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.