The babies have had lots of fun making pitta pizzas for our Around the World themed week. They enjoyed exploring the different textures with their hands and their mouths.
Physical Development (PD) Using their fine motor skills to make the pizzas.
Picks up small objects between thumb and fingers
Personal, Social, and Emotional Development (PSED) Builds relationships with special people
Cheese straws a good favourite and easy to make. By ready made puff pasrty and add some gratd chees. Twist the pastry with your little one and cook for 10-15mins in the oven at 180 degrees
Carrying on from last week we put different objects into water and froze them in the freezer. The children choose different one-handed tools to break the ice p and get to the objects.
Physical Development (PD) Using their fine motor skills using one-handed tools Communication and Language (CL) Talking about the different objects in the ice.
Make some ice lollies with your little one and enjoy them together
We used a variety of opportunities to use water play inside and outside to try and cool off in the hot weather
Mathematics(M) Estimating how many small containers it would take to fill up a big container. Who was the closest?
Activities parents could do at home to extend their child’s development further?
Use your child’s bath time to talk to them about objects that float and objects that sink
Water play was our learning experience too! We used lots of mathematical language to describe our play, like sink and float, more and less, big, bigger and biggest, small, smaller and smallest, estimate etc. to name but a few
Mathematics (M) Use of mathematical language
Enjoy the ‘guesstimating’ game with your little one to test their knowledge
The Jolly Phonics song for our letter of the week goes like this, why not try singing it at home…
I see the clouds moving W, w, w
I see the kites flying W, w, w
I see the trees bending
W, w, w
The wind is blowing strong
We have had a fabulous time making cheese straws for our ‘little chef’s theme this week.
Communication and Language (CL) using single words. Enjoys babbling and increasingly experiments with using sounds and words to communicate.
Physical Development (PD) passes objects from one hand to another.
Baking with your little one at home. Bread dough is an old favourite for using their hands and fingers to knead.
We made a big block of ice and filled it with different sized and coloured pom poms.
The children loved this activity and spent a long time picking and melting the ice with their hands to get to the one that they wanted to get to.
Physical Development (PD) using fine motor skills to hold utensils to break the ice.
Personal, Social, Emotional Development (PSED) turn taking with the utensils to break the ice. Communication and Language (CL) Using describing words about how the different objects and ice feels.
Freeze other objects in ice. This is a perfect activity to use all sorts of developmental areas with your child. Why not put it in the garden and watch it melt as your little one tries to get to the objects.
We dressed up in clothes that made us look like what we wanted to be when we are older. There were builders, train drivers, firefighters, doctors and Farmers, to name but a few.
Understanding the World and Communities (UTW) Looking at different occupations
Physical Development (PD) Dressing and undressing themselves using their fine and gross motor movements
Activities parents could do at home to extend their child’s development further?
Talk to your little one about the job that you and other members of the family do. Perhaps even take them to where you work to show them what you do and what it looks like.
We have been looking at our community and different occupations and what they do. We had some really good circle times talking about what we would like to be when we are older.
Our favourite activity this week was P.E The children were super good at getting themselves dressed for P>E. We then gave the children a bean bag which they were asked to throw into a circle drawn in chalk on the floor. What a fantastic aim they all had…. excellent effort!!
Physical Development (PD) Shows increasing control over an object Communication and Language (CL) Able to follow instruction
Take it in turns to throw a small ball with your little one, using over arm and under arm techniques.
The Jolly Phonics song for our letter of the week goes like this, why not try singing it at home…Jelly and Jam, Jelly and Jam
Jiggling on a plate
Oh, what will I eat with it?
J, j, j, j, j
This week we made our very own banana and yogurt ice lollies and anyone that came in while we were eating them would have known that we loved them very much indeed!
Physical Development (PD) Using their fine motor skills to hold the lollies.
Communication and Language (CL) Has a strong exploratory impulse.
Why not make lollies with different using different flavours and fruit
We had an amazing time making each other ‘ice-creams’ with our play dough ice-cream Parlour. Make mine a 99 with a flake!
Understanding the World (UTW) Vehicles we see in our community
Physical Development (PD) Using their fine motor skills to make their ice-creams
Communication and Language (CL) Talking about our favourite flavours and what we would like
Cooking with your little to encourage mixing, pouring and taking turns
Shape jelly play! We explored the jelly with our hands to pick out different shapes and name them.
Mathematics(M) Recognising shapes and counting up to 5
Communication and Language (CL) Talking about and describing the different shapes.
Look at the different shapes that household objects are. Your clock might be a circle shape and your picture frame might be a rectangle?
We went on a shape hunt around the room and the garden. We created a tally chart and recorded each shape that we found.
The children were given a choice to create their own sandwich. They buttered the sandwich, chose their own filling and talked about healthy and unhealthy foods
Physical Development (PD) Using fine motor skills to butter and cut their own sandwiches. Understanding good practice with regards to hunger and contributing to good health.
Communication and Language (CL) Talking about being healthy and unhealthy
Making homemade pizza’s at home is fun. You could choice the vegetables to put on the top and you can even buy ready made dough mix to make the base!
The Jolly Phonics song for our letter of the week goes like this, why not try singing it at home…
Bring your bat and bring your ball B, B, B, B, B
Bring your bat and bring your ball to the park to play
Multi-sensory exploring- The babies got stuck in exploring different textured, coloured and scented foods. Including colourful cooked pasta, rainbow rice (which the babies enjoyed sprinkling) and we also had banana, strawberry and chocolate mousse, which the babies whizzed their hands through and tasted!
Communication and Language (CL) Has a strong exploratory impulse and frequently imitates words and sounds
Physical Development (PD) Enjoys the sensory experience of making marks
Raid the cupboards at home and choose different types of foods to explore together!
Playdough, pasta and cheerio threading. We stuck raw spaghetti into play dough then used our fingers to carefully thread the cheerios through
Physical Development (PD) Using fine motor skills
Communication and Language (CL) Has a strong exploratory impulse and gives everything a go
Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) will stay at an activity they enjoy and that interests them.
Set out activities to encourage your child to use their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. An example of this might be using penne pasta to thread onto pipe cleaners
We looked at pictures of extreme weather conditions such as tornados, heavy snow, and a tsunami. We spoke about what they are and all our experiences outside in the rain, snow and sun.
Communication and Language (CL) Beginning to understand “why” and “how” questions and learning new words rapidly and can use them
Understanding the World (UTW) shows care and concern for living things and the environment
Go out in all weathers and talk to your little one about it. If you go on holiday talk about the weather when you are there too.
We have been looking at different types of weather too. We made rain clouds and we also carried on with our mark making and trying to write our names. We also cooked up a storm and made flapjacks.
We had a great time walking through our sensory trays, using our bare feet to feel all the different textures. There was shaving foam, bubble wrap, jelly and sand (to name just a few)
The children had to talk about whether they liked the sensation on their feet and use describing words for each one.
Experiments to create different textures. Expressive Arts and Design (EAD)
Uses talk to explain what is happening Communication and Language (CL)
Communication and Language (CL) extending vocabulary, especially by grouping and naming, exploring meaning and sounds of new words. Beginning to be interested in and describe the texture of things.
The Jolly Phonics song for our letter of the week goes like this, why not try singing it at home…
We lick our lollipops
We lick our lollipops
L, l, l, l, l
We lick our lollipops!