What are we doing in Dolphins in March?
Particularly the older children have been showing an interest in their bodies and how they change and grow, what parts do what and showing an increase in confidence in what their bodies are capable of. Many of the younger children are toilet training at present so they also are taking more control of their bodies and pride in what they are achieving. So, this month we will be looking a little bit closer at bodies.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:

Prime areas:
PSED: To feel comfortable and confident in their bodies and what they can do. PD: Challenge their physical abilities and learn new ways of moving. C&L: Build their vocabulary of body parts, movement, think about and discover new words for describing physical sensations.

Specific areas:

L: Understanding and using books for reference and research to aid discovery and knowledge.  M: Using their bodies to count with, pairing. UW: learning about how bodies grow, develop and change.  EA&D: Move their bodies creatively with and without music.

 Some of the activities we will be doing this month to support this will be:

·         Arranging body parts. Shilpi will be talking about the different parts of the body with the children and then getting them to arrange the body parts where they think they go.

·         Foot painting. Marie-Claire will be helping children to make large scale pictures with the children’s feet in the outdoor area.

·         Moving to music versus silence. Christine H will be supporting the children to move in different ways to music using ribbons, scarves and also comparing how different it feels when you move without music.

·         Fruits and vegetables. Laura Z will be making picture lists with the children of their five favourite fruits and vegetables and talking about how you need to eat at least five a day and more is better.

·         How does your body work? Jenny will be working with the preschool group on how their body works and how to keep them healthy with food and exercise.

·         Growth. Matt will be working with the children, families and team on gathering pictures of themselves as they have grown up to talk about how your body grows.

·         Life size drawings. Carole and Natty will be helping the children to make life size drawings of themselves and naming the different body parts.

What you could do to support your children at home:

·       Look through photo albums together of different family members and talk about how you have each grown.

·       Talk about and count the fruits and vegetables they have eaten in the day. Talk about how you need at least five fruits and vegetables a day to keep healthy and check off with them as they do it.

·       Go to the park and do some running together. Feel your pulses and talk about how exercise makes you feel. Use lots of describing words; puffed, happy, wobbly, beating.

·       Name body parts, sing songs (we all know Heads, Shoulders…), count body parts, repeat and remember.

What are we doing in Sea Turtles in March?

After a month of listening to sounds, the children have really tuned into the road and what they think they hear passing by. They have been finding pictures of different vehicles and talking about them, so this month we will support the children in discovering more about the different types of vehicles and what they are for.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:

Prime areas:

PSED: Learning alongside others, sharing discoveries and exploring new things supported by familiar key person or friend. PD: Using their body to move, pass, operate vehicles and walking to street to watch vehicles. C&L: imitating words and sounds. Making sounds to represent noises vehicles make.

Specific areas:

M: Recognising different sizes, matching, ordering vehicles. UW: Observing the different vehicles on the street, what they do, how they sound.  EA&D: Expressions of what they have learned through movement, sound, art.

Some of the activities we will be doing this month will involve:

·         Obstacle course. Sarah G will be supporting the use of their bodies as vehicles or using ride on toys, moving around cones, responding to signs and role modelling from what they see or know about the streets and vehicles.

·         Going on a boating journey. Laura W will support the children into role playing going on a boating journey in boxes with waving material as the sea for them to travel through.

·         Vehicle collages. Cristina will be helping the children to make collages of vehicles and talking about the different names, noises, activities of them as they go.

·         Making artistic tracks. Ella will be supporting the children in making art by painting with the wheels of the vehicles, making sounds and actions as they go.

·         Small world play. Sara will be supporting the children in setting up lots of small world play with all the different vehicles and playing sounds of the roads, sea, sky.

·         Excursions to the river, railway station and roads. All of the team will be taking the children on a range of excursions to look at different types of transport.

·         Excursion to the library for transport books. Chloe will be organising a group of children to go to the library to look for and take out books about transport.

Some ideas to support your children at home:

·         Take time to stop of and look at diggers, trucks, trains and cars. Children love it and find it fascinating. Talk about what they are doing.

·         Take a trip on some transport that you normally don’t for a change. Buses, trains, canal boats, river bus. Do you or a friend have a canoe or rowing boat they could have a little ride in?

·         Go for a walk to a Fire Station. Look at the fire engines through the doors or windows. You might even be lucky enough for one to come out all bells and speed.

·         Go to the library and get out some books on transport.

·         Walks along the Thames in the weekend are full of different boats. Have a walk, watch and chat about it.