October reflection

Starfish
In October, the staff made a texture pictures wall for the children to explore. The children have spent lots of time looking at it and trying to feel the textures and in contrast to all of other sensory textures, these have all the same textures even though they look different. The children have been fascinated by this.

Autumn leaves have been a big feature of the month. They have littered the playground and every day they have been swept up, the next day has seen even more on the ground. So they have stuck them onto art work, crunched them, kicked them, thrown them, squeezed them and just really enjoyed them.

We have also done a lot of Halloween artwork; making spiders, pumpkins, ghosts, bats, witches, wizards hats and on the 29th, we had a little Halloween party where the children all wore the wizard hats they had made. We also really enjoyed the battery operated witch that sung ‘I put a spell on you...’ as she whizzed and spun about the room.

Basically, a whole lot of glitter escaped from the jars this months and it was a bit of a Halloween art bonanza! But also a lot of time outside still too as the weather has held out for us and we have been able to keep up our outside playtime and learning (the names for and where to put) our hats, jackets, Wellies, scarves and gloves.

Seahorses
We changed our fairy net to a camo scramble net this month over the sensory cube to create a new space for babies to crawl into to have a quiet space and explore sensory items or toys of their choice. The babies have particularly enjoyed playing with the material treasure, hats, bags and purses and draping them on their bodies as dress ups.

We have also had plenty of music going on as the children bang, rattle and shake instruments for the team to sing to. We have also added puppets to the singing sessions, so the children and teachers make the puppets move and join in with the music. And, we have borrowed two big drums that the children have been able to bang together for collaborative noise while the bubble blower blows bubbles- it’s been a multi-sensory joy!

We focussed on Autumn quite a bit and shared with children pictures of trees with leaves falling, conkers, park spaces, etc , then passed and tossed leaves around in our playground. We have pointed out our great big tree above us that sheltered us all summer and watched it lose its leaves and get thinner and thinner.

Dolphins
Dolphins went a bit Halloween crazy too this month as our harvesting and Autumn observations got littered with influences from around us of Halloween. Most of the children adored the crazy singing witch and took every opportunity to collect her from the office and let her loose on the lino floor to spin, cackle and sing. She didn’t actually make it to the Halloween party as her batteries ran out and she couldn’t quite make it to the finish line.

However, Halloween party we did, with lots of jelly and crisps, dancing, games and music with our decorations of ghosts, bats, pumpkins, cats, etc all of which we made and displayed.

The children have done quite a bit of garden tidying too as each day we have swept leaves (only to have them replaced the next), we have laid our sunflowers to rest, strawberries and tomatoes and farewelled them for next year.

Gathering up all the leaves has been fun and we have stuck them on all sorts of boxes, paper, etc to make little collages. We have also collected different conkers, leaves, acorns, etc and made little autumn scapes too.

Junk modelling has been a big part of the Dolphins and it has even continued on throughout the sessions as children independently collage and join boxes and decorations to make robots, trucks, scarecrows, etc.

And the other big craze in Dolphins is Birthdays. A lot of children have had them and so now they are all talking about what month their birthday is in and how old they will be next. Anything creates an opportunity for this discussion and a reason to sing the song!

October plans

What are we doing in Dolphins this month?
During October we will be having a focus on Autumn. The children are loving the leaves falling and talking about it getting colder and darker and of course, the shop windows are attracting children to talking about Halloween. So it is an exciting month of change and experiences all around us.

Some of the activities we will be doing this month to support this concept will be:
Going on a nature walk to collect natural materials
Setting up an autumnal nature table to look at the various things falling from the trees.
Art- printing with natural materials. E.g. leaves, conkers, etc.
Cooking- making soup out of seasonal vegetables.
Discussions and stories about what Autumn means and brings; darker weather, new colours, changes to the environment, warmer clothes.
Taking a photo shoot with the children of the environment to discuss changes and what is happening.
Having a Halloween party and discussing the festival of Halloween.

What you could do to support your children at home:
Go on a nature walk and collect conkers, acorns, leaves and any other autumnal items- use them at home or bring them into nursery.
Go to the library and get some books out on the weather.
Talk about the year cycle of trees, how they lose their leaves and then regain them in spring.
Talk about animals through the year and how they change. Maybe they hibernate, gain thicker fur, shed, etc.
Get your winter gears on and go for a long muddy walk. The Thames side is great for looking at long shadows, leaves and the environmental changes.
Take some photos with your child of the trees and the environment every couple of weeks and track and discuss the changes.

EYFS link: Knowledge and Understanding of the World.

What are we doing in Starfish this month?
Our children have been facing a change in routine involving more time spent in dressing up to get to the outdoors with discussion and new words around clothes and wrapping up to keep warm, so we will be having a focus on autumnal/ winter clothes, getting dressed, organising and looking after our belongings. And, also some observation and discussion of autumn.

Some of the activities all the starfish will be involved with this month are:
Exploring clothes for dressing up: hats, bags, scarves.
Doing some leaf printing, clouds and rain artwork.
Singing songs about getting ready for colder weather. E.g. Here We Go Round the Mulberry bush on a cold and frost morning. It’s raining, it’s pouring.
Stories about weather and dressing warmly.
Naming clothing items, snap games and flash cards.
Discussions about why we dress up warm and discussing temperature.

