The children have been interested in minibeasts. They have been creating habitats and making bug houses. They also made ant nests in sand, developing fine motor skills. We have been reading interesting non-fiction books too. Numeracy and mathematical skills are being developed through play by counting legs, comparing sizes and matching insects. There has been a lot of conversations and information sharing.
SS “It makes a big hole, now it can be covered up.”
GM “Spiders are arachnids, they buzz to think they get dinner.”
CE “The scorpion stings with his tail.”
JG “I can see everything with the magnifying glass, they get bigger.”
This week within the construction and small world area the children have shown an interest in a range of different animals and have been exploring the environments in which they live, what they eat, and what else they might need to keep them healthy and happy. The children worked collaboratively to build a zoo and various enclosures and considered carefully which animals could live together and which cannot. Within this we used sparkle words of, “carnivore”, “herbivore”, and “omnivore”. The children considered different environments as they utilised materials to create different terrains such as water and ice and were keen to exercise their mark making skills as they wrote different signs for inside their zoo.
EB “ Polar bears like to live beside frozen water”
ES “I’m making gates for the zoo so the animals don’t run away”
MS “Bats live in caves, i’m going to build it with a roof so the light doesn’t get in”
MM “ I’m making a house for the piggies, you can’t blow it over cos its made of blocks”
SC “Monkeys live up a tree in the jungle, they like to be beside plants”
The children have been working collaboratively to wrap parcels for the postman to post. They have been using their problem solving skills to work out how much paper they will need to wrap the presents and whether it will fit in the post box or not. Some of the children were able to recognise familiar 2D shapes when describing the shapes of the boxes. Some children were also able to share their door number and home address.
“I live in scotland” JMc
“Mines is a square” AR
“My name of my street is 30 C**** Road” S
“I live at number 5 Newton Mearns” AL
“It’s just a little box” RK
“I don’t know what my address is” NF
“I had a rectangle box and a square box” JMc
“I lived at London then I lived at Tuesday” ZB
“It’s number 3” JMc
“I think it’s big enough” RG
“It’s not the same size its too small, do we need to cut a rectangle or a square, it’s for someone who is 4, it’s Maidenhill that’s my street…it’s a present for my mummy” ZK
“We need more sellotape” FM
“It’s some broken toys” MS
In the home corner the children have been continuing to discuss their own personal, daily routines. We spoke about how we may all have a different routine and some children related this to the days of the week. The children had a go at sequencing their day using the pictures and used language associated with time, such as “morning”, “night”, and “o’ clock.”
Lots of the children’s role play has reflected their routines at home as they have made each other breakfast and dinner, got dressed for the day and pretended to get ready for bed.
In our sewing area this week the children have been making cushions! The children have been creating their own designs on paper before cutting out their material and sewing them together. Some are being used at home as a cushion for their teddies!
Sewing in the early years develops essential fine motor skills and hand eye coordination, foster creativity and imagination, enhances patience and focus and boosts self confidence as children complete their projects! Here are some of the creations below!
The children have been expressing an interest in minibeasts and today we explored how we could help free them from the ice. There was lots of conversations about how ice is made, what it feels like and we even had a go at painting some of the ice. We learnt how water can change from a liquid to a solid and back to liquid again and used lots of different methods to help melt the ice like adding warm water and metal spoons to free the bugs.
“It’s so cold and a bit sticky I like it” SW
“We don’t get ice when its hot because it needs the cold” JW
“Look its melting, it’s going”
The children have been exploring their senses using herbs and flowers to create their own perfumes and potions. We have investigated the different herbs and mint was voted the most popular “it smells yummy like toothpaste” JW. They have demonstrated excellent turn taking and cooperation whilst sharing all the resources and ingredients and some children are starting to explore measurement in their play looking at capacity and using descriptive language.
“Look Ive made it full to the top” SD
“It smells yucky I don’t like it, I like the smell of chocolate” QCI
“ look it looks pretty” YK
