Spitalfields City Farm animals visited our nursery!!!

The highlight of this week was definitely the Spitalfields mobile farm coming to visit. The children had been so excited leading up to it and so many discussions took place and guessing conversations about what animals would be coming to see us.

On the day, the animals got caught up in traffic and we worried that they wouldn’t make it. Parents gathered, children waited and black clouds came overhead. -There was a little concern that it wouldn’t be quite the fun we hoped! But, we were looked after. Only a few fat spots of rain landed and with the help of some fast thinking and gazebo erecting we were dry and the children were happy, excited and fascinated by the animals.

We had a donkey, two goats, hens, ducks, rabbits and guinea pigs. The children loved them. Some of the children were so beside themselves with excitement they couldn’t even think what to visit first. Others thought the truck they came in was the best piece of play space they’d ever seen and spent the afternoon trying to outwit the staff and get on board! And some, just pottered around checking it all out in their own time. For many of our preschoolers, the goats droppings and wee was of most fascination and held their interest for quite some time and some were quite concerned that the hen had a dirty bottom! The rabbits and guinea pigs were a particular favourite especially with our babies and toddlers who loved to stroke them with the help of the farm staff.

The animals stayed for about an hour which was just the right time to satisfy the children’s interest but still keep it a short special time too. We were sad to see them go, but we got some fantastic photos to remember them by and it was a great way to support all the animal interest we have had at the nursery recently.

Nature, Castles and Bear Hunts through Dolphins

It's been a few weeks since we reported on our Dolphins group, mostly because there has been so much going on that doing has taken up all the time that writing takes! Where to start? Well, we last talked about nature and have continued with that interest which has taken us in all sorts of directions.

Most of the children have made little bird feeders by sticking seeds onto lolly sticks or on little pine cones. We have also been watching our peas and beans grow with great interest and the biggest excitement has been seeing a little strawberry come out and hoping we’ll see it grow into a big one. How we are going to split it among 30 odd children is a challenge for later- hopefully more will grow!
The animal interest has been fun too. We’ve made and decorated rabbits ears, bear masks, danced with animal movements, painted pictures of animals and loved reading ‘Going on a Bear Hunt’, By Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. The preschool group have been really enthused by Going on a Bear Hunt and have been acting out the story and turning it into a play to perform for the rest of the group.

Interests always seem to change and sprout from almost nowhere and emerging over the last few weeks has also been a keen interest in castles. After a few deliveries with big boxes the preschoolers made the Tower of London complete with drawbridge. The children have loved playing in it and acting out kings and queens. They have made crowns and dressed up to act out their monarchy. Discussions have been intense about what kinds of things people did in the olden days and most importantly, what kind of animals they had!
We now also have castles growing from blocks and Lego and the fantasy and interest is spilling over into the rest of the Dolphins group.

Slip, slime and jungle collages in Starfish

The starfish children have been having some very gloopy and creative experiences the last two weeks.

They started off with some boiled corn flour, water and food colouring in red, blue and yellow. It was thick and slimey and absolutely wonderful to touch. Two of the children stayed for the whole 45 minutes just enjoying the sensory experience of swirling it all about.

A few days later the staff set up a ‘swimming pool’ in the water trough filled little toy people and boats to swirl around in the silken, glossy and slippery swimming pool of soap slime. This type of slime is made by whisking pure soap flakes with warm water and then leaving it a couple of days. The soap and water starts to gel together and has the consistency of a gelly soap and a gloss to it like cream shampoo. It slips and slops as they try to hold it, but it always slips through their fingers!

As well as tooth brush painting, sticking scrunched up tissue paper on parrots, another visit from Hamlin the hamster and of course more and more singing, we have been doing some great Jungle Collages.

They have been made from stamping paint and sticking painted shredded paper onto the frames and putting jungle animal cut outs on top. We have had so much fun sticking it all together and now they are all displayed for our parents and each other to see.

And our gardening fingers seem to be getting better. We have successfully sprouted radishes and sent them home with proud children to continue to grow with their parents. We look forward to hearing if they grow into proper edible radishes!

Do Seahorses have Hands and Feet?