What could you do to support the children and reinforce what they have experienced at the nursery?
Talk about what you need to wear in the colder weather with your child. Name items as you put them on. Point out other people wearing scarves, hats, boots, etc in the street.
Take your child on a walk to point out all the fallen leaves.
Sit amongst some dried leaves and scrunch them together.
Go to Richmond park and look at all the chestnuts, conkers, acorns, leaves falling. Watch the squirrels running about.
Go to the library and get out some books on weather and clothes.

EYFS link: Knowledge and Understanding of the World.

What are we doing in Seahorses this month?

During the month of October we continue to exploring some of the natural materials that come about from autumnal changes- conkers, leaves, twigs. We will be looking at warm clothes, boots, hats, gloves, etc.

Some of the activities wall the babies will be involved with this month are:
Exploring clothes for dressing up: hats, bags, scarves.
Doing some leaf printing.
Painting in autumnal colours.
Making up a treasure basket with autumn things.
Singing songs about getting ready for colder weather. E.g. Here We Go Round the Mulberry bush on a cold and frost morning. It’s raining, it’s pouring.
Going for a walk to the park to scrunch some leaves.

What could you do to support the children and reinforce what they have experienced at the nursery?
Take your child on a walk to a point out all the fallen leaves.
Sit amongst some dried leaves and scrunch them together.
Go to Richmond Park and look at all the chestnuts, conkers, acorns, leaves falling. Watch the squirrels running about.
Go to the library and get out some books on weather and clothes.
Talk about what you are wearing: scarf, gloves, coat, boots.
Talk about what they are wearing too.

September reflection

Seahorses

Seahorses have had a very autumnal month with lots of painting, playing, singing and observing the autumn coming. They have particularly enjoyed exploring paint and paper textures, using their hands and using their paint brushes to paint the shapes of squirrels, hedgehogs and leaves with autumn colours.

The outside area has changed dramatically with all the leaves tumbling down and landing on the ground. The babies have had fun being surprised when one lands on or beside them, they have been picking them up and scrunching them and dipping them in puddles and making them stick on things, then clapping their hands for their accomplishments.

Music has been a very big feature of the month. With new babies more settled and relaxed we have been able to raise the volume in the room a little with singing sessions. The team sing songs and the children have been the supporting act with the percussion instruments. They love the ringing and singing and joining in with the words they know and humming and jigging along with the tunes they enjoy.

Books have also been explored along the topic of autumn and have been really useful and fun to watch the children as they make the connections between the pictures and what they have experienced in the play ground, especially after outside sessions of exploring leaves.

Apart form the autumn enjoyment, the children have also been very interested in the material treasure baskets. Perhaps it is due to the colder weather and the enjoyment of the feeling of different fabrics against their skin.

Starfish
Starfish have focussed on emotions and expressing them this month and covered a range of activities to discuss and express happy, sad, angry and excited feelings.

During circle times the children and teachers have been role modelling cuddling, gentle touching and caring and how this makes us feel. Then through stories and flash cards they talked about how hurting each other and taking things off each other makes us feel sad, which isn’t very nice.

The children have done some lovely artwork making faces with eyes, mouths, hair- placing the pieces where they wanted them to go and creating some delightful faces.

A special trip that made everyone happy despite the wet weather was the trip to Kew Gardens. The teachers and children all caught the bus to Richmond and then another to Kew Gardens on foot, while the buggies were delivered to Kew for them to enjoy getting around the gardens by buggy.

Sadly, the day poured with rain so the children went into Creepers and Crawlers play area and had an amazing time playing and having their picnic lunch. The journey home was the wettest, but still the children and the staff enjoyed it and had fabulous time, returning with very happy, yet tired faces.
Art work is always a big part of Starfish. This month they have done artwork using a variety of different processes making and decorating animals using paint, glue, glitter, wool, finger prints, etc. And, they have also done some leaf artwork to extend the interests and excitement of watching and catching leaves as they fall al over the playground.

Dolphins
Dolphins explored ‘Community’ this month with a bit more depth. The children have been very interested in the community dress ups that we have, with the doctor, vet, construction and police outfits being well used and supporting lots of role modelling play. The police officer uniform is definitely a favourite and lent a lot of opportunity for turn taking and waiting! The biggest attraction on the police outfit was the radio and walkie-talkie that they can clip on and off and talk to their beat partner on!

We also had a community health nurse come to the nursery to talk about health and hygiene with the children. The children really enjoyed her hand washing experiment. She put a special powder on their hands to make their hands dirty and then they looked at their hands under the UV light. She then asked them to thoroughly wash their hands like she’d shown them and then come back and look at their hands again under the light to see how well they had washed them. There was a lot of excitement about who did and didn’t do a proper job!

We bought a new climbing den in dolphins this month and the children have been completely excited by it. Again, lots of turn taking and waiting- which they are very good at now! They have loved hiding away in it, creating their little space rockets, homes, tree houses and other places they make believe it to be.

A big highlight of Dolphins in September was the excursion on a Friday to Garson’s PYO farm. After a mammoth one hour task of fitting different shaped and configured children’s car seats into two mini coaches, teachers and children set off to Esher to pick their own apples, buy and bring back to the nursery to make apple crumble with. We caught pockets of dryness amidst a very wet day and managed to collect loads of apples in little baskets along a very sodden orchard. It was a very tricky trip to organise, but so well worth it for the fun that we all had.

The children loved making the apple crumble as well and then finishing our day with warm apple crumble and custard at the end of a cold wet day was perfect.