Activities for Thursday 16th March 2017
Pre School Room
We were so so busy today. Weather was out of this world warm and sunny so we went to the garden in the morning and in the afternoon and we spent a lot of time outside too. We also had our snacks in the garden and children really enjoyed the change.
We did a lot of water and other sensory play today. We had water with shells, we put lavender into the water and kids really enjoyed the “smelling†experience. We played with some flour and letters this afternoon, children were looking for letters and tried to write their names using their fingers. They concentrated for a long long time, I was really proud of them all. When it all got a bit too much, we mixed some water into the flower and created this sticky, dripping gloop. You can imagine that after all the concentration, kids loved getting dirty and sticky.
We also did a lot of painting today – well actually children had the paint out almost until 6:00 pm today. They just could not get enough of it.
We also had an adult lead activity where children had to listen intently and follow our teachers instructions. All children did really well. Good to know they can listen and follow instructions when they want to.
Jungle Room – Toddlers
Just as Castle room, our toddlers also spent a great deal of time outside. They did some amazing mark making today. They used big brushes and painted our fence. Then they used water and washed it all away again. Great muscle strengthening there guys. Most of the toddlers took part and we were so proud of them too as they were sharing brushes really nicely with each other.
Since we spent a wonderful morning and afternoon outside, we were also watching birds that live on our nearby trees. We had a good chat about birds and where they live and the older toddler really listened intently. Some of them could even tell us that birds live in trees and that they eat worms.
Toddlers were also developing their fine motor skills today. We used large tweezers to do a lot of picking up (mostly fruit during their snack time), they poured their own water and shared fruit with others. All toddlers were so engaged that they stayed with the activity for a long long time.
In smaller groups, our teachers were using flash cards during the day and had little chats about pictures and what different things are named on the cards. All together it went really well, maybe next time we will through some shapes and numbers into the mix too.
Baby Room
Babies were singing songs today. We did a lot of singing in order to help our babies to practice new words and sounds. This was an adult lead activity and babies were making sounds in such a sweet way today.
Babies were also practicing their drawing with chalks, they drew lines, circles or just a bit of criss- crossing. We really tried to encourage big arm movements that believe it or not will help our babies to develop muscles so they can start learning to write and hold a pencil when they are a bit bigger.
We continued to learn all about our own body's today, children where looking for their noses, ears, mouths and tummies. We also used a panda as a prop but babies were more interested in giving out panda a cuddle than actually finding panda's ears and nose and mouth. I think we will need to find a slightly different approach next time. J
