OakburnEYC
In the garden this week we have been playing in the mud kitchen and making mud paint! 
We have also been looking at the different sizes of bubbles and matching the colours to the Doc McStuffins book called “Bubble Trouble”. We have been having lots of fun chasing them in the wind.
The children have also been interest in a lemon smelling hand sanitiser, this sparked conversations about smells. We introduced some citrus fruits for the children to smell, however many children wanted to taste them, so we had a tasting session for the children to try some lemons, limes and oranges, we had some great describing words come out of our tasting sessions and some very funny reactions.
This week the children have been continuing to develop their fine motor and self-help skills by practicing slicing and grating fruit. 🍊🍌The children risk assessed using the knife and grater, agreeing to hold the handle and “keep our fingers away from the sharp bit”. We discussed the need for good hygiene when preparing food, with one child saying, “we need to wash our hands or else we could get a sore tummy”. They were then able to prepare fruit for the 3-5’s snack, using their numeracy skills to count the number of slices they were cutting. Well done boys and girls 👏
They children have been showing an interest in singing songs and following the actions to the songs. Some children have been keen to hide in our tent and behind our colourful scarfs.
One child said “see the fishy’s”; staff set up our water tray and provided sea animals as our provocation. A few children were showing an interest in our home area and mud kitchen. We provided resources that developed their curiosity. Another child was in the mud kitchen” making cakes”. We then provided a baking experience.
Garden blog
Exploring insects have been the main focus in the garden this week. Looking for different types of bugs in different places and identifying them. We pressed toy bugs into clay to explore the insects in more depth and detail.
We have been planting more seeds in the garden! Putting soil in pots and sprinkling carrot seeds on top, we decided to bring them inside to grow at the moment but will plant them in our allotment once they germinate.
This week the children have been working on counting up to ten and sorting colours into groups using different resources. Children have been been practicing their fine motor skills also using tweezers to pick up different sized items. 
Some hard work has been going on in Oakburn’s garden. We have been planting potatoes in our planters and pretty flowers in pots, whilst discussing what plants need to grow. We are excited to plant lots more in the garden! 
The children have also been exploring woodwork tools and completing their own risk assessment. We used our fine motor skills to saw legs off a table and screw into apples. Soon we will be deconstructing different electrical items!
The children have been continuing to explore our different areas within our Acorn room and we have welcomed a few new friends to our Acorn room. The children have been using arts to continue their learning of colours. We have used dinosaurs through out the week from reading a story called ‘How to wash your little dinosaur’ which led to having dinosaurs in the water tray for children to wash and also painting using dinosaurs footprints.
During one of our group times the children explored musical instruments, peek-a-boo (using blankets and our tunnel). 
Our Acorn room children have been focusing on developing positive relationships with their key workers and peers, ensuring all children feel nurtured, cared for, secure, safe and loved within our environment. We are supporting the children with the change in their routine and encouraging them to explore/engage in what our centre has to offer them.
Activities the children have chose to participate in and show enjoyment in are:
Water play, painting, shaving foam, play-dough, puzzles, running, exploring our courtyard , peek-a-boo in the tunnel, exploring our village, garden, bubbles, role play in our home area.
The children have been engaged in our excellent resources within our centre like our dinosaurs, cars, diggers, dolls and fruit.
Most children are choosing to participate in group time. This is a short period of time where we come together to read a story and sing songs.
Child’s voice-
Here is a comment from one of our little Acorns-
R.T-“nice and good and happy, house corner in the kitchen”.
It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know our little Acorns and their families. We have been delighted with the feedback on their e.journals, it is an absolute pleasure
Alice, Elaine and Leonie
Hello,
We have been very busy this week in our courtyard, we have continued using the block play to incorporate numeracy. Children have been creating ramps and watching to see where the car will stop, we then identify the number. This week we have added a recording chart where we are documenting how many cars land on which number.
Superhero masks
We have also been exploring superhero’s and children have explored the different traits that can come with having superpowers. Children have had a keen interest in the masks, children have now been creating there own mask, we have been developing our fine motor control with scissors.
Fruit and veg
We have been exploring all our senses with different types of fruit and vegetables this week. The children expanded their vocabulary describing the textures such as “jaggy”, “squishy”, and “bumpy”, and had the opportunity to smell and taste some of the fruits. They then developed their fine motor skills through cutting, snapping and squashing the fruit and veg using a variety of tools. The children risk assessed the activity, learning how to cut safely using a knife.
