We have had another wonderful week with the Squirrels and this week they have immersed themselves in painting; from painting their Weekend News to free painting on big sheets of paper covering the table.
They enjoyed our painting activities so much that we decided to continue the painting theme on our Outdoor Learning Day where we set out to make paint brushes from natural materials! The children went off in search of various natural objects to use for their brushes and discovered lots of different shaped leaves, grass and bits of wood on their journeys. Our next challenge was to to find suitable sticks for the brush handles. We looked at a range of different sized sticks from small, thin twigs to big heavy logs and tried to work out which we thought would be best for our paint brushes. In the end everyone decided to use the smaller twigs rather than the big logs. Once our brushes were complete the Squirrels were ready to try them out and everyone was amazed at the different marks their brushes made and some extraordinary masterpieces were created! During Free Play, the children discovered a log which had been placed between two trees and had lots of fun working as a team to problem solve how they could use the log to create their own seesaw.
In the Outside learning Environment we have continued to build on the children's interests and on the fun they had on last week's Outdoor Learning Day with our outdoor washing line. They Squirrels have been busy developing their fine motor skills by washing and pegging socks on to our own washing line, set up in the nursery. We have also built ramps for cars, excavated dinosaurs and sat peacefully with books under the slide. Back inside the classroom we have continued to develop our fine motor skills through intricate practical life activities. We have also been busy building playgrounds and houses out of bricks as well as fishing for letter sounds and number crabs. Everyone was. very excited to have our first Dance session of the new academic year this week. The children put on a beautiful performance looking at different types of movement, where they experimented with moving their bodies down to the ground and up to the sky. Our dance performance took the children on a journey starting close to the ground where they planted their seeds before patting down the soil, watering it and then transforming into the seed itself springing to life from the soil, twisting and turning, extending their bodies as the flower burst into life. The children had a wonderful time, becoming mesmorised by the music and movement and loved using beautiful coloured scarves to recreate the movements and colours of the petals.
It has been another jam packed week full of fun and smiles all round.