January reflections

Starfish
Starfish have had a very busy January filled with lots of different activities and new children as some of the Seahorses have moved up to the ranks of Starfish.

Starfish have been on an excursion to Mortlake Park to play in the playground and walk through the park, lots of daily play outside in the playground- even though it has been cold and wintry. And, artwork has been a very strong feature of the month as well. Take a look at our photo gallery at the end for some of the different things they have done.

There has been coloured sand artwork by using sand mixed with glue and applied with fingers, finger painting on textured paper, collages out of different shaped and textured paper, stamping with sponge stamps.

In messy play the children have been playing with wet sand, soap flakes gloop, black coloured water in different containers to look at shape and size, coloured sand in small trays using straws to draw pictures and shapes, corn flour gloop play.

..and we have made fairy cakes to eat!

Seahorses
Seahorses have had new babies join the room to fill the absence of the friends that have moved on to Starfish. We have welcomed four new babies in the January weeks and it is really lovely getting to see their personalities emerge as we get to know them and they become more settled.

Our settled babies from last year have enjoyed their independence and the discovery of all the things that they can do in the room with a little bit of confidence through establishing a sense of belonging in the nursery. They have broken loose from the hesitation.

To help the babies to feel engaged with the different children and to get to know each other and the staff we have been having some little singing and games circles. The babies stay for as long as they want to sing songs or watch little puppet shows with the puppets. We also do ball rolling and throwing with the soft indoor balls.

There has been a lot of special one to one reading books with babies and enjoying time together to getting to know babies individually and building their confidence in the staff and assurance that they will be there to look after them and care for them.

Building towers with bricks has been a regular feature as well for the more settled babies as they love the drama of the bricks falling down and are more confident to exert some control over the environment with their force and watch the crash without fright.

All of the babies have had some fun putting their fingers in paint and spreading it around the paper. It is a new experience for a lot of them and a love it or hate it experience too. Feeling new textures in the baby room is all about learning to experience new things and ‘have a go’.

A lovely experience for the babies new and old is to explore the scarves box. The silky textures are relaxing and it is comforting to have fabric drapes around their bodies. The teachers enjoy the babies putting scarves on them too and sharing bits and piece of fabrics together.

Dolphins
Dolphins had a big focus on mail, post, letters, postcards, etc this month and have a lot of fun activities built around mail.

We have written letters to ourselves, put them in envelopes, addressed them and stamped them, walked them to the red post box close to the nursery and discovered that 1st Class Royal Mail actually takes one whole week to be delivered (well, it did on this occasion anyway). Still, the children were excited to get their letters back a week later and read them in circle time.

Some of the children have made some red mail trucks through junk modelling and they have been displayed in the dolphins play room. Others have designed their own stamps that they might like to see on a letter and these have been displayed too.

We have had a lot of discussion about mail in story times and some stories about mail as well. Of course, Postman Pat has played a key role in all of this.

Dolphins home corner was transformed into a post office and the children made letters and transported cards about, posting them in the letter box and delivering their mail with their delivery bags. They exchanged money for mail at the tills and had a little service depot going on for a few weeks.

When the Post Office expired its fascination and returned to a home corner, many of the children continued taking themselves off to the writing table to write little letters and put them in envelopes and then post them in the nursery mail box.

January

What are we doing in Dolphins in January?
The Dolphins group have continued to be interested in Christmas cards and been talking about cards coming through their letter boxes, etc. So we plan to extend this interest in to writing cards and letters and posting them, talking about the postal service and how it works and giving the children the opportunity to take part in the process.

What are we doing at the nursery to support this:
• Setting up a post office in the nursery where children can write letters and cards, put them in envelopes and post them in a post box.
• Making 3D postal vans out of boxes and talking about what the postal vans are for.
• Making cards using stencils.
• During circle times we will be reading Postman Pat stories and talking about how the post service works.
• Taking some of the children on an excursion to the Post Office.
• Designing our own stamps.

What could you do to support the children and reinforce what they have experienced at the nursery?
• Write some letter with your children to family and friends. Pop it in the post box and ask them to call your child when it arrives.
• Take letters to the post box to post with them. Talk about where they are going and how they will get there and how long it will take.
• Take your children on a trip to the Post Office and talk about what you are using the services for.
• Point out the postal service in action when you pass it. Post deliverers, post trucks, post vans collecting from the post boxes etc.
• Talk about the colour of the post service being red and how it can be recognised.
• Talk about the colours of stamps and what they mean. E.g. gold for a fast delivery, blue for a slower, big stamps for big letters, etc.


What are we doing in Starfish in January?
The Starfish group have been taking an interest in the sensory experiences such as water play, the sensory bag and tactile bags and so we will be extending and supporting on this.

What are we doing at the nursery to support this:
• We will be using words to explain properties of things, such as soft, hard, warm, cold, rough, furry, etc, with the children to build on their word repertoire.
• Manjit will be setting up some cooked corn flour play.
• Bea will be setting up some clay experiences.
• Sarah will be setting up some whipped and set soap flakes play.
• Sarah will be setting up a range of wet sand activities.
• Bea will be setting up some clay activities.
• Manjit will be making play dough and using it with the children while it is warm.

What could you do to support the children and reinforce what they have experienced at the nursery?
• Explore textures with children and talk about the properties of them. Help them run their hands over bricks, wood, grass, trees, fur, etc.
• Use describing words to build their repertoire of language and using it to relate to the experiences they are having.
• Have a go of doing some finger painting at home, use play dough, set up some bubbly water play, etc.


What are we doing in Seahorses in January?
The start of each year always means welcoming new babies into the seahorses room, getting the settled and supporting them in learning about the room, their neighbours in Starfish and the different faces in the nursery.

What are we doing at the nursery to support this:
• Making a display of children’s pets so that they can feel that important and familiar parts of their home can give them comfort at the nursery as well.
• Asking parents to bring in pictures of the babies families so that they can see them during the nursery day.
• Lots of use of names so that the babies can become familiar with who is in the room with them and start to become aware of their peers.
• Introducing children to explore sensory activities like feeling paint, corn flour and water, water play, etc that they may not have had a lot of experience of at home, but that is and will become very important parts of their nursery experience.
• Introducing the new babies to a range of other activities to encourage the impulse to explore.

What could you do to support the children and reinforce what they have experienced at the nursery?
• Use the names of the staff and the other children in the group when you are at home to keep the links between nursery and home active.
• Sing songs with your baby and use the names of people s/he is familiar with at nursery.
• Talk a lot about nursery while you are at home in a positive and relaxed tone to demonstrate that it is a special place in their lives and that you acknowledge what is important to them beyond your home and family.
• You could even try to extend some of the activities we do at nursery into your home if you are game enough. Finger painting (with non-toxic paint of course), corn flour and water are great at home too. Just as a team member for a recipe if you are keen to create a bit of mess and explore.