Investigation Hub and Discovery Hub at Deckham
For World Nursery Rhyme Week, we have enjoyed activities linked to nursery rhymes, which have provided lots of opportunities for singing and enjoying these songs together.
The children tried to build a wall for Humpty Dumpty, thinking about how to arrange the blocks so that they could support their plastic egg without it falling and breaking like in the nursery rhyme!
The children have shown interest in using the doctor kits recently, so we pretended that they were looking after Miss Polly’s sick dolly, as they cared for the baby dolls. There was lots of exploration of the doctors’ equipment and its purpose, as well as interesting language being used, as the children explored the role of being a doctor.
We have had lots of opportunities to practise counting this week, focussing upon saying one number name for each item we touch, for example, when adding matchstick legs to playdough Incy Wincy spiders. The children also caught fish and ducks at the water tray and we counted how many were in their nets, as well as singing the songs ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5 once I caught a fish alive’ and ‘5 little ducks’.
Characteristics of effective learning – Creative and critical thinking
The children have continued to explore the large loose parts in the classroom and have used them as props in their imaginative play, including as a dog bed, a space rocket and a boat! Sometimes sharing the parts requires collaboration and negotiation as the children explore whether two people can fit in one box or decide who will have each tube, thereby developing their communication and social development skills.
This week the Investigation Hub children enjoyed another session of ‘Little Movers’ with Donna. This session was focussed upon transport. The children had to move in different ways to music for example pretending to ride on a train, fly on a plane and even ride on a horse! They played a traffic lights game which required them to listen to and follow instructions whilst pretending to drive in a car. Once again we were very proud of the children for engaging in the dancing, exploring different kinds of movement, and listening to and following Donna’s instructions. Well done!
On Friday, for Children in Need, we enjoyed lots of special activities including decorating Pudsey Bear biscuits, creating spotty pictures with paint and with tissue paper, following a special episode of The Body Coach’s Activate for Children in Need, and using our fine motor skills to add pom poms to Pudsey’s bandana.
Parents as Partners
A sign up sheet is now available in the cloakroom area to sign up for our Stay and Play sessions which are on Thursday 27th November. There will be a morning session from 11am – 12pm and an afternoon session from 1 – 2pm. We hope to see lots of you there.
We hope you all have a lovely weekend.