2 Year Olds

Welcome to our 2 Year Olds Explorers Room!

Miss Ainsley and Mrs Leightell are your Early Years Practitioners.

Week Commencing the 3rd July 2023 

This week we have enjoyed exploring the outdoor environment. The children have developed many skills throughout, including Communication And Language, Personal, Social And Emotional, and Physical. Staff have continuously modelled key vocabulary to support the children, we have played alongside our friends within small groups, and developed skills when running, climbing, rolling, pushing, pulling, emptying and filling, digging, drawing and painting!  WOW! 

The boys and girls had great fun at Hetton Primary's very own car wash! The children explored different items, such as sponges and cloths to help clean the cars. They all demonstrated the skills to parallel play alongside their peers while also taking turns and sharing the resources. 

We have shared endless amounts of story books, sang our little hearts out while also exploring puppets and props to further develop our learning. 

Week Commencing Monday 26th June 2023 

Another busy week for our ‘Little Explorers’. 
This week our Maths focus is 3 Green Speckled Frogs, the children absolutely love this song. They all participated throughout, copying various actions while also developing their number knowledge when counting 1-3. Some children were able to demonstrate the number of frogs when using their fingers. The children also developed their vocabulary when using different phrases, such as “all gone” and “no more”. 
 

We looked at the story book ‘Maya’s Walk’ again, to extend the children’s learning. The children were asked a variety of simple questions. This was to encourage vocabulary relating to Who? What? Where? With support the children could identify various pictures in relation to some of the questions that had been asked.

The children have been developing their physical, and Personal, Social and Emotional development when exploring the outdoor environment. They have had great fun exploring the cars, bikes and scooters, while developing the skills to move their feet to make the ride on’s move. The children engaged in simple turn taking when waiting for one of the toys to become available for them to play with. Some children enjoyed exploring various resources to facilitate their climbing and balancing. 

Week commencing Monday 19th June 2023

This week’s number rhyme was ‘3 Currant Buns’, the children enjoyed each day acting out the song and also playing imaginatively in the Home Corner with the salt dough props!

The children this week also made a Father’s Dad card and they found it amusing and tickly when staff painted their feet to create footprints to make a dinosaur! 
 

Following on from last week, the children enjoyed exploring sounds by combining various media and materials together and took turns well.

The children were able to manipulate the malleable material in various ways exploring the texture with their hands as well as exploring the tools and pretending to make cakes and biscuits using paper cases and cutters.

Lastly, we had so much fun cooling down in this hot weather by having a water fight with the staff and children in Nursery, we especially enjoyed the water balloons!

Week commencing Monday 5th June 2023

At story time we read one of our focus books for this term - ‘Maya’s Walk’ several times throughout the week, staff used simple language to reflect the illustrations whilst boosting the children’s vocabulary for the natural world around them, for example; “flower” and “rainbow”.  As well as environmental sounds, such as; “birds singing”, “people talking” and “dogs barking”. Staff encouraged the children to model the labels stated and they did and several of them also independently recognised and labelled what they could see, showing interest in the colourful illustrations.  At Group time, we listened to different sounds by exploring and experimenting with a range of media through sensory exploration creating sounds by banging, shaking, tapping and scraping and at differnt speeds and volumes, where staff again emphasised the key vocabulary such as; “Wow, that’s loud!” 

The children enjoyed engaging in both Sand and Water play both indoors and outdoors whilst strengthening their large muscles as they use them to dig and scoop the sand and pour and splash in the water.  As the children were pouring, filling and emptying they were also developing their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Additionally, sand and water play is great for developing the children’s language skills, as they learn new words relating to the different objects that have been placed/added to the sand and water, what they are doing as well as talking to their peers as they play alongside each other.  As well as incorporating this week’s number rhyme; ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I caught a fish alive’ where the children used the nets to catch and scoop up the fish. Staff promoted key related vocabulary, counting and sang songs and rhymes.

Additionally during outdoor play, the children developed their gross-motor skills and balance as they rode along and around on the wheeled resources, including the Scuttlebug, scooter boards, 3 wheel scooter and balance bike. The children also enjoyed looking through the fencing at the surrounding environments, in which staff spoke to the children about what they could see, such as; house, car, bus, tree etc.

