Fruit and vegetables were the biggest interest in September and it hasn’t stopped either. The children have really enjoyed the naming of the fruits and vegetables that they have been eating and also identifying cooked in their food. Vegetables at meals times are such a big discussion as the children eagerly call out contributions of what is what on their plate. They smile and wiggle in their seats with such satisfaction when they get it right and then all babble comment on the right word when they are corrected. It is really quite sweet to witness.
They are very confident in apples, pears and bananas which seem to come up a lot. We eat them regularly as snacks and they are the ones most depicted in books as well. The play food has been thoroughly used and enjoyed. Our Starfish have incorporated it in their play as they spend time in the home corner role playing cooking and caring.
As well as fruit and veg’, we have been talking about the weather getting colder. Lots of discussion about the wind and no longer needing our sun block, but instead we need coats and soon we will need to put on our winter hats too. The children have been commenting on the leaves in the playground and so we took them on an excursion to the local park to collect leaves and sticks for our autumn display. We had lots of discussions about the goings on in the park. –Leaves, trees, squirrels and the way the different textures feel when we touch them. We never did get to touch a squirrel though- way too quick!
One of the children brought in hundreds of conkers that they had collected in the weekend. We piled them into the water trough and we all loved running our hands through their cool, smooth, round, roly-poly-ness.
We have also been really getting into painting in the outdoors and displaying our artwork on the shed during our play time outside. It can be a bit messy, but it is such a relaxing, fun and creative activity to do.
Another fun and messy activity has been playing in wet sand. The children loved the way the sand stuck together and stuck to them. It was very gritty and lovely- and how soft (already soft) hands are after some wet sandy manicures!
