Kirsty brought in treasures from her weekend walks on the beach. The children cleaned the shells and added them to our loose parts area.

Some of the children have shown an interest in construction

The children used wooden blocks and planks to explore trajectory. They catapulted poms poms and foam bricks. They used team work to work out the design problems.

Child M named the contraption “the mega super smash up”

Getting photograph ready. Time to get our pose on.

There is always time for a game of dominoes. The children were learning to subitise : recognise a pattern of numbers without counting the dots.

 

Technology to help us draw

Writing our names.

 

 

 

 

 

The Orangutans and the Lions explored the woods

The orangutans modelled with clay

Investigating with magnifying glasses.

Den building

Hammock fun

We made clay Tree trolls

 

Tea party preparations 🧁 

Most of the children helped to make vanilla cupcakes with Margaret in preparation for our student Teri’s last day in the chestnut room.

There was even a clean up crew on hand happy to help wipe down surfaces, wash and dry the dishes used.

Spontaneous Science

Some of the children noticed that a piece of our very popular Aloe Vera plant had broken. Instead of throwing it away we placed it onto our light box to explore its properties clearly. Magnifying glasses helped to see each part in more detail. 

“It’s really cool”

The shed salon ✂️ 💅

This week our shed spontaneously became a hair, nail and makeup salon. Firstly the children used sticks and drawing pencils as pretend styling tools. As their interest grew we added real salon tools; hairdryer, straighteners, brushes, combs, mirrors and accessories.

The children’s use of accurate language and correct hand movements with each tool demonstrates the children’s extensive knowledge of the role of a hairdresser/beautician.

“Ssshhh was a hair”

Out of the salon the beautification continued into planting.

Exploring the differences in size, shape and colour between seeds.

Counting seeds and being gentle.

Bring on the spring sunshine to help our seeds grow big and strong.

Tea party time

 

C’mon and join the conga

Catriona our modern apprentice took small groups of children for some football drill practice. They had to be good listeners and follow Coach Catriona’s rules.

2 of the boys recognised letters from within their names on the outside of the football

Catriona gave simple instructions. The children listened well and were able to dribble their ball and place it on a specific coloured cone when instructed to do so.

“Good footballer pose”

 

“Balance your ball on the cone”

“little kicks”

Scoring goals

listening to instructions

“can we do it again”

“That was fun”

“I’m good at football” I’m Messi”

 

More play dough making

We had lots of help preparing snack

The children took care using a knife to cut the bananas for their friends.

Feelings wheels

The children assembled their own emotion wheel. They had the opportunity to talk about each colour monster and associated feelings. The children can now access their wheels anytime throughout the session.

 

 

Loose parts indoors 

The children have been accessing our newly developed loose part area regularly. They have also helped tidy every item correctly. This allows the children experiences to sort and match items within a variety of size, shape, colour or by purpose.

Caring for our newly planted Heathers.

There was lots of buzz around the mobile phones and laptops. Some of the boys and girls  took telephone food order. “Can I have macaroni “ “do you have chocolate cake “

Spider hunting

We found lots of tiny baby spiders, then one of the boys found a big spider. Discussion turned to families, brothers, sisters and Mums and Dads. “This is the daddy spider and they are his babies”

Story telling

The children have been independently accessing our library and story corner. They have read to each other quietly.

Supporting our friends 

Some of the older preschool children helped our smaller children build their confidence balancing on the logs.

Outdoors was all about balancing, jumping and stepping. Building confidence and strength navigating large obstacles. The new logs have proven popular.

Loose part play has involved using large stones, the children independently named the rocks and called them baby rocks.

 

World Book Day

World book day for the chestnut room was all about pants. 

We began our day with Claire Freedman’s Aliens in underpants save the world. Conversation and interest soon turned to what our favourite pants would look like.

The children designed their very own underpants. We displayed them proudly from the ceiling in the playroom.

There was lots of discussions over pattern, colour and style. There was also an interest in space and planets.

 

step by step play dough station 

There was a buzz of excitement around our newly developed play dough station. The children now have the opportunity to make their own play dough.

Flour first

Then salt

Mixing time 

Add paint water and mix

Play with our play dough

wash our bowls

 

On our first snowy day the children could not contain their excitement. We decided to bring the snow inside. The children collected bowls and bowls of snow to fill our water tray.

They then used coloured cold water to paint the snow. “Rainbow snow” “I’m mixing them”

There was a very civilised tea party with tea and biscuits. The children were very careful while pouring ,stirring and lifting the special China cups. The discussion mainly involved their favourite drinks and their Mummy, Daddy, Gran or Papa’s hot drink of choice.

 

Loose parts

Our new loose part station proved particularly popular. There was lots of construction in particular Castle building and canons. Child L noticed that 2 triangles put together make a diamond. She then recited the nursery rhyme “Twinkle twinkle little star”

Shape challenges

The children were challenged to jump on the correct colour and shape. This offered them an active physical way of remembering 2 dimensional shapes.

Learn to draw using technology 

The children used the promethean board to learn step by step how to draw. Today was a day for dinosaurs. They showed pride in their completed drawing. But also gave compliments to their friends. “That looks really good”

Thanks to donations and charity shop treasures we have began developing areas within the playroom to inspire a sense of wonder, imagination and curiosity in the children. There have been fancy tea parties, trips to work and college and even the odd pregnancy.

Boxes have been a hit in construction, there were cars, houses and beds. Child L spent a great deal of time inside the boxes for comfort and quiet. Enveloping is a lovely way to self regulate challenging emotions.

   

The children have helped to write signs for our make your own play dough station. When completed we will share the station in action.

This week the children have helped to develop a beautiful display focused on our emotions. We purchased an amazing poster with various faces displaying lots of different feelings. The children then had a photo shoot to portray the same emotions as the poster.

Each day the children have an opportunity to take part in an emotional check in. We have used the “Color monster” story and puppets as a visual aid to help the children identify how they are feeling each day. The mirror allows them the chance to look at their facial expressions.