Dolphins
Our holiday discussions in dolphins have been fun. Holidays must be special for our children because many of them have been able to recall holidays they have been on and what they did on them. We read the book Schnitzel Von Krumm~ Forget Me Not many times , which inspired the children to recall holidays and many of them could really relate to the packing of the car and what we take on holiday.
We have also had a travel agents that we set up. The children have looked at and thought about holidays through the brochures and groups of us have had little day dreams and talked about all the places we would love to go and what we would like to do on holiday.
At the start of June, we were feeling like our garden needed something more an
d so talked to the children about what we would like in the garden. We made a shopping list and now have new chairs and tables to play on, a lovely Elk to hang our bags and hats on, a mirror to make sure the bags look right on our arms, but the best things have been our big gardening week where we planted hanging baskets, window baskets, planted sunflowers and tomatoes and other stuff.
d so talked to the children about what we would like in the garden. We made a shopping list and now have new chairs and tables to play on, a lovely Elk to hang our bags and hats on, a mirror to make sure the bags look right on our arms, but the best things have been our big gardening week where we planted hanging baskets, window baskets, planted sunflowers and tomatoes and other stuff. Our strawberries that we planted a while ago have started to ripen one 
by one and we have had small strawberry morsels to nibble. Sometimes strawberries disappear too and no one seems to know where they have gone, except that there is sometimes a suspicious milling about the plants from the children when some red ones appear.
by one and we have had small strawberry morsels to nibble. Sometimes strawberries disappear too and no one seems to know where they have gone, except that there is sometimes a suspicious milling about the plants from the children when some red ones appear. The absolute loveliest part of the garden, that the children really love is the little quiet corner that the children made with one of the team members. The preschool children drew pictures on an arch that was made and then we painted and varnished it and secured it to the fence and shed. Another teacher made us some lovely cushions and we bought a special mat to sit on. This has been used by all the children and the favourite things to take in are books, bags, play food and tea sets. It is so special to us, that we put it at the top of this blog entry.
Starfish
June was a stunning month and thank goodness, we have plenty of shade in
our playground. The highlight for most of the children was the paddling pool. They absolutely loved getting in and splashing about with their friends and it was a wonderful way for the children to cool off and enjoy some big physical play on hot days without getting over hot.
our playground. The highlight for most of the children was the paddling pool. They absolutely loved getting in and splashing about with their friends and it was a wonderful way for the children to cool off and enjoy some big physical play on hot days without getting over hot. 
On the creative side, we have been collaging butterflies and we made some gorgeous flower collages too. The team cut out flowers from old wall paper and the children selected them and collaged them onto paper. And we are currently working on a wild animal display and have been sticking and painting elephants, lions, tigers and giraffes. We have also had a lot of tea times outside recently too. It is always so relaxing eating outside and the great thing is that it doesn’t interrupt our play like going inside does, so after tea we can just get
on with what we were doing again. Looking at and naming colours has been a big focus during June. We have had colour tables out where we have put a variety of the same coloured items on the table from all the different resources in the room and the children have really enjoyed investigating things that they are familiar with but grouped differently. Sometimes they tidy up the table and put away some of the items in the places they are really meant to be!
In Seahorses,
July held a month of fun with babies who know the ropes and assert themselves readily into activities of their choice and are confident to try new things. Our babies are old hats at nursery now and so they have explored with surefootedness (and sure knees).
We have introduced into the space new pictures of animals for the children to look at. They are around the walls and the children have enjoyed wondering at them. We have also extending the exploration into images of sea creatures, including starfish, seahorses (of course) and fish.
The children have also done some art work on shapes that resemble animal outlines. They have been doing simple mark making with crayons and running their fingers though coloured paint- cooling and enjoyable on a hot dayIt has been incredibly hot and so we have done a lot of water play, allowing the children to wallow in water indoors and potter with containers and different utensils and cloths to enjoy the different ways to move water around...lots of splashing! They have also loved playing with bubbles as the staff blow them for them and they jig about on their bottoms- too excited to move along to get them. We have smart babies- they know there is always more to come when they have all popped so why chase!
And of course Fathers day could not be forgotten. We painted little book marks for our Dads. 