Learning focus at the moment
Babies This term has been super busy on the baby floor we have been exploring various holidays and celebrations: The babies celebrated Lunar new year Holi and valentines day! Valentines day was full of love and warmth we got stuck in among the creative media, creating some adorable love bug hats as well as making cards for the people we love and celebrate. We then got messy celebrating Holi, the babies used their artistic skills to do some large scale mark making on new and exciting materials investigating what we could do with powder paint exploring colour and light with their peers. Lunar New year also brought around lots of colour sparkle and light the babies once again put on their creative hats and got stuck in with lantern and dragon making. We had some brilliant themed days this term full of enthusiasm and engaging activities for the little ones: We explored world jungle day dressing up as our favourite wild animals as well as looking at jungle themed stories and rhymes alongside our animal puppets. A favourite across the whole nursery was pancake day the babies enjoyed some delicious homemade pancakes from our nursery chef. We made our own playdough and used it to role play pancake flipping this was brilliant for the children's gross motor skills in their arms encouraging different grips and grasps while encouraging imagination. The babies got their construction hats on to explore construction and we used pipe cleaners, playdough, wooden blocks and heuristic play objects to create our very own structures. We recently enjoyed celebrating World Book Day, the babies looked adorable all stops were pulled out this year and we had some amazing characters leap off the pages and come to nursery. We enjoyed a range of activities such as ‘The tiger who came to tea’ role play table and ‘The hungry caterpillar’ story time with puppets. Toddlers This term, our toddlers have been deeply engaged in learning about the natural environment. Through bug hunts, nature walks, and observing signs of spring, they have been developing their observation skills, curiosity, and understanding of the world around them. Children have been excited to notice changes in plants, spot insects, and explore different textures, fostering their scientific thinking and problem-solving abilities in a hands-on way. Alongside this, the toddlers have participated in a variety of cultural and seasonal events. They have learned about Lunar New Year, Ramadan, and World Book Day, using these opportunities to explore creativity and imagination. Through puppet play, storytelling, and role play, children have been able to express their ideas, develop language skills, and practise working collaboratively with peers, building confidence and communication skills in a fun and meaningful way. A key focus this term has also been on independence and self-help skills. Children have been practicing self-serving at meal times, helping to set up and tidy away, and dressing and undressing for outdoor play. This focus has had a positive impact on their confidence and sense of responsibility, helping them feel capable and proud of their achievements while supporting the development of fine motor skills, coordination, and self-care abilities. Overall, this term has provided toddlers with a rich variety of learning experiences that promote curiosity, independence, creativity, and social-emotional development, helping them grow in confidence and prepare for the next stage of their learning journey. Preschool This term has been a busy and exciting one in preschool, full of learning, discovery and fun. The children have explored different cultures and celebrations from around the world, learning about festivals such as Lunar New Year, Ramadan and Holi. Through stories, conversations and creative activities, the children showed great curiosity about how people celebrate special moments in different cultures. We have also been developing our mathematical thinking through lots of playful activities. The children enjoyed counting natural resources, playing dice games and matching numbers to quantities. These games supported their early counting skills, turn taking and problem solving while making learning fun and interactive. As the season began to change, the children became very interested in the nature around us. During outdoor play they noticed and listened to the birds in our garden and loved searching for them, sharing their observations and talking about what they could hear and see. During Mental Health Week we focused on looking after our wellbeing. We talked about the importance of eating well, sleeping well and understanding our emotions. A favourite activity this term was our positive affirmation circle time, where the children chose cards that expressed how they were feeling, such as “I am brave”, “I am ready to learn” and “I am kind”. This helped the children build confidence and talk about their feelings. We also had lots of fun celebrating World Book Day. The children enjoyed dressing up, exploring stories and role playing their favourite characters, especially those from Julia Donaldson books. Storytelling and imaginative play have been a big part of our learning. Another activity the children loved was searching for letters on recycled food packaging. They were especially excited to find the letters in their own names, which supported their early literacy skills and curiosity about letters and sounds. It has been a wonderful term and we are very proud of the children’s enthusiasm, kindness and growing confidence. Thank you to all families for your continued support.
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