Twechar Early Years Centre

Hello everyone, we will now be uploading our learning blog monthly as opposed to fortnightly. Here is a little snippet of everything we have been getting up to during the month of February! 

Outdoors: Out in the garden, we have been continuing to explore the ‘Stanley’s Stick’ story as we have been creating a variety of things with sticks. This month we made tepee’s using sticks, ribbon, tape and string and we also went into the Glen and built a den using large sticks and foliage.

We have also been exploring minibeasts and going on regular bug hunts whilst out in the garden. We have been collecting the data from these bug hunts to work out which minibeasts we have the most and least of in our nursery garden.

We have explored the weather during the month of February, in particular the rain. We have observed the rain and discussed where the rain comes from, linking this to the seasons of Winter and Spring. We have also recorded which areas of the garden are the rainiest using homemade rain catchers. We measured how much rain each of the rain catchers collected to find out which area was the rainiest.

We have continued to explore shapes outdoors, going on shape hunts in our local community to see if we can find shapes in our environment. We collected the data from our shape hunt using tally marks to record how many of each shape we found. We then used natural resources to create our own 2D shapes.

We have been developing our early numeracy skills whilst outdoors through a variety of experiences. We have been exploring subitising, estimation, measuring, patterns and identifying/sorting numerals.

STEM: In the stem area, we have been exploring magnets and learning about how magnets work. We have discussed forces of magnets using concepts such as attracting and repelling different objects. We have also been learning which objects are magnetic and which objects are not magnetic and recording our data.

We have also been exploring things that fly and how these things work, this has included things like hot air balloons, aeroplanes and kites. We also made our own flying objects and took these to the gym hall to test them out.

Story Corner: In the Story Corner, we have been exploring our emotions, particularly love as there have been lots of discussions about Valentines Day and people who we love. We have been reading books surrounding feelings and thinking about what makes us feel loved. We drew some of the things that made us feel loved which included things like football and our families.

We have continued to explore the ‘Snail and the Whale’ story by Julia Donaldson. We have been exploring all of the different animals within the story and sorting these into groups based on their habitat.

We have shown a really keen interest in story telling this month and so have been creating our own story books through mark making and re-telling stories.

Creative: In the creative area, we have been exploring shapes through art and the work of different artists. We have explored some famous artists who specialise in abstract art working with shape. We have also been exploring the weather and creating different art work to represent the weather such as making clouds and rainbows using a variety of materials.

Snack and Baking: In the Snack and Baking area, we have been developing our self help skills by using a variety of different utensils to prepare and eat snack including eating our snack using chopsticks. We have been making some exciting new things for snack such as frozen jelly and yoghurts which were a suggestion from one of the children.

Literacy: In the Literacy area, we have been developing our fine motor skills and scissor skills by participating in some scissor challenges such as cutting certain shapes and patterns using scissors.

Numeracy: In the Numeracy area, we have been exploring quantities and the value of numbers as we have been counting out a variety of objects to correspond with a specific number. We have also been exploring problem solving and matching as we used the numicon to create ‘Numicon City’ by using the correct amount and sizes of numicon to fill the space.

Outdoor Learning Group: We have been exploring forces using our new water rockets. We filled the rockets with water before using the pump to pump air into the rockets, creating bubbles and pressure inside. Once the rockets were full of air and the pressure was high, we observed the rockets blast SO high into the air.

We explored sinking and floating as we made rafts using lollipop sticks and sticks. We added different natural materials to the rafts including sticks, stones and leaves to see if this would impact the rafts ability to stay afloat.

Community: We have been involved with our local community as we have been attending ‘The fun zone’ at Twechar Healthy Living and Enterprise Centre. We have been developing our gross motor skills, balance and coordination as we have explored the equipment here as well as building positive relationships whilst playing with our peers and working as a team during play.

