This week we introduced the children to the story ‘The invisible string’.

The story is about the unbreakable connection between loved ones. It gives children a great sense of peace and joy realizing that we are all connected to the ones that we love… (pets, friends, grandparents, cousins etc… and especially those that have passed on)…through the Invisible String. A string that can never be lost, cut, or torn. A string that can reach all the way to the moon or down to the ocean floor. A string that anger, time, or bad feelings can never make go away. No-one is too young or too old to remember that we are never, really all alone.

We made up a game called pass the string, asking the children to pass a ball of string to a person in the circle who was important to them. By the end of the game the children could see how we are all important to each other and connected by the ‘invisible’ string.

One of our children has grandparents who are Scottish. This gave us the opportunity to talk about burns night and introduce some poetry to the children.

We talked together about other words that rhyme such as mouse and house, cat and hat.

We gave the children opportunities to create a Scottish flag, by sponging paint on paper then peeling off the masking tape, using their finger and thumb to hold the edge of the tape. They were able to use language such as line and cross to describe what they could see when the tape was off.

The following week we invited reception to join us as we had a visit from our child’s daddy. He arrived in his smart Scottish traditional dress with his bagpipes, and talked to the children about his bagpipes and how to play them. The children watched on in awe as the pipes were played.

The children were read the story behind the parable’ build your house on the rock. We talked about having strong foundations to help us through our lives, and likened the story to the importance of friendships and support of others and without that we my be a bit wobbly.
The children then explored the story in a practical way, to help them understand, one house was placed on a large stone and the other on sand, the practitioner invited the children to sprinkle water on each house encouraging them to talk about what was happening. We had comments from the children: ‘it’s melting’ ‘nothing’, ‘it still there’, ,the sand gone’.
In the afternoon the children created the houses outdoors, on a large scale using the loose parts, one in the gravel pit and the other in the sand pit. This time they used the hose pipe to see what would happen.

Making marks in the environment. 

The outdoor environment gives the children many opportunities for learning.

The frosty mornings have allowed children to explore different ways of making marks in the ice.

They have explored the environment with different tools, including parts of their bodies ( hands, fingers and feet)

The children used some wonderful language to describe the frost such as: crunchy, slippy, freezing, white, spiked and hairy.

Making marks can be achieved anywhere and not always with pencil and paper.

Christmas Party 2022  

What a great way to end an amazing term with the Nursery Christmas party.

Snow ,crackers, party games and a visit from Father Christmas, we even had snow. 
Such a special day.

Light and shadow play is an amazing and fun way for children to explore maths and science in their world.

Shadow play also helps children develop an understanding of cause and effect as they observe what makes a shadow and where the light needs to be to cast a shadow. By moving their shadows around, they can investigate different shapes and sizes.

Staff modelled to the children how to change the size of a shadow, by moving an object or themselves closer to a light source and the shadow becomes bigger. Move it away from the light source and the shadow becomes smaller.

One child was fascinated by the shadow of her curly hair on the sheet, telling the staff she looked like her sister, because her sister has curly hair.

We held our second story cafe on Friday, it was wonderful to see so many of our amazing families (mums, dads, siblings and grandparents) at the nursery.

It was lovely to see the families engagement with their children’s learning and play, making a stick man, decorating a gingerbread man and a pine cone.

Parents are a child’s first educator, this is why it is so important to involve them in their child’s learning as it creates a positive connection between home and nursery.

At home it helps parents replicate what they have experienced, and for children seeing their parents enthusiastic about learning will encourage them to imitate this behaviour.
Parents and educators who work together have a positive impact on their child’s development and learning.

Thank you all for coming and your wonderful feedback, see you all next time.

Rainy day learning 💦💦☂️

We are feeling really grateful for the recent rain, so much learning has taken place with the abundance of available water. Accessing the outdoors in all weathers provides the children with a diverse learning environment, engaging all the senses that help to stimulate the brain and strengthen neural pathways.

It provides opportunities for awe and wonderment, watching the rain land in the puddles and noticing the circular ripples, listening to the sound of the rain on the tarp, tracking its movement and following it with their fingers, feeling the rain on their faces and catching rain drops in their hands, making marks in the sloppy mud, learning about weight using the language ‘heavy’ when moving water around of the garden, watching how water flows and working out different ways to move it. The possibilities are endless.