Invitations to play.

“Lemon hiding”

”Do you want a cup of tea….it’s lemon tea”

Pouring water into cups and using tongs to pick up lemon slices and tea bags develops hand to eye coordination and builds hand/arm strength.

Challenge of the day

How many small buttons can you pick up and transfer to the plate using a clothes peg?

The children are developing fine motor skills during small intricate activities which strengthen their pincer grip and in turn give more control drawing and writing while holding pens and pencils.

Loose part exploration 

Reciting nursery rhymes on stage

Chilling with a story

 

 

Getting ready for school 

The boys and girls are so excited to try on their future school uniform. We had a fashion show. Don’t they look so grown up?

Visiting the school

Some of the children had the opportunity to walk around the school and find out where their classes are, where they would have lunch, go to the toilet and play in the gym hall.

Mark the janitor spoke to us about the gym hall and playground.

One of the primary boys showed us where the toilets were. He was very kind.

We set up a pretend school outside

 

We wrote letters from the alphabet.

We practiced writing and recognising numbers.

Some explored the days of the week.

There were lots of excited pupils in school.

Baking a “big cake”

 <This is our recipe

Licking the spoon was the best part.

All the children were amazed at how pretty their cakes looked when finished. At snack we all got to taste the yummy cakes.

Lots of problem solving and team work took place putting together the new emotion jigsaws.

Caterpillar update

The caterpillars are now tucked into their chrysalis and we are patiently waiting on them coming out. There have been lots of questions about what colour the butterflies might be? And how big they will grow?

 

Bug display

The children’s creative juices flowed while painting caterpillars using a cup as a stamper. They had the freedom to choose the colours and sequence of their chosen insect.

Our finished masterpieces are displayed proudly in the playroom.

Days of the week

Catriona introduced the children to a new and simple song to help the children learn the sequence of the days of the week. The song proved popular and catchy.  Some of the children made a days of the week wheel that they can access in their scrapbooks. They can spin the wheel to determine today, yesterday and tomorrow.

Motivational moves on a Monday

“Jump start Jonny” proved popular among our younger children. They were able to follow the on screen movements and freestyle a little on their own.

Is it the weekend yet??? “Just chillin”

Small parts were a big hit for creating transient art.

A civilised game of pairs

Hunting for letters in our name.

Sensory play writing letters

Our new residents are proving popular 

Some of our budding artists got to work drawing the baby caterpillars. They proved to be good live models. Some children chose to draw what the caterpillars might look like when they change into butterflies.

“I did lots of legs and the spikey bits”

“I did a butterfly in the sky”

Finger painting bug jars

The sensory experience of cold paint on a hot day proved very popular. Our little bug jars were filled with “ladybugs” “Caterpillars” “beetles” “spiders” and various fruit and veg for them to snack on.

Play-dough caterpillars

Letter recognition

Matching letters from the alphabet.

Days of the week

The children practiced reciting the days of the week through song and enjoying the opportunity to place each day in sequence.

Capturing memories using technology

Nothing beats a selfie.

Its a hard life being a model.

There was even time to show off new skills.

“Look at me. take a photo”

Capturing high jumps on camera

Some of the children asked to be photographed while jumping from the logs.

On inspection of their motion photos the children were amazed by their jumping shadow.

Making new friends

This week saw the beginning of the outdoor merging of cohorts. All of the Chestnut children seemed excited to explore more of the outdoor space and also build new relationships or in some cases spend quality time with younger siblings.

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Teamwork makes the dream work

Carrying on with their outdoor performances and stage shows the children made musical instruments using recycled materials.

Sunshine means sunflower time🌻 

Independent seed planting was a big hit.

Can’t end the week without more bug hunts. The children had the opportunity to mark off any insect they found from their checklist.

“I got two of them” 🪳🪲🐞🐜🕷

There was abit of in house cheating going on. Some children noticed a butterfly tattoo on Laura’s arm so checked it off their list 🦋

There was “bumble bee houses”

And the expansion of “bug city”

Set designs and stage preparations underway

The show must go on

Glue station was a hit

Colour mixing 

The children were fascinated by the new colours they could make with only red, yellow and blue paint.

Hopping practice

Bug hunters were busy this week

“I need one more bug”

Slug races were popular

There was fantastic bravery

 

Easter themed crafts  

The week began with Egg designing, edible nest building and pattern painting with potatoes and potato mashers.

Mid week activities included sensory play with flour, sugar, gloop and play dough.

Getting messy can be so much fun.

Tongs and spoons offered the children various ways to scoop, find and collect tiny coloured eggs.

Easter Bonnet Parade

 

Egg hunts galore

The children took part in a fun and fast paced Easter egg hunt in the garden. Inside each egg found was a small challenge; from giving a high five or hug to a friend to star jumps and dance moves.

We are very very lucky to receive an chocolate egg for each child donated by Tesco.

Alfresco dining

“You want ice-cream???”

“What would you like?. We have pizza and salads”

Orders were taken from a wide selection of mains, desserts and beverages.

Teamwork in the kitchen to produce scrumptious meals. “I whisk it and you mix it”

The patisserie chefs were hard at work making cupcakes to sell using recycled lids as cupcake cases filled to the top with fluffy sand.

Feeding our feathered friends before Jack Frost visits again

The children were keen to hang the finished feeders all around the Estate where birds and squirrels could enjoy a treat.

We sat quietly waiting on any little visitors that came down to eat. A little squirrel almost came down for a nibble but ran back up because we were too noisy.

On return to the nursery garden the binoculars became very popular.

Pretty potions 

“Look I made orange”

The children were in deep concentration. Potion mixing is a serious business.

Some of the children found genius ways to mix their coloured potions.

Overnight Jack Frost arrived turning the potions into ice.

 

Construction indoors has been extremely popular big towers turned into giant towers.

Outdoors saw tea parties, with real coffee, tea and hot chocolate.

 

The children became extremely excited after finding a number of insects in the nursery garden.

”I’m going to call her flower”

A little ladybug landed on a little ladybug group child.

”I’m collecting slaters…. I have 10”

Under the log slices were the best bug houses.

Clay modelling with sticks, stones and leaves proved popular.

We reused the left over sweetcorn from lunch. There was lots of conversations, filling and emptying and sweetcorn castles.

Margaret got her daily exercise in with many many wheelbarrow rides.

Duck duck goose before lunch

“Chilling in the sunshine”

Mark making with chalk

Painting curtains

Boys designing their house before the big build

Constructing tracks for cars. “We need to make a bridge”

The green frogs and red ladybug groups had the opportunity to visit and explore our local woodland area.

Firstly the children helped to set up a safe boundary before we could begin exploring. The big reg Xs give a clear visual to stop anyone going outside of the safe boundaries.

Marion explained what the possible risks are while up in the woods, broken glass, dog poo, jaggy nettles and brambles. The children are aware of how to keep them selves safe.

The children experienced:

Den building

Hammock chilling

Bug hunting

Bird watching

Picnic time