Cowboys, Tree Birthdays, Retail and Whale Sharks (Week Beginning 2nd Feb 2015)….

It’s been a creepy crawly week in the Chimp room. Butterflies were fluttering from their caterpillar and butterfly sensory bag. After having a good look at the butterfly picture cards, the Chimps practiced their impressionist skills with butterfly pictures, folding them and rubbing them together. In a few years, that’ll turn into a Rorschach. In the small world tray they had to dig around the terrain for worms. And like the little worms they rummaged through some potted soil to make a hole for their basil seeds. In the book area, the Chimps are becoming very familiar with their flap books and they’ve been looking for “Who’s Hiding in the Jungle?” this week. As the children are very keen on flour play, Carly and the gang armed them with cars and you’d be amazed how early one learns to do donuts. Vroom! Each room has been spending more time focusing on their role play areas and while the Chimps room is pretty free flow, they have created a role play box of the wild wild west for all the little cowboys and girls complete with hats and frontier props like horses and hats. Yeehaw!

Well you may have noticed (how can you not) that the Howlers took to the ground running with their role play display this week and it’s been quite an Amazonian experience. They had to wade through the jungle grass, dive the swinging monkeys, and explore the dark and mysterious cave of wonder. Since there are some very dangerous animals in the jungle, the Howlers climbed into their amazing safari car and safely made their way through to see them. And, because it’s always good to leave a gift for your host, the Howlers built a tree using sticks and moss from their trip to the park. The growing season is starting up again and the children have been building up their vocabulary with “sprouts, cabbage” and their favourite, “runner beans” using the vegetable cards. In the vegetable patch, they’ve been turning over the soil. The Howlers took a trip to the park to celebrate the birthday of the trees, which is a Jewish festival. They sang happy birthday and rather than little monkeys, they were little badgers building miniature woodland homes in the park. In the mark making area, they had a go at creating artwork with ice chalk, which was far too tempting for some of the little munchers as they looked suspiciously like ice lollies. Nom nom nom.

The Baboons have also been celebrating the birth of the trees with some twig and leaf sticking and painting this week and have built trees for their animals in the small world zoo. A few of the children had to hide the animals because apparently there was a dragon on the prowl. Oh dear. Their role play has brought out the retailers of the bunch as they have been taking care of and selling animals in the Petshop. Every morning, the Baboons have made sure all the animals and fish have been fed and given water and then they open for business, checking price lists, giving care advice, and selling accessories. They have been pretending to ring through the animals on their keyboard and making role play money. I must say their reptile prices are a tad high, just in case you are in the market for a lizard. At the creative table all our multitudes of bubble wrap has been put to good use as the children have been printing and making spotted animals and shapes. The multicultural instruments have made their way to their new home in the dance room and the Baboons have been tapping out some rhythms and wiggling some bottoms to beats. In the writing area, they have been linking identifying letters drawn in flour and linking their sounds to objects in the room.

The Gorilla children have been so incredibly excited about their new role play food that they had a discussion group this week about healthy eating and how it’s works for their bodies. You will be happy to know that they are very aware of the importance of having a good diet and interested in what food does to their teeth. Max very kindly brought in his three guinea pigs, Brian, Barry, and Gobbles from home and all the children had a chance to pet and hold them. Thank you, Max. Their windows are covered in some peculiar looking bags this week because they have been talking about the water cycle. They drew landscapes onto their bags, filled them with water and have been checking and observing throughout the week the water levels and condensation. They have also been talking about bodies of water and how important they are to life cycles. First throws of ecology and biology in the Gorilla room. In their model plane role play this week, the Gorillas have really been focusing on going to places around the world and describing the characteristics of their regional climates and flags. In the dance room, the children invented actions for animals and land features for their yoga session. The bridges were pretty impressive. The Gorillas, ever intrigued by the new dance room fish tanks, created their own tanks with Ziploc bags, bubble wrap and tissue paper. They have also spent time watching videos of sea life and I had a lively debate with one of the Gorillas about which one is bigger: the whale shark or the blue whale. Any guesses?

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