Our chicks have arrived:) So far out of our 12 eggs we have 10 beautiful little chicks. The children are loving the experience and all being very gentle and responsible.

We have been learning about all kinds of creatures this week, from mini beasts in our garden to the largest safari animals from the jungle. We are very much looking forward to meeting the chicks, hopefully next week, and have been learning all about the life cycle of a Hen.

With the slightly warmer weather we have even managed to eventually plant our potatoes in our new vegetable planters, so hopefully we will have a bumper crop of tatties by Harvest time! Our fire pit has drawn some attention this week as we have been discussing how we can make fire…what we can cook on fire and most importantly…how we will stay safe we really do light the fire!

Despite the changeable weather we have made it outdoors for lots of play this week and there has been plenty of creative play using our crates, reels and tyres and lots of messy and muddy play at our mud kitchen. Our garden has developed lots of lovely big puddles too, so please remember to send your child to nursery in wellies and clothes that you don’t mind getting a bit mucky…… as learning can get messy!!!

Alfred Alligator has been teaching the boys and girls about being kind and helpful at nursery, using gentle hands and kind words can make our friends happy. We know we can help our friends in lots of ways, by sharing, including them in our games, helping to tidy away our toys and following instructions, just like Alfred!

There is a buzz of eggscitement around the nursery this week with the arrival of our eggs and incubator. We have been talking about how to keep them safe and look after them whilst they are in our care. We shall be counting down the days until they begin to hatch and starting to think about names we would like to give our chicks.

So there have been some chick songs and lots of chick related crafts this week as we prepare to meet our feathery friends!

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/west-lothian-nursery-awarded-green-7828909#rZygCGCXEwJFeF2M.97

Take a look at this article celebrating the nursery’s recent Eco success. The boys and girls are delighted to have been awarded the Green Flag status.

The sun has come out and it’s finally feeling like Spring time! At nursery we have been embracing the Spring feeling and have been developing our writing skills using words from our blossoming Spring tree…

The sun has inspired us to get busy in the Rainbow room where some of us have replicated Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ through painting or collage. What do you think of our Sunflowers?

With the sunshine out we have made the most of outdoor play this week and our outdoor ‘room’ is being set back up after a cold and wet winter. Take a wee look at just some of the things we have been discovering outdoors…. from water play to diggers, mud kitchen to dens, drawing to weaving, we have been investigating and creative in our play.

Please find attached a copy of the topic note for our new topic ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ which begins on Monday 25th April.

All creatures great and small topic note

It was Easter madness at Bathgate West Nursery today when the Easter bunny made a surprise visit! He was very ‘hoppy’ to see all the boys and girls today and even took them on an Easter parade… but with all his hopping, he lost his Easter eggs. Luckily the boys and girls went on an Easter Egg hunt and saved the day by finding all of the Easter eggs! So the Easter bunny went home very happy and tired but left an Easter treat for all of the children.

It has been a very busy term at the nursery and we hope that you all have a fun, safe and happy Easter holidays. We look forward to seeing you all back for our final summer term in a couple of weeks.

With Spring in the air we have been getting ready for Easter. Some children have been painting daffodils and spring flowers to brighten up our displays. Visit our rainbow room to see some of their lovely artwork.

The children have been working hard as they have been Spring cleaning the house corner…

We have also been getting ready for our Easter celebrations this week by tucking into some lovely hot cross buns at snack, making our own Easter nest cakes and also creating our Bonnets for the Easter Parade on Thursday. We are hoping that a special visitor hops along to make a surprise appearance too…..