Reflection on March

March was a fabulous month for all of the rooms as we went from winter to spring and each day more children went outside for longer and longer spells of play. The children started to get deeply engaged in some activities that were able to be revisited all day long and have not done outside for many months, like large scale construction- your fingers would drop off doing that for more than five minutes in February!

Starfish

Starfish had a focus on fruits and vegetables in March had a lot of fun and interesting expressions trying different fruits. They tasted kumquats, guava, yellow plum, Brazilian mango, Chinese pear, dragon fruit and ramphal fruit/ custard apple.

The children painted on different shapes of different fruits and then put them together with the teachers to make a hungry caterpillar display- one of their favourite books. Hungry Caterpillar was a well read and loved book this month- as it is every month, but this month they really enjoyed trying to say the names of the fruits and smiling and pointing in recognition of the links between what they have been experiencing and what they are seeing in the story.

Play fruit and vegetables have been used with the play kitchen sets a lot too. The children have taken great delight in showing the fruits and vegetables to the teachers to reaffirm all the connections in sharing experiences in learning and the conversations they have been having. And whenever a fruit or vegetable that appeals pops up in a book, play set, odd box, they jump at the opportunity to share what they have found.

The teachers also set up little smell pots for the children that contained lemon, orange, vanilla and peppermint scents. The children had a lot of fun smelling the pots and being surprised by the scents, smiling and sharing them with their friends and teachers.

Other fun in March was the opportunities for trips to the Mortlake park as the weather made excursions appealing and possible. St Patricks day was very green, red nose day was very red and making the tea cups for their mothers for mother’s day was great fun too.

Dolphins

Dolphins enjoyed all the events of March. St David’s Day; as they examined a daffodil and watched a bunch of them go from buds to flowers, St Patricks day; making green shamrocks while listening to Irish music. Red nose day; when just about everything in the nursery turned red- not just our noses. Staff came in red wigs, we had red water, red play dough, red paint, toys, food- all turned red.

Bike and scooter day saw even more bikes and scooters arrive and the children really loved their time biking and scooting around the circuit with their friends. What was great was their re-enactment of the instructions they were given about timing during the bike and scoot sessions and seeing them instructing their dolls, trains and cars as they played with them. ‘Right, now you’re going in twos… okay now you go off now… red car, you’re next…’

Loads of activities took place surrounding the biggest event of the month which was nurturing our caterpillars that started off as tiny 2mm caterpillars to 40mm fat caterpillars, to cocoons, to the grand finale of the month, being the release of the butterflies. We fed them oranges and sugar water until they had flapped and dried their wings to be ready for release. When we released them, they found it hard to say good bye to us and hung around for a bit on our jackets, hands and bodies untill we encouraged them that the sky and plants were waiting for them.

In fascination with our butterfly nurturing, the month was spent making all sorts of insects out of box construction and collage, painting, reading about lifecycles, doing lifecycle puzzles, watching the world around us change- even the light evenings and being able to play outdoors right till home time was appreciated, discussed and enjoyed.

Gearing up for Mother’s day was really special too. The children made candles with Jenny for their mothers. This required lots of rules, watching and supported pouring of very hot wax. The children chose their colours, some added fragrances and they all added their wicks. Collage cards were also made with flower wallpaper and collages of their mummy’s faces were made with paper plates, face drawing and wool for hair. The teachers and the children discussed ‘surprises’ and how they needed to wait till mother’s day to tell them about what they had been doing for them. They had some lovely discussions about how much they love their mummy’s and how they all have the best mummy in the world. It was really lovely to have some time sitting together working on gifts and reflecting on all the good things our Mums do for us.

Seahorses

Seahorses have had a month of exploring different textures and experiences. We have had a really settled and eager group of babies, very keen to climb, explore and investigate all sorts of new things, including climbing on and getting up close to each other! We have had the soft play climbing equipment out a lot for them to roll, crawl, climb and slide around on. They love this, especially inside on those wet spring days.

Our student has made some toys for the babies to explore as well, using a cardboard box and some different textured materials around it for them to play with, they loved the new, strange and exciting box in the room.

The babies have enjoyed and explored the sensory bottles with different brightly coloured bits and pieces in them, lots. They have loved their painting- getting messy and slippery and watching the effect as they smear, stamp and swipe paint onto paper. They have also had a lot of fun with gluing pieces of paper onto to other paper and getting into a really sticky mess!

Box play is always loved by babies and they have had some great times playing with each other climbing in and out of boxes and playing peek-a-boo.

Water play on the floor with ducks was fun and so relaxing to do on an afternoon inside and so was messy play with corn flour and water, spoons and containers. Squeezing and grabbing away at the play dough was a relaxing and fun activity to do together with the teachers.

