Fireworks everywhere! The Chimps have been creating their very own fireworks with toilet roll stamps and then bonfire collages with tissue paper and sticks. This week the soft play blocks took a little trip into the main room and the Chimps were loving it. They tumbled, rolled and balanced like pros. In the construction area they practiced creating (and throwing) towers with our new faux bricks (you’d never tell they were foam, except for the occasional chomp mark). In the garden, they’ve been drawing on the ground with chalk which has been an excellent mark making activity as there’s been a nice mix of dry and wet patches to create chalky effects with. During heuristic play the Chimps have been very focused on opening and shutting objects and finding items to put inside. They’ve also enjoyed rolling water bottles to each other. Their singing focus experience this week has been ‘self-select’ as all the Chimps chose songs from the song bag.
“To the moon and back!” so sayeth the Howler astronauts. This week the Howlers have been enjoying the intergalactic thrills of their space station role play. They practiced their wrapping skills as they covered their small world people in tin foil and duct tape space suits, which also became a great peek-a-boo game as they started wrapping and unwrapping various objects around the room. They also learned a bit about the solar system when they created their own papier mache planets with balloons. In the sensory tray the Howlers had a scoop and a stir of the moon sand (flour and oil) and meteorites. Of course it was Bonfire Night this week and our activity list wouldn’t be complete without some sparkling firework creations. To get into the bursting and popping spirit the Howlers watched some firework videos, glanced over some Jackson Pollack (the perfect artist for Howler inspiration) paintings and then had a go at dripping paint onto their paper and then stamping fire-bursts with cut up toilet roll tubes. Their music and movement activity was “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” and they enjoyed twisting and turning and finding all those hard to reach body parts. The Howlers have been very interested in the ICT toys and have been winding up, with a little help, the Teletubby tv. E-ooooooh!
The Baboons have been busy little bumblebees this week adding more artwork to their ever impressive autumn board. They stuck prickly paper quills onto their hedgehogs and talked about where they could find them and what things they eat. They created beautiful sensory collages from flower petals, grass, and leaves. Naturally, they watched a few videos of bonfire night to get them into the firework mood as they made finger painting fireworks. Lots of “pop, pop, pops” and “bang, bang, bangs” while they worked. I suppose whistling is a bit advanced for them. Since it’s a tad cold for those little hands their water play in the garden was confined to balloons and they had a very messy and collaborative art session with painted water balloons. They particularly enjoyed watching them wobble and bounce around in the paper tray. In the garden sensory tray their bubble snakes made a triumphant return as the children challenged themselves to make the longest snakes they could. Indoors the sensory tray was a jungle habitat with lions (I know they’re more safari, but the kids do love to have them stalking through the balmy jungle terrain), tigers and ummm, a duck. Since the Baboons enjoyed the autumn sensory tray with oats so much last week, this week they made their own oatmeal/porridge. Armed with spoons and water jugs they showed great control in pouring warm water over their oats and adding sweet autumn spices like cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and talking about thick or how thin their oatmeal was. Mmmmmm, porridge.
This week has been good times galore and the Gorillas got the bonfire party started with their amazing bonfire role play. Not only did they make their own (pretend) bonfire from logs and coloured tissue – they also spent time talking about the importance of fire safety, especially on bonfire night. Some of those Gorillas are clearly master campers and survivalists as a few took to rubbing twigs together to get their fires going. Oh, yes. Fire safety was a necessary conversation. Like all the other groups, the Gorillas were treated to some impressive firework display videos and then made their own with paint and glitter, practicing their flicking control with their fingers or brushes. In the junk modelling area, they made an extra large fire engine using boxes and milk lids. Their cooking activity was fresh pizza and they ventured to the vegetable patch to pluck out some basil for seasoning. This week their maths area had a revamp with various natural resources including logs and conkers and the Gorillas have been loving counting, sorting and creating structures with them. On Friday the Gorillas got a special treat and spent the day at All Saints church, using its stage to excellent use as they reenacted, can you guess? Yes. Frozen. Let it go, Gorillas. Let it go.
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