2 Year Olds

Welcome to our 2 Year Olds Explorers Room!

Miss Ainsley and Mrs Leightell are your Early Years Practitioners.

Week Commencing Monday 15th April 2023 

Since returning back to the 2 Year Old setting after a lovely Easter break, the children have engaged in many child lead activities, while developing the confidence to explore the environment more independently and alongside their peers. 
The boys and girls have been developing their fine motor skills and hand eye coordination when exploring the sand and water. The children were doing this by using the spades to scoop up the sand, then pouring it into the nearby buckets. They enjoyed filling the buckets to the very top, patting the sand down then tipping over the bucket. They used a similar concept when exploring the water, scooping up the water with a jug, then pouring into another jug or bucket until it was full, so that they could then pour it back out. With support the children were developing their social skills, when playing alongside their friends, taking turns and sharing the resources. 
We observed different sounds this week, the children enjoyed using the wooden spoons and metal tins to create their own banging sounds. Key staff modelled different ways that sounds could be created, other than banging. Key staff demonstrated scraping the wooden spoons on the tins, some children were able to copy the different motions. We also explored the beaded sensory shakers, the children explored shaking them fast and slow to create different sounds. 
The children have enjoyed building towers and structures with the bricks, Duplo and stacking blocks. Some worked together alongside their friends, helping one another to stack them up. Some children preferred to play alone to achieve their own goal. 
We explored mark making, developing our fine motor skills and developing the confidence needed when trying something new. We explored the play dough, we looked a different ways the dough can be manipulated, and the different tools that could be used to enhance skill and play. 
key staff enjoyed taking a step back and observing the children’s play, stepping in when the children needed support and to model key vocabulary, and also extended their play by asking questions, such as what can you build next. 

Week beginning - 25th March 2024

This the week the children enjoyed a range of Easter related activities, in a run up to the end of term.  The children explored different materials both felt and foam as they engaged in collage to create an Easter card for their families.   The children also enjoyed playing with some small craft pieces, such as fluffy chicks, bunnies, spring animals and foam eggs with the play dough, some of the children began to engage in some brief small world play with them! As well the children made so Easter Nest Crispy Cakes, where they took turns to add and mix the ingredients together before spooning the mixture in the paper cake cases, they later enjoyed having one of the cakes they made a snack time and took another one home.  Additionally, the children took part in an Egg Hunt, in which they wore some novelty Easter Bunny Ear Glasses to find the eggs, in exchange for a yummy chocolate Easter treat to also take home! 

Week Commencing 18th March 2024 

This week we have focused on building and forming small sentences, the children enjoyed labelling various toys and resources which they could then post in a box. Key staff continuously modelled key vocabulary and small sentences when the children posted a toy in the box, such as ‘small blue car’ and ‘bumpy orange dinosaur’. We also tested the children’s memory, we asked the children if they could remember which toy they initially posted, and if they were then able to take it back out and place into the basket. This activity was carried out numerous times throughout the week, key staff observed that some children were able to sit within a small group while demonstrating the skills to turn take and follow instructions. They were also developing their language skills throughout. 
 

The children have demonstrated positive interactions throughout a colour sorting activity, we explored the different colours, labelled them and sorted various objects by colour. The boys and girls were able to chose a toy from the basket, identify the colour, and then place it on the correct coloured spot. The children demonstrated the skills to sit alongside their peers, turn take and share. They demonstrated good communication and language skills when using key vocabulary and follow instructions. 

Week commencing -  11th March 2024:

This week the children enjoyed painting using the paintbrushes and staff used this activity to build sentences, as they talked to them about what they are doing and thinking. Including, what they were wearing, e.g. an apron and what items they were going to use e.g. a paintbrush and how they look and feel.  Staff also talked to the children about the colours they chose and the marks or patterns they were making and encouraged both colour recognition and colour mixing. The children especially enjoyed painting their hands to create handprints and also the sensory tactile element!

