Fun Activities For Families

We would like to share the latest newsletter from the Early Years Team who have lots of suggestions for fun activities that families can try together. Click on “Go to this Sway” to open the newsletter.

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Tree Climbing

Just look at this wonderful photo of Lily and James climbing a tree for the very first time. Very well done! You both look like you are having a great time and that is a super achievement. Thank you so much for sending us this lovely photo. We think that everyone in Nursery will be very impressed and it will be so nice for your friends to see you.

Happy Birthday Alfie

Alfie celebrated his birthday recently and his family kindly sent us lots of great news about how it went.

“Thank you for Alfie’s birthday card it was a lovely thought. Alfie had a fab time playing keepy uppy with the balloons from your card. He had a lovely day even though we had to have his bbq picnic the day before as we weren’t sure on the weather. He had lots of new things to do. We spent the day at Powfoot flying his new kite he got from his cousins James & Joshua. Then a yummy ice cream as a surprise from Drummuir.
Alfie & Niks have managed a couple of FaceTime calls. The first time they did it they face timed each other twice in a day & flattened both phone batteries. We are going to meet up when Niks’ Mum is off work & go on a river walk.
Alfie’s new school teacher has been in touch & there are plans being made to visit next week at some point.
We have been doing lots of baking during lockdown, last week we made a cake Alfie was very proud of his decorating skills. “

Wow! That is an exciting birthday Alfie. I have to say an ice-cream from Drummuir sounds wonderful – you are giving me ideas of where I would like to go. It’s lovely to hear that you have been able to chat to your friend and we hope that you are able to meet up soon. Thank you for sharing the news about your birthday. It was lovely to hear from you and it sounds like you had a great day.

“There’s A Knot Inside My Tummy”

We would like to share this lovely resource which may be helpful to children who are worrying about anything. “There’s a Knot Inside My Tummy” was written by Jennifer Notman who is a Cumbrian teacher, entertainer and parent who felt compelled to help children struggling with worry during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She drew upon knowledge and experience to create a catchy rhyme based on real anxiety management techniques. We think that she and her colleague have produced something positive, fun and helpful for children and their families, now and in the future, to help them recognise and manage feelings of worry.
Click on the link below to hear this catchy tune.

Handy Hands

We all use our hands to do lots of things but how often do we stop to think about how handy our hands really are?

Young children are fascinated by their hands and through play they learn to use them in so many different ways. You can have fun with your child exploring different ways of using hands and they will begin to understand just how important their hands are.

What do I need?
• At least one pair of hands
• Pen, pencil or crayon
• Bubble wrap /sponge/facecloth/ playdough
• Paint (or water will do)
• Soap

What do we do?
Clean hands – Talk with your child about how important it is to have clean hands. Remind them of how to wash their hands properly whilst counting to 20.

Strong hands – Provide your child with opportunities to make their hands stronger, such as playing with playdough, squeezing sponges or bubble wrap to make it pop!

Kind hands – Talk with your child about how hands can be used in kind ways, such as stroking pets, waving to friends, clapping and using them in helpful ways.

Creative hands – Make handprints with your child. If you don’t have paint, you can use water then watch it dry and disappear. Help your child to draw around their hands using a pen, pencil or crayon. They could then decorate their ‘hands’ with different patterns.

Musical hands – Sing “If You’re Happy And You Know It Clap Your Hands” with your child. The words can be changed to include hand actions in each verse, e.g. clap your hands, pat your knees, rub your tummy, wave your hands, shake your hands, pat your shoulders, hide your hands.

What else could you do?
Handy Words – Does your child know the names of the different parts of their hands, such as fingers, nails, knuckles, and palms? They will learn these words if you use them as you play and talk together.

Clapping rhythms – Use hands to keep in time to the rhythm of songs by clapping, patting, shaking etc. To begin with, you can take the lead then your child can lead, deciding on the actions.

What a lot we can learn with our hands. Have fun!

A Butterfly Is Born

 

We have exciting news from Mrs. Mackay. After we saw that her caterpillars had formed their chrysalises, we were waiting for the butterflies to emerge and we are excited to tell you that this has now happened. What is even better is that Mrs. Mackay managed to capture one on video just as it was emerging from the chrysalis.

Click on the video below to see it as it happened. Thank you Mrs. Mackay for managing to record this. It is brilliant to watch and we are sure that everyone will enjoy it.

People Who Help Us

The Early Years Team has created another newsletter with lots of fun activities to try with your children at home. These activities, created by Early Years Senior Practitioners, are particularly important at this time as they are based on “People Who Help Us”.

Click on “Go to this Sway” below to see a range of fun activities that you can do at home.

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