2 Year Olds

Welcome to our 2 Year Olds Explorers Room!

Miss Ainsley and Mrs Baines are your Early Years Practitioners.

Please find attached below information on what the children will be learning this term.

We have lots of exciting themes, books and rhymes to explore and we promise to post/share lots of photographs of our amazing learning and development!

Summer 2 / week 8: 21-23rd July 2025 (last week of the academic year).

Well that’s a wrap, we are all partied out, what a week we have had on our final week of the summer term, the children have danced their socks off, we have played party games, and had a yummy delicious party picnic wearing our very own made party hats. 
We hope everyone has a wonderful holidays, staying safe and we can’t wait to see everyone in September where we will be continuing with our learning as well as having lots of messy fun.

Take a look our lovely pictures from this week and Mrs Baines and Miss Ainsley will see you all in September along with our new friends who will be joining us.

Summer 2 / week 7 : 14-18th July 2025

Wow what a noisy, messy, fun and colourful week we have had this week. Our weekly rhyme this week has been “We going to the zoo!” the children have had lots of fun listening and imitating animal noises and stomping around just like the animals at the zoo and in the jungle, chasing their friends pretending to be a lion (roaring and pouncing) tiger, elephant (using their arm for a trunk and stomping) zebra, rhino, monkeys and even a giraffe stretching up tall, this was such a fun way to help the children to develop their gross motor skills and physical development.

In the tuff tray this week (as you know this is one of our favourite areas) the wild animals have been ice skating down the pipe, they have been rolling around in the muddy gloop and foam then getting a wash afterwards. The children also enjoyed pouring and filling in the jungle with the dried food (pasta,rice).

In the creative area using paper plates, paint and lots of collage materials they all made their own elephants and lions (they are roarsome), the children were all so good at following instructions, waiting patiently for their turn of the paints and glue, I’m sure you will be super impressed with their art work when they bring it home.

The children also enjoyed an animal stomping and stamping, wild animal activity together using their vocabulary, communication and language skills as they told their friends that the animals were “roaring” “stamping” and even “The tiger has lost his stripes!” 

On the floor their was a snake (oh no not a real one thank goodness) the children were again very creative and made the snake all colourful using the curiosity approach stamping and stomping the animals also using their hands to make marks enjoying the sensory exploration of the activity.

We have had also had lots of fun outside as always this week with our friends on the bikes, cars, swing, slide and of course in the mud kitchen ,making the most delicious dinners for their friends and Mrs Baines and Miss Ainsley.

Sadly we are coming to the end of our academic year we have a blast this year, we still have a few more days of fun planned until our summer holidays start and who knows their may be a little treat.

Please have a look at all our fun pictures from this week.

Friday 11th July 2025 / FUN IN THE SUN 

Summer 2 / week 6: 7-11th July 2025

The weather has just been beautiful this week just in time for our weekly rhyme “The sun has got his hat on , hip, hip, hip,  Hooray!”. We have had a fun cool week this week , there has been lots of ice-creams made this week too.

Our tuff tray has been filled with lots of messy sensory exploration fun once again we have had:

Shaving foam and sprinkles with scoops and cones to make your very own ice creams  using imaginary play.

Cotton wool pads and card shaped into ice-cream cones, using food colouring and pipettes, to design your very own ice cream.

Fluffy ice-cream foam also to make your own yummy ice-cream. 

Sand and water to make amazing sandcastles.

“It definitely feels like summer this week!”.

Being creative together the children designed their very own cool ice lolly, using card and a range of collage materials and paint the children enjoyed making a lolly using the curiosity approach whilst developing their fine motor skills and using their vocabulary skills whilst sharing ideas with their friends, “oh and a pretend lick!”. At snack time the children made their very own healthy fruity ice lolly, using a variety of chopped berries, they chose their own fruit and placed it into fromage frais, they then put in a lolly stick and staff placed it in the freezer for the following day. ( As you can guess they just could not wait for the next day to eat it). It was delicious and soooo yummy, just what we needed on a lovely sunny day.

That’s not all, the children enjoyed a potato printing activity, using potatoes shaped into a triangle and a circle and paint, they stamped their potato’s onto the paper to create ice cream pictures, developing fine motor skills, hand eye coordination also colours and texture exploration whilst also learning shape recognition.