Week Commencing Monday 22nd May 2023 

This weeks number rhyme is 🎵3 Fat Sausages Sizzling In a Pan🎵, the children enjoyed exploring the salt dough that they formed into sausages as props for our number song. They demonstrated a good understanding of 1-1 counting when counting the sausages, while also demonstrating a good understanding of change in quantity. The boys and girls have been developing their vocabulary throughout, copying key phrases and actions. 
We took part in a taste testing activity, we cooked and ate some sausages which the children very much enjoyed during snack time. Later in the week the children made their very own sausage rolls, they were definitely a firm favourite! They explored texture while also developing their fine motor skills when rolling the pastry to form the sausage roll. 
 

We have also explored colour matching, the children demonstrated a good understanding throughout this activity. They were able to confidently match various coloured objects to the correct colour, while also developing their vocabulary. The children said the words “this go here” “blue” “green” “yellow” “red” “blue hand”. Some boys and girls are beginning to join words together to form a short sentence when communicating. 
 

Week Commencing Monday 15th May 2023 

This week the children have been developing their knowledge and understanding when identifying and naming objects. We used fruit during this activity as we observed that this was something the children occasionally seemed unsure of. The children can now confidently identify an ‘apple, orange and banana’. We developed our colour recognition when discussing the different colours, the boys and girls demonstrated good communication and language skills when using words, such as “red, green, yellow, banana, apple, orange”. We also explored our sense of taste when enjoying the fruit during snack time, the children taste tested all three different pieces of fruit. We explored colour during a fruit printing activity, the boys and girls enjoyed dipping the fruit into the paint then creating marks on the paper. 
 

We explored animals again this week as we observed that some children found identifying the animals a little tricky, we explored the different noises that the animals make while also pointing to and naming them. We looked at different animals on the IPAD while staff used key vocabulary and modelling language throughout.  
 

Wednesday 17th May 2023 was National Numeracy Week, the children within the 2 year old provision joined together with nursery to participate in a maths activity. They all enjoyed racing to find the pom poms, counting them then filling the correct jars. We also had fun engaging in a maths dancing activity. 

Week Commencing Monday 8th May 2023 

We have had another fun week exploring within our 2 year old provision, who would have thought you could cram so much fun into four days! 😁

The children have recently demonstrated an interest in singing, music and dancing. They have used their imaginations throughout their play, they used the toy torches to represent a microphone. The boys and girls were pretending to sing into the torches. We facilitated this interest by creating a stage for the children to further develop their imaginations and their interest of singing and dancing. All of the children had such a great time taking on a role while acting out real life experiences with their friends. They explored the Pom poms, forming different motions, such as waving them up in the air then shaking them from side to side. The children explored moving their bodies in different ways, such as jumping up and down, shaking their hips from side to side and bending their knees. 
 

The children have enjoyed exploring the wild animals, the boys and girls have been developing their vocabulary throughout as they labelled each animal. Some children preferred making the animal sounds and were able to confidently point to the correct animal when asked by key staff. We have also explored ‘big’ and ‘small’, some children were able to recognise the difference in size when there were two of the same animal. 
 

This week we have also sang ‘3 Little Ducks’ again, to test the childrens knowledge from previous weeks. They have demonstrated good number knowledge and retained what they have learnt. They are able to 1-1 count to 3, while also noticing when the quantity has changed. 

Week Commencing Monday 1st May 2023 

We have all had such a busy fun filled week to celebrate the Kings Coronation🤴. The children have enjoyed being creative when making their own crowns to wear during a mini parade around the school hall. The boys and girls explored various resources and materials when creating their crowns, they used glue, pom-poms, sparkles and glitter. They all demonstrated attention to detail, concentration throughout, and being proud of what they had made. 

All of the children within the EYFS enjoyed Afternoon Tea with the residents of Primrose Care Home. They sat alongside the children while they engaged in various creative activities, biscuit decorating and singing. They all had a fantastic time, and it was lovely to have visitors within our school. 
 

We definitely celebrated our new King in style! It was fantastic to see so many parents and carers participate in our whole school event. We celebrated with a non uniform day ‘Red, White and Blue’ and we did our very first ‘Song Bomb’. It was absolutely fantastic to hear everyone’s wonderful singing. 
 

