Weekly roundup - 15 March 2024

Our week has been filled with activities centred around food and shopping. Both rooms had real fruits and vegetables to explore which made their way to the role play are and the craft table. The children used a selection of resources to make some lovely pictures of their favourite foods. My favourite was the swede made by Jasper who used coloured ribbon and pencils to represent the colours he noticed in the vegetable (along with plenty of googly eyes!).

Creating their own depictions of an object allows children to express their ideas and helps develop their creativity. Using something as simple as a vegetable with a range of materials for children to use allows them to explore and experiment. There is so much value in this type of activity as opposed to pre-prepared crafts. As adults, we often interfere when joining a child to complete a craft that has a definitive end product.

We sometimes can't stop ourselves from offering 'help' which can hinder a child's personal development and sense of achievement. Our approach to creativity is about children being able to explore their own ideas in their own way. We want children to think for themselves, make choices, solve problems and pursue their own interests and talents. This allows for uniqueness and individuality. It's worth thinking about this when your child hands you a drawing that is unrecognisable! 

We enjoyed a visit from the local community policing team on Thursday which the children were very excited about! They got to try out some of the equipment the officers brought in including clothing and walkie talkies. Some even had a look inside the police car!

Our plants are continuing to grow with fierce competition between Minal and Stefaniya for height! Layla C's plant has split into three which is very exciting! 

Next week we're continuing our theme of food and shopping. Our story of the week is The Tiger Who Came To Tea by Judith Kerr, one of our favourites. We'll be encouraging the children to use tools safely, letting them make their own sandwiches using knives to spread butter and cut into squares and triangles (supervised of course). The children in Bumbles will make their shopping lists helping to develop their early writing skills.

We've enjoyed better weather today which will hopefully continue into next week.

Have a great weekend.