A fantastic month here at Blackberries with the children having lots of educational fun whilst pursuing their own interests. As a Childcare Group we have welcomed back our existing children from their summer breaks and said a big hello to our new children and their families welcoming them into our Blackberries community.
The children enjoyed taking part in recycling week and made upcycled rockets using plastic bottles. They painted them to look like space rockets, then carried out a science experiment using cola and mentos sweets which reacted and made the rockets fly into the air.
The settings have been exploring an Autumn theme through September. The older children have been busy making their own Autumn coloured pictures, using paint. The children went on a nature walk in the garden to explore the changes that have started to happen on the trees through Autumn.
All of the children had great fun outdoors using the balls and guttering. They rolled these into different sized tubs, named the colours and counted the balls. We had a delivery of our lovely loose parts items which consisted of crates, wooden planks and tyres. We created an obstacle course on the bark which the children loved. They even sat in the crates with the wheels, pretending they were going to their favourite places. Some of the children even walked the plank, followed hidden clues around the garden to find treasure, as part of Pirate week.
EYFS link:
Mathematics– says one number for each item in order
Communication and Language– use a wider range of vocabulary
Understanding the World– use all their senses in hands on exploration of natural materials
Our Babies have been busy during the month of September, exploring themes such as Old McDonald and enjoyed other nursery rhymes. They explored animals in their sensory trays, looking at mud, grass, straw and the animals that live in these. The children also enjoyed exploring other sensory activities such as shaving foam, gloop play and shredded paper. Some of the children even had great fun scrunching and crunching the autumn leaves, developing their fine motor skills.
EYFS link:
Personal, Social and Emotional Development– thrive as they develop self-assurance
Communication and Language– copy your gestures or words
Physical Development– gradually gain control of their whole body through continual practice of large movements, such as waving, kicking, rolling, crawling and walking
Understanding the World– explore materials with different properties
Literacy– enjoy sharing books with an adult
Toddlers have been involved in a range of activities this month including looking at farm animals and exploring the book Brown Bear. They created their own versions of the animals, making the Brown Bear using playdough, blue and red tissue paper for the horse and bird and exploring water play to be like birds. In the role play areas, we had the dinosaurs out and spent a lot of time in the garden on our new climbing equipment.
EYFS link:
Physical– walk, run, jump and climb and start to user the stairs independently
Personal, Social and Emotional– grow in independence, rejecting help. Sometimes this leads to feelings of frustrations and tantrums.
Literacy– enjoy drawing freely
Literacy– pay attention and respond to the pictures or the words
Understanding the World– talk about what they see, using a wide vocabulary
In Pre-School they have been looking at the topic ‘All about me’. The children have been getting to know their new friends and talking about themselves and their families. They collected natural resources, making portraits with the leaves and twigs for their facial features. A favourite book this month was Owl Babies. This started lots of discussions about what we do when we come to nursery and what we do at home with our families. After looking at the owls in the story the children re-created their own versions, using paint, tissue paper and crayons. They also spoke about where they might see owls, where they live and read the book at registration time.
EYFS link:
Communication and Language– enjoys listening to longer stories and can remember much of what happens
Personal, Social and Emotional– express preferences and decisions. They also try new things and start establishing their autonomy
Physical– start taking part in some group activities which they make up for themselves or in teams
Literacy– Engage in extended conversations about stories, learning new vocabulary
Understanding the World– explore the natural world around them
