We brought Spring into our home corner this week, which was set up as a florist’s with real daffodils. The children used scissors to trim the daffodils and put them in water, then used the till to sell them to their “customers”. The children also took part in a still life drawing activity, where they had to look at the daffodil carefully and use pencils or crayons to draw the flower. This helped to develop their observation skills and their pencil grip.
Spring was also being celebrated in our farmyard small world area. The children enjoyed playing with the different tactile elements of this - compost, straw, grass and water - and had fun creating narratives for the various farmyard animals. Later in the week, we changed this area into an ocean small world complete with sand, water and a pirate ship. The children enjoyed making waves by moving their hands back and forth in the water, and they loved making the pirates walk the plank!
There was more sensory play elsewhere in the nursery, with the children having fun playing with slime. We talked about texture as they squeezed, stretched and squashed the slime. On another table, the children were practising mark-making in flour - some made patterns, while the older children attempted to write the letters we have been learning in phonics. Our phonics focus this week was “i” for insect, igloo, inside and iguana. Next week’s sound is “n” so don’t forget to bring in something beginning with “n” to share with the other children!
