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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Tag: Successful Learners
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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Rhyme Of The Week
Our “Rhyme of the Week” to practise this week is “Little Bo Peep”. Click on the link below to listen to Mr. Tumble who will help you learn this rhyme.
Super Work Robin
We have been hearing about what Robin has been doing while Nursery has been closed and have some lovely photos to share of him building with his bricks and of a super bird feeder that he made. We are very impressed with your writing too Robin.
Very well done Robin! The birds will love visiting your feeder and that will always be a reminder in your garden of this time as you grow up. Thank you so much for sharing your super photos.
Learning About Electricity
There have been so many different things to share on our blog since we closed that we have still not managed to post all the photos we have from last term so we thought you might like to see these as a fond reminder of the children’s days in Nursery.
The snack area provides many opportunities for learning and independence skills. Here you can see the children in the Rainbow Room learning about electricity as part of preparing for their snack. They had lots of discussion around how the microwave and toaster work and were able to use them independently to prepare their own snack.
I wonder if the children can remember what they learned? Can they find three things that use electricity and three things that do not? See if your child can help to prepare a meal or snack and tell you which items he/she used that needed electricity or if you used any electricity at all.
Join The Clangers And Make Music
Further to our suggestions of making your own instruments at home, we would like to share these super music videos, featuring Nordoff Robbins music therapists and The Clangers, to encourage children to join in and enjoy music using objects in your home.
“The Cutlery Song” is one of my favourites and all you need is a fork and a spoon which I’m sure you all have. It’s hard to resist the catchy tunes and the actions of the little Clangers characters will put a smile on your face. Why not click on the link below and have a look? We think that you’ll have great fun.
News From Noah
We have some wonderful photos to share of what Noah has been doing during Nursery closure. Of course, his main duty has been taking on the very important role of being a big brother.
His family say, ” Noah is an excellent big brother, helping with Jude, playing with him, keeping him entertained in the car and giving him lots of cuddles”. Jude looks so cute and we just knew you would be a brilliant big brother Noah. Very well done!
Noah’s Mum also told us what else he has been busy with during the past weeks at home:
“Making slime has been a firm favourite – a slime dinosaur land, of course! We’ve also made a lot of salt dough shapes and painted them which has been fun. At Easter Noah made salt dough bunnies and Easter eggs which we decorated and hung on our tree in the garden so the Easter Bunny would know where to find us. Noah has also been playing a lot of guitar with his Daddy which I’m sure the neighbours have loved!
We’ve been enjoying our daily walks and Noah and his Daddy have been a bit more adventurous than me and have been skateboarding. We’ve also been teaching Noah to ride his big boy bike – hopefully he’ll be cycling without the stabilisers soon. “
Noah also asked his family to send us a picture of the rainbow he painted for all the key workers working hard to keep us safe, and their pet cat Milly. We love your rainbow Noah and it’s good to see that Milly is guarding it well. We are sure that it will make people very happy when they see it as they walk by.
Goodness me Noah, you’ve certainly been very busy and it is lovely to hear about all your adventures. Skateboarding sounds very tricky so well done with that and good luck with your bike – we think that you’ll be off on your own without stabilisers very soon. Thank you so much for sharing all your wonderful photos and tales of what you have been doing. It’s lovely to hear from you and no doubt your friends will love seeing your photos as much as we do.
Mrs. Irving’s Challenge
Mrs. Irving is here with her son Coll to help you learn our “Rhyme of the Week” but she has a little challenge for you too in this video. Click on the link below to see what she says. We hope that lots of you can join in. Have fun!
