This week in Flax Bourton we have been busy in the Art Studio! First was a sensory tuff tray with a bright pink pig made from rice. We got stuck in, using our hands to push the rice along and our fine motor skills to pick up and hold the rice before sprinkling it back down into the tray!
We wrapped up warm this week and took a trip to the local park, where the adults encourage us to run around collecting sticks and twigs. We could then make a stick house, just like in the story of the Three Little Pigs! After that we had an exciting play on the swings and slide.
We've also spent lots of time running around in the big garden and playing in the mud kitchen! We are able to independently dig up the mud to place into cups. Afterwards we warmed up in the cosy cabin where we did some mark making and imaginative play with the toy dinosaurs - "ROAR"!
To finish the week we worked together to paint a big cardboard box yellow to make our house of straw! For some of us this was our first time painting, so with a bit of support from the adults we were able t hold the paintbrush and move it across the surface.
This week in Kindergarten some of us helped to look after our toy babies! The tuff tray was set up with lots of pretend baby food for the babies to try and we used all the skills we have learned - like holding our knifes and forks correctly to feed them. We have also been learning about our health and self care needs and what we can do to take care of these. To start with we gave the babies a bath and used sponges to get them nice and clean before exploring a teeth brushing activity where the adults supported us to use the brushes to clean the teeth! We also used mirrors to look in our own mouths and see how many teeth we have.
We are becoming more confident with our problem solving skills and persisting with challenging activities. This has been shown when exploring puzzles and shape games! We are able to find the correct piece or shape and will use trial and error to get it to fit correctly. The adults help us by offering encouragement and telling us the names of the different shapes such as square, circle and triangle.
This skill transfers into us becoming more independent with putting on our coats when going outside! We are able to find our own picture and get our coat of the peg. The adults have shown us how to put it on the floor and flip it over our heads to get it on. It takes a couple of
goes but we are getting better at it and are really proud to show the adults when we have done it all on our own!
We have a real interest in our range of books at the moment and we are learning about how we look after them and that we can explore them independently or in a group. This week lift-the-flap books have popular and we have enjoyed reading the books and talking about what might be hiding under the flaps! Our book nook area offers us the chance to explore the books and use our imagination to talk about the characters in them, the stories that are unfolding and how the books make us feel.
This week in Pre-School we have had lots of fun learning about Lunar New Year, which starts next week! We have started to create a New Year Dragon, which we'll finish in time for the celebration. We have also been learning about Chinese characters and even had a go at writing some ourselves!
We've also been busy building with the magnetic tiles this week! We did a great job of working together and on our own to build magical castles and tall towers!
We've also further explored our Core Book, Jack and the Beanstalk! We have a really good understanding of the story now, and we are able to retell parts of it and even draw the characters - we really enjoyed creating the Giant!