The ice-cream parlour shop was also popular this week during imaginary play, the children took it in turns to be the shop keeper, the children practiced developing their key skills, communication, social interaction, imagination and vocabulary as they asked the shop keeper for their ice-cream, this was so fun. So fun that at the end of the week Mrs Baines and Miss Ainsley gave the children a real ice-cream to enjoy as the sun was still shining beautifully and that wasn’t all, they even had some water balloons and a paddling pool to enjoy with their friends, splishing and sploshing in the water together, I think this must of been the best day ever so far. 

Not long to go before the end of term and the fun will still not end yet as we have lots more fun planned for next week. 

Have a look at our cool as ice pictures from this week.

Summer 2 / week 5 : 30th June - 4th July 2025

Wow what a “Roarsome” week we have had in 2s this week, it’s been so much fun we have been digging our claws into lots and lots of messy, creative activities and also lots of stomping in our physical development learning. 

Our weekly nursery rhyme this week has been “Once there was a dinosaur” this rhyme engaged the children as they used their own individual dinosaur at welcome time and also at home time whilst they sang they joined in the actions roaring high, roaring low, roaring fast and roaring slow, they all did amazing.

The tuff trays have been full of messy, fun sensory exploration and lots of dinosaur resources this week,we have had:

Chia seed dinosaur swamps

Frozen dinosaur eggs

Muddy gloopy 

Frozen ice dino eggs

In the play doh area the children got creative as they squashed, squeezed, pinched, rolled and manipulated their doh into dinosaurs adding eyes and pasta for the dinosaurs spine, plates and sails whilst also using a variety of tools developing their fine motor skills whilst doing so ,I must say some looked really scary Raaahh!.

Using cotton buds, a dinosaur template, and paint to mark make, the children enjoyed a creative activity together, they also engaged in a dinosaur stomping paint activity by using a variety of different sized dinosaurs, they fiercely stomped their claws into the paint to create footprints and creating lots of mark making patterns. The fun does not stop in 2s, the children enjoyed best of all this week being chased by a big dinosaur in the garden, they could not stop giggling as Mrs Baines and Miss Ainsley popped from behind the trees as they stomped around the garden chasing after the children. They then took it in turns to be the dinosaur, moving around developing their gross motor skills and physical development as they stomped,stamped, ran and roared to catch their friends.

The sand and water this week has been fun too as the children transported the water into the sand tray and then buried the dinosaurs for the next day so Miss Ainsley could not find them, she was so shocked to see that all of the dinosaurs had disappeared somewhere,the children surprised her as the dug up all the dinosaurs and scared poor Miss Ainsley by shouting “Roar!” they could not stop laughing.

We all had a very yummy dino snack this week as the children made their very own chocolate dino shortbread biscuit, they rolled out the mix, taking turns and waiting patiently for the rolling pin, they then chose a dino cutter (T-Rex was very popular) to use as they cut out their own biscuit, we popped them in the oven and ate them for our snack, they were sooooo yummy.

That was not only a treat we had, but can you believe it an ice cream van came into our nursery and all of the children chose an ice cream or an ice lolly to eat with their friends in the garden, how lucky were they. The sun was very hot, so as you can imagine they went down very well with everyone. 

What an amazing week, we hope the sun keeps on shining as we have lots of cool activities planned for next week.

Summer 2 / week 4: 23-27th June 2025

Wow what another fun week in 2s we have had this week, there has been lots of stars in our room this week, not only is it the children who have been little stars this week, but we have had lots of space stars, we have had a blast being creative and also we have had lots of fun getting really messy too.

We carried on with our space theme this week again as we all loved it so much and our weekly rhyme has been “Zoom, zoom, zoom, we’re going to the moon!”

The children got creative as they made their very own moon using wooden rings to stamp craters (circles, introducing shape recognition) onto a paper plate, this helps the children to practice their fine motor skills. I must say staff were over the moon with their great art work. 

Also using paper plates the children made a flying saucer, with a great looking alien inside(using the child’s handprint and adding googley eyes) also using a variety of collage materials, pipe cleaners, crepe paper and glue they stuck it all together to create an alien adding eyes and antennas. We have some amazing artists in our explorer room .