We also promoted the children’s physical development through different activities both indoors and outdoors, in the School Hall they explored the benches and moved along them in different ways, including balancing, crawling and pulling themselves forward on their tummies using their upper body strength. Then outdoors the children enjoyed sitting on the wheeled toys, such as the ride along cars and tricycles, during this play the children used the large gross-motor leg muscles to move around and they were also able to change direction and are beginning to avoid obstacles in their path.

The children have throughly enjoyed building with the Duplo Lego Blocks and staff encouraged the children to make other creations not just towers, building horizontally as well as vertically. 

On Friday we also celebrated the charitable event - Comic Relief, where we came to Nursery dressed in red clothing and we enjoyed engaging in some red water play, where we did some pouring, filling and emptying! 

Week commencing - 4th March 2024

This week we celebrated World Book Day, the children came to Nursery from Monday - Wednesday as themselves (readers), dressed as their favourite book character or in their Pyjamas ready for a bedtime story!  The children throughout the week, enjoyed looking at books independently as well as sharing stories with staff and they showed interest in the illustrations, including during our Reading Cafe that we held on Friday, where our parents and carers were invited along to explore our brand new core book collection! 
 

Again this week, following on from the children’s recent interest of mark making and how they have started to make marks intentionally. Staff offered a wide range of different materials and encouraged the children to make marks in different ways, including exploring paint using their fingers as well as brushes as they made their Mother’s Day Cards for their Mammies for this coming Sunday! 

The children enjoyed exploring the Stacking Cups and Blocks and as well as building towers, they used the method of trial and error to combine them by putting them inside of each other and them taking them out again. During this time, staff encouraged counting and the children developed counting-like behaviour, such as making sounds, pointing or saying some numbers in sequence and sometimes skipping numbers. Staff also encouraged to the children to compare the sizes of the Stacking Cup and Blocks by using gestures and language of both size and weight, such as; “bigger/little/smaller” and “heavy/light”.

Additionally, the children enjoyed visiting the Reception classroom to see the eggs and the baby chicks that have recently hatched as part of the Living Eggs programme, which offers the experience and observation of life cycles, growth and development.  It also encourages social interaction and promotes caring and nurturing skills.

Week Commencing Monday 26th February 2024 

Welcome back everyone, we hope that you all had a lovely relaxing break during the half term. 

Key staff are delighted with how well our newest 2 year olds have settled, the nursery environment is becoming more familiar to them, and they are beginning to understand that their grown ups will only be gone a short while. They are developing bonds with both key staff and their peers, while also developing the skills to explore the environment more confidently and independently. 

We have had another busy fun filled week! 

The children have particularly enjoyed exploring the duplo building blocks and construction blocks. Some children made structures by stacking them one on top of the other, they have also been developing their number knowledge when randomly counting the blocks as they were stacked. Other children enjoyed using their imaginations when playing, they were pretending that their blocks represented something other than a tower. Such as a house, or their grown ups.   

The children have been demonstrating a huge interest in marking making, exploring the crayons, pencils and chalk. Some children are developing the skills to give meaning to their marks, they are able to form short sentences, such as " my mammy" "my daddy" "a flower." Some children just wanted to draw freely, developing their hand eye co ordination and fine motor skills.  

We have had great fun exploring the play dough, to further develop our fine motor skills. The children have enjoyed rolling, patting, pinching and cutting while also using a variety of tools, such as cutters and rolling pins. Key staff worked alongside the children, modelling key vocabulary throughout while also asking what and who questions. 

We have explored the outdoor environment, developing our gross motor skills when running, jumping, dancing, hopping and kicking a large ball, the children also enjoyed playing on the bikes and cars. 

Week beginning - 12th February 2024:

This week following on from the children’s interests, we incorporated a ‘Hair Salon’ into the  role play area, the children enjoyed exploring the different hairdressing equipment and exploring the hairdressing modelling head.  The children then engaged in imaginative play and then took turns to play with both the staff and their peer’s hair.  Staff labelled the different hairdressing equipment, modelled how to use them as well as engaging in role play with the children and emphasised key vocabulary throughout.

