This week outside we have been listening to the red hot chilli pipers and showing off some lovely highland dancing, choosing ways to move to the beat of the drums and bagpipes.

The children enjoyed some splatter paint using balls to burst the balloons to create some beautiful art.

They also enjoyed a trip to the woodlands to discover where paper comes from, making links with experiences in the malleable area of creating paper. The children explored the woods finding conkers, mushrooms and giant branches and various leaves. They discussed the different types of leaves they found through a scavenger hunt, talking about the different features, sizes and colours of the leaves.

This week in the malleable area the children have been exploring all things paper.They first engaged in a tactile sensory experience by including natural paper and wood based parts in their play dough creations. They continued their curiosity by making their own paper and learning about where it comes from and we had interesting discussions about habitats and sustainability.

What will happen if we keep cutting down trees?

“Oh,then there will be no more trees and the birds will need to live on the ground and the foxes will get them”-MM

“Talking about oxygen makes me take a big breath”-MM

What does the paper feel like

“Porridge and stuffing”

“I ripped a tiny bit”-CG

“The water is going through”-CG

“It feels mushy”-SC

“You need to chop the tree down to make paper”-LB

“It’s like rain”-RA (sieving)

This week in the discovery area the children continued their exploration of paper through creating their own origami.They had to follow the sequence of instructions and exercised their fine motor skills as they used precision in their folds.

MM “Origami means folding paper”

RB “I’m making a doggy it’s tricky”

OD “Its a star”

This week in the baking area we have been busy making cookies: chocolate and ginger; chocolate chip; and plain. There was lots of discussion and interest around the recipe, so next week we will be focusing on creating our own! We used lots of different skills as we explored measurement, using our muscles for different techniques and following instructions. Afterwards the children helped to tidy up, wiping down surfaces and washing the dishes. 

In the literacy area the children have been exploring technology through using the laptops. They have been identifying the difference between letters and numbers and have been using the keyboard to write their names .

The children were using their imagination during role play to make ice creams, smoothies, milk shakes and cones for the beach party. They used their gross motor skills to mix, stir, need the dough and transfer with various utensils into different containers.   They communicated with  each other about different flavours and textures (smooth, slippy, wet, dry and creamy)

In the garden the children had lots of fun during the foam party and playing in the paddling pool! We had the music on and enjoyed a little dance and sing with our friends. Finally, to top it all off we enjoyed some milkshakes and ice-cream for a special treat at snack time.

The interest in loom bands has continued to grow this week, the children have been creating necklaces, rings, and more difficult double band bracelets. It has been great to see more of the children doing this independently and they are now even better and faster than Mrs Taggart! They have also explored pattern following simple and more complex patterns like the rainbow, while singing the rainbow song

“Im going to make one for my little sister, I need the letters BFF that means best friends forever” – NM

“I am so good at this” – FM

“Green, Pink and purple comes next” MS

“Red and yellow and pink and green, orange and purple and blue oh and indigo and violet too” – MW

This week in the malleable area the children have been exploring some sensory play with ‘messy spaghetti.” They have been participating in number and letter hunts in the spaghetti. They have been developing their fine motor skills as they used the tongs to search for numbers. They were identifying initial sounds and differentiating between numbers and letters. They were also using descriptive language as they explored the texture.

“It feels slimey.”

“It is oily.”

“It looks like a wiggly worm.”

This week in the construction area the children have been making their builds on a big scale.The children utilised the resources to create their own obstacle course that spanned the whole length of the play room.The children exercised their gross motor skills as they climbed and balanced and created extra challenge as they used unusual objects. 

MM “ this bit is tricky cos you need to go around”

RM “i’m wobbly”

The children have also been constructing castles this week,complete with its own drawbridge and thrones. They engaged in imaginative play as they took the parts of;kings,Queens,dragons,and knights. They have shown an interest in some of the finer details of these structures and have been exploring; coat of arms,flags,and pennants. 

AE “The girls are queens and the boys can be kings”

       “It’s a magic castle because it can turn into a plane”

II “I’m a princess”

   “ Oh no the dragon is burning the castle down!”

DC “I’m going to be the knight,the knight fights the dragon”

AC “I’m going to be the dragon”

This week in the literacy area the children have been writing their own letters for people they love. We have talked about the different reasons we might write a letter and how they get delivered. The children enjoyed writing their own messages and deciding who they were going to give them to. We also discussed what we needed to include on the envelope, such as the person’s name, their address and a stamp. The children drew some lovely pictures and decided to add some extra touches, including love heart post it notes.

LM – “You write people’s names”, “I want to send a letter because he lives far away in     London and I miss him”, “they’re from the postman”

NM – “I’m choosing love heart stickers because I love Granny, she lives in Wick”, “if some of our family are far away we write letters to know what they’re doing every day”

GC – “It says Daddy, Mummy, and Gabby”

MM – “You need a stamp, “you need to write the number of the door”

RB – “Mine is for Mummy”

This week the children have shown a great interest in the strawberries in the garden and speaking about the lifestyle of the plants.  We picked some of the strawberries and decided to make our own jam. The children showed great chopping skills and made sure they kept safe while using a knife. The  children then enjoyed spreading the jam on top of  biscuits and ate them for snack. 

