Braidbar Nursery Blog

Good morning! Today marks the end of our second week apart. I do hope that as well as trying some of the suggested activities you have been kind, played nicely with your family, helped with little jobs, spent some time outdoors and listened to your adults. This is important because they want you to be safe and happy.

Leading on from yesterday’s fish theme, today’s ideas are all water related.

Try this underwater counting game that we enjoy in nursery:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/underwater-counting

 

Make a log and five little speckled frogs using Lego or other toys you have. Sing and act out the song. What if you started with eight? Ten? Twenty frogs?! Can you sing and count back from those larger numbers?

 

What do you know about how frogs are born and grow? Do you have a book at home about baby animals or animal life cycles? What information can you find out? What questions do you have? Are their interesting words to describe animals at different stages? How many animals can you find out about?

Can you plan a trip to see some of these animals once we are allowed to leave home and travel more?

 

Create your own pond/river/seascape for play in a tray or shallow box, using materials from your home and garden as well as some toys.

 

Why not have a go at some water experiments?

 

Does your family have a special place where there is lots of water? The swimming pool? A park or open space with a pond or river where you like to go walking? A beach you like to visit on holiday? How do you feel when you are in that special place? Why do you like it? Who usually goes there with you. Once you have talked together maybe you could draw a picture or map of this place, adding as much detail as you can.

Read about this family At The Beach: https://www.starfall.com/h/ir-fnf/atbeach/?sn=ir-fnf–im-reading

 

Sing and dance to everybody’s favourite!

 

Join Jaime on an underwater yoga adventure.

 

Relax!

 

Did you play any tricks on one another yesterday for April Fools Day?!

In France, those who are fooled on April 1 are called the “Poisson d’Avril”, the April Fish.  Children (and silly adults) place a paper fish on the back of an unsuspecting person and shout ‘poisson d’Avril’ when the paper fish is discovered.

 

Let’s stick with a fishy theme today to develop our maths skills and imagination!

Watch and sing along. Shout out the numbers you see!

 

Develop hand-eye co-ordination to catch the fish and avoid the jellyfish by following the link below. Then look at the pictogram and answer questions about how many you caught. Maybe you and your adult can make your own questions.

Fishing

Can you now create your own pictogram? You need to collect some items, sort them into groups that you can discuss with your adult (sort by colour, size, type???) and then display them. You might do it by drawing pictures or by laying the items out in rows or columns. I might look a bit like this:

 

Do you have any books about fish or other creatures that live in oceans, rivers or ponds? Why don’t you read one of the stories together and draw your favourite part of the story?

 

Why don’t you use materials you have at home to make your own fantastic fish? Give them names, create a place for them to live and use your imagination to play and make stories with them.

 

Maybe you could use card, string, paper clips, tape and fridge magnets to make your own fishing game?

 

Find out some fishy facts here, in a book or by reading online.

 

Fish starts with the ‘f’ sound. Can you think of other ‘f’ words? Watch Fred and his new friends for some ideas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/alphablocks-fred

 

 

Good morning!

I hope you enjoyed listening to and trying some new words in different languages yesterday.

Today is the first day of April, a new month. Do you know anyone with a birthday this month? What could you do to help them feel special on their birthday during this time when we all need to stay at home? You might decide to make a plan to do something together when you can next meet.

Here are some other ideas that you and your family might want to try this month:  

 

There are twelve months in the year. Can you count to twelve? Beyond twelve? Can you count back from twelve? Do you recognise any of the numbers to twelve? What if all the numbers were in order and an adult covered one up – would you know which was missing? Play a numbers game here: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/teddy-numbers

A rap about the number 12! https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/presenters-number-rap-12

 

April is the fourth month of the year. Here is a song to help you learn the months in order:

Maybe your adult could challenge you to say the month before/after.

Which months are important in your family, for birthdays, religious festivals or other celebrations? Can you draw/paint/make a picture of you at one of your favourite times of the year? What are you doing? Who is there with you? Are there special clothes or food? Tell your adult all about it and perhaps they could write about your special celebration.

Look through your books. Can you find a story or information book about a special day or celebration? Read it together.

Find some other stories to read together and games to play in the coming weeks here: https://www.starfall.com/h/index-kindergarten.php

 

Hello! Bonjour! Hola! Marhaba! Dzien dobry! 

We hope you enjoyed yesterday’s story of Jack and his beanstalk. Today we recommend that you try some of the related activities if you haven’t done so yet.

“Fee, fi, fo, fum…” sounds like a strange and different language. What other languages do you know? Which languages do you use at home? Do you use different languages with different people? Go to this website: https://www.newburyparkschool.net/lotm/index.html    to choose a language from the drop-down tab and hear children say different words and phrases in one of the languages they know. Try to learn some new words you can use. Which did you like best?

