The children have had a busy time in the run-up to the Easter holidays, marking St David’s Day, and St Patrick’s Day and Mother’s Day, and most recently Easter. Some of the children have visited St Mary’s Church, where they had an impressive behind the scenes tour of the church with Father David.
Back at Preschool, we have been marking Easter and spring with a loose parts bunny activity (great for their creativity, positional language, fine motor skills and naming parts of the body). The craft table has also had an Easter theme, making Easter eggs from playdoh, and our sensory table has featured spring animals, loose parts, eggs to weigh and count and sensory media such as compost. Sally the librarian also found us a lovely selection of Easter books.
On our walks, we have often been letting the children decide the route. It’s really important for them to get a sense of their local area and community, so we always point out places of significance to them, such as the doctor’s surgery, the shops and their own homes.
The newly revamped Home Corner has proven to be popular. Many ‘dinners’ and ‘cakes’ have been prepared and shared, and the children enjoy sitting back in the armchairs and flicking through the Hunt’s Post or Tesco food magazine! They’ve also really been enjoying exploring painting and mixing colours with different applicators: metal rollers, cotton buds, toy cars and toothbrushes. Sensory play is a real favourite with our current cohort, too, and they thrive on learning about letters and mathematical concepts through their play with sand, soil, lentils, pasta and shaving foam. Their communication and ICT skills are also being developed through using our ‘Alexa’, and the children love picking a mixture of traditional songs and pop hits to sing along to!
We have also welcomed Miss Emily, our work experience student, who will be with us every Thursday and Friday.