RM – “Seed soil and water to make it grow.”

SC – “I see a strawberry that is ready.”

RM – “Green ones are poisonous and not growing yet.” 

         “I’m cutting like my mummy.” 

DC – “We wash our hands so we don’t get germs.” 

This week in the construction area the children have been exploring environmental print and using this within their building. The children engaged in imaginative play and assumed different roles such as; customer,server,host,and chef.The children explored money as they exchanged it for food and receipts were given.There was lots of discussion around favourite foods and what is healthy and some of our favourite treats.

“McDonalds is a special treat we can’t have it everyday”-SS

“Your table 14, come right this way,”-ER

“Whats your order Miss Queenan, thats 11 dollars”-II

“Don’t forget your change”-EK

This area  was then repurposed into a hairdressers where the children took turns to be the client and the stylist.The children discussed styles,length,and colours and showed excellent turn taking.

WS “I want my hair dyed white and blue”

EK “Do you want a number one?”, “you need a blanket so the hair doesn’t get on you”

RM “I want it short,you need to cut more off”

This week at the sewing table, we have been making friendship bracelets. It has been so lovely to see the children helping and teaching others on how to make the bracelets as it can be a little tricky. 

In the sandpit, the children created an animal safari, many of the animals became sick and they created an animal hospital to make them better.

“He is sick with a disease and he has to have medicine” – IM

“That medicine tastes disgusting” “Well obviously it’s going to its for the animals” – FC/MW

“He has sun burn on his paws I need to put cream on this” – MW

“I think after this these two might get married” (The Lion and the Tiger) – OB

In the literacy area this week we have been focusing on our letter recognition. We have talked about the letters in our names and how they have a capital letter at the start. Some children were able to sort the letters into 2 piles – 1 capitals and the other lowercase. Other children were able to match the letters and place them in the correct order to form their names.

We also had a look at some magazines and tried to spot some capital letters in those. The children found so many and highlighted these to make them stand out. They also found some of the letters that are in their names and discussed the letters with each other.

  DC – “it’s a D”

  PZ – “This is my name, it’s a P’, “It’s a M for mummy”

AS – “Look it’s a capital E’

NM – “I made a mistake but all the rest are capitals except the L”

LB – “It’s the big one”

ER – “Is that a capital M?”

In the outdoors the children’s interest has been creating a ‘car wash,’ for the bikes. They have been working collaboratively with their peers to wash the bikes and they even decided to wash Miss Bashir’s car!

It has been another busy week in Crookfur Family Centre!In the garden we have been exploring the change of weather. We had lots of fun playing in the snow and investigating the ice. We decided to watch the process of water turning to ice by leaving some of our toys in a bucket of water and watching them freeze. We had to get tools to break them free! It was lots of fun 🙂

IC- ” It feels so hard. I can’t break it.”

Miss Queenan suggested that we could add some water to the ice which would make them melt.

AA- ” It is working, look.”

The children have also been busy this week making lots of Christmas decorations for the trees. They handled the knives safely when cutting the orange slices and then chose to decorate these with different colours of glitter after they dried in the oven. We were interested in how the smell of the oranges changed after they had dried!
We also made some homemade snow using a variety of ingredients. We loved exploring the different textures as we mixed them all together with our hands. Some children then rolled and manipulated the snow to make snowmen and some chose to make snow filled Christmas baubles for the tree. It was so much fun!

In the sewing area the children have had an interest is making their own teddy bears. They have been designing their creations and selecting materials to decorate their bears. They have  also been developing their fine motor skills as they carefully threaded the material together.

CB ” I want to make a bid teddybear so that I can cuddle it.”

MJ ” I want to use a button for the nose.”

In the art area the children have been exploring the work of the artist Ya Yoi Kusama . Through this they have explored elements of pattern and sequencing to create their on patterns on the pumpkins.

In the malleable area the children decided to make ‘ pumpkin soup.’  They created their own recipe cards and shared their ideas on what they would like to add to the soup. They developed many skills as the cut the fruit, used the grater and masher to get all the ingredients to make ‘slimey pumpkin soup!’

RB- ” We need to mix it all together.”

AC- ” I need to add some bats cause thats what my recipe says!”

MW- ” The soup smells nice, like oranges.”

Following on from the interest in making pumpkin soup in the malleable area, the children participated in sensory experiences in the garden. They explored the texture of the pumpkin and coloured spaghetti, learning lots of new sparkle words and also getting a little bit messy!

QF ” It feels a bit slimey!”

LM- ” i like the coloured spaghetti.”

AP- ” It looks like real worms.”

We have been exploring transient art in the creative area, creating different patterns and designs using the loose parts.

” I’ve made planets.”

“I’ve made a gymnastic place.”

“It’s Mr Tumble!”

“It’s a flower with a diamond, whole circle and a half circle.”

We have also been developing  our co-ordination,balance and gross motor skills by playing giant Twister! We have been exploring directional language and learning about left and right.

” I am good at balancing. look!”

” The blue is my favourite colour.”

“This is the right and this is the left.”