Hello Everyone!
Last week was another great one, which saw us splashing in puddles, making firework pictures and learning about Diwali!
On Muddy Morning, it was a dry day after a LOT of rain so we had our snack at the top of the hill in John Leigh Park, were we had a good view of the changing colours of the trees. We then had an opportunity to explore and we found a lovely squelchy spot that the children churned in to a big muddy spot. They loved using the muscles in their legs to squelch in the mud. After a lot of squelching, we went to the big puddle for a wash down.
Whilst we were there we found a tree that was dropping the most beautiful leaves, so we decided we would collect them up and when we brought them back to nursery we made a lovely autumn wreath, that we have put on our front door for you to see.
If you wanted to have a go at making one yourself, all you need is to shape a length of garden wire in to a circle, before piercing the leaves in the middle and pushing them around the circle. Then make a loop in the wire and hang it on your door for the world to see (and us if you don’t mind popping it on eyLog!).
In the children’s independent play we read a story called ‘How to catch a Dragon’, in which the character has a go at drawing a dragon, and so we thought we would try this ourselves. The children wanted to watch Kate have a go at drawing a dragon first, before trying themselves, with very impressive results!
As there was such a keen interest in dragons we read a story by Jackie Morris called ‘Tell me a Dragon’. The children were extremely engaged with the story and loved looking at the beautiful illustrations, deciding which one were their favourite. The children were then asked what dragon they would have. They had some great ideas, including a unicorn dragon, a Spiderman dragon and a dinosaur dragon.
There has been a lot of conversation about fireworks and in Stretch-n-Grow, the children were pretending to be fire fighters putting out fires, collecting logs and being fireworks themselves. Caroline also taught the children what to do is they were ever on fire, Stop. Drop and Roll, which they all had a go at doing. Following on from this they used their creative skills to draw their own fireworks, using chalk and looking at photos for inspiration. The children used a technique, smudging the colours together to look like fireworks.
We also learnt about fireworks being used to celebrate Diwali and read a non fiction book about Diwali and how it is a celebration of light. We read and acted out the story of Rama and Sita, learning that Sita was stolen by the evil beast(with 10 heads) Ravana, and how Rama came to save her by shooting a golden arrow and killing the beast. Rama and Sita couldn’t find their way home in the dark, so the people of India lit candles and oil lamps and that is why Hindus celebrate Diwali.
The children loved acting out this story, and continued to do this themselves in their independent play, even making their own costumes, using a range of fabrics provided. One of the children in another room in nursery had a brought in a Diya lamp to show their friends, and shared this with the children of Green Room and we decided to have a go at making our own, using our fine motor skills to manipulate clay in to a bowl shape, before fitting a candle inside. If you light them at home we would love to see them on eyLog.
The children in Green Room are developing their skills in collaborative play, as mentioned before, acting out the story of Rama and Sita. They also like building things together, making dens and, after Kate had helped one of the children to use a scarf to carry a baby on their back, they also wanted to carry the babies of their backs too.
This week we will be going on Muddy Morning on Tuesday.
Here’s to another great week!
The Green Room Team
Juice Nursery 