Teaching time with Mrs Smith:

Talk4Writing- The children voted for the new talk4writing story and the winner was… Jack & the Beanstalk. We have been busy learning the actions to the story and the children have been using the Group Story Map to help them remember the sequence of the story. Over the next couple of weeks the children will get the opportunity to become authors and create their own story maps based on Jack & the Beanstalk.

Hello everyone,

Here is our home link activity for this fortnight from Mrs Smith, the activity is surrounding our Talk 4 Writing story which is ‘The Gingerbread Man’. The video is linked belong, we hope you enjoy! 🙂

Here is our fortnightly update of all of the fun and learning we have been having at nursery.

STEM: In the STEM area, we have been engineers and builders as we have been constructing brides to help the Gingerbread Man cross over the water safely. One of the children designed a boat to help the Gingerbread Man cross over the water, this was very creative. We have also been experimenting with Gingerbread Men to explore what would happen if they fell into the water, some of the children thought that the Gingerbread Men would float and some others thought they would melt. We found out that in fact the Gingerbread Man sinks and melts when he falls into the water. The children then went on to building boats out of various different materials in order to try and keep the Gingerbread Man safe and help him avoid the water.

Literacy: In the Literacy area, the children have been continuing to explore letters by using ink and letters stampers, we have explored the letters in our names and have practiced spelling out our names using these.

Numeracy: In the Numeracy area, we have been working on estimation and counting. We discussed how many gems we thought it would take to complete a pattern and then counted these afterwards to see if our estimation was correct. We have also been exploring 1-1 correspondence above the number 10. We have been discussing size using a variety of sizes of blocks and have been matching these to the correct spaces.

Sensory and Water/Sand Play: In the sensory and water/sand play area, we have been investigating how water changes from one form to another (ice into water and water into ice). The children mixed the coloured water and developed their fine motor skills as they added food colouring to the water using droppers to do so. We then put the water into the freezer and left it to freeze and become ice. The children then developed their problem solving skills as they discovered different ways to remove the ice from the tub and melted the ice using different methods.

Home Corner and Snack: In the Snack area, we have been exploring the eat well plate and discussing what foods are healthy and unhealthy. The children discussed the effect that food has on our bodies and that we need food for our bodies to grow. We have been making a variety of healthy snacks in the Snack area, including fruit kebabs, yoghurt parfait and some other yummy things!

Story Corner: In the Story Corner, we have continued to explore our Story of the Month which is ‘The Snail and the Whale’ by Julia Donaldson. We have been reading this story regularly and listening out for key components and interesting information throughout. We have created some art work to represent the story such as a whale for our display wall, we looked at photographs of real whales to explore what it should look like. We explored making snail trails and made lots of different marks using a variety of tools, copying the trails that the snail makes in the story.

Creative Area: In the Creative area, we have been exploring shapes using different shape cutters. We have been using the shape cutters dipped in paint to print the shapes.

Outdoors: Whilst outdoors, we have been continuing to explore football as we have been playing the game in teams and working on our general fitness as the professional football players do. We have been developing our gross motor skills, balance, coordination and strength whilst participating in exercise classes with Arran, running races and football drills. We have also been continuing to explore the ‘Stanley’s Stick’ story as we made stick people using play-doh/clay, sticks and loose parts. We have also made paintbrushes using sticks and feathers. We have been focusing on numeracy outdoors as we have explored using ten frames with loose parts and made different shapes using sticks. We have been exploring and learning about plants and flowers, beginning to learn the names of different parts of a flower and about how flowers grow. Our children have learned about respect for living things including plants and are respectful to our natural world.

Teaching time with Mrs Smith:

Talk 4 Writing; As part of the Imitation stage we have been busy learning actions to the story and using a story map to help us remember the order of the story. We have been learning that when we read the story map, we start at the top and read from left to right until we reach the bottom of the map – just like reading the words in a book!

We have also been using a story tray with small world figures, to act out and retell the story. This has encouraged recall of the story and also developed imagination skills as children have created their own versions of the story using the small world figures.