The seahorses children are having a great time concentrating on finding their hands and feet.
Especially over the last couple of weeks, the children have been singing songs such as ‘This is the way we wriggle our fingers...’ Then wriggle toes/ shake hands, stamp feet, etc. They have loved the anticipation of Round and Round the Garden Went the Teddy Bear’, and ‘This Little Piggy Went to Market’ on their toes.
They have also been painting their toes and enjoying the sensation of paint on their feet and seeing the prints that we have made from them. It was a very messy experience. The other lovely sensory activity we did with their hands was playing with water and oil together. It had a lovely soft feeling and the babies loved it. Super soft skin afterwards!

Dolphins from May to June

What are we doing in Dolphins this month?

From May to June we will be having a continued focus on living things with a special interest in animals and sea creatures.
The children have been very interested in spring, butterflies, plants and this has started to move into a broader interest of animals and sea creatures as children have made links to other living things.

Some of the activities we will be doing this month to support this concept will be:
Create an informal underwater world display where children can add to the display as inspiration flows.
Farm animals will be visiting on 17th June
Sea creatures and animals will be placed above the art easel for children to use as an idea for a painting.
Fish and animal snap games
Animal cuttings, collage, decoration and mask making
Visit a pet shop/ library trip to gather animal and sea creature books
Introduce new animal songs, stories and puppet shows

What you could do to support your children at home:
Take them on an animal spotting walk to look for dogs, cats, horses, cows, sheep, etc. Count how many you saw, talk about their colours and patterns.
Go to the library and get some books out on animals and sea creatures or do some internet research with them.
Take a trip to the zoo or the aquarium
If you do not come on the day of our animals visiting, bring your child anyway.
Bring your pet to the nursery for a visit. A child friendly dog, rabbit, fish, gerbil would be great to bring to circle time for your child to talk to their friends about on a day you do not usually attend.
Go on a ‘late night animal safari’ with your child and see what you can spot; foxes, cats, badgers.
Find a pond and see if you can spot fish, frogs, turtles, tadpoles, etc.

Starfish from May to June

What are we doing in Starfish this month?

From May to June we will be having a focus on animals and confidence through creativity.
Our Starfish group are all getting a little older and have started to become very interested in animals and animals noises. This has been supported through lots of use of the animal toys and books with animals in them. The children are also increasing an interest in creative activities and realising that through intended actions they can control the outcome of their work.

Some of the activities we will be doing this month will be:
Creating a group jungle collage using shredded paper, animal shapes, paint/ stamping, glue, etc.
Discussions about animals, different types of animals, noises, etc.
Introduce new animal songs to the children.
Focus on making animal sounds.
Collect some animal books from the library to read to the children.
Small animal farm visit to the nursery.
Collect photos of children’s pets.
Hamlin the hamster will visit and they will have a chance to handle, feed and watch.

What you could do to support your children at home:
Take them on an animal spotting walk to look for dogs, cats, horses, cows, sheep, foxes, etc.
Talk about the noises animals make
Go to the library and get some books out on animals
Take a trip to the zoo
If you do not come on the day of our animals visiting, bring your child anyway.
Bring a photo in of your pet and/ or tell the team about your pet so it can be included in our discussions.

Seahorses from May to June

What are we doing in Seahorses this month?
From May to June we will be....
Focussing on the babies individually and supporting their development. All of the babies have a special plan written for them each month as their development is so unique.

Some of the additional activities all the babies will be involved with this month are:
Father’s day art and creativity.

Animals: Taking part in the animal farm visit and looking at lots of animal pictures, books and singing songs.
Focussing on hands and feet, making art with feet and hands and exploring the feeling.
Messy play: water and oil, slimy substances, etc.
Exploration of different toys.
Welcoming and appreciating our two new babies.

What could you do to support the children and reinforce what they have experienced at the nursery?
Go to the library and get some books out on animals
Take a trip to the zoo or petting farm.
If you do not come on the day of our animals visiting, bring your child anyway.
Bring a photo in of your pet and/ or tell the team about your pet so it can be included in our discussions.
Sit outside on the grass a do a painting with your child.
Set up the paddling pool and have a splash.
Touch their hands and feet, tickle them, compare them with yours.