Week commencing - 24th April 2023

This week the children enjoyed exploring the play dough and its texture, they manipulated the malleable material initially using their hands to do so before then using the tools. Staff modelled to the children how to use both the rolling pin and cutters effectively and supported were necessary, during this time staff also encouraged the children to describe the play dough and what they were doing and modelled related vocabulary such as; ‘soft, squash, squeeze, roll and pat!’ The children also imaginatively pretended to make ‘cakes and biscuits’, as they used the cutters and also enjoyed filling and emptying paper cake cases with play dough.

Staff have also been working hard behind the scenes, enhancing the environment and the cosy book area and indoor climbing frame definitely got the seal of approval from our Little Explorers! 

Week Commencing 17th April 2023 

This week the children have enjoyed settling back into their environment after a lovely break during the Easter half term holidays. ☺️ They have enjoyed exploring independently while also seeking out their friends to join in with their play. Some children have used their imaginations while playing with the Duplo, and the natural wooden blocks to extend their experiences. They enjoyed making dinosaur models with the Duplo, hiding under the tunnels and taking on a role while playing alongside others. Mrs Leightell and Miss Ainsley are super impressed with the children's vocabulary, we heard “It’s a T-Rex.”  “Rawwww!” “She’s building a house.” “My Dinosaur.” Some children demonstrated an interest in Rockets when exploring the natural wooden blocks, one child said “Look! A log, it’s a Rocket Ship. Whoosh!” The boys and girls are beginning to use their imaginations more, when pretending objects can be used for many purposes when playing. 
 

We have also explored colour matching, although support is occasionally required with colour recognition. We were blown away with how confident the boys and girls were when matching the correct colours. The children were also developing their fine motor skills and hand eye co-ordination when using the little wooden hammer to put the coloured block through the correct hole. 
 

We have also sang an array of Nursery Rhymes and read endless stories, we are encouraging the children to tell us which songs and stories that they would like sing and read, this is to develop confidence and make them feel valued when making choices. 

Week commencing - 27th March 2023

This week’s number rhyme is ‘3 Little Speckled Frogs’, the children explored different textures and materials within the tuff-spot tray as they acted out the parts of the song as they sang along as they counted down from 3-0. As well as additionally playing imaginatively and using vocabulary such as; “Ribbit”, “ Water” and “Splash!” 

The children enjoyed playing alongside each other with the Duplo blocks, building various creations including towers, houses and dinosaurs! Staff also took this opportunity to use this activity to further prompt the children’s counting skills and colour recognition as well as turn taking.

This week the children also creatively made an Easter card to take home for their families and we also welcomed parents and carers to attend a Easter Craft Sessions, followed by an Egg Hunt to find some treats that the Easter Bunny had left, both of which were lots of fun!! 

Week Commencing 20th March 2023 

Maths ➕➖🟰

This week we have all had fun exploring the Space/Rocket tuff spot scene to coincide with this weeks number rhyme ‘3 Little Men In A Flying Saucer’. 
The children demonstrated good number skills, some were able to hold up the correct amount fingers to mirror how many men there were. Some children were able to 1-1 count, they even noticed a change in amount and recognised when all 3 men had gone. The children demonstrated a good understanding when asked questions, such as how many men were left. The children were able to sit within a small group alongside their friends throughout this maths activity. 

Launchpad 

Auditory Skills>Auditory Memory For Sounds

This week the children have been developing the skills to discriminate and identify animal sounds. Some children could confidently identify the sound of a Tiger, Cow and a Sheep, they were able to model back the sounds and also use their vocabulary when identifying the correct animal. Some boys and girls required a little extra support, they preferred using objects of reference alongside the sound to facilitate their learning. 

Week commencing - 13th March 2023

This week the children enjoyed getting creative and making their cards for Mother’s Day, they made marks using a variety of media and materials - card, paint, cotton wool balls and clothes pegs.
During this activity Staff encouraged the children to talk about their Mammies. 

This week’s number rhyme was ‘Three Little Ducks’, the children enjoyed exploring the different materials used to represent the water, playing with the toys ducks within the tuff-spot tray as well as looking at the associated book alongside and showed interest in the illustrations. Several of the children joined in well with parts of the songs and attempted to use their fingers to count along and down and represent the numbers. 