Word Aware; Our 2 focus words are “around” and “twisty”. In order to make these words more meaningful to the children, they were selected from The Gingerbread Man – he ran “around” the kitchen and then down the “twisty” path. Ask your child to show you the action for each of the words and what the words mean.

Numeracy

We have been continuing to learn about how to recognise and sequence numbers.

We have been developing our subitising skills. This is the ability to recognise the number of objects in a group without counting e.g. dots on a dice. We have been looking at regular patterns and irregular patterns. We have used 5 & 10 frames and small gingerbread men figures to create regular patterns.

With irregular patterns the children have been encouraged to talk about the different groups of objects they see e.g. I see a group of 3 and a group of 2. That makes 5 altogether.

Outdoor Learning Group: We have been continuing to explore the story ‘The Snail and the Whale’ as we read the story interactively whilst out in the woods. We told the story as we walked through the Glen and the children hung different pages from the story on the branches, collecting these on the way back as we recalled the story.

PATHS: During PATHs we have been discussing feelings, how it is okay to have feelings, and that everyone has them from children to adults and even our pets. We focused on the feelings of happy and sad. We then looked at real images and drawings of people expressing sad and happy faces and discussed the changes that may happen in our faces such as a smile or tears and we spoke about how people’s faces can tell a lot about how they are feeling. The children used fantastic describing words and thought about the reasons why the people may be feeling the way they were, such as being exhausted, bored, tired, excited, loved and scared. We then discussed ways of managing our feelings if we are sad and who we can speak to if we need help. Some of the suggestions were speaking to mum or dad, talk to the teacher and give your friend a hug. We have continued to give compliments at the beginning of each session and we would be grateful if you could encourage your child to give and receive compliments at home. Thank you for your continued support, Alison, Judith and Tracy.

Burns Night: To celebrate Burns Night at nursery, we had a lovely traditional Scottish lunch consisting of haggis, neeps and tatties followed by some Scottish shortbread. We also tasted some Scottish snacks including oatcakes and shortbread during our Snack time. We learned some traditional Scottish dances and listened to some Scottish music. We also made some Scottish flags and thistles in the creative area using a variety of resources.

Hello everyone,

Every fortnight we will be uploading an activity for you to do at home with your families, this week our activity is an Outdoor Learning activity from Sandra. Please click the link below to access the video instructions for this activity, we hope you enjoy! 🙂

A big Happy New Year and welcome back to Twechar EYC to all of our children and families. We hope you all had a lovely Christmas break and are glad to have all of our little people back for lots of learning and fun! Here is what we’ve been getting up to since returning to nursery…

Literacy Area: In the literacy area, we have been exploring letters using alphabet magnets, we have been matching the alphabet magnets to written letters on the magnetic boards. We developed our problem solving skills, letter recognition and concentration skills whilst doing so. Some of us were even able to sound out some of the letters whilst participating in this experience. We have also been mark making and beginning to write the letters of our names in glitter, copying our name cards. Some of us were able to write and sound out some of the letters in our first names and some of us made some amazing marks!

Numeracy Area: In the Numeracy area, we have been discussing number blocks and the value of numbers. We have been discussing amounts using the number blocks and talked about a number appearing in different forms, such as a tower of 9 or 3×3 blocks equalling 9.

STEM and Block Play: In the STEM area, we have been architects as we have been drawing plans of what we are going to build in the Construction area using the blocks. We have been engineers, technicians and builders as we have built a variety of amazing things including Lenzie train station, castles, bridges, houses and lots more. We have shown an increased interest in trains, train stations and transport so this is something we will be focusing on.

Story Corner: In the Story Corner, we have chosen a new Story of the Month which is ‘The Snail and the Whale’ by Julia Donaldson. We have been listening to the story with Shannon and also watching the film adaptation of the story. We have explored the story through role play and small world experiences, using props to retell the story.

