The Owl children (and adults) were very excited to come into a rainy day on Friday. This meant we could go and find some puddles and mud to explore.

We started off on the field near Ferne’s Garden where we found a nice muddy spot. The children discovered that they could make marks with their feet and experimented with their footprints and how they could be changed.

Some of the children slipped over and got muddy hands but this meant they could investigate how the mud felt on their hands and fingers.

A few of the children also enjoyed the feel of the mud when they moved it around with their feet and explored the different textures and sounds that come with a muddy day.

As we moved to the bottom of the field we found a large puddle that was perfect for splashing in. The children spent a long time jumping in and out of this puddle, or watching their friends have a go. The children looked at how high they could make the water go and the changes that their wellington boots went through between being muddy and then being washed by the water in the puddle.

We then walked up to school to see if we could find some more puddles and we found some that were even bigger. Some of the children enjoyed splashing,

and some enjoyed looking at their reflections in the clearer water.

On our way back to nursery the Owl children found one of the biggest puddles yet and had some more fun jumping and splashing with their friends.

As well as having fun, the children were also learning lots on our puddle walk. They were able to think about textures of both the mud and water, comparing the sizes and depths of the puddles gave them the chance to use some mathematical language and they also had to think about their friends when running and jumping in a smaller area.

This week the children’s fascination with birds and bird watching has continued. Some of the children have shown a great interest in feeding the birds and, because of this, the adults provided resources for a group to make ”bird pizzas” down in our outdoor classroom. These are little discs of wood (referred to as wood cookies) coated with a small amount of mud and then sprinkled with bird seeds. This allows birds to continue feeding, even on the frosty mornings we have been experiencing lately. The children seemed to really enjoy this different method of feeding the birds, and the chance to use mud and get a bit dirty is always popular. This gave the children the opportunity to think about their natural world and how we can help care for it in a sustainable way.

After making their pizzas, the children all chose to see if they could find any birds in the outdoor classroom. This month sees the return of the ”RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch” so we were able to provide the children with some visual aids to help identify the birds they found. While searching the children were able to find blackbirds, magpies, pigeons, a starling, a robin and some ducks that swam past on the river. This gave the children a chance to use their observational skills, mark making when recording their finds and counting skills to work out how many of each bird they saw.

The children also began to think about where birds lived and this led to us discussing nests. As a special treat some of the children made birds nest cakes. The children looked at the change chocolate went through when it was melted and thought about what would happen when it was combined with the cereal. This helped the children recall some of their thoughts about textures from a recent week.

The children stirred the cereal into the chocolate before using a spoon to make a nest in their cake case before choosing what sweets they would like to represent the eggs in the nest. This also led to a conversation about where the eggs in nests come from and what happens to them when they are ready.

This week we have followed on from the children’s interest in light when exploring in the sensory room.

We created a dark place in both the dining room and the sensory room with a variety of objects to make interesting shadows and used a selection of different sized torches.

The children investigated making shadows using the torches and the different objects. We explored the different ways to change the size and shapes of our shadow patterns. We then extended this on by making drawings of our shadows and spoke about its representations.

We also looked at some stories around shadows as a group, using the torches to see the difference of the shadows in dark and light.

The story “Whatever next” by Jill Murphy was a favourite by the children and this inspired them to create their own starry night pictures, supporting them with their fine motor skills.

Today the Owl children have been showing an interest in the different birds that live in, and visit, the school grounds. The children started showing curiosity about the birds when they spotted a trio of magpies on our racetrack through the window. The adults helped the children to create a bird watching area inside so that they could watch the birds without scaring them away.

We soon ventured outdoors and thought about how we could find some birds. The children suggested putting some food out for them and that they might like to eat worms, insects and seeds. We looked around the racetrack for some worms in the hope that this may bring them to us.

When this didn’t work the children started to think about where the birds might live. They said that birds lived in trees and we should look in the treetops to find them. We saw some small birds in the trees on the racetrack but they were quite hard to see, even with our binoculars and magnifying glasses. However, on our way to the field we were greeted by a beautiful magpie that the children were able to get a good look at.

On the field we found some crows, a robin, a small, yellow bird and even some moorhens that were visiting from the river.

