2-3 The Discovery Hub

Continuing to follow the children’s ongoing interest in minibeasts, this week we read the story ‘The Very Busy Spider’. Some of the children began to join in with repeating parts of the story and with actions. Others were able to name the farm animals in the story, or make the noise the animals make.

We provided trays with string ‘webs’ over them and the children used large tweezers to try to pick up toy minibeasts from inside the web. The children concentrated hard to remove the toys with the tweezers. The use of the tweezers helps to develop their fine motor skills. It was a challenging task and it was lovely to see the children showing a sense of achievement when they managed to pick up and transfer the bugs.

At the play dough area, the children used the toy minibeasts to press into the dough, noticing the patterns and shapes that were left when they removed them. We also provided different enhancements to combine with the play dough, including feathers, lollipop sticks, pipe cleaners and bottle tops. The children explored pressing the items into the dough and some children made representations of other things, for example, spiders and butterflies. 

On Monday we had our penultimate session of yoga with Fay. This week Fay brought foam blocks, which the children attempted to balance on different parts of their body. They demonstrated focus in trying to remain still to keep their blocks steady. Fay then set up the blocks in a pathway for the children to step across. The children discovered, with practice, that the slower they walked across, the more steady they were at balancing on the blocks. 

Later in the week, the children enjoyed using magnetic shapes. They explored constructing with them; thinking about which shapes they would use and carefully balancing and joining them. Some children also used the resources in another way, matching the shapes to their outlines on paper, thinking about which space their shape would fit in.

Outdoor learning 

We created nature crowns, finding natural materials in the outdoor area and sticking them to the tape on our crowns. The children added items including bark, leaves, grass and flowers. We talked about the colour, texture and shape of the items as we touched and observed them. Some children wanted to add stones but found these were too heavy to attach to the tape.

Characteristics of effective learning – Active learning 

Many of the children are continuing to choose to explore the theme of ‘rolling’ outdoors. This has included racing tyres and trucks downhill, rolling cars and balls through pipes that they worked together to arrange and even exploring carefully rolling themselves down the grass bank while lying on their sides! Child-led play allows the children to have the time and space to explore fascinations such as this, in their own way. There was lots of exploration of one concept through many different approaches, allowing the children to make links in their learning and strengthen their understanding through different hands on experiences. 

Story of the week: The Very Busy Spider 

Song of the week: Incy Wincy Spider 

Makaton sign: Spider 

Parents as Partners 

Some of our older children who are starting in the Investigation Hub in September, have begun their transition visits this week. It has been wonderful to hear about their exciting visits to their new room, as they get to know the new staff, children and resources there. We are very proud of how the children have embraced this new experience and explored the environment.

Transition visits will continue next week and Hilary and Kelly look forward to having a visit to the Investigation Hub with parents/carers too. This can be arranged at a time that is convenient for you on arrival at nursery or at collection time.

In September we also have an exciting opportunity to have a Rising 3 group within the Investigation Hub. Children who will be three years old within the Autumn Term can transition and access wonderful experiences within our specially planned and resourced area, both in the indoor and outdoor learning environment. 

Hilary looks forward to arranging parent/carer visits to the Investigation Hub and sharing information with families regarding planned transitions.

Please can we remind all parents to apply suncream to your child before they arrive for their session at nursery. This includes children who attend for the full day. It is also helpful for them to bring a sun hat too, if they have one. Please can these have a name written inside. Thank you for your support with this. 

Staffing 

We would like to welcome Dianne Hall to our fantastic nursery team. She will be working with our children within the Discovery Hub every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. 

Dianne looks forward to meeting our wonderful families at Bensham Grove.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.