Week Commencing 7th September 2026

The Nest

Wow, what a busy week we have had in the Nest this week, with some fantastic learning opportunities provided for our children which they have adored and shown fantastic levels of interest and engagement.

Physical Development:

This week we have celebrated “Teddy Bear’s Picnic Day!” So we have set up a Teddy Bear’s Picnic tray of tea cups, a teapot, lemon, lime, orange, cucumber and basil alongside some teddies for the children to explore! The children demonstrated some lovely interactions between each other, passing objects to one another, copying each others actions and sharing some lovely babble sounds. Everyone got involved very quickly – showing no reluctance to join in! – reaching out to feel the different fruits, tasting them even though some of them were quite bitter! The children explored various tastes and textures by feeling, squeezing and tasting. The children showed more of an interest in the citrus fruits as they seeked out the Lemon and limes, expressing a range of different facial expressions. Some lovely play skills were observed, using the spoons and cups to mix and imitating drinking from the cups. This activity held all of the children’s attention for an extended period of time which was lovely to see.

We have also introduced a tunnel ball maze for the children to use, which has been greatly enjoyed! The children practised their hand eye coordination, focusing on posting the ball in the hole of their choosing and then anticipating which hole the ball would come out of at the bottom – this provided high levels of fascination and amazement!

Communication and Language:

It has also been “National Read a Book” which has of course been a massive interest with our little ones! It has given us the opportunity to share a range of familiar stories such as “Dear Zoo” as we’ve looked at the animal soft toys alongside the story. The children have shown skill in opening the flaps ans turning the pages of the story.

“That’s not my..” stories are greatly loved by all of our children so we have also set up a tray resembling those stories too – with lots of different textures to feel and explore.

The children thoroughly enjoyed exploring the colored pasta stars, which provided wonderful opportunities for scooping, pouring, and sprinkling. This activity was greatly appreciated by the children, allowing them to explore filling and emptying, and to practice using utensils as they scooped up the stars. Positive interactions were observed among the children with smiles and abundant babbling sounds. This provided staff with the opportunity to model lots of new language such as “sprinkle” “scoop” “pour” “empty” which the children have responded to through lots of happy babble sounds, looking to staff and big smiles!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!