Bees and flowers!
This week in the malleable area, we have continued to learn about our environment and the world around us. We added fresh flowers to the playdough and this sparked the conversation about how to care for plants, what they need to grow and discuss the different parts of the plants. To develop early numeracy skills, we added the number bees. This encouraged the children to talk about the role bees play in our environment.
ES “The bees take the pollen from the flowers. You need water and the sun and mud for them to grow.”
NS “The bees get the flowers and take them to the hive.” “Honey”
LMc “The seeds are to help the flowers grow.”
ZK “I’m making a bumble beehouse. I’m making wee holes for the bees to get in.”
NF “If we plant seeds, they grow into trees.”
BS “I’ve got a flower pot for my flower.”
CS “The bees pollinate the flowers. That means collect pollen to make honey. They’re getting seeds so they can grow more flowers. Their little legs collect it. I like honey in my porridge.”
HK “It’s squashing the flower. It’s flying to the beehive.”
We have also been developing our gross motor skills and the muscles in our hands by squeezing the tennis ball monsters to feed them the coloured pasta. Some children developed their colour recognition skills and fine motor skills as they thread the pasta onto pipe cleaners. The children enjoyed filling and emptying using various sized scoops and containers.
How does your Garden Grow?!
Outdoors we have been busy planting seeds and data collecting. Using tally marks we have been exploring which flowers have been the most popular to plant. So far the mystery seeds have been winner, so we won’t know what they are until we help them grow. There has been lots of discussion about what plants need to help them grow and how we can look after them when we take them home.
OH: “Everyday we need to make sure we water it”.
JW: “If I put it in my garden the sun will get it and rain”.
HG: “Needs to drink the water”
AF: “I want the pink one for my bedroom on the window. It will look pretty”.
JG: “I wonder what mine will be when it grows”.
This week in the literacy area we have been following the spark of robots. We have been creating our own robots, using our imagination to describe what they look like, what their jobs are and how they can help us. We have been building on our descriptive language skills and have been able to add detail to our drawings.
This week, our Stay and Play woodland sessions were a wonderful opportunity for parents to join their children in exploring and learning together in our local woodland. The children fully embraced the outdoor environment, taking part in a wide range of hands-on activities that encouraged creativity, teamwork, and curiosity. From balancing carefully on the slackline to creating beautiful nature bracelets and experimenting with hapa zome (leaf printing), there was plenty to spark their imagination. They also enjoyed making clay tree faces, building dens, measuring natural materials, heading out on bug hunts and reading stories. It was fantastic to see such enthusiasm, cooperation, and connection with nature throughout the sessions and to have parents join the children in their play!
