Sea
Turtles had plenty of soil play, pretend gardening and planting, but also small
world digging and excavation. Soil, trucks, cars, spades and watering cans made
for some great muddy tracks and bogs.
Despite
the lack of sunshine, we have still had a lot of flowers growing and we have
had endless discussions about flowers and plants, fruits and vegetables and
what we need to do to help them to grow. The flowers and plants didn’t need any
extra watering, but they got it! Children love it and it makes us feel summery
and productive and brings meaning to what we have been talking and reading
about.
We
have also made summery collages and art work of flowers using
scrunched up tissue paper and paint. And, we have also made a lovely colour
board using sand, paint and glue on black paper. The children loved doing that
and it is always fun discovering colours with toddlers.
Fruits
and vegetables have been a big feature this month too. The children have been sampling all
sorts of fruits and naming them through the real objects and through
photographs. Also puppet shows where the characters eat and talk about the
fruits. The children made some pretty fruit platters too, by collaging fruit
cut outs from magazines onto paper plates and then talked about what they had
and what they liked.
And
then we had some great little cultural activities too. Seaman’s Day, which we learned
from one of our parents, is an Icelandic festival of the sea. So we made little
fish medals to wear, which were so pretty and the children were very proud of
them. And then there was the jubilee tea party and all the events surrounding that!
In
Dolphins we have also loved the outdoors as if it was sunny every day. Our
children are definitely sick of us making sure they have jackets and cardigans
on, especially when it’s is sunny one minute with cold breezes and then dumping
rain on us the next, but in terms of what we have been able to do outside,
you’d never know we were battling a poor excuse for summer.
We
released the butterflies at the end of May after probably waiting too long to
release them on a warm day. The warm day never came and we had to let them go. We
had a butterfly day, where the children did butterfly art and had their faces
painted as butterflies. There were enough butterflies for most of the Dolphins
children to courageously put their hands into the butterfly tent and take them
out on their hands. The butterflies were not as daring though. They flopped
about and fell to the ground. The children were highly amused by that and we re-caught them to put them on the trees and they fell off and flapped
about some more.
The
other fun in the outdoors has been dens. Den are always loved in summer (and
any time really) because they provide the outdoor experience with some cosy
shelter. We’ve also brought a lot of the dress up clothes outside too and so
dressing up and experiencing all sorts of dramatic play in and out of the dens
and around the garden has been wonderful. Thanks to the children, we have been
able to see the garden as a village, shopping centre, park, homes, their personal
gardens and much more as the children have set up their world using the real
space to invent the imaginary. To watch their activity and listen to their
conversations in 'their world' is nothing short of totally magic.
Having
the guinea pigs in the run outside has been fun too. The children just love
them and it is so nice to be able to go up to the run, lean over and give them
a stroke. Kip and Silky love it too and are so much more active and receptive
to the children in the garden, and of course, they become part of the imaginary
scenarios too.
The Queens jubilee
The
favourite part of the end of May, beginning of June was or course The Queens
Jubilee. In both the Sea Turtles and Dolphins there were loads of activities
going on with bunting, flags, paper chains, etc, sticking, etc. Children love
excitement and particularly in Dolphins, they adored get ready for the party
and have a little celebration together. The children who were in on the day of
the Jubilee Tea Party had so much fun getting set up for the event.
The
wonderful part of the Queens Jubilee was that the children felt the whole world
was celebrating with them. The decorations were everywhere in and out of the
nursery and every child had a common interest.