Creative Area: In the Creative area, we have been discussing the Season of Winter and creating crafts that relate to this season. We made some icy pictures using string and cold colours of paint. We also made some sensory decorations using old cd’s, glue and glitter. We will hang these in the nursery playroom so that everyone can appreciate these.

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Snack and Baking Area: In the Snack and Baking area, we have been choosing, preparing and enjoying our own snack. We have been developing our self help skills as we have been cutting, spreading, pouring, mixing and scooping, Using a variety of tools and equipment. We also made our own special toast which we painted using milk and food colouring to create our own amazing designs.

Home Corner:  In the Home Corner, the children have shown an interest in making their own variety of teas. We have been exploring our senses of taste and smell as we have made and tasted a variety of different teas.  We have been risk assessing and keeping safe as we use hot water to stew the tea, we learned not to touch the hot water as this could burn our skin. We are very careful when making our tea.

Outdoors: Outdoors, we have been exploring a story called ‘Stanley’s Stick’ by John Hegley. We started off by reading the story before going out into the Glen to collect sticks, we have then been using our sticks to make a variety of different thing such as magic wands, fishing rods and broomsticks. We have also been exploring the weather whilst outdoors, discussing the effects that the season of Winter has on our environment. We have explored ice, snow and frost. Some of the children have shown an interest in football which we have been exploring with Alison.

Teaching Time with Mrs Smith:  We have chosen a new Talk 4 Writing story which is going to be ‘The Gingerbread Man’  and have begun learning actions to go along with the story. We have also been drawing our favourite parts of the story, including our favourite characters. We have been developing our fine motor skills as we have been participating in a fine motor skills activity involving golf tees and marbles. We have been working on our number recognition and sequencing numbers using a variety of resources.

Outdoor Learning Group: We have been exploring ‘The Snail and the Whale’ story whilst participating in our Outdoor Learning group, we have focused on the sound of ‘S’ and did a scavenger hunt to find objects beginning with this sound. We found a squirrel, stick, snake and snail during our search. We then walked through the Glen looking for other things beginning with the sound ‘S’.

We have been celebrating Christmas at Twechar EYC over the last couple of weeks. Our first celebration was our Christmas lunch where we all sat together and enjoyed a traditional roast turkey Christmas dinner.

We also had a visit from Santa Claus who came to see us on his amazing bike, he played us some Christmas music and said hi to all of us. We absolutely loved getting to meet him, it was so much fun!

We had our nursery Christmas concert where we all performed Christmas songs, our families and friends came to see us all perform and we did such an amazing job.

We had our nursery Christmas party where we played party games, danced, participated in some Christmas crafts and activities and also had some special party snack. We even had a visit from Santa Claus who brought us all a present. We had so much fun!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our Twechar EYC children, families and staff. We’ll see you in 2024! Xxx

Over the last couple of weeks at Twechar EYC, we have begun our preparation for Christmas. We have been making lovely decorations for the playroom including pipe cleaner candy canes and a hand print Christmas tree.

We have also recently decorated our playroom Christmas tree, the children did such an amazing job decorating! We have also been making lovely things to sell at our Christmas Fayre (Friday 15th December) such as reindeer food, homemade baubles and hot chocolate cones. The little Twechar nursery elves have been working very hard to get everything organised for this special day.

STEM: In the STEM area, we have been exploring floating and sinking. We experimented to see which objects float and which sink, some of the outcomes really surprised us (Did you know… pipe cleaners actually sink!) .We have also been developing our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as we made some bracelets and necklaces using beads and pipe cleaners.

Creative Area: In the Creative area, we have been exploring transient art, we made some self portraits using loose parts as well as decorating some transient art Christmas trees and making some transient art snowmen. We have also been exploring collage materials as we made some lovely snowmen by cutting and sticking a variety of materials.