 

Continue to think about measure (height). Can you collect all your cuddly toys and organise them by height? Tallest to shortest, shortest to tallest? Maybe you could have a picnic with them and sit them all in height order? What about other toys such as dinosaurs, dolls or other animals. Maybe you could line them up in order then wash and dry them, one by one.

Flamingos are tall birds. Join Calypso the Flamingo for some yoga here:

 

 

 

 

 

Good morning!

We hope you had a restful weekend and that you were able to enjoy the spring sunshine through the window, in the garden or on a walk.

This week’s suggestions start with another story…

1. Read , listen to or watch ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’  https://youtu.be/W5rxfLRgXRE
2. In the video, Jack’s cow (Milky White) is drawn like a big rectangle with a head, four legs and a tail. Can you find some rectangles (two long straight sides, two short straight sides and four corners) around the house? How many did you find? Jack’s head and eyes are circles (one curved side). Can you find circles around the house and garden? How many?
3. Draw some of the characters or story setting using rectangles, circles or other shapes you know. Give your cow an interesting pattern or design and create a fun name for it!
4. Plant some seeds on the windowsill. If you have no packets of seeds experiment with apple pips, or tomato seeds for example. There are also lots of ways to watch vegetable waste sprout with a simple dish and some water. You can then eat the new sprouts or carrot/turnip tops make excellent trees for dinosaurs and other creatures to play amongst!

5. If you have a book with this story, use the pictures to retell it in your own words.

6. Squirt some shaving foam into a tray/plate/bowl and fill with Lego or other blocks to build a castle in the clouds. How does it feel? Smell? Is it easy or tricky to build with the foam on your hands? Why do you think that is?

7. Use the idea of the huge beanstalk to think about height. Talk about people in your family and use language like short, in the middle, taller, tallest etc. Get everyone to draw a picture of themselves and place each one on the door frame to show how tall each family member is. Go online to find out the height of your favourite animals. Are they taller or shorter than you?

8. Find a recipe that contains beans and make a plan to cook it some time this week.

9. Find out about jellybeans.

 

10. Pretend that you are one of the characters from the story. Ask and answer questions as they might e.g. (to mum) How did you feel when you had to sell your cow?  (to Jack) Why did you take the beans from the man?

11. Words rhyme when they have the same pattern at the end of the word not the beginning. Like cat, mat, flat, bat etc. Can you think of words that rhyme with Jack, cow or bean? How many did you find? Can you draw pictures of some of them? Or help your adult to write them down?

12. Create a picture of the beanstalk as you imagine it. use any materials you like. Just how tall can you make it?!

13. Watch or read to find out more about how plants grow.

 

14. Relax!

 

 

Good morning!

Did you enjoy yesterday’s story? Today we recommend you try some of the related activities if you haven’t done so already.

Please look below to see today’s other suggestions.

As it’s Friday and the end of our first week apart why don’t you think about the days of the week?

You could sing our song to get started

(to the tune of The Addams Family)

Days of the week (clap clap)

Days of the week (clap clap)

Days of the week,  Days of the week, Days of the week (clap clap)

There’s Monday and there’s Tuesday,

There’s Wednesday and there’s Thursday,

There’s Friday and there’s Saturday,

And Sunday ends the week.

Days of the week (clap clap)

Days of the week (clap clap)

Days of the week,  Days of the week, Days of the week (clap clap)

 

or join in with one of these songs online:

or Miss Paterson’s favourite:

Your adults could ask you what day is today/tomorrow/yesterday to challenge you.

For those of you who are beginning to recognise letters and sounds, maybe your adult could write the days of the week on separate pieces of paper. Then you could try to use the starting letter/sound to identify each word before putting them in order.

Why don’t you make a simple list or timetable with ideas for next week? Maybe you could choose one activity each day and your adult chooses another.

 

Reading

Collect all your books from your bedroom and around the house. Can you be like a librarian and sort them out? Maybe you will put all the bear stories in one pile and all the dinosaur books in another. Or perhaps you will put all the stories together (fiction) and all the information books (non-fiction) in a different pile.

As you sort remember you favourite stories from when you were little. Do you like all of the books now? Which ones do you like/dislike? Why? Could you make a pile of books to give to your sibling or to pass onto other children at another time?

Where else can you find stories or information? If you haven’t already done so, consider downloading the BBC Sounds app for audiobooks, listening activities and music.

 

Get moving!

Think about moving with some online help:

Joe Wicks daily via YouTube at 9am

Just Dance via YouTube

Cosmic Kids Yoga via YouTube

 

Hello

We hope you enjoyed Tuesday’s story and we are sure you will have come up with lots of wonderful ideas of your own.

Please look below to see today’s suggestions.