Plans for March

What are we doing in Dolphins in March?
We have started growing caterpillars and will be watching them transform into cocoons and butterflies over the next month. The children are really excited by this and fascinated by the current tiny caterpillars. We will be having a focus on lifecycles of a range of living things this month.
This month will also see St David’s Day, St Patricks Day, Shrove Tuesday and red nose day. March will be busy!

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:
KUW-discovery, PSED- looking at how we change, MD- size, shape, pattern. CLL naming, discussing, PD- moving our bodies like caterpillars and butterflies, CD- arts and crafts.

What are we doing at the nursery to support this:
• Laura Jeffrey will be having circle times to monitor the progress of the caterpillars and reading about lifecycles.
• Christine and Lan will be doing some arts and crafts around The Hungry Caterpillar story.
• Lan will be making pancakes with the children for pancake day.
• Laura Z is going to be making some different bugs with the children.
• Laura W is planning on allowing children to create and improvise with their own artwork based on what they have seen.
• Jenny is going to be recording the development of the butterflies with the children by taking photos and making a progress display.
• Jenny will be taking the children on a bug hunt to see what bugs and mini beasts they can find in our nursery garden and beyond.
• Emily will be leading the children in some creative dancing being butterflies and caterpillars.

What could you do to support the children and reinforce what they have experienced at the nursery?
• Take them on a bug hunt, talk about the bugs you saw, then draw pictures of them.
• Do some research on different bugs with them. Try to find a really unusual bug and bring it to nursery to share with their friends.
• Go to the library and get some books out about lifecycles.
• Read the Hungry Caterpillar (again!)
• Show your child pictures of you when you were a baby, child, teenager and talk to them about growing up and human lifecycles.


What are we doing in Starfish for March?
This month, we will be having a focus on food. Fruit, vegetables, different food types, etc. Food is really motivating for children and a great way to include lots of repetition of language, learning words for different things they enjoy and are important to them.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:
KUW-discovery, PSED- how we feel about food, MD- size, shape, pattern. CLL naming, discussing, PD- looking after our health, CD- arts and crafts.

Some of the activities we will be doing this month will involve:
• Lily will be making some smell pots for the children to smell different food smells and try to name a few.
• Sarah will be setting up art with different food types for the children to explore colour, images and shapes.
• Sarah will be introducing some new books with food in them to talk about different foods, point and name.
• Manjit will be introducing the children to different fruits that we don’t normally eat like dragon fruit, papaya, passion fruit and lychees.
• The team will display photos of different foods in the home corner. E.g. fruit stands, supermarket displays, food types, etc.
• The team will use some food catalogues and magazines to use the pictures to make food collages. • The team will introduce some new food toys into the home corner to extend the play already taking place.

Some ideas to support your children at home:
• Let your child help you to unpack your groceries. It takes longer, but they love helping and you can name the different foods as you unpack them
• Play language repetition games like ‘I like…’ You say ‘I like strawberries, you like strawberries’. Continue with all sorts of food types and eventually they will start to join in- great for language.
• Look through some cookery books with them and point out foods you like and they like. Get them to choose a dish and make it for them or with them.
• Use language such as favourite, best, more, etc when talking about food. E.g. ‘My favourite food is roast chicken, Daddy’s favourite food is ice cream, your favourite food is grapes’.


What are we doing in Seahorses in March?
This month we will continue to introduce the babies to experiences that expose them to different types of textures and experiences. We will set up some activities that are new to the current babies such as playdough, cornflour play and some bigger soft play equipment to challenge their confidence to explore in new ways.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:
KUW-discovery, PSED- trying new things, MD- feeling different sizes and shapes CLL hearing new words PD- moving around the activities and obstacles, CD- exploring in self-initiated creative ways

What are we doing at the nursery to support this:
• Making playdough for the babies.
• Setting up some painting and sticking of different textures.
• Water play using rubber toys such as ducks, crabs, boats, etc.
• Explorer boxes
• Wood and soft blocks, bottles and balls.
• Sensory toys and stacking rings.
• Soft play climbing equipment
• Setting up the toys and equipment in new and interesting ways to challenge their senses and expectations.

What could you do to support the children and reinforce what they have experienced at the nursery?
• Rearrange their toys at home. Set them up in new ways, make them look different.
• Hide toys in boxes so they have to search for them.
• Set them up inside with some towels and a bowl of water to splash around in by leaning into, to experience water in new ways other than the bath..
• Very messy, but wonderfully fun; set them up with a bowl of flour to play in. It is really soft and powdery and they love the texture. – Possibly better in summer in the garden!