Another messy week again this week (which the children love so sorry about the messy clothes, but we do have too much fun), we have had lots of sensory exploration that have most definitely stimulated he children’s senses, the children have had a great time interacting with their friends as they explored all of the sensory tuff trays this week, enjoying exploring the textures with their hands of the moon sand, the senses and also the tastes of the jelly and cereals. A threading activity was very popular using pipe cleaners and cheerios to thread too in the tuff tray along with our planets spacemen and rockets. Also a sensory bag activity, using their hands to explore the bags filled with coloured paints and galactic stars.

The children have enjoyed lots of tactile activities too playing with the alien play doh, the sand and also with the water tray pouring and filling is their best thing to do especially when their is flying saucer lemons and limes in the water, should of seen their faces (yes they couldn’t resist a taste).

I really hope our grown ups didn’t get too much of a fright this week on collection, we thought the children had gone away somewhere, but PHEW! they were only hiding from Mrs Baines and Miss Ainsley in the den they had made. “What a relief!”.

Take a look at our fun adventurous pictures from this week, we can’t wait for next week we are going to have a “Roar-some week!”. (I wonder if you can guess).

Summer 2/ week 3 :16-20th June 2025

This week the children have been “OVER THE MOON”! 

Our weekly nursery rhyme has been 5 little men in a flying saucer, the children  have enjoyed using the props of a flying saucer and  5 aliens whilst joining in the rhyme together with their friends at carpet time. 

Introducing early maths and number recognition they counted up to 5 and also down from 5.

The tuff tray has been very messy this week as we have had lots of sensory messy fun, we have enjoyed wibbly wobbly jelly and moon sand, along with the space ships, aliens, spacemen, planets and even rockets, the children were so good in recognising “our world” which staff learned the children that this was planet earth the planet in which we live. The children then made their very own planet earth, using blue and green paint and crumpled up tin foil they made a ball and dabbed the paint onto a paper plate I must say  “they are out of this world!”. That’s not all the children made, they have been very creative making a rocket too, using a variety of shapes, (learning  to help develop shape recognition) tin foil, a cardboard tube they made their very own super duper rocket ship they had a blast.

There was really funny looking aliens in the play doh area too this week, using their fine motor skills the children squashed, pinched,rolled and manipulated the starry galaxy doh into funny alien shapes, then added eyes and pipe cleaners to create their space creatures. 

Outdoors for physical development the children enjoyed a moon rock toss, using foil for moon rocks, the children threw the rocks into the hula hoops using their hand eye coordination and developing their gross-motor skills.

 The water tray has been very popular too this week the children were so excited when they came into nursery and saw that it was dark, there was lots of glow sticks in the water tray along with moon rocks sparkly glitter stars, the children used their vocabulary to tell staff what was in the water and what they were doing (i.e. pour, filling, empty, splashing). 

Snack time was so yummy this week we had fruit rockets and alien jelly yes! alien jelly using green jelly the children poured their own jelly into a cup to set for the next day, using their hand eye coordination skills they concentrated very hard trying not to spill any of the jelly and poured it into a cup, when it was set the next day they added editable eyes and enjoyed it for snack time DELICIOUS!.

There were spacemen in our 2s too this week, the children enjoyed role play dressing up as spacemen and using alien props to make their friends laugh, they also had a spaceship too, they took it in turns to have a ride to space in the spaceship and also enjoyed pretending they were in space by lifting up their legs and walking really slowly like they were on the moon, but you never guess what ! an alien actually popped out of our cupboard PHEW! Oh my goodness what a relief it was only Miss Ainsley wearing an alien mask, the children could not stop giggling, this week has been so much fun, so we have planned to keep up our space theme till next week. We have had a blast. Take a look at our spacey fun pictures I’m sure you will be over the moon too.

Summer 2 / week 2 : 9-13th June 2025

What a wonderful week it has been in 2s this week, our focus nursery rhyme has been “Rain, Rain go away come, again another day!” and we couldn’t believe our eyes when we looked outside the sun was shining it was just like magic, I think our wonderful singing had made the rain go away.

This week has been International day of play the children have had lots of fun outdoors this week in the water tray. To enhance the children’s hand eye coordination staff encouraged the children to fill the and pour the water through sieves, colanders and watering cans whilst modelling vocabulary whilst singing our nursery rhyme. 

