As mentioned earlier, in Nursery we have very short focused sessions and the majority of our day is spent playing and exploring. Below are some ideas to try from home.
As well as these short focuses, try to include a daily story or two, sing some nursery rhymes, explore outside (if you can), talk with each other and try to limit screen time.
19.10.2020 - 23.10.2020
This week in Nursery, we are focusing on Halloween!
We are looking at this picture, discussing what we can see and how it makes us feel.
Have you seen any spooky Halloween things around yet?
One of the children in Nursery has seen Halloween episodes of his favourite TV show, and is very excited to tell everyone about it!
Socks and Shakers!
We have another listening game for you to try!
Collect 6 socks (or similar) and fill them with different materials (pasta, coins, rice, paper, glass beads, pebbles, bells etc)
Ask children to shake them and try and guess what they think may be inside?
Reveal – did they guess correctly?
Discuss the materials inside – where might we find them?
We have looked at Numicon to represent the numbers 1-4, this week we are focusing on 5!
The Numicon for 5 is red.
Can you sing a song that counts from 5? We enjoy singing five cheeky monkeys jumping on the bed, or five little ducks went swimming one day!
Now we have looked at numbers 1-5
Can you follow the instructions to make the Halloween potion?!
Socks and shakers: matching pairs!
Repeat from last session but have two socks (or similar) with each material.
Ask children to shake the socks - can they match the sound to its pair?
It’s crazy hair day in school today! In Nursery, we are even dressing up in our own spooky clothes or costumes (if we want to!)
Can you think of a crazy hairstyle you could give yourself?! You could draw, paint or even make a model of a crazy hairstyle too!
Why not have a go at making your own Halloween decorations – paper plate pumpkins, spooky paper chains, or even a papier mache ghost!
This week, we are reading the story Leaf Man.
Can you see what the Leaf Man changed in to, as he is blown away by the wind?
Does Leaf Man get to choose what he changes in to?
Could you be blown away by the wind, like Leaf Man? Why?
Listening and remembering sounds.
We are beginning to recognise sounds around us, but it can sometimes be tricky to work out what makes a certain noise. To help us distinguish sounds, we have a game to play!
“Mrs Colman has a bag…” – this can be done with a bag or a box (and you can change the name if you wish!)
Fill the bag with 6 noisy items (we like to use some keys, a bag of crisps/pasta, squeaky duck or toy, bottle of water or liquid…and any others I can find!) Hide them in the bag and sing the song to the tune of Old MacDonlad had a farm:
“Mrs Colman has a bag, EIEIO,
And in that bag she has a….”
Stop and make the sound in the bag hidden for children to guess.
Reveal – did they get it right?
This week, we are continuing to explore Numicon.
We have looked at Numicon to represent 1, 2 and 3, and this week we are exploring 4.
The Numicon for 4 is mint coloured.
Can you count out 4 items, giving each a number?
Can you represent numbers 1-4, in order?
Describe it, find it!
Have 4 very different objects from around the house to start (spoon, toy animal, toy car and a sock). Lay them out in front of child, naming each in turn, and ask them to listen carefully while you describe an object and they have to guess which one it is. E.g. I am thinking of an object that has 4 wheels, it has 5 doors, it is yellow and the horn goes ‘BEEP!’ – which one is it?
This could be made more difficult by using all objects from the same category (all animals all transport etc).
We are looking at the story Leaf Man this week. There are lots and lots of autumn leaves falling to the ground now, so we thought we could make our very own leaf people and/or animals!
During our autumn walk in the school grounds, we noticed there was an apple tree next to the playground!
We have been looking at different types of apples; some have green skin, some have red, and some even have yellow skin!
Cut some apples (supervised, of course!) and discover the seeds inside - what are they for? What would happen if you put them in the ground?
BBC School Radio has a lovely Apple related Playtime, the link is here:
Peace At Last!
As part of our phonics focus, we are reading the Story Peace At Last. Read the story (or follow the link below, if you don't own a copy!) - can you make the noises Mr Bear hears throughout the night?
The ticking clock;
The dripping tap;
Mrs Bear's snoring.
In Nursery, we use Numicon to help with our numbers.
Numicon is an approach to teaching maths that helps us to see connections between numbers. It is a multi-sensory way of learning, which means we learn by seeing and feeling.
The holes in the Numicon Shapes represent the numbers 1 to 10.
Here are the Numicon for the number 1-3.
One is orange
Two is lilac
Three is yellow.
Can you count out objects to show these numbers?
Can you point to the numeral to match the quantity?
