This week, we have been learning about lifecycles, particularly about chicks. You may have noticed on our Twitter feed that we have 10 hens eggs in the nursery just now, in an incubator. We are hoping to welcome some new arrivals next week – watch this space for updates!
This offers great opportunities for learning about lifecycle development and patience (it’s been a long 21 days!) and caring for others.
Outside, we have been planting potatoes in the bottles you’ve been collecting for us (thank you!). We are hoping to see the white roots begin to grow down into the compost and then begin to notice the green shoots peeking out of the top of the bottle. Again, this offers hands on learning experiences for the children, to find out more about how plants grow. Here’s some of our green fingered gardeners planting their potatoes!
In the art area, children have been developing their “nimble fingers” by having a go at tie-dye. It’s quite tricky to put an elastic band over something and make it tight, but with encouragement and perseverance, they have been managing quite well. We were using a small pebble with an elastic band attached around it. This means that when the material is soaked in the dye, the area underneath the band does not take up any colour, remaining white. Once rinsed, the pebbles can be removed from the fabric, resulting in white ‘circles’ where the bands have been.
The children really seemed to enjoy working together on a really big piece of collaborative art. There were lots of opportunities for sharing, of ideas and resources. They enjoyed it so much, that they asked to make another, “for the sky”. So we did!
We had a very interesting and special visitor today in nursery. One of our children’s Nanas, has a pet tortoise and she brought it in to let us see it. His name is Herbie and he is an amazing 39 years old! The children were surprised to feel him, saying, “he’s hard”, “it’s like a stone” and “he’s hiding his head inside”.
Don’t forget it’s the May Day holiday on Monday so nursery is closed. Back Tuesday. Enjoy your weekend!