Week Commencing 6th March 2023 

This week we have explored a variety of different learning experiences within the setting. We have taken part in a Launchpad For Literacy activity. The children enjoyed using the animal puppets alongside one of their favourite Core books ‘Dear Zoo’. The children were able to sit within a small group, take turns whilst also follow very simple instructions, to match the correct animal to the pictures from within the book. The boys and girls also engaged in another small group activity while exploring the main school hall, they were taking turns and learning to follow simple instructions when passing the ball back and forth to each other. 
 

We have also been developing our number skills through songs and Rhyme, the children have enjoyed sitting alongside their friends while participating with ‘Three Little Monkey’s Jumping On The Bed’. The children joined in with various actions while also repeating modelled language.

The children enjoyed exploring numbers from around the environment, some were able to recognise and say the numbers 1,2,3. Definitely a WOW moment! 😁 

Some children have been learning about various shapes when exploring the shape sorter, they have also been learning through trial and error when slotting the shapes through the correct space. 
 

SNOW ❄️❄️❄️ 
We all had great fun exploring the snow in the outdoor area, the children enjoyed playing with the large trucks in the snow, they noticed that they had created marks with the wheels when pushing the trucks around. Some children observed other marks that the snow had created, when lifting the hola hoop up from the ground there was a big circle shape formed. Key person modelled language to build key vocabulary, we talked about different size and shape.  
 

🐣🐥🐣🐥🐣

. The boys and girls from Reception asked if we would like to go and visit their baby chicks ☺️. Our ‘Little Explorers’ loved them. 
 

📚World Book Day - (02/03/2023):

The children enjoyed dressing up as a book character to celebrate World Book Day and joining in with a whole school parade, as well as sharing stories with both staff and their peers! 

Week commencing - 27th February 2023

The children were happy to return to Nursery after the half term and this week they engaged in some mark making with chunky jumbo-sized chalk sticks, they were able to grasp these well and it allowed them to mark-make without them snapping. Staff encouraged the children to discover the properties of the chalk and they enjoyed smudging the colours with their fingers. 
 

The children modelled Staff and with support they explored the easy grip and opening loop scissors to snip at paper, the children initially used both hand to operate the scissors and then as the activity continued several of the children began to use one hand, showing a preference of their more dominant hand.  Additionally, Staff 

held the paper for the children but then some of the children wished to hold the paper in their opposite hand, developing their hand-eye coordination.

The children also had fun matching pairs of hands and footprints by colour and were able to so do with ease. Several of the children also displayed colour recognition and correctly labelled several of the primary and secondary colours.  Staff labelled the colours the children were unsure of and the children repeated these.  

Week Commencing 13th February 2023 

We have all had such a busy week being fantastic ‘Little Explorers’. The children have explored a range of activities to build upon existing skills, and to also develop new ones. The boys and girls have engaged in a Valentines Day Activity, where each child decorated their own yummy biscuit to take home. They were able to independently chose which toppings they preferred on their biscuit, they enjoyed stirring and sprinkling the different ingredients. 
The children have been developing their fine motor skills when participating in a threading activity, we chose to continue this from last week as the children demonstrated a huge interest in this. The children have displayed great determination and enthusiasm throughout this activity, and have learned by trial and error, some found threading quite tricky but still gave it a go and tried their very best, they preferred using the peg boards instead. 
We have also looked at colour and AB patterns, the boys and girls did a great job of matching the correct coloured objects to the correct spots. Key person worked more 1-1 with each individual child so that the activity could be modelled. Some children preferred to group the colours together, rather than following the AB pattern. Some children were able to complete the pattern when promoted by Key Person. 

Week commencing - 6th February 2023

This week the children have actively participated in a range of different activities, they enjoyed exploring the Sensory Bags and the different textures of the various materials that they contained using either one or both hands, they especially liked the ‘squishy’ ones! The children also followed simple instructions from staff to take turns and move around the table to explore each Sensory Bag one by one. The children also had fun printing with toy animals, as they dipped them into the paint and watched the colourful tracks that they left behind as they jumped across the paper. During this activity, staff also encouraged the children to label the different animals as well as the sounds that they make! As well as the children have been developing their fine-motor skills and hand-eye coordination during various finger gym activities, such as the peg board and threading laces through large buttons.  These activities encouraged the children to establish and strengthen their preferred hand dominance.

