What are we doing in Sea Turtles in October?

The leaves are falling around us thick and fast and the days are getting dimmer and windier. The children are loving picking up leaves and sticks that have fallen and there is so much beyond our nursery that can be tapped into as well.

 

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

Prime areas:

PSED: Exploring new environments, objects and changes whilst checking in with familiar adults.  PD: Picking up and manipulating objects using fine motor control. C&L: Selecting and collecting objects by name. learning new names.

Specific areas:

M: recognising big and small objects in meaningful contexts. UW: Looking for dropped objects from the environment.  EA&D Exploring and experimenting with a range of media through sensory exploration and using their whole body.

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

·         Tasting seasonal vegetables and fruits . Sarah G will be carrying on with tasting of new fruits from last month and extending it to all of the delicious seasonal vegetables out now.

·         Excursion to collect autumn fall. Laura and Sarah G will be organising excursions to the local park to collect autumn fall and bring it back to create seasonal sensory treasure baskets.

·         Autumn leaf art. Laura  will be  supporting the children in making some art using falling autumn leaves.

·         Sorting and matching autumn leaves. Laura will be setting up some sorting and matching activities with the older children to draw similarities in size and shape of autumn fall.

·         Making a tree out of autumn fall. Latoya will be working with the children collaboratively to create a tree out of bark, leaves, and sticks.

·         Hand printing in autumn colours. Cristina will be making an autumn tree using hands prints of the children for the leaves.

·         Threading and leaf matching. Cristina will be setting up some threading activities for the children to thread trees and leaves and also colour matching using leaves.

·         Conker rolling. Alice will be collecting conkers and making art with the children by dipping the conkers in paint and rolling them around on paper for effect.

Some ideas to support your children at home:

·         Take some time out and go collecting. Collect leaves, conkers, sticks, bark, pinecones, etc to create sensory baskets to explore. Sit down together and look at them, talk about them and play with them.

·         Label what you are exploring and extend and build on language; spikey, smooth, soft, sharp, rough, big, small, flat, long, brown, orange, red, green, leaf, conker, stick, bark, etc.

·         Find a leafy area and run through the leaves, kicking them up, throwing them, scattering them.

·         Cut a pumpkin and explore it together. What do the seeds feel like, where are they, what does the flesh feel like, what colour is it.

·         If you’re a member of Kew, don’t miss out on all the amazing pumpkin installations at the moment.

·         Be careful with babies and toddlers. Acorns and even small conkers are a choke hazard. They are soft and smooth and children love to put them in their mouths. Save these for children over three- there is plenty of time to explore them later.

What are we doing in Dolphins in October?

Well, it is going to be a big month for Dolphins this month.  We’ve got all the environmental changes that the children are getting excited about; bringing in autumn fall, constantly finding more and more leaves in our garden, our sunflowers and summer pots all starting to die. As the month goes on, we will be relocating whilst the nursery takes renovations to the Dolphins’ play spaces. So, we will mostly be looking at Autumn changes with a few changes for ourselves coming too…

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

Prime areas:

PSED: Noticing the change in weather and thinking about how to keep ourselves warm. PD: Taking steps and having a go at putting on jackets, shoes and warmer clothes to go outside. C&L Learning new songs about the season, new words to label what they learn, see and discover.

Specific areas:

L: Referring to books to discuss changes and link ideas with literature. M: Noticing colours, shapes and patterns in the environment. UW: Developing an understanding of change, processes, sequences from start to finish.  EA&D: Using natural materials to create art and using what we have observed to re-enact stories and ideas through dramatic play.

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

·         Leaf collections and prints. Christine H will be collecting leaves with the children and using them to make prints, compare, sort, order and discuss the qualities of them.

·         Natural materials collages with Manjit and Jenny, using acorns, conkers, twigs, leaves, and items brought in from home by the children.

·         Making Wigwams with leaf decorations. Matt will be making wigwams with the children and decorating them with leaves.

·         Harvesting. Shilpi will be bringing in and talking about harvesting and all of the fruits and vegetables that are available at present to eat- and trying them too.

·         Making hedgehogs. Marie-Claire will be talking about hedgehogs in the autumn with the children and making salt dough and pipe cleaner hedgehogs.

·         Autumn tree. Laura Z will be making a giant tree representing autumn using the children’s hand and finger prints, exploring the colours red, brown, orange, and yellow.

·         Talking about the change to our nursery. Su will be talking to the children about the changes to the nursery that will be happening soon. What will be different for us, how we will manage the change and charting the progress as we go.

What you could do to support your children at home:

·         Take some time out and go collecting. Collect leaves, conkers, acorns, sticks, bark, pinecones, etc. Sit down together and look at them, talk about them, compare, sort, order, match and play with them. What can you make with them? Acorn people? Stick men?

·         Remember to use a wide range of challenging language to describe the properties of the pieces and extend their word repertoire; spikey, jagged, rough, pocked, flecked, crisp, silky, brittle, flexible, etc.

·         Cut a pumpkin and explore it together. What do the seeds feel like, where are they, what does the flesh feel like, what colour is it, what does it smell like, what happens to it when you cook it? What are all the things that you could make with it?

·         If you’re a member of Kew, don’t miss out on all the amazing pumpkin installations at the moment.

·         What’s changed in the supermarkets recently? Count how many different types, colours shapes of squash you can find in the supermarket.