Story Corner: We have continued to explore ‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson in the Story Corner for the last couple of weeks. We have been bringing the story to life through a variety of sensory experiences, exploring things like scrambled snake, roasted fox, owl ice cream and Gruffalo crumble. We developed our fine motor and scissor skills whilst exploring the scrambled snake as we used scissors to chop up the green spaghetti. We also developed our numeracy skills and explored weight as we measured out the Gruffalo crumble using a variety of different scales. We explored capacity using the roasted fox as we talked about full and empty whilst filling and emptying the tubs and containers. We also explored our sense of smell and touch as we made ‘owl ice cream’ using shaving foam.

Outdoors: We have been outdoors playing some group games such as ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf?’ and Tig. We have developed our gross motor skills and built positive relationships whilst playing cooperatively. We have been practicing following instructions and have also developed our independence as we have been working on getting ourselves ready for the garden without any adult support. We also went for a walk to find ‘The Gruffalo’ and talked about where each of the characters live in the woods. We found the Fox’s underground house, the Owl’s treetop house and the Snake’s logpile house. We also read the Gruffalo story out in the Glen. We also collected some pinecones to make loose parts Christmas trees.

Forest Schools: We have been continuing to explore our local wildlife, specifically birds. We made some bird feeders using milk cartons and bird seeds to help take care of the local wildlife during the colder months. We have also enjoyed some warm hot chocolate whilst out at Forest Schools as it’s been getting colder recently.

Teaching Time with Mrs Smith: During teaching time with Mrs Smith, we have continued to explore our Talk 4 Writing story ‘Goldilocks and the 3 bears’ using story maps. We designed a group story map as well as creating our own individual story maps. We have also been developing our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination using pegs and elastic bands. We have also been practicing writing our first names and have been working very hard at this. Our words of the week were ‘Tiny’ and ‘Creep’ and we have explored actions for these words, as well as using magnifying glasses to look at ‘tiny’ things.

Stay and Play: A huge thank you to all of our parents, carers and families who came to play with us during our Stay and Play sessions during the week of the 27th of November. We had so much fun showing you a day in the life of your children and absolutely loved having you.

St Andrews Day: We celebrated St Andrews as we made tartan patterns using transient art, weaving strips of paper and painting. We also made Scottish flags using transient art and collage materials. We enjoyed some Scottish shortbread and sang some traditional Scottish songs as well as showing off some of our ceilidh dance moves.

Sunbeam Room

Home Corner: The last couple of weeks in the Home Corner, we have been exploring weight. We have explored different weight concepts such as heavy and light. We have explored weight through a variety of different experiences such as using the scales to determine which object was the heaviest and which was the lightest.

Story Corner: In the Story Corner over the past two weeks we have been continuing to explore our Story of the Month (The Gruffalo) through a variety of different activities and experiences. We used loose parts to create our own Gruffalo portraits in play-doh. We have also been exploring re-telling the story using a variety of props such as story spoons and stones. This has helped us to develop our knowledge of our story and the characters. We have also been developing our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as we participated in an experience where we had to attach purple prickles to the Gruffalo’s back using paper clips. We have been exploring size in the Story Corner, focusing on height. We explored the Gruffalo characters and were organising them in order from tallest to smallest and vice versa.

Creative Area: Over the past two weeks, in the Creative Area we have been beginning to make some decorations for the Christmas season. We have developed our creative skills and used a variety of resources to decorate our own Christmas tree baubles and decorations.

STEM: In the STEM area, we have been exploring the properties of water through freezing it. We have been exploring liquids that freeze and liquids that don’t freeze and investigating why this is. We have also been exploring water turning into ice, and ice melting and turning back into water. We have explored what makes ice melt such as heat, salt, our body temperature. We have also been exploring colour mixing in the STEM area as we have been mixing different colours of paint to match colours in our environment such as people’s hair colours, the colours of our clothing etc.