On our way back to nursery the children all spotted the wooden owl sculpture and we discussed how owls were nocturnal so we can usually only find them at night.

After lunch the adults provided a bird book and some paints in the Atelier for the children to document their experiences of the morning.

The children created some fantastic opportunities to think about the wildlife that can be found every day as well as concepts such of diets, habitats and how to care for birds during the winter months.

Throughout the last two weeks, the children at Stamford Nursery School have been learning all about the Christmas story, which has led them on nicely to prepare for the Christmas Nativity.

The children have been busy making making props for the costumes.

Here is a little sneak preview of what is to come!

Preparations have begun ready for the Christmas nativity this year in the Goslings as we have started to learn about the Christmas story.

We introduced the story on a very simple term, and used the nativity props as a visual aid to support the story telling and enrich the learning experience. The children were all fascinated by the nativity set, and they followed the story to act out the scenes.

We have also been practising our Christmas songs, ready for our stay and play in December. These songs include ‘Baby Jesus, Christmas pudding and pull a cracker’.

The children are beginning to now recall parts of the Christmas story, and we have now followed this interest through the room by creating a role play area of the stable with resources and props to support the children in extending their learning. This will lead the children on to prepare them for the filming of the Christmas Nativity!

In the Gosling room we have had the popular story of “Whatever next” by Jill Murphy in the room, which has become a firm favorite.

After our morning registration, we listened to the story as a group, using available props to support the story. In doing so, can enrich the experience and encourage a pleasant involvement with books and stories for younger children.

This learning continued into the morning, as the children used their wellies, found helmets and space rockets to go and visit the moon themselves! This supported language and use of numbers, as we counted down to blast off! The children were showing that they were retaining information from the story, and acting this out in their play.

Whilst all this imagination play was going on, in our Atelier we had shapes cut out for the children ready for them to create their own rocket picture! This supported the children in recognising colours and shapes.

After a busy morning, we had some rumbling tummies and so the children went on the search for the moon to sit and have their snack! We played the song “zoom zoom zoom” as we found the moon in the dining room in the morning, and the Gosling room in the afternoon!

What a fun day going to the moon!

This week in the Owl Room we have been taking some time to think about Remembrance Day. We spoke about Remembrance Day as a group at register time and what the children thought it might mean. The children, as a collective, were able to state that it is a time to remember the soldiers who had fought and died in different wars and that we wear a poppy to show that we are remembering them.

Throughout the week the children have been using different materials in the Atelier to make their own poppies.

The children were able to chose from the resources that are always available to them, such as paper, paints, pencils, chalks and scissors, and the adults provided some red cake cases which the children could chose to represent poppies if they wished. During the activity an adult spoke to the children and asked them about the poppies and why we were making them. Lots of the children were able to speak about the soldiers who had been in wars.

Lots of children chose to make a poppy and we used these creations to make our own poppy field on our display board in the room.

We have had a box of poppies for sale in nursery and several children have bought a poppy and worn them on different days. The children spoke about their poppies at home and poppies that their parents and siblings were wearing, also.

At circle time on Remembrance Day, the children watched a short film about the animals whose home became a battlefield, to help them understand why we wear the poppies. The film can be found here if you would like to share this with your child  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv_ub7Be7oA

Although this can be a hard subject to speak about with children, we feel it is important to try and help our younger generation understand why this day is important and why we need to remember the soldiers on a level they can understand.

This week at Stamford Nursery School we joined with the children to celebrate Diwali. Known as the festival of lights, Diwali is celebrated all over the world across various religions and cultures.

A number of provocations had been set out in both the Owl and the Gosling room to provoke thought, curiosity, exploration and conversation. This also came through stories and videos to widen the children’s knowledge.

In the Owl room, they had been looking at patterns. This lead nicely onto the Diwali celebration.

The children made their own rangoli patterns.

In the Gosling room the children spoke about the firework celebrations, linking back to their own experiences, and during snack created their own fireworks biscuit.

We also used gross motor skills to do some big drawings with chalks to create our fire work patterns.

The children explored in paint and glitter to create their own Diya lamps. This supported the children with their fine motor skills.

One of the children had brought in bindi’s for her friends.

Happy Diwali!