There have been more additions to the mud kitchen this week, as a mobile “cooker” has been sourced.  The children worked well together as they sourced the ingredients, decided on the “recipe”, then made sure the “lobster soup” was cooked properly before agreeing an appropriate charge.   £4.90 a cup was the final price.  They then wrote up their menu for the day on the blackboard.  Some prices were more expensive than others.

There have also been some more sea life related resources added to the environment.  A large fishing net was considered essential for the garden, by one enthusiastic fisherman in the making.  Again, the adults were able to respond to this request and brought in a wonderful clean fishing net.  This has not only provided a lot of role playing opportunities for catching “fish”, but also provided opportunities for obstacle courses with other loose parts in the garden.  Children have been testing their jumping skills as well as going under the net, over the net, bouncing and climbing.  These opportunities to build gross motor skills also supports what comes next with the fine motor skills.

We have also been exploring the large hollow blocks to make obstacle courses inside too.  With such a variety of construction opportunities in the nursery, the children are never short of ideas. These blocks are great for being creative, making role play areas, supporting gross motor skills, fine motor skills, turn taking and co-operation.

Vaila has been giving some golf lessons this week in the nursery.  The children were really engaged, and very able to work co-operatively taking turns with the “clubs” after a few practice shots.  They were considerate of others by replacing the ball for the next person, giving enough space for the swing and congratulating their friends on their good shots at the target.

There have been lots of play outdoors this week, long may the better weather continue for exploring, playing, learning and socialising outdoors.

As our transition experiences continue, we have again been able to have our transitioning children spend time building up their Primary 1 experiences.  This week parents/carers were able to drop off children at the start of the school day.  They were then able to go into primary 1 to play in the space and meet Mrs Anderson.  This will be similar to their starting experience after the holidays, so hopefully be more familiar and less daunting.   Again the canteen routines have been explored, as has the Primary 1 playground area.  The buddies have been keeping in touch with their paired nursery child/children too.

Finally, in the nursery we have been pretending we are in Primary 1 already with some short together time “lessons”.

It has been such a busy week! Lee has been helping us learn some more sign language, we have put up some new mirrors in the environment, been very careful with our cutting and been independent with our pouring and clearing plates at mealtimes.  We have had such a lot of fun with our learning this week and even managed to celebrate a birthday.

Please remember that next Friday, the nursery and school will be closed for an occasional holiday.

Have a super weekend everyone!