Category: Latest News

We would like to help you out by providing you with a list of websites where you can access fun games, fun learning and fun activities to do at home with your children.

Please stay safe everyone and hopefully see you all soon!

 

Maths, Literacy, Health and Well-Being – lots of fun games and puzzles:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/

Have a look at what is happening on Mars:

http://accessmars.withgoogle.com/

Lots of ideas for indoor activities:

https://busytoddler.com/2020/03/indoor-activities/

Play and learn with your favourite show characters:

https://pbskids.org/

Lots of good numeracy activities and games:

https://www.funbrain.com/

Develop your phonics skills:

https://www.starfall.com/h/

Play games with Dr Seuss:

https://www.seussville.com/

Free printable games:

https://www.123homeschool4me.com/home-school-free-printables/

Lots of stories read by celebrities:

https://www.storylineonline.net/

Fun games, recipes, crafts and activities:

https://www.highlightskids.com/

Learn in a fun way with Sesame Street:

https://www.sesamestreet.org/

Lots of fun and interesting games with National Geographic:

https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/

Learn about the sky and space in a fun way:

https://www.almanac.com/kids

And remember there are lots of great ideas on Pinterest! Why don’t you make your own scavenger hunt with stickers around your house, make your own playdough, make a den, document your day by drawing pictures, take lots of pictures, read stories and discuss your favourite characters, make masks, create a colour-matching game with pom-poms, bake… There are lots of things to do! And remember to tell us all about it when we see you! Stay safe and have fun!

 

Here are some of the You tube dances that we do in ELCC. Just some ideas for your children to help keep them active and engaged.

Our favourite penguin dance:

Gummy bear dance:

Pirate Just Dance:

 

Jack Hartmann – a variety of different dances, songs including counting and themed.

Stay safe and have fun!

 

We have recently been talking about the Moon! About its shape, colour and where and when we can see it…

L: “You can only see it at night time.”
A: “You can’t see it during the day because the Sun is too bright.”
P: “Sometimes the moon is just a half of circle.”
M: “Last night I saw the moon out of my window and it was big and very bright!”

We decided to make our own moon! For that we used paper mache. First, we had to learn all about it – what it is and what ingredients we need. We’ve found out that it’s simply just water and flour. We made our mixture, tore newspaper into long straps and started sticking the straps onto a balloon by dipping the paper into the paper mache mixture.

L: “You need to wipe it off before sticking it on!”
R: “Wet!”
A: “It looks like porridge!”
L: “It’s very sticky!”
P: “Is it going to be harder tomorrow?”

The next day we checked on our moon and it became very hard overnight! We decided to paint it white and grey – just like on a picture in our space book.
Making the moon has sparked a lot of conversation about space, planets and the stars. We even decided to make our own sun – you can see it in our creative zone!

Since we got our own stage in one of the playrooms, we have been super busy performing, singing and dancing for others to watch. So today, we decided to go on a little adventure and visit a place with a real stage! We are so lucky to have Paisley Art Centre in our local community where we can experience a real stage and performances.

Emma, the technician, very kindly told us all about different lighting used for shows and performances – we even got a chance to change them all by ourselves! We have learned that there are some blue lights, green lights and even red lights, too! It all depends on the kind of show that is on.

B: “There was a blue light for when you’re under the water!”
P: “The green light was for the forest.”
M: “Was the red light for a house?”
R: “Look, I’ve made your face look blue!”

We were super excited to have a go on a real stage. We decided to get together and sing “Row your boat”. WOW, what an experience that was! We hope for a bigger audience next time ;).

We have also noticed that there were lots and lots of seats…

R: “That’s for where the people sit.”
P: “For them to watch the show.”

We noticed the pattern of the sitting – the chairs went up the way so everyone could see the stage.

We had lots of fun exploring Paisley Art Centre and having such a great opportunity to perform on a real stage! Emma even let us have a peek in the dressing room. There were lots of mirrors and lights because that’s where the actors get ready! But shh.. Don’t tell anybody, it’s our secret ;).

L: “I’ve been on that stage, you know. At Christmas when it was Pantomime time.”
R: “I was on a real stage!”
R: “I’ve been to a show before. People on the stage were all dressed up.”

We would like to say a very big thank you to the Paisley Art Centre team and to Emma to letting us explore the stage and teaching us all about lights. Thank you!

PS. We are sorry that the pictures are a little blurry but we just had too much fun and couldn’t stay still for long 😉

Today we decided to get messy and explore shaving foam! We discussed its texture, smell and colour. We had a lot of great discussions going around…

P: “It smells like my daddy.”
L: “It’s so soft like a cloud!”
A: “It’s turning watery when you play with it.”
A: “It’s white!”

WOW – lots of great descriptive words! We decided to make our messy play even better and added our Orbeez (water beads) into the shaving foam! We put the Orbeez in the water a few days ago and they grew huge! Just in time for us to hide them in the shaving foam!

P: “They’re so slippery, it’s hard to pick them up!”
G: “I’m going to pick them off of the floor!”
R: “Look, I’ve squished one!”
B: “Are they hiding in the shaving foam?”

During our sensory play, we used our senses: touch, sight, smell… some of the children were brave enough to use their taste sense, too! We did discuss the fact that shaving foam is not safe for our tummies and we definitely shouldn’t be eating it! We were just being adventurous 😉

 

The boys and girls have been getting their groove on and performing fantastic shows! We have got a new exciting area for ours shows… a new stage! We have been exploring our instruments and different sounds they make. We have been using our amazing imagination to sing songs, act out stories and perform. We have been loving our own wee orchestra and all of the music the boys and girls have been making. There has even been talk about establishing a band… Keep your eyes (and ears!) peeled!

E: “I want to be the lead singer.”
L: “I am rock n’ rolling!”
L: “WOW I love the stage!”
A: “Look at me playing the piano”
A: “Do you want to see our show?”

Fantastic! We have been learning about the different sounds instruments make, different roles in a band and great sharing and turn taking skills when having a go on our stage. We love it!

A very big thank you to Ruby’s mum who helped us run the library today! We really appreciate your help and can’t wait to have you back next week!

If you would like to help us with the weekly library, please speak to Ania or Vicky for all of the information.

See you soon!

Last week, we had lots of conversations about Valentine’s Day and what it means to love somebody…

L: “It’s when you get married, it means you love the other person.”
P: “I love my friend, so I’m going to hug her.”
K: “It’s when you give kisses.”
A: “I love you!”

Some of the boys and girls have shared that love means giving each other love hearts. We talked about the shape, colour and different sizes of heart. We wanted to make our own love hearts for our mummies and daddies to show them how much we loved them! We decided to make them a little bit differently… So we used paint and a salad spinner!

E: “Do you need to spin it very fast?”
A: “Faster, faster!”
L: “I think the colours will mix together.”
L: “I wonder what will happen if we add glitter to the paint.”

The children have been taking lots of interest in chopping the real vegetables and bread. They are learning to chop and slice. This aids the development of fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

They are using some of the knives which are specially designed for children to use in food preparation.

Look at us – we are all very busy in these photographs!