The children also had great fun engaging in some music and movement, where they sang and danced along to a variety of songs and rhymes, including ones that were familiar to them as well as being introduced to some new ones! We also enhanced this further by adding and exploring other related resources, such as; a microphone, Pom-Poms, ribbons, scarves and musical instruments. 
 

The children this week enjoyed building towers using a variety of different resources, including the Sensory Illuminated Glow Roller Shakers, the Early Years Natural Building Block Set and the Duplo, where they built towers of 4+ by balancing and stacking them vertically one on top of the other. Staff encouraged the children to count their towers and that building towers and then them falling down and building them back up is all part of the fun!  
 

Additionally, the children creatively made a Valentine’s card for their family and decorated biscuits that they had a snack and took home for their loved ones! Then we also celebrated Shrove Tuesday and had Lana cakes and various toppings as a yummy treat at snack time! 

Week Commencing 5th February 2024 

We have all had another busy fun filled week of learning and exploring, the children have accessed a wide range of activities and learning through play opportunities. 
The boys and girls have demonstrated a huge interest in role play, especially with the babies/dolls. Key staff facilitated this interest by planning a changing and dressing activity. Key staff modelled how to gently handle the babies, while also modelling how to dress/undress the baby, and change a nappy. The children worked alongside their peers, maintained focus for a short period of time, while also demonstrating the skills to follow instructions. Key staff offered support throughout as some children found it a little ‘tricky’ when fastening the sticky parts of the nappy, however they demonstrated determination. Key staff modelled key vocabulary throughout this activity while also asking questions, offering time for the children to respond and to talk about any real life experiences that they may of had. 
 

We also explored the sensory shakers, we looked at the different colours when they lit up. Some children were able to label the colours through observation. We talked about the noise that they made when they were shook hard, fast and slow. The children enjoyed observing, shaking and rolling them, again key staff modelled key vocabulary and asked questions, such as what and who. The boys and girls previously made their own shakers using rice, pasta and lentils. They enjoyed observing a different form of shakers, playing alongside their peers, while also developing the skills to turn take and share. 
 

The children enjoyed a tasty treat this week, this was to coincide with Chinese New Year… The year of the Rat 🐀. The boys and girls expressed their likes and dislikes through a food tasting activity. They all had the opportunity to taste spring rolls, egg fried rice, egg noodles, prawn crackers and curry sauce. Key staff were pleasantly surprised to watch the children give everything a try, while being able to say what they did or didn’t like. The children demonstrated good hand eye co ordination and fine motor skills when using a fork to feed themselves. 
 

Week beginning - 29th January 2024:

This week we focused on children’s listening and attention, they enjoyed filling up some cups with dried rice, pasta and lentils before adding colourful cellophane to make shakers! The children then enjoyed making a noise with their shaker, staff playfully encouraged them to listen to the sounds and to also try and copy the sounds or very simple beats! We also incorporated them into our song time/singing too! 

This week we also engaged in some simple role play in to the water area, where the children had fun bathing the dolls, using the sponges.  We also added bubble bath, toy ducks and boats to the water.  During this time staff, modelled key related vocabulary and extended the children’s play by challenging them to wash different body parts of the dolls and the children also made the connection and spoke about their own bath times at home.  
 

This week we also have accessed the Sensory Room, the children had a relaxing and stimulating time in the Ball Pool, as well as exploring the step and sound discs, the large textured discs and the sensory bubble tube and pressing the buttons to change the colour of it! 
 

Additionally, the children playfully engaged with the play dough, where they explored the texture as well as manipulating the malleable material using both their hands and also tools, such as the rolling pins and cutters.  The children had fun exploring the toy garage, pushing the vehicles up and down the ramps and using the method of trial and error to operate the lift by turning the handle around.  

