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.

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.

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.

All in all, another fun week at Woodentops.

We started off the week by extending the children’s fascination with building and construction. Staff got out our ample supply of boxes. The children built towers, arranged the boxes in groups and sat in them sharing the small space- working out how many could fit in the box with all their toys too.

They got out the pens and drew lots on them, then used our tool box full of saws to test out how easy it would be to cut the boxes. Then the children made their own individual cars, with steering wheels included, and took great pleasure in showing their parents on collection what they had done.

We also spent lots of time playing with the rice and chinese table set, filling up and emptying pots, using spoons, scoops and chopsticks. Lots of chat about the different colours of rice and how to use chopsticks.

We made some red envelopes and lots of shiny money, to bring good fortune.

On Friday we decided to make Roosters, to celebrate the animal of the Chinese New Year. The children suggested sticking on lots of feathers and they put on lots of beaks. I love the process they go through as they make their products, each one looks very different and the amount of talking that happens as they plan their design and give each other ideas.

The children get so excited about taking their parents or carers, at pick up time, over the table where their name is and showing them what they have made.

Our week began with 3 home visits meeting 3 lovely children and their parents, preparing them for their first couple of weeks at Woodentops.

Wednesday we started back at the preschool and had a lovely morning with the children getting out the instruments and singing ‘Jingle bells’ and a few other Christmas songs we had practised for our carol concert in December. We made purple playdoh and added sparkles in to it. the children then made cup cakes, patterns from their clothes into the dough and made large and small balls rolling the dough out with their hands. In the afternoon we got out our magnetic balls, wands and geomags, as in the morning we had 2 children going round testing what was magnetic with the large horseshoe magnets. They really enjoyed using the geomags and shapes to make pots and containers. We had lots of discussion about why they stuck together and what they were creating.

Thursday, we had picnics every where, the children used the table cloths on the floor and found lots of different types of food and crockery to set their picnic up. They invited others to join them, sang songs and they read some books. Later on they used the material and tuff spot stand to build a huge den, used it in their obstacle course and and again invited others to join them. The music instruments came out again.

Friday, with it being so beautifully frosty outside, we went for a long walk around the football field, looking at what ‘Jack Frost’ had brought in overnight. They found very icy leaves and looked at the patterns on them and noticed how crunchy they were. We had lots of comments about how cold it was.

On Wednesday this week, we had Nicky and Amanda come from the RSPB to do some colour searching in our outside area.

To start off with Nicky read a very interesting story to the children who joined in enthusiastically with questions and answers. Then we divided into 2 groups, the ones that stayed inside decided to make tea and coffee plus some cakes for those outside, one child buried his ‘man’ with leaves that we had found earlier and we spent time looking for him.

The children outside each had a paper bag with a colour card in it. The idea was that the children would search around and see if they could find all the colours on the card from natural things that are outside.

We found lots of things- yellow, red, green and brown leaves, some of them were nearly orange; grey, black and white feathers; lots of sticks- large, small, long and thin- some were easy to break, others were quite ‘bumpy’; white flowers; and a very long wriggly worm- we decided not to collect him!!!!

Then we sat down and looked at what Amanda had found in her garden that morning. We all carefully touched the spiky shell of a conker and were amazex at how soft the inside bit was. We fitted the conker into its case too. We touched the spiky leaves of the holly tree and spotted the red berries. We made a hedgehog out the pieces we found, using conkers as his eyes and then covered him with leaves ready for his hibernation. The children loved learning and talking about what they found, what everything felt like and how we had to be careful of the hedgehog when he was hibernating.

Back inside we listened to some some bird songs and tried to work out which bird it was. We talked about the robin who visits us daily sometimes popping in as we set up the hall in the morning.

The children loved having the two ladies in and are looking forward to their next visit. Thank you so much to Amanda and Nicky.

Today we took 18 children to Standalone farm. It was such a glorious hot day so we made sure each child had a bottle of water and each staff member. The children were fantastic. We looked the geese first and then moved onto the horses.

The geese have fantastic blue eyes and were not worried about coming close to us, which the children were cool about.

There were 2 shire horses and 2 small ponies.

The goat was really eager to see us too.

As we went to see cows we met some doves, Canadian geese and ducks.

The piglets were really big and some of the pigs were huge. We walked round to the donkeys who were eager for a stroke before we sat in the shade and had some snack and lots of water.

We walked round to the Alpaca’s who had recently been sheared and liked being touched by the children- they felt really soft. One was really interested in the camera.

After the Alpaca’s we did a long walk round the field in the shade looking for the sheep and lambs. They were very sensible lying in the shade.

We washed our hands in a very big trough and then went off the the lovely learning barn, where we had stored our lunches earlier. It was so cool in the barn and we all enjoyed our lunches. We decided to go and find the small animals before having fun on the play equipment.

We met Chas and Dave, the rabbits and few of their friends.

We ended the day by having an ice lolly each and then playing in the tractor barn before the parents and carers picked up.

The children were fabulous. A huge thanks goes out to their parents and their carers for allowing us to take their children out for such a fun day. Also a massive thank you to all the Woodentops ladies for all their fantastic support during our visit.

We’re planning next years visit already.

Wow today we had lovely weather and brilliant children who we took round the RSPB with 3 really helpful RSPB volunteers. We met in the car park, making sure the children knew who their key person was to walk round with.

We did a walk along the woody area and to the Hide. We were impressed at finding a squirrel eating the bird food.

A chaffinch joined him and then 2 ducks decided to have a swim and wash.

A woodpecker flew in and ate some nuts from the bird feeder, we spotted a chaffinch flying in before going on his way.

Then we walked to the owl, looking for some rabbits and finding one or two late bluebells still flowering. The children liked touching the owl and commenting how tall he was.

We walked on to the pond and spotted  geese with their 5 goslings.

We sat and had our snack before walking to the den area.

The den area was fantastic, we had children hiding in the dens already built and then adding more large pieces of wood to them. We made nests using lots of sticks and branches and the children collected leaf liter to make the nest ‘soft’. One child sat in the nest to see how comfortable it was. Then we made ‘wands’ and collecting pieces of leaves and cones to attach to their sticks. Lots of talk about what they were finding and what could have made holes in the ground and trees. We sifted the leaf litter and found lots of little bugs and spiders.

We had a picnic lunch back at the gate house, and found a very small centipede next to our mats, we carefully watched him and then placed the centipede on the plants beside us.

Once we finished lunch we sat and sang some songs whilst we waited for parents, grandparents and carers to meet us.

We’re really proud of how our children behaved today, they were polite and listened to us as we walked round.

This week we all discovered how much fun could be have with a hoop and lots of bubbly water. The children mixed the bubbles on the path and then used the hoop in the bubble mixture and made enormous bubbles. We had lots of fun blowing them and chasing them round the garden.

Inside we played with the dinosaurs in their ‘habitat’- lots of leaves, wooden pieces and twigs. The children took the dinosaurs over to the playdoh and made footprints in it. So we got out the clay out and made footprints to go in the dinosaurs habitat and to take some home.

Later on the children worked together on a box making it into a home for the dinosaurs, one made a dinosaur egg, others painted the top, one of them made a paddling pool and a tree. Fantastic team work

The children asked to do ‘big’ drawings, they laid their pieces of paper on the floor, chose their pens and pencils and then drew huge pictures using both hands.

The children also built tall towers using the thin bricks. Again working together to balance the bricks on tops of each other.