Also outdoors we had fun practicing our physical development and gross motor skills as the children enjoyed welly printing, wearing their wellies they stood in a variety of coloured paints on a pallet and stamped, ran, walked and jumped onto the long roll of paper outdoors creating wonderful footprints and patterns, they then jumped into the water tray at the end “splishing” “splashing” and “sploshing”, washing their wellies then starting all over again, jumping into the puddles the water had made, the children were so good at taking it in turns. 

Indoors we have all been very creative this week, with our rhyme being all about rain we have engaged in lots of rainy day art activities. Using a paper plate whilst continuing using the curiosity approach (this encourages children to explore and experiment with various materials and tools using their own curiosity whilst being creative) using lots of collage materials the children made a colourful umbrella, they were all super duper I’m sure you will agree.

Bubble art was one of our other rainy day art activities indoors. Taking off their socks and shoes the children walked and jumped onto the bubble wrap. With paint underneath the bubble wrap, the children noticed how that when they stood onto the paint the colours mixed together and created secondary colours “rainbow” they said, they loved the sensory exploration and how good it felt on their feet as it “popped” the children got really excited when they heard the popping sound and then started pressing the bubbles with their fingers, using their vocabulary as they pressed the bubble “pop!” they said.

In the tuff tray, staff added lots of dried foods (ie lentils, pasta, rice, cereals ), the children used a variety of utensils to fill and pour the dried food into a plastic bottle to make a rain maker. The children used these at carpet time to sing “Rain, Rain go away!” as they gave their rain makers a shake to the rhyme making lots of rain sounds.

Let’s hope the rain does go away and the sun keeps on shining, we can’t wait to see what fun we will be getting up to next week as we have lots of fun things planned for the next few weeks of our summer term. Take a look at our wonderful wet rainy fun pictures from this week. 

Summer 2 /week 1 : 2-6 June 2025

Welcome back everyone, we hope everyone has had a great week off. We have a lot of fun planned for the next 7 weeks. This week we have started our summer 2 term and this week we have had lots of hopping fun as our nursery rhyme this week has been “5 speckled frogs!” the children have been leaping with joy with our activities this week, developing their gross motor skills outdoors in our large outdoor space they have been jumping and hopping just like frogs, they also climbed onto the wooden benches to pretend they were jumping from a log into the pool. (The children’s confidence and jumping techniques are just amazing, we can’t believe how high they can jump). As well as jumping, the children have had fun playing in the sand pit, mud kitchen, riding the tractor, bikes and cars, sliding on the slide and most of all they loved the water tray with all of their froggy friends, using a variety of utensils they practiced their fine motor skills by catching the frogs and transferring them into the opposite water tray, placing them on the lily pads, whilst using their hand-eye coordination and concentration skills.

We have been very creative this week using a variety of coloured paints and toothbrushes, the children enjoyed splatter art, using the toothbrush to mark make whilst exploring the textures and sounds of the toothbrush as they ran their fingers along the bristles splashing the paint onto the paper, this was so messy and so much fun.

Using the curiosity approach we ended off with ten wonderful frogs in our 2 year old room as the children created a green frog puppet, using a paper plate, green and black paint, googley eyes and a curly Wirly tongue they painted their plate then stuck on the eyes and tongue and used the puppets at home time to sing the rhyme together. 

In the tuff tray staff added wooden logs, water, lily pads and 5 frogs, incorporating early maths, staff encouraged the children to count up to 5, promoting simple turn taking and sharing with their friends whilst playing alongside one another.

The play doh area was popular too as the children squashed and squeezed the green doh together then added googley eyes to make frogs, helping to develop their fine motor skills and strengthen their hands and fingers muscles.

At snack time the 5 speckled frogs weren’t the only ones to eat the most delicious grub “yum yum” as we made our very own fruity frog snacks. Staff encouraged the children to use their listening ears and their attention and listening skills as they followed instructions to make their snack. Using sliced apple for the frog, sliced strawberry for a tongue marshmallow and raisins for the eyes, they put together their frog using the positioning schema as they put their fruit pieces in position as to where they thought they were to go, they did ever so well ( unfortunately the frogs didn’t have time to hop as they hopped straight into the children’s mouths, glug glug, ribbit ribbit ). 

What a frog-tastic first week back, we can’t wait for next week already. Hop to it and look at all our wonderful pictures from this week we are sure you will love them.