Sound stories – can you make your own sound story from around your house?
Tell the story of your daily routine such as waking up, brushing your teeth, eating your breakfast etc and the sounds that all these different activities make.
Printing. We have been exploring printing on our painting table.
We have looked at apples, what happens when you print with an apple? Can you see the different parts of the apple in your print?
You might want to paint your own apple tree, adding the apples with your fingers!
This week, we are continuing to focus on the story Owl Babies. We are looking at each of the owls and asking questions about them.
Where do the owls live?
How did the owls feel when they realised their Mummy had gone?
Which owl do you think is the youngest? Why do you think this?
How do you think the owls feel when Mummy comes back?
We are using our listening ears to identify environmental sounds.
Here is a link to a Sound Bingo game we enjoy:
Can you identify the sounds and match them to the pictures?
There are lots of these games on Youtube, and they can be found here.
We enjoy singing number sings in Nursery, but we are now starting to count out a number of objects too.
Can you count up to ten?
Now, do you think you can count out ten objects?
It could be ten beads, pens, socks, Cheerios... ten of anything!
Don't forget to put them back where they live when you have finished!
In Nursery, we love to look for the signs of autumn, and often bring in lots of leaves, conkers and twigs we have found on our walk to school.
Why no go on an autumn walk with your grown-ups and collect any signs of autumn you find on your way.
You can look for leaves of different colours - red, orange, yellow and brown. Remember to only collect things that have fallen from trees and are on the ground, never pull anything from the trees!
We are exploring printing in our Messy area this week.
You can use sponges, blocks, or even some of the items you find on your autumn walk to print with!
We are going to use washing up scourers to make our own autumn prints - what can you make?!
21.09.2020 - 25.09.2020
The grown-ups in Nursery love Autumn! There are so many beautiful colours, crunchy leaves, conkers and even some creatures we wouldn’t normally see!
This reminded us of a lovely story you could read at home: Owl Babies.
This is not only a great book for introducing some of these autumn animals to us, but it also reminds us that Mummy Owl will always come back – this is particularly good for when we start Nursery, as sometimes we forget that our grown-ups will come back at the end of the session!
Songs which count up!
We love singing nursery rhymes in Nursery, and a lot of the songs we enjoy involve counting!
There are lots of counting songs available on BBC Teach, but one that we particularly like is ‘One, two, three, four, five, once I caught a fish alive!’
You can count on your fingers as you sing, and you could even make your own cheeky fish to bite your finger too!
You could get really creative and add a small fridge magnet to your fish, and make a fishing rod with a piece of string and a paperclip – that way you could really catch your own fish too!
Can you ‘catch’ ten fish, and count them as you do?
Can you recognise the number on each of the fish?
What part of our body do we use for listening? That’s right – our listening ears!
We are always listening out for sounds, but do you notice what’s making those noises?
Let’s have a listening moment!
Take a few minutes to listen out for sounds you can hear inside your house, can you tell a grown up what is making those sounds?
What was the loudest sound?
What was the quietest sound?
Can you try to make that sound with your voice of body?
You could even have a go at drawing the thing that makes the sound!
Let’s develop those Gross Motor skills!
We use gross motor skills to do everyday things that involve our bigger muscles. Most people use these skills easily and automatically – but gross motor skills are more complex than you might think.
These skills involve the coordination of the muscles and the neurological system. They impact balance and coordination. They also form the basis for fine motor skills that help us make small, fiddly movements.
It’s easier than you might think to develop these skills.
Simple things like climbing up and walking down the stairs, and jumping with 2 feet are great ways to check that balance and coordination are working - and what 3-4 year old doesn’t enjoy jumping off things (safely, of course!)
Nursery rhymes or songs with actions, like ‘I’m a little teapot’, or ‘The hokey kokey’ are also good for developing those gross motor skills.
Paint! Paint is fun to play with. You can use it in a conventional way, and create an amazing piece of art, or you can get creative!
Try adding 2 colours of paint into a zip lock freezer bag. Squidge it together and see what happens! This is not only a fun sensory activity, but also allows you to explore what happens when colours mix. Explore mixing the primary colours and see what happens. See if you make a picture with the new colour you have made!
Ditch the paintbrushes! Experiment painting with different things. Printing with sponges to create different textures, or even with fruit and vegetables can be a fun way of creating different art! Cutting a potato in half and creating different shapes can be fun too!
Or you could get really messy by painting with your fingers, hands or even feet!
Can you make a picture using autumn colours and one of these paint-y ideas?