Lots of puppets

This week we welcomed the children back from their half term holiday and got straight back into lots of activities; our theme this week was puppets.

We spent the week making lots of different types of puppets. We made glove puppets and some of the children even had a go at sewing the two pieces of felt together.

 On Tuesday we started work on our surprise box, we didn't tell the children what we were going to make but asked them to guess what it could be. Some thought it would be a shop or a play house. We began by cutting a hole in the box.

Next we got to work painting the outside of the box.

 Finally we stuck a border around the edge of the hole and our puppet theatre was finished.

 The children have really enjoyed playing with the nursery puppets as well as the puppets they have made.

The children practised their cutting skills by cutting out characters from The Gruffalo and sticking them onto lolly sticks to make a simple puppet. 

We also made some fun sock puppets by gluing wool, eyes, feathers and shapes onto socks.

The children have loved our new number line; we hung up mirrored numbers alongside recordable talking pegs, the children have been recording their voices saying the numbers and pegging them next to the correct mirrored number. 

                                                   

The children developed their fine motor skills using chopsticks to pick up and sort coloured beads into colourful sorting trays.

 We have a lovely new instrument, it's called a boomwhacker, it is a bit like a xylophone but made from plastic tubes; the children have enjoyed exploring the different sound each tube makes.

The children have been setting up obstacle courses for each other using stepping stones, tipper boards and wobble boards.

Coming next week: World book day. To celebrate world book day we will be having a weekly theme based on one of the Early years team's favourite children's book. We won't spoil the surprise but we will see you next week for more learning and fun activities!

Please sign up if you would like to meet with Mrs Haxell to discuss your child's progress at a parent/teacher evening (if the days/times are not convenient please see me as I might be able to meet with you another day).

Busy builders

This week we have been very busy in our outside area; we have been building dens using cardboard boxes, fabric, large pegs and rope. We had to work as a team and listen to each other to make sure the den didn't fall down. Here's some pictures of our dens.

 We set out a few parts as an invitation to build...

 Then everyone worked as a team to build a really cool den.

The children learned about Shrove Tuesday and ate some pancakes with toppings, yum yum! We read the story Mr Wolf's pancakes and then wrote a shopping list for the ingredients to make pancakes.

The children had fun exploring foam using mark-making tools and their hands.

We were fortunate enough to get some lovely new resources this week; here are some photos of all the fun...

 Wicker balls for treading.

 Counting & sorting trays

 Nesting baskets, bowls with chopsticks and jewels. 

Sand diggers.

We had another use for our cardboard box from the den building on Friday when the heavens opened and the rain came down- the box became umbrellas!

We hope you all have a lovely half term holiday, see you on Monday 23rd Feb!

Perfect pizzas!

We have been very busy this week; we have been learning all about pizza and bread.

We linked our maths activity to pizza, the children built a shape pizza by rolling the dice and adding that many of a certain shape. To extend our more able learners they filled in a chart by writing how many of each shape their pizza had.

 More pizza maths...

 On Tuesday we woke up to snow! The children had fun making a snow man and investigating the snow/ice.

The children learned about colour mixing and how they can make different colours using red, yellow and blue. Look a our lovely colourful pizza plates.

 On Wednesday we took a trip around the world; we tasted breads from many different countries and found them on the globe. We tried American bagels, Indian naan bread, Greek pitta, Mexican tortilla and French baguette.

On  Thursday we made pizzas! We used tortillas as the base, spread on some tomato sauce, sprinkled some cheese and added toppings. Yum yum!

On Friday the children wrote recipes for making a pizza.

The children have been making some fabulous models using mobilo bricks, duplo and magnetic bricks; we set up an area for te children to display their models and label them.

More pics of our fun week...

Next week, the children will be leaning about senses, making pancakes and valentines day.