Outdoors:  Out in the garden, we have been exploring the concepts of full and empty using different liquids and tools. We have discussed what these concepts mean and explored what each of these concepts looks like in practice. We filled some beakers up to the top to explore the concept of “full” and measured how much water it took to fill it. We developed our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as we used pipettes to fill the beakers. We have also been moving the garden equipment around and made an obstacle course using the materials.

Forest Schools: The last couple of weeks at Forest Schools, we have been exploring the wildlife through bird watching. We made our own binoculars using cardboard tubes and then we drew pictures of the birds that we found. We have been feeding the birds over the last few weeks using homemade bird feeders.

Teaching Time with Mrs Smith: This week we have been exploring our new word aware words of the week which are “Exhausted” and “Hard” and were selected from our Talk 4 Writing story which is Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. We have also been exploring activities and experiences relating to this story such as porridge sensory play, we scooped and poured the porridge using a variety of tools. We discussed size as we scooped the porridge into different sized bowls, big, medium and small. We have also been exploring our Goldilocks and the 3 Bears story map and retelling the story using this resources, this has helped us to gain a better understanding of the story. We have been developing our numeracy skills this week as we have explored subitising using 5 frames and bear figures.

Daisy Room

In the Daisy room this week we have been exploring the Old McDonald song and story using props such as small world figures and puppets. We have been singing this song during our welcome times and reading the story book throughout the day. We have also been developing our gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination and reflexes as we have been practicing throwing and catching.

Children In Need: To celebrate Children in Need we participated in a dress up day where we wore something spotty, something yellow or our pyjamas. We explored a variety of Pudsey bear themed experiences and activities.

Book Week Scotland 2023: The week beginning 13th of November was Book Week Scotland. We celebrated this through a variety of book themed experiences and activities such as making Elmer patterns, Winnie the Witch potions and having a Tiger Who Came To Tea picnic. We also participated in a school wide competition where we decorated the nursery doors themed like books. The nursery children made amazing Gruffalo and Goldilocks and the 3 bears themed doors.

Sunbeam Room

Home Corner: This week in the Home Corner we have been developing our self help skills and independence as we have been cooking. We chopped up vegetables on Monday to make soup for our Guy Fawkes Night celebrations, Alison cooked this for us and we enjoyed a cup of vegetable soup during our celebrations. We also made some porridge as we have been interested in the 3 bears story this week, we were developing our numeracy skills as we explored weight whilst weighing out the ingredients. We also developed our imaginative skills as we role played a 3 bears picnic.

STEM: This week in the STEM area we have been exploring cause and effect as we have been participating in a variety of different experiments. We have watched as different ingredients have a variety of different effects on each other. We explored our senses as we added as variety of different scented ingredients, exploring our sense of smell.

Creative Area: This week in the Creative Area, we have been exploring making marks with paint and a variety of tools. We have been painting using sponges dipped in paint, we then printed these on to paper. We have also been developing our fine motor skills as we have been using forks to make marks using paint. We explored the way that different tools make different shaped and sized marks on the paper.

Story Corner: This week in the Story Corner, the children have been voting for our new Story of the Month, which is The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. We have been exploring this story through a variety of different experiences such as role playing the story using puppets and figures. We have also decided on our Rhyme of The Week this week which is Incy Wincy Spider. The children have
been exploring this through role play experiences and an Incy Wincy numeracy game which explores positional language and the concepts of Backwards and Forwards.

Outdoors: This week in the garden, we have been developing our numeracy skills as we explored shapes and sizes when looking at leaves. We discussed the different shapes of the leaves, discovering that the majority of the leaves in the garden were circles and triangles. We have also been out in our local community as we went for a walk through The Glen to explore. We have shown an interest in the Goldilocks and the 3 bears story this week so we role played a 3 bears picnic while out in the woods, we told the story of the 3 bears and used props to support this.

Forest Schools: This week at Forest Schools we have been interested in the wildlife, especially the birds. We discussed that the birds become hungry when the seasons change and the weather becomes a bit colder, we decided to make some bird feeders to help the birds in the colder months. We used lard and bird seed to make bird feeders. Over the next few weeks we will be observing the different wildlife that comes to feed from our homemade feeders.

