This week the children had lots of fun in the garden, with lots of different water play. The children have embraced the planting area and really enjoy getting involved with identifying and watering the plants. The children have noticed the changes in each one and their growth, have begun to learn which plants are growing what produce, with a few brave enough to try some mint and chive, smelling the difference between rosemary and lavender and making potions with a variety of ingredients. This has given us the inspiration to create a ‘potion station’ in the garden over the next couple of weeks, giving the children a variety of textures and smells to experiment with.
Our new paint station has gone down amazingly with the children, giving them an opportunity to independently retrieve the resources they need to create their artwork. They use old soap dispensers to pump paint into paint pots and the stand-up tray draws have everything they need from paint brushes, chalks, paper to clipboards and aprons!
We had a new activity arrive this week, giant polydrons, which we built into a house and a tunnel. The children decided the design and assisted each other to build, then change their designs. This encouraged them to discuss different shapes and colours, and lots of sharing and listening to their peers. Other new resources that the children have explored this week include our giant teeth! Maria has drawn dirty marks on them and encouraged the children to clean them with toothbrushes and water, this has led to discussions about their own teeth and how we look after them! Our new padlocks and keys have been very engaging for the children, they must count the dots laid out on the padlocks and identify the correct numbered key to unlock them which has been brilliant for number recognition!
It has been lovely to see all the children so engaged with everything this week, more new and exciting activities to come next week. Don’t forget our annual beach day takes place at Walton-on-the-Naze on Friday, meeting at 10am on the pier!