Week commencing Monday 22nd January 2024 

We have all had another fantastic week exploring and investigating. The children have participated in many activities to further develop their learning.
We explored the peg puzzles and shape sorter, some children were able to complete the puzzles through trial and error, others were able to complete the puzzles with support from key staff. They have been developing the skills to follow instructions and focus their attention for a short period of time.

The boys and girls have enjoyed exploring the Heuristic area, key staff worked alongside everyone to model key language, and to ask relevant questions about the different materials. Some children enjoyed sorting the different resources, transporting and stacking, while some enjoyed emptying them from one basket to another.

We also had great fun learning through sensory exploration, staff modelled key vocabulary while also asking questions to prompt the children when exploring the shaving foam. They enjoyed squashing it through their fingers, clapping it in their hands and smelling it. 
 

Week beginning - 15th January 2024

Last week the children showed an interest in animals but we observed that they were unsure of quite a few of the names of animals.  Children’s small world play is often based around a certain theme depending on their interests, in which we adapted our small world area to fit with this specific learning theme and used it to target this certain area of learning.  Small world play allows children to act out scenarios (scenes from real life, stories they have heard and/or from their imagination) in a miniature play scene, created with small figures and objects.

The children enjoyed exploring the wild/jungle animals in the tuff-spot tray and also the wooden farm blocks, as well as the sea creatures within the water tray. During their play, the children labelled some of the animals, making the noises of the animals or saying what the animals were doing.

The children this week also engaged in a creative printing activity where they took turns to put the toy animals into paint so that their feet were covered and then stomped them over the paper and looked at the different tracks created/left behind.

The children had fun looking at animal related books both independently and with staff, such as ‘Dear Zoo, Oh Dear’ and many more! Where they enjoyed looking at and labelling the illustrations as they lifted the flaps and felt the different textures of a variety of books. The children also actively participated in singing songs and rhymes about animals, ‘Old MacDonald had a Farm’ being a firm favourite! As well by using the animals puppets during story and singing offered an entertaining approach to introducing new concepts to the children.

Additionally, the children promoted their physical skills both fine and gross motor by completing the animal peg puzzles and taking turns on the Rocking Horse.

Week Commencing Monday 8th January 2024 

Happy New Year Everyone! 
We hope that you all had a well deserved rest and a lovely Christmas with family and friends. 
 

The 2 year old room has welcomed some new little faces into our setting at the start of the new term, they have all been amazing! Each child has settled brilliantly, they have enjoyed exploring all of the different areas while also demonstrating particular interests. The boys and girls have demonstrated an interest in filling and emptying when playing in the water, they have been developing their mark making skills when drawing freely, and they have loved making different sounds when exploring the musical instruments. Some children have demonstrated a particular interest in animals, we are going to further develop this interest over the coming weeks. 

🎄 Week Commencing 4th December 2023  🎄

Christmas Time….. 

WOW! What an amazing December it has been, we have all had a brilliant time preparing for Christmas 2023. 
The children have engaged in many different activities, such as creating their very own party hats, tree decorations, and reindeer dust. They explored mixing and stirring, while also exploring various creative materials. 
 

The children have participated in many other Christmas activities, such as a Santa Dash, we all had great fun running laps around the school. We invited the parents and carers into school to take part in a craft session, it was a lovely morning, and fantastic to see everyone join in. Santa came to visit 🎅 us all, he gave everyone a lovely story book to share at home with their loved ones. The children have laughed, played, danced and ran around… they have had such fun making memories with their friends.
 

Thank you everyone for your continued support! 
We hope you all have a fabulous Christmas, and we look forward to welcoming you back in the new year.

Mrs Leightell & Miss Ainsley  
 

Week beginning - 27th November 2023

Since the children enjoyed playing shops so much, we decided to continue to keep this in our role play area for longer, this activity promoted social skills, including cooperative play and turn taking as well as communication and language.  Staff this week extended the children’s learning by adding and using real items as well as encouraging them to collect the items in the order that they asked them for, this helps the children develop their memory for words which is vital for following longer instructions! 
 

