Castlehill Early years centre

Outdoors:

When doing pumpkin carving as we lifted the top off after cutting it we discovered it was mouldy and fluffy inside. The children showed an interest on how and why it became this way, after reading about perishable foods, composting and watching a video of a compost bin the children asked if we could put fresh fruit and vegetables into a box and watch what happens to them over time. We filled a box with compost and various fruits and vegetables and we will check on it and photograph each stage as the fruit and vegetables slowly go off.

Rachel

The children have been busy constructing in the garden this week. Using the large plastic shapes they have built houses, ships and aeroplanes. The children have taken turns and worked well as a team while using their problem solving skills.

Laura

The children have been exploring the forest and meadow recently. The children have been climbing trees, looking at different trees and plants, exploring wildlife in the woods such as bugs, slugs, snails and birds and learning to self risk assess. They have also been creating dens, pretend fires and campfire areas. They have had lots of fun climbing, exploring and engaging in risky play. In the meadow the children have been rolling down the hill, hiding in dens, playing role play games in the boat and lots of physical activities and games.

All

The children have been learning about Autumn in the outdoor area through exploring leaves, sticks and vegetables in the recent weeks. They have been dissecting different vegetables and using magnifying glasses to explore what they have found inside.

Sophie

The children have been using the roller to paint the ground and see the patterns they have made. They have also  used the paintbrush to paint pictures on the surface of the playground. This activity allows the children to see the different utensils we can use for the painting process.

Our water tray has been filled with washing up liquid and the children have been a encouraged to play with the utensils in the water. These have included a sieve “ Ta dah it’s magic” a child exclaims as the water drips through the holes. The children have enjoyed filling up and pouring from one utensil to another.

Susan

With the weather being so unpredictable we have set up an area in our shed outdoors to allow for some shelter – whilst we are still dressed for puddle jumping.

Following the interest of the children who have been hunting and collecting bugs,we created an area dedicated to relevant stories about our insect friends.

We have added in some insect toys including worms, spiders and crickets.

The children have enjoyed being under cover whilst still being able to bug hunt. Laura 

The children have been making all sorts of concoctions in the mud kitchen.

“I am putting in salt “ says one child as she sprinkles sand into her chocolate cake. We have introduced real, raw food into the area to allow them to discover texture, appearance and smell. They are learning to develop fine motor skills as they sprinkle and pour. – Susan

Building an obstacle course  using interlinking waffle bricks has allowed the children to work together as a team. They have used their problem solving and designing skills to place the wooden plank between the two tyres allowing them to balance and take risks. The children have also used their counting skills to count the number of bricks  they walk on. – Susan

The children have been constructing a wall to protect themselves from the bears. They are working together as they carry the bricks over and one child helps another

child as she says “this plank is too heavy for me”. They are beginning to understand about weight and size. – Susan

The children have been exploring the newly developed outdoor small world area. The children chose to have a farm, construction site, Dino land and cars small world which they are able to develop independently according to their interests. – Sophie

“We’re going on a bear hunt” has become a big focus outdoors with the children reenacting parts of the book such as going through the mud. The children have been using this book to explore their senses and we have created a sensory tuff tray to develop this further. – Sophie

We have been settling into our new room and outdoor environment. Our teepee has created a calm and safe environment for children to relax and explore their emotions. We have provided different types of stories for children to explore using their senses and that are relevant to their home life through different interests.  

In our malleable area these interest are continued as we provide provocations for children to independently explore. Each loose part can be investigated and the children can use their imagination to construct their own ideas. The spaghetti was used as hedgehog spikes, lolly pop stick created ice creams and the different rollers made patterns.

Our music station provides provocations for children to explore and extend their vocabulary as we sing, rhyme and expressing our emotions. This months rhyme is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Children used a variety of instruments to keep the beat as we sing along together.

At our creative table children used the paint and resources to print and stamp with.  This led to discussions about many animals, from where they live to what they eat. We will continue to explore animals and there habitats in the weeks ahead.

Children have been reading the story the lonely wasp, and how sad the wasp was not to have a home and friends. We had a talk about what we could do to help, and  decided to create a house for the wasp. Exploring our forest to gather resources the children worked together to build their own bug house in our new outdoor environment.

In the curiosity area we had a tea party. Children were using a china tea pot, china teacups and some glassware. Children were developing their senses as we were smelling all the different flavours of tea – peppermint, lemon, lavender and gingerbread. – Angela McNeil

In the malleable area children have had the freedom and choice to make various materials such Play-dough and gloop this week. There is also a play-dough station that has a step by step guide to follow and resources that are always available to have free access too. – Curiosity Room

In the art area children have been cutting a range of shapes and types of lines with scissors. Whilst using the scissors we learnt how to cut safely by keeping our fingers out the way and not carrying them around the nursery. – Sophie MacM

The children have the opportunity in this area to choose a story to enjoy alone, with their friends or with an adult. They can also create their own story book and sing nursery rhymes too. – Yvonne

In the sand area this week we have been exploring numbers, by finding the number stones in the sand and then copying the numbers in the shallow trays of sand “look I’ve made the number one”. Children could use their fingers, sticks or spoons to mark make with. – Angela McNeil

In the garden we have a digging spot for the children to dig using variety of tools as they take on various interests of imagination. They seek buried treasure that could be below the ground. “I found something under the mud, I wonder if it’s treasure!” The children use the digging spot to collect mud for the mud kitchen and search for mini beasts. “What is that?, it looks like a green bug”

The children have been following their own interest of concocting mud pies, cakes, potions and pizzas in the mud kitchen. Different variety of utensils and tools were set up along with fruits for the children to enhance their imagination and come with creative ways to bring their ideas alive. “This is my cupcake, I will put them in the oven to bake.” The children explored the garden to collect leaves, twigs, berries, stones and grass to add to their mud pies and pizza. “We are making the dough for the pizza, this is the sauce and I add it to the pan” As the children interests were progressed we added more loose parts such as brambles, shells and water to maintain spark of imagination and enhance the play.

We have been exploring road safety on the road track as the children follow the risk assessment of putting on helmets before choosing a bike or car. Each vehicle is parked on a numeral. “ I park the car on the number one, next to number two bike”. The children ask what type of transport they would like each day which is provided and with the use of a  timer we discuss the importance of cooperating and sharing the resources with our peers. -Ellie

The children have been busy building both their team work and their fine motor skills in our newly created water area and have spent time pouring, filling and emptying water using jugs, funnels and bottles. We have also been using gutters and pipes to channel the flowing water into containers before starting all over again. Laura

We have rebuilt our obstacle area using pallets, tyres, cable reels and stepping stones so the children have been busy balancing, jumping and climbing to reach the end destination of the slide.

The area is more sheltered by trees, so even on rainy days the children still come together for the challenge. Laura

The children have been busy exploring natural resources in the garden. We have been making cakes and ice cream using sand and sticks, and making stones sticks and leaves for printing.

The children are enjoying exploring the construction area where they can draw up their plans and build various structures using a wide range of resources on offer.

Using high visibility vests and the white board the children have been role playing real life experiences as a builder on a building site.

Hello,

Welcome to our Castlehill Early years centre blog.

The purpose of our blog is to showcase the vast range of experiences our highly skilled staff create for our children, this gives parents the opportunity to discuss the experiences that have been on offer and see if this ‘sparks’ conversation between you and your little one about what they have been learning.

We hope you find this useful and will appreciate any feedback from this as we build our profile.

Many thanks, Team Castlehill.