2-3: The Discovery Hub

Self-Care Skills

Following on from last week, the children have had the chance to look in mirrors to see their reflections. The children were amazed at seeing their own reflections looking at the faces they could make! As we looked at our emotions last week, the children explored creating faces for being happy, sad, scared, shocked and angry. The children explored looking at their teeth, inside of their mouth and their features up close.

When have linked into self-care discussing how to look after our teeth this week as today is World Oral Health Day, with the importance of looking after our teeth.

The children carefully inspected their teeth, sticking out their tongues and opening their mouths as wide as they could while saying “ahhhh.”. Some children were particularly interested in simply looking at their reflections, smiling and giggling as they began to recognise themselves in the mirror. During these interactions we discussed who helps us to look after our teeth with the children responding “mammy”, “daddy” and “the dentist”. The children linked to their own experiences of going to the dentist as the talked about lying down on the chair and opening their mouth to say “ahhhh”.

We added resources such as teeth, toothbrushes and mirrors for the children to explore with. As we added marks to the teeth, the children took turns to use the toothbrushes to clean the teeth. They demonstrated good fine motor skills and coordination as they held the brush in one hand, guiding it back and forth across the teeth. We asked the children “what do we need to brush our teeth?” with the children responding “toothpaste”. The children then tried using the mirror to check if we had cleaned all of the marks off the teeth. Some of the children wanted to explore brushing the dolls mouth in the home corner so we added resources for the children to develop their imaginative play ideas.

Outdoor learning

This week we have been developing our Blossom Garden, reintroducing the outdoor sandpit. The children helped to set it up, helping Emma to gather the resources and tip in the bags of sand. This area has been very popular with the children as they explore building sandcastles and using the moulds to create animals and vehicles.

In the Mud Kitchen, we have been modelling using natural resources we can find in the garden to use in our play. The children have shown an interest with looking at the small leaves, crunchy leaves and petals, exploring ripping them to make smaller and crumpling between their fingers. Alongside staff, they have explored adding natural materials to their pans and explored mixing them together to create “food” to share with others.

There has been a large interest with the balls and beanbags in the garden this week as the children have tested out new skills. They have been exploring throwing the balls and beanbags into targets of baskets, tyres and chalk areas. The children explore taking turns to throw the bean bags and showed pride in their achievements “I did it!”. The children have been testing out resources in the garden that they could kick and roll to each other. They tested out the small tyres and worked out it was easier to roll, where as the balls they could kick, throw or roll to each other.

Staffing Updates

Lauren is on Annual Leave next week.

Parents as Partners

Your child’s Key Person will be sending out your child’s assessments or two-year checks for this term. We will be able to discuss your child’s progress during a parent consultation if you have any questions. The sign-up sheets are on the door for the parent consultations for the weeks of the 23rd and 30th March. Please note Lauren is on Annual Leave and is not available to meet the week of the 23rd. If you need to arrange another time, please speak to your child’s key worker to arrange.

There is also a sign-up sheet on the door for our Stay and Play session on Wednesday 1st April if you would like to join us.

The Nursery Team