Week Commencing 30th January 2023 

We have all had great fun exploring a wide range of activities this week. The children enjoyed engaging in a vegetable paint printing activity while also exploring colour, smell and texture. They were also developing their key vocabulary throughout this activity when communicating within a small group. 
The children have demonstrated an interest in Dinosaurs, they have enjoyed exploring the tuff spot tray to enhance this interest, while listening to a short story called ‘That’s not my Dinosaur’. 
We have all loved making good use of the big open space within school, all of the children have had access each day to the main school hall. The boys and girls have been developing their gross motor skills when running and jumping. They were also throwing, catching and kicking a large ball.

Week beginning - 23rd January 2023

This week the children have engaged in some mathematical activities, such as matching number to quantity up to 3, combining 3 of the Stacking Blocks by putting them on top of each other and then putting them inside of each other and then taking them back out again and completing simple a-b patterns, as well as counting. 

Chinese New Year - (Monday 23rd January 2023).
 

The children enjoyed celebrating Chinese New Year, as they actively participated in some messy play, where they used their senses to explore the noodles and developed their fine motor skills as they attempted to use the chopsticks to pick them up. They also engaged in some pouring, filling and emptying using the pots and pans. In the tuff spot tray the children further explored these items along with different silk materials. At snack, the children tried  vegetable spring rolls and at story time we read ‘That’s not my Dragon’. 

Week Commencing 16.01.23 

Monday 

Today the children have been learning to match two of the same objects even when different in size or colour. The boys and girls have been building their vocabulary throughout this activity, they were able to label each object along with using gestures to indicate the correct one.  

Wednesday 

Today we have been relating familiar everyday sounds to objects. The children listened to a variety of simple everyday sounds that they may hear from around the environment. The boys and girls were able to point to the correct picture that matched the sound. The children were able to develop their vocabulary throughout this activity, some were able to say “dog, car, buzzy bee” when pointing to the pictures. 

Friday 

The children have been able to select an object by its correct function. They were able to point to the correct object when asked “what do we sit on?” The children were able to point to the chair while developing their vocabulary when saying the different objects by name.  

Week commencing 9th January 2023

This week the children have enjoyed engaging everyday in various forms of Sensory play.
On Monday, in the tuff spot tray the children explored with reflective and metallic objects and materials and they thought that they were “shiny!” The children also liked combining the objects and materials together as well as making sounds with them! On Tuesday the children had fun playing in the water as they engaged in some pouring, filling and emptying as well as splashing. On Wednesday the children enjoyed mixing together Shaving Foam and Food Colouring using both their hands and also utensils to do so. On Thursday the children used their senses to explore the smell, texture and taste and also observed visually that the jelly was “wobbly” and on Friday they explored the play dough where they manipulated the malleable material using various techniques and tools.

Week Commencing 19th December 2022 

Party Time 

We have all had a fantastic time at our Nursery Christmas Party. The children have danced their little socks off and enjoyed sitting alongside their friends while they tucked into some delicious party food. The children have participated in various party games and have had a very special surprise visit from the main man himself…SANTA!!! HoHoHo 

On behalf of all the staff within the 2 year old Explorers Room, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Week Commencing 12th December 2022 

❄️❄️❄️❄️🎅All things Christmas🧑‍🎄❄️❄️❄️❄️
 

All the girls and boys have been super busy in preparation for Christmas, they have explored a variety of materials to create their own Christmas card, Calendar, tree decoration and party hat. We love glitter in the Early Years… and there sure has been plenty of it. 😂

The children have enjoyed taking part in Christmas jumper day and helping to decorate our nursery Christmas tree. 🎄

8th December 2022:

Tree Planting! 🌳

Today the children actively participated in helping to plant some ‘tree babies’ within the school grounds with support from Thrills and Sklills for Life and Woodland Trust.
What a legacy for the future, from little seeds, great things grow! 

Week commencing - 5th December 2022:

Sorting & Matching by Colour!

This week the children have been further developing their colour recognition by sorting various different colour objects and placing them onto the same colour spots, matching red to red, blue to blue, yellow to yellow and green to green. This activity encouraged the children to categorise and classify, building on their visual perception as well as their thinking and memory skills. The children were generally able to sort into colours before they identified the name of the colours!

