Last week some children had the idea of making different figures at the junk modelling area. They used some of the boxes to create robots, people and their favourite characters from books or movies. We continued this spark this week and have been thinking more about how we can use the resources for different purposes. The children talked about using buttons for eyes, sticks for arms and legs, wool for hair, and considered what size of materials would be best for different body parts. Some children then decided to make a dolls house for their people using the large cardboard boxes. Once again the children have demonstrated great imagination and creativity as they lead their own learning.
In our small world area the children have been experimenting with dinosaur habitats. They have been using different materials and have spoken and researched about how dinosaurs may have lived all those years ago. The children then enjoyed taking part in some chemical reactions of ‘volcanoes’. These experiments help our children with their hands on learning, develop their vocabulary and foster their curiosity. The children also had lots of discussion around chemical reactions.
The children have been very busy in the literacy area this week. We have been exploring familiar stories through props and sensory stories to developing recall skills. Some of the stories we have explored are A Squash and A Squeeze, Peace at Last and The Three Little Pigs.
We have also been beginning to explore some initial sounds. We have been doing listening activities for spotting the odd sound out, matching objects with the same initial sounds, and identifying initial sounds in our names,
The children have also taken part in a Gaelic Bookbug Session. We were so impressed at the children’s participation and involvement in this session as they explored Gaelic language and learned some new gaelic words and numbers. A huge thank you to Ishbel for leading the Gaelic bookbug.
It will come as no surprise that our outdoor area has been really busy this week! The children have been enjoying being outside in the sunshine! The children have been making their own giant marble runs in the garden, fostering their creativity, problem solving skills and fine motor abilities. These also help encourage spatial awareness and engineering concepts! Many of our children thoroughly enjoyed this hand on building and exploration!
This week in the sewing area the children have been expressing a range of ideas through their textile creations. The children have explored making 2D textile pieces through stitching and the fabric pens and have created their own streets and interpreted their mark making through their sewing. They also explored making 3D textile makes and created unicorns, hearts, and gummy bears.
JW “This is my street, thats my house, that’s Scotland, thats Japan”
“ I’m making a road to go to Miss Queenan’s tall house”
“I’m calling my gummy bear Marshmallow”
AA “I’m making a unicorn toy- it’s got magic powers it can make bunnies and frogs jump”
This week at the water tray the children have been exploring directional forces and velocity through using different lengths of tubing. The children explored pouring water from different heights and changing the direction of the flow of water by adding addition tubing to their structures to successfully fill their containers.
KM “ It goes so fast when i’m up high”
TE “ I need to add another bit to reach the tea pot”