Continuing with this, staff have been promoting the children’s auditory memory for understanding further by using familiar vocabulary so that children can follow simple instructions at two-word level. For example; sit down, stand up, line up, wonderful walking, come here, over there, tidy up, coat on, coat off etc.  

The children did so well last week exploring the peg puzzles, that this week staff introduced them to simple 2 piece jigsaw puzzles, where they had to match and connect together the pieces of the heads and tails of various animals.  
 

Additionally, we had to make the most of the wintery weather and play outside in the snow, it was so much fun, we enjoyed feeling the texture of the snow and ice and talking about them and how they felt as well as watching the snow melt! 

Week Commencing Monday 20th November 

The children have been demonstrating an interest in Role Play, acting out real life experiences when taking on the role of a ‘shop keeper’. With support from key staff, they were able to play alongside their peers. Key staff would like to further develop turn taking and sharing resources, as we feel this is an area in which most children would benefit from additional intervention. The boys and girls were able to develop their language throughout, chatting between one another and using phrases that they have heard in real life. Key staff heard some children use single words, such as “potato” “trolley” and “basket”. Other children were able to form short sentences, such as “1 pound please” “1 Dollar please”, this was corrected by key staff. 
 

We have also been learning through trial and error when exploring the Peg Puzzles, most children could confidently complete them, while others required additional support. The children enjoyed exploring them both independently and within a small group. 

Week beginning - 13th November 2023

We had a busy week at Nursery this week, as we participated in various events!

At the beginning of the week, we wore odd socks to mark the start of Anti-Bullying week and this year’s theme was  ‘make a noise about bullying’. In which the children engaged in an activity to developed their attention and listening skills, the children had great fun, making a noise with the different musical instruments and then listening to sounds before trying to copy the sounds and very simple beats.

It was also ‘World Nursery Rhyme Week’ and we took part in a daily challenge and sang a different song each day and these were; Jack and Jill, Hickory Dickory Dock, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Row Row Row Your Boat and Wheels on the Bus. The children filled in the gaps within familiar songs and rhymes and especially enjoyed doing the associated actions! 

Then we rounded off the week with raising funds for Children in Need, this included having a non-uniform day and the children also did some finger painting to make a ‘Pudsey Bear’ headband. Additionally, they enjoyed using the nets to fish out the different coloured Pom Poms in the water tray and had fun decorating spotty biscuits with yellow and white icing and Smarties and taking part in a whole school ‘copper coin trail’.

Week beginning - 6th November 2023

This week the children engaged in an activity where they had to understand what was said and what a toy symbolises or represents.  Using a doll and a teddy bear, along with several other items such as; a hairbrush, cot, cup, plate/spoon and sponge.  Staff playfully ask the children to for example; “wash the teddy” and see if they could select the correct associated item to do so, i.e. the ‘sponge’.  Staff next extended their learning by using more complex sentences such as; “wash Teddy’s arm” or “give the doll the big plate”. Staff then challenge the children further by introducing the name for actions, for example; “Make Teddy jump” or “Make dolly sleep”.  Also during small world play with sets such as the Dolls House, Garage and Train track or with role play props, Staff commented on what the children were doing with the toys.  This let the children hear simple sentences, supporting language development. Staff as well encouraged the children to give them certain items or asked them to do simple things.

Additionally the children enjoyed printing using peppers and red paint to create poppy like shapes, for Remembrance Day. 

Week beginning - 30th October 2023

🎃 This week we have celebrated 2 events - Halloween and Bon Fire Night! 🎆

On Monday, staff and children children came dressed in their Halloween costumes and we had a EYFS Halloween Disco in the School Hall with Nursery and Reception. We had lots of fun dancing to the music and enjoyed a yummy hot dog and a drink too! We also had our very own mini Halloween Disco in the morning session in our room as well, so no one missed out!

Additionally, the children explored the play dough and the Halloween cutters and labelling them.  Then on Tuesday, the children enjoyed playing in the water, where they pretended to make potions as they engaged in some pouring, filling and emptying and the water tray also contained some glow sticks! The children then used their senses to explore some orange and lime jelly that contained some toy spiders! 