Week commencing 28th November 2022 

Colour Mixing 

This week we have been exploring colour and discussing the most familiar colours. The children have enjoyed mixing the primary colours together to see which secondary colours can be made. The children demonstrated great understanding throughout this adult lead activity and they were able to follow simple instructions to achieve the end result. The children were developing their fine motor skills when holding the paint brush, mixing the paint, then creating marks on the paper. The children were also building their vocabulary when repeating words that had been modelled by Mrs Leightell and Miss Ainsley. 

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Week Commencing - 21st November 2022:

Maths

The children have enjoyed exploring a variety of the Maths Resources, such as the Peg Puzzles, Shape Sorter and Stacking Cups, as well as sorting objects into groups based on shared simple properties. During these activities, Miss Ainsley and Mrs Leightell have promoted number focus by doing some one to one counting with the children, as well as colour recognition and variations in size. 
 

18th November 2022.

Children in Need

Today, we enjoyed making mark and colouring in a Pudsey picture and then decorating biscuits with white icing and Smarties to look like Pudsey’s spotty eye patch! We also had a special visit from Pudsey himself, some of us got up close and gave him a high five, whilst some of us just preferred to give him a wave!! 

Week Commencing - 14th November 2022:

Rainy Days & Puddle Jumping!
 

The children had lots of fun playing outdoors in the rain, wearing wetsuits and wellies, they jumped and splashed in the puddles with staff and their peers. The children were repeating actions that had an effect whilst exploring and responding to nature, as well as developing their gross-motor skills. The children were smiling and giggling throughout and several of the children said they were like the character “Peppa Pig…jumping in muddy puddles!”

Week Commencing 8th November 2022 

Remembrance Day 

This week we created our own pictures representing the Poppy. We used a pepper that had been cut in half to resemble the shape of the Poppy. The children enjoyed dipping the pepper into the paint then printing onto the paper. We talked about the colours that we used, and the feel and smell of the pepper. Some children had a little taste of the pepper and some enjoyed the feel of the paint on their hands. 
 

_{Mark Making} 
This week the children also enjoyed doing some mark making, where they enjoyed exploring both the coloured pencils and crayons to express their creativity. The children scribbled freely whilst making vertical, horizontal and circular marks.  Some of the children are starting to make marks intentionally and some children gave meaning to the marks that they made or expressed who their drawing was for!

This activity also gave Staff the opportunity to observe the children’s mark making skills, along with their preference for their dominant/preferrred hand and also how the their hold the mark making resources. 
 

Week Commencing 31st October 2022 

The beginning of something new 

We have all had a fantastic first week in our brand new school. 
The boys and girls have enjoyed exploring their new environment and familiarising themselves within their new surroundings. They have especially enjoyed exploring the outdoor area, the space gives them many learning opportunities. They have enjoyed running in the wide open space, riding on the balance bikes, climbing on the climbing frame and exploring the sand and bark areas. The children have also demonstrated a huge interest when exploring the ‘quiet room’. This room is filled with many sensory resources to provide a stimulating but calming environment where they can have fun, play and explore alongside their friends. We have also been busy creating sparkly pictures to represent bonfire night, the children enjoyed using the glue and LOTS of glitter 😀. 

Week Commencing 3rd October 2022 

Houghton Feast Parade

We have all been busy in preparation for the Houghton Feast. The children have enjoyed making their own crowns to wear during the parade. 

It was lovely to see some familiar faces at the parade, we all had a brilliant day and can not wait to take part again next year 😀. 

Week commencing 26th September 2022:

This week the children have enjoyed participating in 2 educational visits within the setting, firstly ZooLab, where they engaged in a workshop which offered hands-on animals encounters.  The children were confidently brave and touched the snail, cockroach and snake and also observed a tarantula and a frog!
 Secondly, we were joined by Ashleigh, a local musician that lead a music and movement session that included activities such as; singing, dancing, exploring musical instruments, along with bubbles, chiffon scarves, stretchy Lycra and soft toys, the children had so much fun! 

Week commencing 19th September 2022 

The children within the 2 year provision have been super busy again this week. The children have been developing their fine motor skills when taking part in a finger painting activity, they have all enjoyed dipping their fingers into the paint to then create prints on the paper. The boys and girls have been developing their hand eye coordination skills when using the safety scissors to create snips in the paper. We have been exploring textures and smells. The children have been developing their knowledge of number while engaging in various number activities, such as number rhyme and 1-1 counting with the stacking blocks. 

