Who knew pumpkins were so versatile?

They are a great resource in the Nursery to improve fine motor skills; from using hammers and knives, drawing circles and lines, practicing pincer grips – using tweezers. They didn’t go to waste either. Vegetable soup was made and devoured. This kept the children curious and engaged. 

We have been reading lots of core books in the Nursery. These are books specifically for Nursery children that contain lots of repetitive language and repeated refrains. The children learn these books by heart and then ‘read’ them on their own, aloud to others or pretend to be the teacher. They have also been retelling the stories and acting them out.

It is a great way to get children into books and reading. I have managed to capture a few photos of them reading and ‘going on a bear hunt!’

What a fabulous start to Nursery!

All the children have now arrived and settled in very well. The children have had tremendous fun exploring the setting and getting to know each other. They have been very busy. 

How cute are these chicks? The Nursery were lucky enough to have a visit from these little babies. They watched them eat, drink, walk and sleep – in their food! They were very funny. All the children got to hold

or stroke them. They had to be very gentle as they were so tiny. ‘They’re so fluffy!’ A few of them tried to fly away but they noticed their wings were still too small to fly.

After the visit, the children got to look at the photos and do some mark making.

Shiver Me Timbers! Nursery were

under attack this week from Pirates. The children made maps and drew crosses EVERYWHERE for the Pirates to dig. The treasure was found and worn. They loved using their imagination playing with the small world. The children read lots of books and sang some ‘Sea Shanties.’ The children made their own eye patches and hats: they had to draw the shape, cut it out, use a hole-punch to make the holes and then thread the string through. (We helped to tie them!) They also made boats to sail across the Seven Seas, using sticks, felt and plasticine. They had great fun around this topic and I have a feeling we might be seeing Pirates again soon in the Nursery!

The Nursery children have been busy planting seeds this week. We will watch them grow into little seedlings and then plant them in our garden. In the coming weeks we will be planting more flowers, herbs and vegetables. We will watch them grow and measure them using different methods. 

We found a basket full of socks that were in a complete muddle. The children helped to sort them into pairs. They did a great job – they can all help you at home. They really got the hang of using the pegs. 

Now the nice weather has arrived we have been able to have lots of water-based activities outside.

The children have loved exploring the coloured water and watching what happens when two colours are mixed together. They added fruit teabags to the water and watched as it turned red. They have poured, stirred, mixed, squeezed and pinched. They have used lots of one handed tools and had to be very careful when moving full teapots and goblets of water. They have had to share and wait their turn. They have pretended that the water is something else: potions, tea, soup, medicine. Lots of language is being used and most importantly they have had lots of fun!

This week the Nursery children found a snail. They decided to make a home for it so they cut some leaves and grass using scissors, and put in some old apple cores. Mrs Power found a book about a snail called ‘The Snail Trail’ by Ruth Brown. It is about the journey of a snail. The children watched the snail they had found very closely and used lots of prepositional language to describe the journey. The snail kept escaping from it’s home and even made its way onto the side of a drum! At the end of the session the children put the snail very carefully back into its habitat.

The Nursery children made their own play dough. They had to mix flour, salt and water together. They had to make sure they didn’t use too much water. The children used pipettes and turkey basters to suck up the water. It was tricky but they persevered.  It did get a bit messy but they had great fun!