Week Commencing 5th October 2026.
The Investigation Hub at Sidney Grove
What a busy, week of learning! Inspired by Michael Rosen’s classic story, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, the children have brought the book to life through music, sensory play, and active outdoor adventures.
Communication and Language
Retelling stories is a fantastic way for children to build vocabulary and understand narrative structure. This week, the children loved joining in the story with the repeated refrain and actions. We practiced our sequencing skills by ordering story pictures and retelling the bear hunt using our own words –
“The bear was sad. He wanted to be a best friend”
“The bear wanted to eat them”
“Bear wanted to eat us!”
We also enjoyed some musical storytelling! The children experimented with different musical instruments to decide which sounds best matched the book. They chose the perfect acoustic backdrops for the swish-swash of the grass and the splish-splash of the river.
The children also had fun in our immersive Bear Hunt sensory tray. They explored different textures and natural scents, running their fingers through the rustling grass and smelling the damp Autumn sticks. As they squelched, squirched, and splashed their hands directly in the materials, they retold the story, guiding their toy characters through each sensory obstacle.
Our Rhyme of the Week, ‘Wind the Bobbin Up’, was a firm favourite among many of our children who enthusiastically practiced the spinning and clapping actions!
Outdoor Learning
This week, we took our bear hunt song outside for a real-life bear hunt in the garden, tracking down hidden bears while developing our positional language. The children did a wonderful job using descriptive words to spot bears ‘on top’ of the shed, ‘under’ the table, and even hiding ‘inside’ the shed itself!
Some of our bears needed a home this week! Using sticks, twigs, and natural resources, the children built custom dens. This proved to be a fun little engineering challenge, as we had to make sure the den was big enough for the bear, and also sturdy enough to stay up and keep him dry.
The children said –
“Line the sticks over the bear so they don’t get wet”
“Make a house with bear”
“The Big Bad Wolf is coming to blow it down!”
Our outdoor learning gave everyone a chance to build their physical skills. The children challenged their coordination with a game of hoopla, practicing throwing different-sized hoops onto trophies. Down in the lower garden, we developed our physical strength as the children used ropes to pull themselves up the steep hills. Some of our children also discovered that large pieces of cardboard left over from the bears’ dens made excellent DIY sledges for sliding down the banks! The sledges didn’t work initially, but with a slight change in body position and moving from the rough soil to the smooth grass, they made their sledges work a treat. Through these activities, the children demonstrated great teamwork, perseverance, and a willingness to test new ideas!
Partnership with parents
During our adventures outdoors, the children have been fascinated by the falling Autumn leaves and noticing all the crisp changes in the weather. To keep this curiosity going, your child will be bringing home a special Autumn Treasure Bag this week!
We would love it if the children can collect any interesting Autumn objects they spot while you are out and about. We are looking for things like:
• Crunchy leaves in beautiful colours
• Pinecones and acorns
• Twigs and sticks of different shapes
To help look after our environment, we have had a chat at nursery about being nature protectors. The children know that we only collect treasures that have already fallen to the ground, ensuring we don’t harm our plants and trees by picking live leaves or branches.
We cannot wait to see what wonderful treasures make it into the bags!