The children have had a fantastic month with some amazing learning opportunities throughout the settings. In our Autumn Forest school sessions, the children explored the different colours of leaves, learnt about animals and their habitats and how they hibernate for the colder days.
Some children explored the book ‘The Foggy Foggy Forest’ and made their own forests using mud and leaves, looking through their home-made binoculars to find the different characters around the garden, listening to the story and discussing this with their friends.
Remembrance Day was celebrated by the children where they created some beautiful poppy artwork and talked about the brave people during the war and those that were not as fortunate to come home. Out and about trips took place to the local church to lay poppy wreaths that the children had made at the settings.
We took part in celebrating Children in Need, where the children could wear their Pudsey outfits for the day and participated in a range of yellow themed activities and made cakes and biscuits to share with their families.
Our Babies have been following the topic the big bang. They explored a range of different colours, learning the names of the colours, making fireworks while talking about what they look and sound like.
There has been lots of sensory play, developing the children’s senses through felling, tasting, and smelling the different textured resources such as boats in jelly where they used their fine motor skills to squeeze the jelly. The babies explored the sensory trays using full hand grasp to pick up the objects and promoting good hand eye co-ordination and fine motor skills.
While exploring the sensory room the children played peek a boo with various material and there were lots of smiling and laughing. They also showed lots of interest in the different lights and sensory walls.
Communication and Language
Use intonation, pitch and changing volume when ‘talking’
Expressive Arts and Design
Join in with songs and rhymes, making some sounds.
Our Toddlers have also been looking at the topic the big bang. They have been looking at different colours and shapes, linking these to fireworks and having discussions about how they can be safe. The children made their own rocket ships, space pictures and learnt about what we might find in space. They enjoyed reading stories about rockets and building them using the shiny blocks.
The children have used a wide range of sensory experiences incorporating the seasonal changes and winter. In our Forest School sessions, the children also looked at the ever-changing environment and used the leaves they collected to make collages.
Some of our Toddlers visited the local park and learnt all about road safety beforehand. On the walk to the park the children walked holding hands with the staff and waited patiently for the green man at the traffic lights. They had lots of fun on the slides, taking turns and communicating what they saw.
Our Toddlers also explored the festival ‘Kwanza’ which is based on the African Harvest. They explored bright coloured foods in the sensory tray and created their own Kwanza candles using lots of glue and tissue paper. They also created their own necklaces using pasta pieces and this also promoted their fine motor skills.
Understanding the World
Talk about the differences between materials and changes they notice
Physical Development
Use large and small motor skills to do things independently
Our preschool children had lots of educational fun looking at their topic of fire safety and talking about keeping safe during bonfire night. The children practised putting out their orange shaving foam fires using spray bottles full of water.
They also looked at road safety week and the importance of being safe around the environment. The children looked at different road signs and matched them as they played bingo and created their own traffic lights.
Preschool also explored Autumn colours and went on a leaf hunt in the nursery garden, linking this to their core story. They recognised colours such as brown, yellow, and orange. They created leaf printing with playdough and explored the leaves in paint creating marks with their hands.
The children also developed their pencil control and mark making skills, using the pencils to hold and guide over dotted lines. Some of the children have extended this activity through making marks and drawing letters in flour and rice activities.
Mathematics
Understand position through words alone – for example ‘The bag is under the table’ – with no pointing
Communication and Language
Use a wider range of vocabulary
Personal, Social and Emotional
Select and use activities and resources, with help when needed. This helps them to achieve a goal they have chosen, or one which is suggested to them.
