A busy start to the new Pre-school year

We have welcomed lots of new children to pre-school in September and we have spent time getting to know them and their interests. 

Following their interests has we have made hedgehog bread rolls, lots of messy play with cloud dough, made play dough spiders, looked after our dolls with washing and bathing them, made dens and in the next week we are going to turn our home corner into a Bakery. We have written and posted letters in out post office and wrapped parcels, spent lots of time in the garden using our mud kitchen, bikes and scuttle bugs.

 

 

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Indian drumming a s'mores!!

Oshi's mum Surrinda came into Pre-school with her Indian drums this week, we had great fun singing nursery rhymes to the sound of the Indian drum. We also danced to some Indian Bollywood music!!

In Outdoor Adventures the children made s'mores with Jon, toasting marshmallows over the fire pit and squashing them between two chocolate biscuits -they were yummy!

Paddling pools and a vet visit

The children have had a very busy week with spending time cooling off in the paddling pool on Tuesday and Wednesday and a visit from Jo a vet at Bath Vet group. Jo brought with her Parker the surgery cat ( a toy) and showed the children how she would give a cat a health check and bandage his paw as he had hurt it. The children also looked at a model of a tick, flea and worm. Jo also brought wither her a surgical gown and hat along with a poster and activity pack for the children to take home.

Jon in Outdoor adventure's was looking at floating and sinking along with keeping cool in the shade!!

Getting to grips with writing our names

This week lots of the children have been practicing writing their names, this has happened through child initiated play with the children copying each other in trying out this new found skill for some and well practiced for others. Throughout the year we offer activities and experiences that build the children's muscles from their shoulders to their fingertips to be able to hold a pen and write recognisable letters. These activities include threading, painting, shaving foam play, throwing balls, painting with water on the paths and walls outside, using tweezers to pick up small objects and using the climbing frame.

The children have also played a number recognition game with fish and looked for Bugs in Outdoor Adventures.

Building muscles for writing workshop

On Tuesday we had our final parent and child workshop based on building muscles for writing. We had lots of activities to build large and small motor skills, from threading cooked spaghetti through the holes on a colander to making a rice bouncer from old tights and rice!! Lots of fun had by both parents and children. We had some great feed back; " I really enjoyed the range of activities on offer, and the ethos that mess is good!!", "spending time with my children and trying the activities", "The rice bouncer - a massive hit!" " I appreciate the work you put in to run them, thank you!"

Please have a look at our gallery for more photo's of our workshop morning.

Numbers...

This week the children have been exploring numbers in the environment - we played a game of matching quantity to number using a dice. Every day we count the number of boys and girls we have in our singing groups and then add the two numbers together. We have numbers at snack time to indicate how many pieces of toast, fruit or crackers that the children can take, encouraging both number recognition and matching quantity to number.

Garden Sandpit

We have been lucky enough to have a sand pit built in the garden. The children have had great time digging and building sandcastles. In outdoor adventures the children made prints on cotton from flowers that they found in the garden. Its been lovely to be out in the sunshine even if it has been a little chilly sometimes. we are looking forward to lots more time in the garden in the coming months.