Later in the week, the children actively participated in making some firework pictures, using a variety of materials - glitter, paint and chalks to create marks. Staff also added glitter and sparkly pom poms to the stare tray for the children to explore!  During both activities, staff spoke to the children about fireworks, including safety, colours and the different sounds they make!

Week beginning - 16th October 2023

This week the children enjoyed playing a Fishing Game, where staff added different items in the water tray and gave the children a net and asked them to “fish” for various things. This game helps develop an understanding of the names of things and additionally during this activity staff promoted the children’s colour recognition (i.e. “can you fish out the blue block etc). Initially the children were using their hands to place the items in the nets, rather than scooping them up but with some modelling and encouragement from staff to keep practising the children developed their skills to use the nets effectively whilst promoting their physical development.  Staff also challenged the children by giving them two or three items to collect in the order stated. 

Also, the children had fun exploring a variety of different items and they had to try and match two of the same objects even if they were different sizes or colour.  The children during this activity developed their understanding of variation in size, such as “big” and “little” as well as their colour recognition by labelling the colours. 

As well we played a game to promote the children’s attention and listening, staff gave the children an object and a basket and each time staff say “go” they can throw or put the object into the basket. Staff then challenged the children by giving them a few objects to the children and they had to listen for staff to say which one they should throw into the basket. 

Additionally, the children had great fun with the parachute and playing games in which to develop their physical development, including hiding underneath and trying to keep the beanbags on it! 

Week beginning - 9th October 2023

This week the children were independently able to build a tower of at least five or six blocks on both a large and small scale, in turn developing both their fine and gross motor skills.

As well this week the children participated in a ‘stop and go’ game promoting their attention and listening, staff asked the children to make a noise with the musical instruments and when they said “stop” they had to stop making a noise.  Then they had to wait for staff to say “go” before they could start again.  All the children could do this when it was modelled by staff and several could continue to do it with staff only using words only, however at present the children struggled waiting for staff to say “go”before they could start again but could stop with ease. 

Then later in the week the children engaged in a colour matching activity, where the children sorted and matched the toy cars to the different colour spots displaying visual attention and discrimination. Staff initially gave the children a car one by one before later letting then select them for themselves and in small groups. During this activity, the children were developing their colour recognition and the majority of the children were correctly able to identify the primary colours!

Additionally, the children have had fun during their free play playing within the Home Corner where they engaged in some simple role play.

Week beginning - 2nd October 2023

The children had fun singing rhymes and during this time, staff this week encouraged them to interact and talk socially by selecting a rhyme to sing.  If some of the children struggled staff suggested songs that the children know well and gave them a choice between 2 familiar rhymes. Also, rhymes that involve actions are great for encouraging eye contact.  Staff started to sing a rhyme or song together with the children but on occasions stopped in the middle and observed to see if they continued or waited for the children to look at you before you start to sing again.  Staff also incorporated the finger puppets and musical instruments which they children found fun and this helped them maintain focus for longer period of time.  

The children enjoyed looking at different types of books and staff asked the children to point to something in the picture, (i.e “show me”, “point to” and “where is?”In which they were able to respond to this instruction well and additionally often the children labelled the illustrations as well as pointing to them! Staff then further challenged the children and extended their learning by asking them to try and find smaller things or parts of things within the illustrations.

Staff playfully encouraged the children actively participate in some small group activities that involved taking turns and to develop this important skill, including building towers with the blocks and bricks, blowing bubbles and rolling a car or ball back and forth to each other.  The children with prompting from staff, listened well and even rotated the paint pots around the table to use each of the 4 colours in an additional creative activity!

Additionally, this week the children explored the peg puzzles and used the method of trial and error to fit the pieces into the inset board and experiment by inserting dried pieces of spaghetti pasta into play dough and then slotted Cheerio cereal on to it, developing their hand-eye coordination.

