On Monday we had some lemons, potatoes and carrots in the home area. “I want to make lemon juice” said Leo. This sparked the question of how can we make lemon juice? What do we need? We discussed this and decided to gather our knifes and chopping boards. The children enjoyed discovering how to break through the skin of the lemon and squeeze the juice out. “Can we make orange juice too?” Sonny asked? We compared the two fruits and how much juice came from them. There was lots of discovering how to cut, what way is best to open the fruit up and get the juice out. This interest has continued and we now have a cutting station in the home area to further develop the children’s understanding about fruit and vegetables.

 “Squeeze”  “Its spicy”-Jazmin  “This is hard”- Kalyn

 “I can do it!”-Leo

“Squeeze! This has loads of juice”-Tilly

“The orange is more because the orange is bigger than the lemon”- Sonny

Could all returning children please return their book bag to nursery, we are in the process of setting up our new bags for the lending library and have a few unaccounted for. Thanks.

Our fantastic parent helper, David, has made us a great new den using old pallets! The children have enjoyed exploring the new space and have already started decorating it! We are looking forward to painting it and using it in all weathers. This helps our Green Flag Eco Action plan, reducing, reusing and recycling! If you have access to materials you think the nursery could use please speak with Miss Reid or Miss Robertson.

Some children visited our elderly neighbours this morning at Carron Court. They enjoyed, singing, dancing and reading stories with the residents there. The children enjoyed their time out and about in the community. Regular visits to Carron court will help build relationships with the elderly and help the children learn more about past traditions.

“We had an adventure”- Luca

“We met old people, we sang them songs and read them books”- Sophie

Cora asked a friendly gentleman if he would like to come visit our nursery after hearing he had never been in a nursery before!

“We seen Grannies and Grampa’s, we had a drink and sang songs and read stories”- Cora

We are looking forward to going back to see our new friends next month.

“I think we can go there again!”- Cora

Lisa our dental nurse visited last week and set up our new brush buses! Your child will get the opportunity to brush their teeth in nursery which is recommended alongside morning and night time brushing at home.

Here are some great brushers so far this week!

Reusing old furniture to give it a new life in Nursery! The children are enjoying a renovation project with the help from Sonia, Martha’s Mum. On Tuesday the children helped to sand down this wooden shelving unit prompting discussions about what colour we can make it and how to keep ourselves safe whilst sanding it down. Following the children’s discussions about colour Miss Reid purchased some different coloured paints for the children to help create a wonderful new unit for our home area. Keep your eyes peeled for the finished product coming soon!

This activity helps the children better understand how to reduce, reuse and recycle to help develop an understanding about looking after the world around them. It links to our Green Flag action plan as do many of our recent activities.

Following our walk last week where some children discovered a marking in a tree which they discussed and decided that was where a Fairy lived, the Fairies must have been listening in and have decided to set up home in our nursery!

This surprise set up has prompted lots of discussions about Fairies, where they live and their magical ways.

The children helped to make a house with natural materials they collected themselves.

The nursery as always are on the hunt for donations of the following:

Clean lids of all shapes and sizes, milk bottle tops, jar lids, baby food pouch lids and every other lid possible which can be used for a variety of arts and crafts and learning!

Clean old kitchen pots, pans, utensils and a metal clothes drier, to help create music outdoors.

Kitchen roll tubes from home and your friends and families homes, the more the better.

If you have of the above or anything else you think we might get use from please don’t hesitate to hand it in. Thanks for all your donations so far!

There has been lots of learning happening this week in nursery with lots of different interests.

The children’s interest continues to be in risky play and self assessing risks. We have helped them further develop these skills by bringing in the tool bench and developing a real tool area within the rainbow room.

The children in the snack room noticed there were some vegetables on display. This sparked an interesting discussion about where food comes from. Miss Reid is going to make vegetable soup next week using some of the vegetables from our garden to further develop the children’s knowledge about growing our own.

Outdoors the children have been creative, using natural materials in the garden environment to create their artwork.

They have been responsible in looking after the garden flowers.

Our new loose parts area is proving very popular, there have been many creations build. Here are some pictures of a horse someone built, including the saddle, tail and reins.

There has been lots of building and climbing using a selection of different materials. Our new tyres have been a great addition! Thanks again Cameron’s Mum!

We look forward to next weeks developments.

Last week the children were looking for leaves to use in the nursery mud kitchen and gluing area. Yesterday they took a walk to the local park and forest area to explore our local environment and see if they could spot any signs of Autumn.

 “Look a leaf”-Sonny  “I found a stick”-Bethany

“The tree feels soft” The children found moss growing over the tree and talked about textures.

Whats taller, the stick or the tree?

The children found a shape in the tree that looked like a door. “That’s where the Faries live”-Tilly.

When the children returned to nursery they brought their bag of leaves, sticks and a few conkers they had found. We looked at the pictures on the big screen and discussed their experience. This gave the children who didn’t attend the walk an opportunity to listen, discuss and revisit their learning from home or from their previous year at nursery.