December 13, 2023 by riverside

What We’ve Been Up To!

Younger and Older Babies get excited about Christmas

The babies are relishing the build-up to Christmas. For some it will be a super special occasion as it will be their first ever! When the decorations appeared overnight, the babies were transfixed by the glittery ornaments, tree-toppers and garlands. Our Christmas tree is proving hugely popular too.

To invoke the spirit of Christmas, we have been playing with jingly musical instruments and festive cuddly toys. We have also been bouncing along to traditional tunes, such as ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ and ‘Jingle Bells’. We hope you enjoyed their rendition of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star’ at the Carol Concert.

Alongside Christmas fun, the babies have been learning about the world and its inhabitants. We’ve been discovering different farm animals, learning their names and the sounds that they make. Trying to form a ‘moo’ sound is one of the babies’ favourite activities! The babies have also been getting creative making vibrant finger paintings for bonfire night and Diwali.

The older babies have been indulging in lots of sensory play, from digging for sea creatures in a giant sand box to splashy water play. These games are ideal for helping brain development, building memory, and honing fine motor skills by grasping small objects.

Making Christmas presents

Toddlers have a blast learning about Space

As the toddlers have been learning about the Earth, we thought it was an ideal time to introduce the concept of space and planets.

Alongside looking at pictures, we painted all the different planets and the Moon. To help process the information, the babies rummaged through pliable play sand filled with mini astronauts, spaceships, and glow-in-the-dark stars.

The toddlers loved dressing up for Halloween, and it was very sweet seeing lots of little wizards, pumpkins and witches running around. As well as helping hollow out pumpkins, the children cooked sweet treats, and played spooky games – our Halloween ‘feel box’ with green goo was a real highlight.

Carter’s firework painting

This term the toddlers have also been learning about the five human senses. Helping bring the lesson to life, we went outside for a scavenger hunt asking the children to find something colourful (for sight), something that snaps (for sound), something bumpy (for touch), something scented, like a flower (for smell), and something an animal could eat (for taste). A walk is a great way to explore the different senses – try it when next outdoors – don’t forget to wrap up warm!

Pre-Schoolers get Festive and have Science fun

Our pre-schoolers have had a very productive Autumn term, dressing up for Halloween, pumpkin carving, painting firework pictures and crafting ‘diya’ candle holders for Diwali.

For our science module, the children learnt about the effects of gravity. To bring the lesson to life, we designed and made parachutes for mini play figures. Made from tissue paper, tape and string, the children had great fun launching their parachutes from a step. As well as seeing what a hard landing looked like (yes, sadly not all the toys survived), we saw how parachute canopies catch the air, giving their play figures a softer landing.

We’ve also been learning about the human body and the names of different anatomy. Alongside looking at pictures, we got busy moving our bodies and singing ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ and the ‘Hokey Cokey’.

At pre-school age, the children usually have a firm grasp of what happens at Christmas time. As you can imagine there is much excited chatter about the arrival of Father Christmas. With anticipation mounting, we’ve been having a holly-jolly time making festive home-made gifts, candy canes and singing Christmas songs.