When arriving at nursery the children of Bradley House were excited to tell the staff all about the changes that happened over night, they went to bed as normal and woke up to a soft white blanket of snow covering the ground. We donned our outdoor overalls and put on our hats and gloves ready to explore our natural winter wonderland in the garden and have lots of fun in the snow. The children across all rooms braved the cold to explore the different qualities snow has to offer and from this sensory exploration the children gained a whole load of developmental benefits whilst having fun.
The babies explored the sensory exploration of a new texture, feeling the soft and delicate snow between their fingers as the staff promoted descriptive buzz words to enhance the children’s vocabulary. We brought some snow inside to further explore the textures by adding shaving foam and creating a small world artic tough tray to further enhance the experience for the babies. From exploring texture and playing with the polar bears the babies had an exciting day.
Our toddlers had lots of fun utilizing the snow to exercise their gross motor skills. They practiced rolling the snow as they made snowmen and built relationships as they worked together to make the snowman bigger. The children also enjoyed exploring in the snow as they nudged branches to watch the snow fall, made snow angels and even had a snowball fight with the staff. Physical activity plays a major role in children emotional and mental health, as well as keeping them healthy in their early years. The experience of snow provided the toddlers with a new and exciting opportunity to develop these key skills and demonstrate what they are physically capable of.
As well as exploring and playing in the snow our preschool children took an educational approach looking at the snow more closely and observing the changes throughout the day. We brought some snow inside so the children could observe how the snow changes throughout the day and witness the changes in state as the snow melted away to water. The children were discussing the changes in the environment and the preschool teachers extended the topic to discuss animals that live in the snow. We took the opportunity to create an artic small world tough tray and began to talk about the different animals that live in the snow. As the snow began to melt the children became concerned, with this the staff circulated the learning back to our eco schools project and explained the work we do to save the environment will help keep the snow for the animals that need it.
There is SNOW better way to spend the day!
