Welcome to Spring 2 at Nursery.  This will, as usual be a busy half term with lots of fun activities to enjoy.  

On our first day back in Nursery, we celebrated Shrove Tuesday.  The children listened to the story “Mr Wolfs Pancakes” We used this as a basis for discussion about how we can help each other and how we need to be kind to others. 

We made paper pancakes with all sorts of different toppings – the children talked about which colours they would need to use for the different ingredients and we tried to make patterns by alternating our favourite pancake toppings.  In the main playground, the children had a pancake race which was lots of fun.  In the afternoon we were all able to enjoy a delicious homemade pancake with lemon, sugar, strawberries, honey or jam. 

This half term our theme is Jungle and Pattern.  Our text this week is “Rumble in the Jungle” We will be exploring the wide variety of patterns in the world around us and having ago at making patterns in all sorts of ways. 

We have played matching games with different animals and animal patterns. We have sung a range of number rhymes and songs.  Jungle animals have been hiding around the room and the children have taken great delight in finding where these are hiding.

During phonic sessions, we have played the game “The Zoo Keeper is Coming” This focuses on sound discrimination using musical instruments based on the sounds made by a variety of different animals.

Outside in the tuff tray, we have had all sorts of different animals with a range of natural resources to create homes for the animals.  The children have used the playdough to make jungle animals and some of their own creations of new animals.  In addition, we have explored paint to create different jungle animals – these will be used to make a new display for the main room. 

We have made repeating patterns using multi-link cubes, pegs and boards, pencils and wooden blocks.  Using the whiteboard, we have played a “Name the Pattern” game.  This was then extended to talk about the different patterns on our clothes.  There were spots, stripes, flowers and much more. We observed that socks have lots of different patterns in particular.

We have had lots of fun with an assortment of inflatable jungle animals.  These have been used to create some fantastic stories. 

As always, Wake and Shake has been a very popular activity.  With Dr Knickerbocker a much requested favourite.  We enjoyed the Animal Boogie audio visual books.  There were all sorts of songs about all different animals.

We were able to spend some time in the school library, sharing books together and bringing some back to Nursery to share next week.

During PE this week we have played a range of ring games including Hokey Cokey, Ring a Ring a Roses, The Farmer is in his Den.

We cant wait for more exciting activities in Nursery next week.