Diwali: This week we have been celebrating Diwali in the Sunbeam Room, we have been making Diwali lights using tin cans, making Diwali light sticks using sticks and sparkly pipe cleaners, making fireworks using forks dipped in paint and designing Mehndi patterns using ink and cotton buds.

Guy Fawkes: This week to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night, we had a nursery bonfire party out in the garden. The children built a fire using sticks, wood and tissue paper “fire”. The children also made homemade soup and bread to eat around the fire. We developed our numeracy skills as we weighed out all of our ingredients whilst making bread, and developed our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as we mixed and kneaded the dough. We developed our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as we chopped up the vegetables for the soup.

PATHS: This week was our introduction to the PATHS Programme which will be run weekly with a group of Pre-School children. The PATHS Programme supports all children to develop the fundamental social and emotional learning skills which will enable them to make positive choices throughout life.

Teaching Time with Mrs Smith: This week during the children’s teaching time, the children have been voting for their new Talk 4 Writing story which is Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. The children will be exploring this story in depth over the new few weeks. This week the children have been learning some actions to go along with the story which is the imitation stage of Talk 4 Writing. We have also developed our imaginative skills as we have been role playing the story using puppets. We have also been drawing our favourite parts of the story. We have been developing our letter and number formation and fine motor skills as we strengthened our fingers using bubble wrap.

Daisy Room: This week in the Daisy Room, we have been exploring the story of the 3 Little Pigs. We developed our listening skills as we listened well to the story and then we developed our creative skills as we were building houses for the 3 little pigs using bricks, sticks and straw. We developed our imaginative skills in the Home Corner as we were making birthday cakes for the baby doll using play-doh and feathers. We sang happy birthday to the baby and gave her some cake to eat.

Sunbeam Room: This week in the Sunbeam room, we have been celebrating Halloween. We have been going on walks in our community to see the Halloween decorations. We discussed being safe whilst out in the community and made sure we were safe when crossing the roads. We saw lots of very exciting decorations!

We have also been exploring some Halloween experiences throughout this week such as making potions, developing our curiosity as we explored the inside of a pumpkin, developing our creative skills as we were making skeletons using cotton buds and developing our fine motor skills as we have been rescuing Halloween characters from a giant spider web using tongs. We have also began celebrating Guy Fawkes night this week as we have been creating our own fireworks in a variety of creative ways such as printing using glue and glitter, and developing our scissor skills as we made sparklers using art straws and sparkly material.

We also had our nursery Halloween party this week where both the Sunbeam and Daisy room children came together to have a party. We participated in Halloween experiences such as dookin’ for apples, Halloween crafts, doughnuts on a string and lots of dancing and party games. We also had a lovely Halloween party snack with some spooky treats! We absolutely loved all of the children and staff’s costumes, you all looked amazing!

Forest Schools: During our Forest School sessions this week, we have been focusing on planting. The children developed their knowledge of living things and how to care for plants as we planted some daffodil bulbs in the Secret Garden. We developed our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as we were digging the mud to make space for the bulbs. We can’t wait to see our bulbs grow into gorgeous yellow daffodils in the Spring! We have also been using our imaginations to make up some spooky stories to tell at the Secret Garden as we celebrate Halloween this week. Some of our stories were super spooky!

Daisy Room: This week in the Daisy Room, we have been exploring a variety of different Halloween themed experiences. This has included developing our curiosity and exploring our sense of touch as we were making spooky handprints using some neon green paint. We also explored some purple gloop and developed our curiosity as we discussed why the gloop “melted” in our hands, changing from a solid to a liquid. We have also developing our fine motor skills as we have been mark making using a variety of different tools, such as forks, potato mashers and spatulas. We explored the different sizes and shapes each of these tools made on the paper using the paint.