, with some fantastic dancing to 'The Wiggles' and some very enthusiastic music-making with tambourines, drums and shakers. They also very much enjoyed our drop-box full of slime!
Thursday
There were more requests for dancing to 'The Wiggles' today, and who are we to say no? Apologies if you get lots of requests to play these videos at home - the children really do love to dance along to them! Our new farmyard playset remains a popular addition to the nursery, (the children especially like the animal noises the toy makes when you press the top of the barn!). The children continued to monitor the growth of the tadpoles and caterpillars. The latter have grown enormously since they first arrived at nursery, and we expect them to enter the chrysalis stage very soon. Exciting!
Friday
The children were working on their fine motor skills today, threading beads onto strings and stacking small beads into towers. Linking in with our work on life cycles, our sensory play today was basil seed frog spawn! The children loved the strange, slimy texture and used their imaginations when handling it to create different situations. Our caterpillars have started to make their way to the top of the pot that is their current home - this means that they are preparing for the chrysalis stage. We can't wait until they turn into butterflies!
