Easter, Holi, and a lot of colour. Week beginning 21st March 2016…

The Gibbons have been skipping to and fro in a springtime meadow with all of their spring crafts this week. Using empty tubes, the Gibbons created bunnies and chicks for their small world chick farm. They’ve also been poking and prodding through soil as they planted flowers. For their mark making activity, the little ones have been grabbing paintbrushes and doing mess free water painting. We do love a mess free painting session. The Gibbons have been celebrating Easter in true form, but they’ve also had a party for Holi. Holi is the Hindu festival of colours and no one does colour like a nursery. Using raw powder paint (no water added), all three groups created Holi hats by throwing the powder at their creation in a splash of colour. Then they had a Holi party complete with traditional music (and their colourful caps) which the Gibbons absolutely loved. Some grabbed drums, some grabbed hands, but all had a good dance.

What with all the nests, green thumbing, and outdoorsing going on, the Baboons must be feeling the need to get back to grass roots, so they’ve been reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from our classics collection. The story focuses on the vocabulary of camping and camaraderie with keywords such as “friends, riverbank, and fishing line.” Their small world has been full of eggs from their chicken coop. Well, it was really just one hen but she was a very busy hen. Speaking of eggs, it was a good opportunity for the children to practice their counting and those sneaky Baboon grownups even plucked one or two to see if they’d notice how many were missing from their collection. The Baboons not only celebrated Easter and Holi, but also the Persian new year, Nowruz. Of course, no Easter period would be complete without some bunny ears somewhere, and the Baboons didn’t disappoint as they decorated their own colourful bunny ear headbands. Hop to it!

All aboard the Gorilla train! The children have been travelling all over the country on their role play train, serving snacks and tea and taking turns conducting. They’ve been closely observing the progress of their vegetables and ensuring they don’t get too parched. Scissors and string have been the focus in the Reggio Emilia area with the children learning a little bit about tension as they tried to cut yarn and string. This week’s Tatty Bumpkin pose was “Bear” and involved a trip to Wobble Farm. Bear pose stretches the hamstring and calf muscles while supporting body awareness (proprioception), strengthening core stability and balance skills. It’s been a week of celebrations as the Gorillas talked about Easter and Holi. In their small world, the children have been taking care of their bird in its nest. At the creative table, they created Holi hats with powder paint (as evidenced by our slightly red wooden floor) and talked about secondary colours. There’s been lots of teamwork in the garden as they’re still loving the large cardboard tubes. This week they used them to create a den with tarpaulin and materials. Need a break from the sun already, Gorillas?