We have been a day short of a full week but the Chimps have still managed to cram five days worth of fun into the four. They have been creeping around as quietly as they can through their mini-city role play in the small world. I believe there was the occasional natural disaster for the villagers as the Chimps filled the huts with sand. They have also been practicing their sticking skills as they made collages from pieces of our retired books (the kids love them to literal pieces). When they tired of paper, it was quite a fun sensory activity with the gluey gooeyness. The Chimps have also been practicing their space and shape awareness with shape sorters. The vegetable has been getting some extra care and attention this week as the Chimps ventured in to help the plants “drink” water just like they do. To get their little legs going, they had a vigorous round of broom dancing, some even opting for the bigger brooms rather than the smaller ones.
The Howlers have been very imaginative as they have had the dollhouse and people out in their small world area. The people went on walks, were given names (how thoughtful), and even had their own rooms. Never too young to understand the need for one’s own space. Their cooking activity this week was hummus and salsa. There was chopping and sprinkling, sniffing and mixing, finished off with a bit of blending. Then they added their Howler- made dips to their snacks – delicious. Singing time this week has been focused on number songs like “3 Little Men In a Flying Saucer” and “5 Speckled Frogs” which the Howlers have been very excited to learn, especially the sound of “whooooosh” in “3 Little Men.” Please check out our song section of this site to hear what the songs sound like. The over sized dice was brought out to add just a little bit more of a challenge as they did lots and lots of animal movements. They had to wait for the dice to stop and copy the animal movement it landed on. In the book corner, they have also enjoyed a lovely puppet show with Winnie the Pooh characters.
Baboons – The Baboons are turning into quite the sculptors and builders as they have been making playdough animals (after making their own playdough from scratch, of course) and then sending them off to the junk modelling city where every tin can, scrap of cardboard, tubing etc. was put to usee. The Baboons have had a grand old time extending their usual wood block towers with the aid of empty boxes, tub lids, and all the junk modelling staples. Next they’ll be drawing up floor plans and measuring with rulers so watch this space. They also enjoyed, maybe the adults enjoyed more, a non-messy finger painting session with paints in a bag as they watched their finger marks leave traces in the paint. Eboné introduced some intense weaving sessions as the Baboons are decorating and creating their own looms and weaving boards with colourful threads and ribbons. For the scoopers and pourers there was colour assorted rice which led to very animated discussions about their favourite colours and there may have been some sneaky things hidden in the rice tray for them to find. Music and movement this week was instruments and the band was definitely coming together nicely. Quite a few guitar players in the room. Talk time this week has been about emotions and, with visual prompts and some funny faces, the Baboons displayed very good awareness of different emotions.
The Gorillas have also been keeping themselves busy with their very own ‘Mission Impossible’ sessions in the garden. They have had to find different coloured objects, count garden objects and even swing around in the trees like little monkeys. They have continued their train role play this week and got even more into the spirit as various children put on hats and started selling tickets to their friends. Not too cheap I’m sure, they have a rather modern sense of inflation. They made some trains using cut out paper pieces. The peg boards have been out and many of the children have taken to colour sorting in their favourite ways. Some used bowls, some made blocks of colours and others created matching rows. The volcano has returned to the small world area which was also occupied by dinosaurs, which seemed to have gone on little hiding missions from the Gorillas so they had to be found throughout the week. Sneaky stegosaurus..es. What’s the plural for stegosaurus? Moving along, the Gorillas have also been master storytellers as they’ve been using flashcards as prompts for some very imaginative stories. Their group time this week has been about understanding people with different needs and the Gorillas astutely identified things that might help others such as glasses for eyesight and wheelchairs for people who need walking support. If the vegetable patch could talk, it would say a big thank you for the new radishes the Gorillas planted. They’ll be keeping an even closer eye on how things are going in there.
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