Oakburn Early years centre

A few of our little Acorns were observed exploring the Rotational Schema. “Schemas are behaviours that children go through when they are exploring the world and trying to find out how things work” ( https://education.gov.scot/media/uv5i1ba3/schematicplaymar21.pptx ) please have a look at the website attached for more Schematic play information.

. The Rotational Schema is an interest in objects that turn.

The children watched the washing machine on a cycle. We provide resources for them to roll, like balls in paint, cars on the ramps and water cogs. We provided wind mills, bikes and balls for outdoors. The children were keen to make marks with the rollers in the play-dough we made, a child made a “ball” then “roll, roll, roll” (rolled it). The children were observed making “mud cakes” in our mud kitchen, a few children chose to make cakes mixing and measuring.

Our little Acorns were showing an interest in nursery rhymes. The children were keen to learn the actions to familiar songs. The children painted a box and created their own bus to sit in while we sang the “Wheels on the bus”.

This week in the courtyard, the children have been taking part in a variety of mark making activities. The children showed an interest in dinosaurs, so together we treated a dinosaur world for them to explore. The children used the sand tray to stamp the dinosaurs footprints and draw using their fingers, brushes and wooden sticks. One child said, “look I did my one” when he copied the first letter of his name in the sand.

 

As the children enjoyed transported the sand to the larger tray, we created a larger version of our dinosaur world and introduced sand cards for the children to copy patterns and shapes. Some children sprinkled the flour and said “it’s like snow!”

Following the children’s interest in the snow, we made cloud dough using cornflour and conditioner. The children measured the ingredients using scoops and mixed then together until they were happy with the texture. Some children chose to make snow balls by pressing the dough in their hands. We used the sand cards to explore more shapes and patterns which the dream copied on the tray.

We have been listening and preforming dramatic re-enactments of Goldilocks and the 3 bears! Using different sized bowls, chairs and beds. Then making the bears porridge in the mud kitchen. We were also writing the words we were using to describe what we were doing in the mud kitchen.

This week we have been exploring fire and fire safety. We looked at what colour we could see in a fire by making our own fire pictures. We then went on to discus the importance being safe around fire as we can burn ourselves. We experimented with different ways firemen and woman put out fires by using water and foam.

In the 3-5 room, the children have had a great interest in exploring animal habitats.🦈🐅🦒. The children help collect resources that looked similar to where animals live. The sand was for the lions and tigers, we had a tree with grass and bark for the swinging moneys. The children thought this experience was so much fun and we continued to explore this all week, the children were doing the animal sounds and even fed the shark to the tiger….🐅🦈

One child said, is tiger is so big, so we explored the animals paw prints.🦁 The children were speaking about the animals feet being large, small, tiny and very big. The children were dipping the paws into the paint trays and placing the law prints all over the paper, the children explored this mark making experience and learning about various sizes of animals foot prints.🐾🦥

Following in the Interest of animal habitats and animal foot prints, we were speaking and looking at the different patterns on the animals skins and had an animal and print matching experience. The children noticed tigers had black stripes and matched the stripes to the animals and another child noticed the penguin was black and white so found the black and white pattern next to the penguin. The children were exploring using colour recognition and pattern matching.🐡🦓

This week in the discovery area we have been doing lots on spaceships.  We’ve made our own planets, made name rockets and have been building rockets out of 3D shapes. The stories we have been reading to relate to space are one button benny by Alan Windram, Astronaut in training by Catherine Ard and Aliens love underpants by Claire Freedman which the children especially loved.

 

In the STEM area we have been using magnifying glasses and a microscope to discover what we can see. The children have really developed their understanding of our senses particularly our sight.

 

This week whilst out in the garden, we have been developing our problem solving skills as we were using pipes and tubes in the garden to make a run for the water to go around. We developed our curiosity as we explored how the rain water would move through the different tubes and pipes.

Whilst out in the garden, the children showed an interest in the mud and used the mud to mark make with. The children used paint brushes and mud to make marks on the paper. Some of the children were even able to mark make their first names.

This week in the courtyard we have been very busy talking about our families 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦. We have been having some lovely discussions about who lives with us and have been making our own little houses and families out of lollipop sticks 🏡. The children have been loving telling us all about their families and pets ❤️. During this activity, the children have had the opportunity to develop their fine motor skills and work on their pencil grip ✏️ .

The children have also been using paper plates and different materials to make self portraits. It has been lovely to see all the different things we have been making and his creative all of our children are 🎨!

Since we have been talking about families, the children have also been learning the Makaton signs for mum, dad, brother and sister. ❤️

Our little acorns have had another very busy week.

Some children have took a keen interest in numbers, practicing our counting and fine motor skills hunting in the felt. Staff will continue to encourage this through everyday provocations!

Others have been very busy builders this week. We have built many castles and towers, some even taller than ourselves! Can you build any towers at home?

“Old MadDonald” is a huge hit in the acorn room! We set up a small farm area where the children encouraged conversations between peers, role play and even recognising  many different animal sounds!

Hope you all have a great weekend ☺️!

Alice, Elaine and Leonie! X

This week the children have been designing our alphabet wall. They have using different materials to create all the letters.  We have also been sign the alphabet song 🎼🎤

The children have also been doing some experimenting with different ingredients to make a volcano eruption. The children have been measuring the ingredients out and reading the instructions. 🌋🌋