This morning we have been creating patterns in the sand trays. The children have used the pattern stones to print a pattern and have also been using sticks or their fingers to trace the pattern. Some of the children even started creating their own. We have enjoyed discussing the different shapes within the patterns and what we think they look like.
“They’re squares.”
“It’s a 1, 1, 1, 1.”
“It’s my name.”
“I think it’s curly.”
“I’ve got stripes. “
Today the children found a packet of marshmallows and were keen to explore and investigate them.
Using an iPad they researched what things they could make. We found a recipe for marshmallow playdough so we chose that.
The children measured out the marshmallows and poured some vegetable oil into a bowl.
The recipe asked for the marshmallows to be melted and the children asked how they would do this. They talked about it and used the microwave in the staff room to do this.
After 30 secs the microwave pinged and they were excited to see what the marshmallows looked like. They noticed that they had all melted but looked hot.
They brought the bowl back to the playroom and added some cornflour to the mix. Using their super muscles they took turns at mixing it.
The children enjoyed exploring the texture of this new play dough and by adding dried oranges and lemons added to their sensory experience.
We hope that you have a lovely long weekend. We will be open again from Tuesday 28th September.
Today the children have been super busy making ramps for their cars using the blocks. They decided to make their own ramps. The toddlers self selected their own paint colours and then dipped their cars into the paint and set them off down the ramp. The children noticed that some of the cars went further than others, some went down fast, some slow and that the tyres all made different marks. They added some textured balls to see what different marks they left. “ That’s left a bumpy mark” They learned some new concepts including stop, go, up, down, fast, slow developing their language skills and learning about cause and effect.
When asked what they would like to do next with the cars L said “ make a garage “ So they set about creating one. H said “we should use these boxes”. L said “ I’m painting it green, it needs to have a tunnel and space for the fire engine”. The children demonstrated great team work when planning together to create their garage. They were proud of their finished result and had great fun playing together.
The children in the studio are noticing the change in the weather. “There are lots of leaves on the ground”. We decided to look at some leaves and see if we could find them on our leaf ID Dial. The children pointed out the different sizes, colours and shapes of the leaves. This helps us discover the name of the tree that the leaf came from. We then read a story about autumn time and the change this makes to our trees. “We like to kick the leaves in the park”
We then had some fun drawing and tracing the leaves some of the leaves were “bumpy” to draw over. The children chose autumn colours of pencils and crayons to make their 🍁 look real. The children decided to hang the leaves from the white board so they could copy and draw round the shape of the leaf.
We have enjoyed learning about leaves today and, if you are out and about during autumn, we would welcome any leaves, pine cones and conkers that you find so we can use them for art work in our studio. Thank you.
In the home room the children have been particularly enjoying using the playdough in different ways.
They have been following our playdough recipe and are now very confident at making it themselves.
Once the children had made the playdough they used their imagination and turned the playdough into space rockets.
”3..2..1.. blast off”
“My rocket is going to the sky”
What else could we do with our playdough? Well some of the children even decided to open their own sweet shop and sell the best chocolates!
“ Here’s your chocolate, that’s five pounds please “
This week has been very exciting at Cart Mill, we are all getting delicious hot lunches served in nursery. We have tried lots of different food including tomato pasta, lentil soup, fish fingers and pizza! Our family room is now set up like a real dining room where we can all sit together round the table and eat our lunch.
We have been learning to use our cutlery properly as well as pour our drinks and help serve our vegetables.
It has been so nice to see the children try all the new tastes, we are already looking forward to next week’s menu!
The children in the Toddler Room are always very expressive and creative so when we found some very colourful finger paints in one of the cupboards in the playroom they were keen to try them out.
At first they were very careful, using only one finger, testing out each colour.
They experimented with different colours, making swirls on their paper.
Very quickly they started to use their whole hands, feeling the paint between their fingers.
Small swirls with one finger became huge swirls and mark making with a whole hand.
All the children had loads of fun painting with their fingers and hands and were very excited to see their finished artwork hanging up drying ready to take home.
Today in the studio we decided to paint using magnets. We moved metal objects around the paper and over the paint to make patterns. The children chose the colours of paint they would like to use and practised their pouring skills to fill the paint trays.
The children were creative and used the magnets to draw paper clips and screws across the paint and make some lovely designs. This then expanded to making paint patterns on the spoons which were very effective. The children combined different colours to make different shades “This looks like a river” and “I have a pond for ducks”. The children also enjoyed discussing there techniques which improves their language and social skills.
We are looking forward to exploring lots of different methods of using paint in the new term.
Please find below a link to a letter from Mark Ratter, Director of Education. It contains important information about the return to nursery in January and details of the application process for provision for the children of keyworkers.
Letter from Mark Ratter 23rd December 2020
Warm wishes,
Sharon McKenna
