The boys and girls had a great time at our nursery parties. We played lots of games; musical bumps/statues, hokey cokey, pass the parcel, dress up as Santa game, dress up as Santa, reindeers, presents and an elf game, listened to Christmas stories and had a lovely snack. We also had a very exciting and special visitor………. SANTA!!!!!! The boys and girls had to sing Santa’s favourite songs for him, Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

This week the children have been exploring “transient art” or sometimes called loose parts. ‘Loose Parts’ are materials that children are able to collect, move,  transport, attach, use on their own or combined with other open ended materials and can be made into many different objects. There is no right or wrong way of using them so children can be as creative as they want to be without feeling that they are not using them correctly. This means children have full control and can direct the play activity.The loose parts theory was first developed by Simon Nicholson, architect, who suggested that if children have access to a range of materials which have no defined purpose then they will access a wider range of play types and be more creative in the ways they play. “In any environment, both the degree of inventiveness and creativity, and the possibility of discovery, are directly proportional to the number and kind of variables in it”.   Nicholson. S. 1971