What a fantastic month the children have had exploring the Autumnal outdoor environments. The children have been busy in the garden exploring the mud kitchen, using our pots and pans to create autumn recipes. They have been fascinated to see the leaves changing colour and looking at the spider webs within the forest and the gardens.
All of our settings have also been exploring seasonal sensory trays which have included cinnamon sticks, orange slices and scented pinecones. They have also been getting ready for Halloween and making lots of their own decorations, such as painting pumpkins and making bats.
Our babies have enjoyed listening to and joining in with their favourite nursery rhymes and learning some new ones too. These include “Five little ducks” and “Incy Wincy Spider”.
The babies have also explored sensory activities which have supported and developed their fine motor skills, using their hands and fingers to pick up the objects within the activities. Great fun was also had conker rolling in the paint to create tracks, pinecone printing, cinnamon playdough, and a range of other sensory trays.
Physical Development
Literacy
Copy finger movements and other gestures
Enjoy sharing books with an adult
Mathematics
Take part in finger rhymes and numbers
Communication and language
Copy your gestures or words
Understanding the world
Explore materials with different properties
Toddlers have been using all their senses and exploring the inside of pumpkins, along with carving faces in them too. This has linked in with exploring ‘all about themselves’ and looking at their faces. The children used the mirrors to look at their own faces and used their creative skills with paint and playdough to make what they saw, while discussing their features.
They have also been learning about harvesting and the vehicles the farmers use to help them. The children have been very excited to create their own road for the vehicles to travel along and have used mathematical language to describe the sizes of the vehicles and counting their wheels. While exploring the forest school the children looked at the changing colours and collected twigs and leaves to make natural vehicle pictures.
The children have been making squirrels and salt dough decorations in the toddler room and exploring the inside of pumpkins using all of their senses. The toddlers have been outside a lot too, exploring the natural environment.
Mathematics
Compare sizes, weights etc using gesture and language. ‘bigger/smaller/little’, ‘high/low’, ‘tall’, ‘heavy’.
Understanding the World
Talk about what they see, using a wide vocabulary.
Personal Social and Emotional
Grow in independence, rejecting help. Sometimes this leads to feelings of frustration and tantrums.
Our Preschool have been very excited to take part in all our Halloween activities. They have explored many varieties of pumpkins, using all their senses, talking about different sizes, shapes, and colours. Spooky faces have been carved in these and the insides were also explored in their sensory trays. Some of the children are looking forward to planting the seeds to grow their own pumpkins next year.
The children have also enjoyed looking at harvest and discussing the vegetables, which they then made into soup. The children had a visit to the shops to buy the vegetables and loved this experience. Before making their soup, they discussed the shapes, sizes, and weight of each vegetable. They also learnt to take turns as this was a group activity.
The children have also been exploring pumpkins and carving them for Halloween as well as making Halloween decorations for the festive season.
They have been making bats, pumpkins, and all things Halloween! The children also helped decorate the nursery and found lots of different decorations they loved exploring.
Physical
Start taking part in some group activities which they make up themselves or in teams.
Literacy
Engage in extended conversation about stories, learning new vocabulary.
Personal, Social and Emotional
Express preferences and decisions. They also try new things and start to establish their autonomy.
Understanding the World
Explore the natural world around them.