Week commencing 5th September 2022

Welcome back everyone!
 

The children within the 2 year old provision have been extremely busy since returning back to nursery on the 5th September. They have all been active little explorers while demonstrating an interest in many different areas. The children have been building their skills in the three prime areas of development. They have enjoyed playing alongside their friends while learning to take turns and share. They have enjoyed listening to stories and songs, while joining in with words and actions. They have also enjoyed making marks and exploring the outdoor environment. 
 

Week commencing 20th June 2022 

The children have had a brilliant time exploring the construction area resources. They have been using the foam building bricks to create their own balancing beam. The children displayed friendly behaviour towards each other and were able to turn take and share. The children are developing their physical skills by balancing across the bricks. The children also enjoyed working together within a small group to build a tower. 

Week commencing Monday 13th June 2022 Summer 2 

Lauren from Everyone Active came to Hetton Primary School this week to carry out a dance workshop with all of the nursery children. 
The children enjoyed taking part, they were able to demonstrate good listening and understanding skills when following various instructions given by Lauren. The children were able to sit alongside their peers while maintaining focus and attention. Lauren provided all of the children with props to use to enhance their dancing experience. The children ran, skipped and jumped, they also experimented with moving their bodies in other different ways such as slow and fast movements. 
The children displayed a positive attitude and friendly behaviour when dancing alongside each other. We all had a fantastic time and are looking forward to Lauren paying us another visit next week. 

Week Commencing Monday 23rd May 2022 Summer 1

The children within our 2 year old room have been extremely busy in preparation of The Queens Platinum Jubilee. 
 

We have had a lot of fun creating our own sparkly crowns to wear at the afternoon tea party with our friends. The boys and girls have taken part in observational paintings of The Queen and of the Union Jack, to create a flag. We also created a beautiful card to offer The Queen a huge congratulations, the children enjoyed going for a lovely walk into the centre of Hetton to post it. 
 

Week commencing Monday 3rd May 2022 Summer 1 

The children within the 2 year old room have enjoyed listening to ‘The very Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘Peace at last’. The children demonstrated good listening and attention skills when sitting within a small group to focus on the stories. 
 

The children enjoyed participating in picture lotto games to extend their learning. The children are developing their visual discrimination skills by selecting the correct picture card to match the picture on the lotto board. The children demonstrated a positive attitude and friendly behaviour when sitting alongside their peers during this adult lead activity. They were able to follow instructions and demonstrate a good understanding of turn taking. 

Week commencing 4th April 2022 Spring 2 

Tweddle Farm 🚜 

WOW… What a wonderful day we all had at Tweddle Farm. We all had a brilliant time going on an adventure to explore the wider community to extend upon the children’s interest of farm animals. Our visit to the farm links in nicely with our ‘Easter’ topic. 
A great day was had by all including children, parents and staff. 
 

The trip to the farm offered a variety of learning opportunities that they may have missed out on during the pandemic. The children were able to extend their key vocabulary when identifying various animals and observing the natural environment. 
The children were able to enhance their physical development by being encouraged to walk around the farm, climbing the steps to ride along on the tractor and having fun in both the indoor and outdoor soft play area. The children were also offered opportunities to take risks safely while an adult was close by.  
The children were able to develop their social skills by meeting new people while exploring an unfamiliar environment. 
 

Week commencing 28th March 2022 Spring 2 

Chick’s 🐣🐥🐣🐥 

We are very excited about the arrival of the ‘living chicks’. The children within the 2 year old provision have enjoyed observing the chicks daily. They have been able to observe the chicks before and after the hatching process. 
The children have demonstrated positive behaviour and a positive attitude, while following key instructions when viewing the chicks. The children have also demonstrated good communication and language skills while using a wide range of vocabulary when talking about the chicks. 
We have had the opportunity to hold the chicks once they had hatched, some children had a hold while others decided to just have a little look. 
 

Following on from the ‘living chicks’ we supported the children with doing an observational painting of a chick. 
The children demonstrated good understanding and creative skills. 
 

Week commencing 21st march 2022          Spring 2

With the weather changing into beautiful sunshine this week, the children have enjoyed spending time exploring in the garden. 
We have had lots of fun exploring the outdoors, playing and developing friendships along the way. 