1. Read ‘The Gingerbread Man’ or find a version on YouTube – https://youtu.be/U89dkGrsYZY
2. Retell the story together, especially the repetitive “Run, Run…”
3. On a big piece of paper draw a line to represent the journey the Gingerbread Man makes and add pictures of the animals he meets along the way.
4. Try to remember all the animals which feature in the story in the correct order. Choose one of the animals and find out more about it online or in a book. Record what you find by creating a model/picture/video.
5. Bake gingerbread men/other shapes together, discussing the steps in the recipe and measuring ingredients together.
6. Smell, taste, observe and describe different ingredients as you use them e.g. spicy, sticky, dry, delicious
7. Help with the tidying and washing up after baking.
8. Watch this: https://youtu.be/LqMPbs2KUEI         How many other words can you think of that start with the ‘m’ sound? Can you put a few of them together to make a silly name or phrase? e.g. Mummy’s magic music or monster melon
9. Create a gingerbread man collage. 
10. Look at the shape of the Gingerbread Man. Is his body the same as ours? Name as many body parts as you can, play body ‘I Spy’ or sing ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’.
11. The Gingerbread Man invites everyone to run. If you can, go outside and run, walk, jump, climb.
12. See how you can make a gingerbread HOUSE here: https://youtu.be/b2H5Pmua-m4

Have a lovely day!

Hello

Today we suggest you try some of yesterday’s activities if you haven’t yet done so.

Follow this link to another one of our favourite bear stories:

Or what about this version? Which do you like best? Why?

Join Jamie on her yoga Bear Hunt adventure. Namaste!

 

You may want to find out about real bears here: https://youtu.be/54CDgurNMSI      https://youtu.be/h5LkN1OruUg

Why not have a teddy bears’ picnic in the living room or garden today?

Could you be creative and use some household items to build a bear’s den which you could read or play in?

 

Parents and carers, please follow the link below to access a useful document which has a wealth of ideas on how you can support early literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing at home.

Many of you will already be doing these things as second nature but we thought it would still be helpful to signpost:  https://education.gov.scot/parentzone/Documents/EveryDaysaLearningDay3to6.pdf

 

Good morning!

Did you make a rainbow yesterday?

Here are some suggestions for today:

1. Read ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’, find a version on YouTube https://youtu.be/0oUP2PFeOi8  or download the BBC Sounds app, go to ‘Children’s’ and listen to the story there.
2. Find different bowls and spoons and decide which would be best for each bear. Compare the sizes and put them in order using language such as bigger/smallest/more/less.
3. Set the table for the three bears/your family.
4. Find other items around the house/garden that come in different sizes. Talk about their different properties and which item is best for a given job e.g. little bucket for sandcastles as it’s not too heavy but large bucket for cleaning as the mop needs to fit etc.
5. Find some toys to represent the characters and act out the story.
6. Use Lego/household items/blocks to build beds/chairs of different sizes for each bear.
7. Find a space to do so safely and play a game of musical chairs (or bumps)
8. Make some porridge together and try it with different toppings. Which did you like best? Could you draw/write the list of ingredients or the recipe?
9. Write/act out your own story using your own name and your favourite animal or mystical creature e.g. Rosie and the Three Unicorns or Zia and the Three Tigers. Draw/paint pictures or make models to accompany your story.
10. Find other stories about bears and read them together.
11. Talk about who is in your family and how all families are different. What makes your family special? What do you like to do together? What is the same about people in your family and what is different?
12. Make some bear toast.

Have a lovely day!

The whole nursery team would like to thank you for your recent kind words and actions as we all try to navigate our way through this unprecedented and uncertain situation.

In this time apart please know that we continue to be driven to do the best for each of your children. To that end the team will mainly be using digital technologies to communicate with each other and with you. Exactly how we do this will evolve over time but for now there will be daily blog posts.

These posts will provide suggestions for play and activities; there is no expectation that you undertake these with your child. Indeed, we would recommend that you follow your child’s lead, their interests and ideas.

Saying that, we do recommend certain things that your child does daily, as circumstances allow:

• Read at least one story
• Engage in some physical activity
• Get outdoors (at a safe distance from others)
• Prepare simple food/set the table
• Tidy up their toys!
• Join in with songs, nursery rhymes or music
• Engage in everyday maths – counting cutlery for dinner; matching socks from the laundry pile; measuring through baking; keeping track of the days of the week
• Talk about their day and their feelings. Plan something for the following day.
• Do something silly!
• Create something new – a picture, model or other invention

More specific suggestions to follow but for now you may wish to consider joining in with this: https://news.sky.com/story/children-stick-rainbow-drawings-in-their-windows-to-boost-morale-during-coronavirus-crisis-11961870