Monthly Archives: March 2017

RSPB Trip on 29th March

Posted in Early Years Foundation Stage, Learning, Our Natural World, Playing by

Today we took our older preschoolers to the RSPB, for some fun in the woods.

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We were amazed at how big this tree was. Whilst we were looking at the tree we could hear a woodpecker hammering away at another tree.

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We made our way down to the den area.

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We found a great area to do some den building and added to the den already built. The children worked together, talking about what stick or branch would fit into which hole.

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This huge fallen tree was great for climbing and balancing on. The children found a hidey hole and a tunnel under the tree and used the area to act out their game and role play. One child got a stick and drew lots of shapes- circles and squares and then tried to write her name in the pathway.

We walked back to the lodge to have some snack and wait for the parents. Whilst we waited the children made up a story. Each of the children joined in and liked adding their piece of the story. Once upon a time, there was a lion in the jungle who met a big black elephant. They found a beach and around the beach was a moat. In the moat there was a shark and a dolphin. In the middle of the moat was a man who decided to go fishing with the lion and the elephant. they did some diving and found some treasure of toys and some chocolate coins. Another shark came along and pulled the plug!!! They lost all the water until it rained so that all the fishes that lived in the sea could live. The end.

 

 

Connecting Camels and Mother’s Day

Posted in Early Years Foundation Stage, Learning by

On Monday one of our little ones was lining up the weights in size and weight order.

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We got out the connecting camels to add to his interest. Other children joined him.

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Lining them up

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Putting the camels into colour groups

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Repeating patterns

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Buried treasure, under all the chains

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Making circles. adding a smaller one.

Lining up.

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A few of our activities on one day.

On Wednesday we took our older children to Sutton Lower school for our usual half termly visit. The children loved having a ride in the cars and then avoiding the puddles as we made our way to school. Once at school we had a brief play in the class before the sun came out and we were able to play outside in the sand, doing some digging for gold in the dirt and then fishing for feet! We had a lovely play in the field exploring the lovely wooden pirate ship and climbing frame. Then we met the parents and carers in the front car park.

Thank you so much to Sutton for having us, we’re already looking forward to our visit next term.

The children really enjoyed working on their gifts for their Mummy’s. The artwork on the cups will fade over time if put in the dishwasher.

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Bubbly water play and drums

Posted in Early Years Foundation Stage, Learning, Playing by

Last week has been lots of fun, carrying on with the week before’s interests- lots of water and splashing. We added bubbly water to the tuff spots, pots, teapots, bowls, sponges, syringes and spoons.

All these activities of squeezing the sponge and using the syringes to fill the pots, will help the muscles the children need to write- grow, form and work at becoming stronger. The pouring and measuring of water will enhance the children’s mathematical skills by allowing them to work out how much they need to fill the pot up, how heavy the pots is and that it gets lighter as the water is poured into  bowl. They develop and idea of whether the small pot will hold the same as the large pot. They are doing such fantastic learning but as far as they are concerned they are having lots of fun and playing.

We got our beautiful drums out this week, another interest followed. The children had helped themselves to the beaters from the instrument drawer and try out the noises on the tables, chairs and tuff spots in the room. We had 4 drums between 18 children. The drums were spaced between the children, those that did not have a drum, clapped their hands. They all listened well and practised doing loud, slow, fast and quiet by rubbing their hand over the drum. To ensure all the children had a go with the drum, we said ‘stop’ and used the sign for stop, then the children had to pass their drum to the next person.

Our activities this week were:-

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The children tried to build a tower as tall as them using the Duplo. They worked hard together, whilst one held the tower the others would find the bricks they needed. Then they would swap over. It was a real joint effort and only fell apart when the tower got too tall to be added to. That didn’t put them off they tried again, giving the tower a bigger base to see if that would make it more stable.

I wonder what fun and learning will happen this week.

 

 

Gloop and all this mess

Posted in Early Years Foundation Stage, Learning, Our Natural World by

So Monday morning we all  ‘made playdoh’. The children worked together to measure the ingredients and mix them taking it in turns. They discussed what colour they would like and added it in. Michelle took the sloppy mixture away to then bring back lovely warm playdoh. Each child marvelled at how warm it felt and different it was from when it was in the pot- a gloopy mess.

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3 children got out the bricks and worked together to make their models. They supported each other as they tried to make their buildings balance and all giggled lots when they fell down. They were joined by 2 more children and split off into 2 groups doing their own buildings.

Later on in the week we got out the treasure boxes. The children adore this activity as there are lots of things that wouldn’t normally be played with. Karen talks to them about what they are handling, how it feels, whether it light or heavy, is it bumpy or smooth? These little boxes stimulate lots of talk and thinking about what the ‘surprises’ are and what they are used for, plus how the children can make stories around them.

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Dancing on a Monday morning is so much fun with Jodie. The children are so eager to see her when she comes in, this week we had requests for some of the dances- the circus one is such a hit as one minute we’re all pretending to be silly clowns, then we’re acting like very big strong men lifting very heavy weights then we move onto the tightrope, trying to balance and not fall off the thin rope. All I can say it’s so much fun.

We found the chains and S hooks, and spent some time working together to measure the chains against each other. We found some very long chains and one very short chain. The S hooks were useful in hanging all the chains from them.

Gloop play- The children added the dry cornflour to the very messy paint tray, added some water bit by bit and then mixed with their hands. They ended up with gloop in their hair, on faces, all over their clothes and lots on the floor. Did you know Gloop goes a long way if you clap your hands? The staff took the tray outside and added more water to it. The children dressed themselves in waterproofs and wellies before going outside and having a very big splash in our new puddle. They go very wet and they loved it.

On Wednesday afternoon we took the older preschool children to Potton Lower School for our half termly visit. The children loved exploring outside, finding ‘drinking chocolate’ in the water, pouring it out and ‘sharing’ it between themselves. A few of them had lots of fun riding on the bikes and scooters, taking turns with the reception class children. They met with old friends and played on the fireman’s pole, seeing who could go down it. Inside we played with the duplo and then had a go at cleaning the giant teeth with a huge toothbrush- that stimulated lots of questions and thoughts.

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All in all, another fun week at Woodentops.