February reflection

Dolphins have had a lot of fun exploring a range of activities around the topic of fruit.

They have tasted all kinds of fruit and enjoyed trying out new flavours and types of fruit. Some of the more exotic ones have been dragon fruit and lychees. And some of the more usual ones were still new to some of the children. They liked describing the fruit and giggling over the sensations. These are some of the things they have said:

• “Pineapple makes my tongue tingle”. When tasting.
• “Grapefruit makes my eyes blink”. When tasting.
• “My kiwi has many seeds”. When drawing a kiwifruit.
• “I like strawberries, my mummy gives me strawberries”. When choosing favourites.

The children have also played exotic fruit lotto, which was made by Laura Z. The children thought the fruit names were very funny and the shapes were even funnier.

They have painted their favourite fruits and in different colours. Who needs rules? A banana has been blue in the nursery before now for sure.

The pre-schoolers made a 3D fruit tree and painted and cut oranges to go on it.
All the children listened to stories about growing fruit and different types of plants that fruit grows on.

They also made some orange juice by squeezing oranges and enjoyed tasting it, with some funny faces as fresh juice is quite strong for them.

As well as fruit, there have been plenty of other things going on too as we help and support the ideas that come into their minds. We have had a bike and scoot day on Monday 21st March. Some of the children brought in their bikes and scooters and rode around the car park learning about direction, overtaking carefully, helmets and being a safe rider.

The starfish group have had a great colourful month and the room is looking vibrant to say the least.

They have made a fabulous colour display. All of the children chose a colour and made a colour painting to pull together to make a display.

Each week, the teachers chose a different colour and really explored it with a big emphasis on noticing and saying that colour. They had a basket of toys of one colour collected together to play with, used colour flash cards, the children cruised the room looking for certain toys of certain colours following instructions, they have had play dough each week of a different colour, used coloured sand to make art and in trays to mark-make using straws.

The toddlers really like the colour book because it has so many little pictures of toys and bits and pieces in each colour to look though that are attractive and enticing to children.

The water play has been enjoyed and each week it has been a certain colour. Colourful water also makes it interesting when filling and pouring because the quantities are so easy to see and enjoy.

Lego is always a favourite toy and a great opportunity to talk about colours too.

There has also been a lot of multi-coloured drawing, sticking and painting happening. A lot of discussion and name repetition goes on during these activities and it is really exciting to see such young children make big attempts to say the names of the colours and be able to pick colours out of a collection, attempt and/ or be successful at naming them.



The Seahorses have been introducing babies to a wide variety of colours and textures and supporting the new babies in trying new things by encouraging the confidence to explore.

The babies have had a good time exploring hats. We have hats of different shapes, sizes and textures. Some are hard and some are soft. They find amusement in putting them on and seeing them on others as well. Some of the hats cover their whole heads and faces and there is particular amusement from some of the babies in those hats. They also get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing the teachers put different hats on their heads.

One of the teachers pasted sandpaper on some cardboard cylinders. These were a great hit with the babies. They like touching the rough surface, but it also makes them really easy for the babies to pick up and grip, so they really enjoyed carrying them and moving them about.

Material treasure is always loved by babies. There are loads of silky fabrics that they love to drape around their bodies and put on each other. Again, seeing teachers with scarves draped around them is so amusing to babies!

The fabric books and books with different textures are always available and enjoyed by babies, however this month, we can tell that they are relating all the extra textures and activities to the regular activities as they have. They have been taking books out of the books areas and showing them to the teachers that have fluffy bits in them and nice textures. It is a really great feeling to see the connections between special activities and regular activities and sharing them with the people they are familiar with and share interests with.

plans for February

What are we doing in Dolphins in February?
The Dolphins group love helping the teachers set up morning snack in the room. Lots of discussion is emerging about the different fruits they enjoy and don’t, different ones they know about, which ones they eat at home, and so on. We plan to extend the discussions and learning by talking about different fruits grown in different countries, where fruit comes from, favourites, preferences, etc.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:
KUW-discovery, PSED- preferences, MD- size, shape, sorting, CLL naming, discussing, PD- cutting, peeling, CD- role playing cooking & shopping, painting, modelling fruit.