Week commencing 14th March 2022 Spring 2 

Comic relief day 

Today we asked for families to sponsor a Sunflower to raise money to help people in Ukraine. Well done everyone for taking part. 
The children enjoyed going up to the main school hall where they were able to plant their very own Sunflower. We are very excited to watch them grow. 

The children have also created a Sunflower picture which will be laminated and used as part of a display. 

Week commencing 7th March 2022 Spring 2

The children have enjoyed exploring the fresh vegetables from within the role play area. They have enjoyed acting out real life experiences with the real food and taking on a role when pretending to be the customer and the shop keeper. 
The children are developing the skills to turn take and share the resources while also building their confidence when playing alongside their peers. They are also developing their communication and language skills when interacting with one another. 

To enhance and follow on from the interests of the children from within the role play area we supported the children with using the fresh vegetables to create their own vegetable print pictures. We discussed the different vegetables, smells and textures. The children used a range of vocabulary when creating their picture. 

Week commencing 28th February 2022 Spring 2 

We have all had a lovely day celebrating World Book Day. The children have had great fun dressing up as their favourite book characters. Some children brought their favourite story books into school to share with their friends. 

We have all had a lot of fun exploring the newly set up role play shop. The children are able to act out real life experiences and are able to initiate play with their peers. The children are playing alongside each other and extended their play. The children are beginning to develop their confidence when engaging in play with others. 

Pancake Day! 🥞

We have had a very delicious day taste testing the pancakes. The children enjoyed choosing their own favourite toppings of chocolate sauce, jam and fruit. 

Week commencing 14th February 2022 Spring 1 

Valentines Day… 

We have had a lot of fun taking part in various Valentines Day activities, we talked about the important people in our lives who we love. 
 

We enjoyed gluing and sticking to create a beautiful Valentines Day card for our loved ones, we also had fun baking our own love heart shaped biscuits. 
 

Week commencing 31st January 2022 Spring 1 

This week we have enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year. We listened to a short poem and watched a video about the celebration. 
The children enjoyed creating their own Chinese lanterns with the collage resources and glue. 
Everyone enjoyed taking part in a Chinese food tasting activity, we tasted spring rolls, prawn crackers, noodles and dips. 

Week commencing 24th January 2022  Spring 1 

What a fantastic adventure that we have been on today. We had a lot of fun going on the bus to visit our local library in the centre of Houghton. The children were offered the opportunity to explore all of the different story books. The children enjoyed sitting in the reading area while we shared a story together. 

Week commencing 17th January 2022 Spring term 1  

We have had a fantastic week so far in our 2 year old room. We have enjoyed going for lovely walks along to the park and to the shops in Hetton. We also stopped off at the Hetton Centre Cafe for juice and crumpets 😊. 
We are extremely proud of our 2 year old children! They were very well behaved, polite and demonstrated excellent listening skills throughout our little outing. 
 

The children have been exploring different ways of making marks. They have enjoyed using the vehicles to create these marks. We had a lot of fun pushing the cars through the different coloured paint to form track marks. The children were able to identify the different colours, they were able to focus on this activity and demonstrate positive behaviour when playing alongside their friends. 

The children have been demonstrating a huge interest in pretend play, acting out real life experience when exploring the role play area. They have been using the role play food to extend their play. Some of the children have demonstrated an interest of pretending that the role play area is a restaurant. 
 

The children were thrilled to see what we have changed the role play area into… an Italian restaurant. 
We have enjoyed exploring different foods and making our own pizza. 

Week commencing 10th January 2022 Spring 1 

We have all had a lot of fun since returning back to nursery after Christmas. We have enjoyed exploring various different activities. 

week beginning 13th December 2021  Autumn 2

Christmas party

We had a wonderful fun filled party with our friends. All children had a dance in the hall, before heading back into the room for a game of pass the parcel. The children were all engaged and showed excellent turn taking skills. 
After our games we headed into nursery for some party food before a special guest arrived. The  children were so excited when Santa came to say hello and give us a little something for been so good. 
 

Week commencing 13.12.21 Autumn 2 

We have had a lot of fun practising our Christmas songs. We were very excited to sing in front of our grown ups.

week commencing 6th December 2021. Autumn 2

Santa dash

The children have had great fun participating in a whole school Santa dash today.