Week beginning - 25th September 2023

Over the last few weeks all of the children have thoroughly enjoyed painting, in which this week we decided to further enhance this preferred interest. The children playfully engaged in this activity, using paintbrushes and their hands to make marks and explore colour whilst painting freely, staff also took this learning opportunity to develop the children’s communication and language as this is a great activity to talk to the children about what they are doing and thinking. We spoke to them about the items they are wearing (i.e apron), what items they used (i.e. paintbrushes and how they feel) and about the colours they chose and the sort of marks and patterns they made!

Outdoors the children had great fun painting with water, strengthening both their gross and fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, whilst improving their hand manipulation and encouraging creativity!

Whilst playing with the sand, the children were keen to explore the buckets and moulds, in which staff gave them the opportunity to add water by pouring it into the dry sand and then mixing them together. Staff then modelled how to use the mould effectively and also how to make sandcastle.  The children then attempted and repeated these patterns of play independently whilst also benefiting from scientific exploration, sensory stimulation and developing their physical development.

The children accessed the sensory room, time in the sensory room helps children improve their visual, auditory and tactile processing, as well as fine and gross motor skills. Additionally, sensory play helps children to develop their senses and encourages problem-solving. 

On Friday the children came to Nursery wearing green clothing and participated in several green-related activities, such as; spaghetti-water play, play dough and decorating biscuits in aid and to support the amazing MacMillan Cancer charity!

Week beginning - 18th September 2023

The children have been showing an interest in transport and transporting, in which staff incorporated a variety of activities to reflect and enhance their interest.  The children enjoyed transport printing using different vehicles and paint to create different patterns, as well engaging in some small world play with the toy garage, ramps and masking tape roads and race tracks, as they crawled around and push the toy vehicles along the shapes on floor. Also in the the tuff spot tray filled with Coco Pops - breakfast cereal, the children had fun exploring texture and moving parts as they used the various construction vehicles.  Additionally, the children during outdoor play imaginatively played with the ride-along cars and pretended to be on a bus using the ladder and joined in with the songs, such as ‘Wheels on the bus’ and ‘I’m driving in my car’.

The children have engaged in some Heuristic play, as staff gave them supervised free time to wander, touch and play in whatever way they desired by providing them a selection of safe objects and receptacles that allowed them to look through the baskets, take things out, touch them, move them and experiment. 

The children had the opportunity to have time in the School Hall again this week, where they

 actively participated in some Balloon dancing, where they had to try and keep their balloons in the air using their hands whilst moving to the music. They also developed their balance and co-ordination as they walked along the balancing beams and their gross-motor skills as they stepped, galloped or jumped over the small hurdles.   

Additionally, the children have had lots of fun, looking at the books independently as well as sharing stories with staff, singing song and rhymes, playing in the sand and with the play dough.

Week beginning - 11th September 2023

This week the children enjoyed engaging in some messy play, using open-ended exploration of materials and their properties, including a sensory bin and spaghetti play.  Activities like this allow the children to repeat and experiment as they like and be naturally curious and engages their senses at a developmental level that is appropriate for them. The children had fun poring, filling and emptying and enjoyed running their hands through the materials and watching what happens as they poured them out, creating tactile sensations!

The children also enjoyed engaging in some mark making, creating their finger and hand prints using the washable ink pads whilst developing their fine-motor skills.  Through their marks, staff encouraged the children to communicate their ideas, express their feelings, develop their imagination and creativity.

Additionally, the children had great fun developing their gross-motor skills by having some time in the School Hall where they ran around in the open space, as well as throwing and kicking the large balls as well as stepping or jumping in the hula hoops laid across the floor or chasing after them as Staff rolled them.

Week beginning - 5th September 2023

This week has been our first week back and what a fun week it has been! It has been so lovely welcoming a new starter as well as the children back and we are so proud of how well they have come back after the Summer Holidays! The children have enjoyed settling back in, exploring the environment and the different areas of play both indoors and outdoors.