What are we doing at the nursery to support this:
• Laura W will be reading and doing some extension work around the stories: The Hungry Caterpillar and Handa’s Surprise.
• Laura Z will be making and playing some lotto g ames with the children to learn about and recognise different types of fruit and stimulate discussion.
• Laura J will be doing some fruit painting with the children. Looking at pictures of fruits and painting them.
• Christine will be setting up some searching (in magazines) cutting and sticking pictures of fruit.
• Jenny will be exploring what types of plants or trees fruit grow on.
• Lan will be making a fruit mobile with the children.
• Other activities will include flash cards, role play, fruit puzzles, Fruity Park game on the computer, sampling different fruits, and following and supporting the children’s interests and discussions to help them explore down their own paths.

What could you do to support the children and reinforce what they have experienced at the nursery?
• Take them shopping to the local fruit shop or stall. Allow them to chose some fruits to take home and make a fruit salad for your families pudding with them.
• Go to the library and get some books out on fruit.
• Do some research on the computer together and try to find some very unusual fruit to bring to the nursery to share with the group. Or, find out an interesting fact- like why watermelon sold in Japan is square.
• Talk about where fruit comes from. Which countries produce certain fruit.

What are we doing in Starfish for February?
Following on from all the texture exploration, the children are noticing and pointing to different colours and trying to name them so for the month of February we will be having a focus on colours and exploring different colours, making colours and naming colours.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:
Knowledge and Understanding of the World (KUW) and Communication Language and Literacy (CLL).

Some of the activities we will be doing this month will involve: - Sarah will be setting up a variety of painting activities using different contrasting colours to explore and discuss.
- Manjit will be making different coloured play dough to play with and discuss colours and blending colours.
- Sarah will be setting up a variety of building activities using different coloured lego blocks and experiences with the same colours blocks too.
- Manjit will be setting up water play using different coloured water for the children to enjoy and discuss.
- Sarah will be using coloured sand in tray to explore zen like gareden designs and colours.
- Lily will be doing some baking with the children, making different coloured icing and icing biscuits.
Some ideas to support your children at home:
-Go to the library and get out a book on colours
-Talk about colours in your everyday conversations.
-Watch vehicles go past and talk about the colours of the cars, buses, etc.
-Name the colours of your children’s clothes as they get ready.
-Do some painting at home and talk about colours.
-Take a walk around your garden or go to a park and talk about the colours of the flowers, trees, plants, etc.


What are we doing in Seahorses in February?
The new babies are starting to feel more confident with the team and the environment so we are going to start introduce them to new experiences and sensations to help them to feel confident in exploring different textures and equipment, many of which they may not have experienced before.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:
Physical Development (PD) and Knowledge and Understanding of the World (KUW)

What are we doing at the nursery to support this:
• Beata is planning to set up some hat wearing activities of different shapes sizes and styles, supporting them in sharing and being playful.
• Dawn is planning to set up some activities using different textured rollers.
• Chanpreet is planning to set up some fabric and board books with different textures on them to explore.
• Beata is planning to set up some water play activities with soft and rough textures in it.
• Beata is planning to set some corn flour messy play activities.
• Chanpreet is going to be having some group times with the babies all together exploring textures. • Dawn in planning on setting up some sand play experiences both indoors and outdoors for the babies to explore.

What could you do to support the children and reinforce what they have experienced at the nursery?
• Build babies experiences of different textures by running your and their hands over different textures at home; wall paper, smooth paint, bricks, wood, carpet, etc.
• Allow them to explore some messy play (in their highchairs is a great place to reduce mess) corn flour play- see a team member on how to do it, jelly- using gelatine, but not the flavoured variety so they don’t think it is food, children’s no- toxic paint, etc.
• Make a treasure basket for you babies filled with a variety of different textured pieces. E.g. sandpaper, wood, rubber, metal, silk, wool, fabrics, things you can squeeze, things you can pull, scourers, brushes etc. Babies find anything interesting because it is all new to them. Your junk is their treasure.