Park Play

We have had several new children joining the setting this term which has resulted in a wider range of ages and abilities within the children present and it is essential to sure that each child enjoys the activities we do. Parks are brilliant for this mixed age range of children and have so many educational benefits for each child. We have explored the rain, the water, balanced on beams and slid down slides. 

Parks promote free play - spontaneous activity that can be done without adult guidance and has been proven to promote cognitive development in children. It is driven by natural curiosity and becomes more complex as the children grow older. 

With several children not quite walking or in the early stages of toddling parks provide both space and low level equipment for the children to try out their developing skills. For older children these skills continue to emerge through navigating bridges and ramps to climbing up frames. All the time physical development and the benefits of the outdoor are being promoted. 

Of equal importance are the social skills that the children develop, particularly in the older children through the development of games. Additionally, through expressing their ideas and feelings children continue to develop their language skills. 

Playgrounds therefore enable the children to develop valuable life skills within a safe environment and we are very lucky to live in a green city with such a wide variety to chose from.  

Fun at Saltram

We had such a great morning at Saltram today visiting the new woodland area that they have created. Both children and dogs had an amazing time although the dogs seemed to end up much dirtier than the children!

The boys tested out their climbing skills on the poles with footholds and the giant tyres.  They also enjoyed burying their feet in the wood chippings, using the stamps to make patterns on the wood and playing poo sticks in the stream from the bridge. 

Finally the boys enjoyed the predominantly wooden construction play-park where they practised their balancing and sliding skills as well as loving playing hide and seek amongst the child sized wooden containers. 

Stick Man play

We enjoyed a lovely walk through Cann Woods this morning where the children absolutely loved the selection of dens that were constructed under the trees. They had great fun moving the logs around to create their own dens as well as experimenting with climbing and balancing.

We decided to use some of the sticks to relate to our story today - Stick Man. Even the dog joined in by playing his part of the dog running off with the stick!

Having read our story the children all joined in making their stickman pictures - an activity that the older children were determined to take part in on their return home from school. We got some pretty cool stick men!

Natural Playgrounds

One of the great joys of being a childminder is having the freedom to take the children out into the natural environment where they can learn so much through play and exploration. This morning was another beautiful Autumn morning so we decided to do a walk though some local woods to the river. Although only a simple walk I watched the children and was fascinated by the many areas of learning covered within this lovely Autumn stroll. Just some of these are listed below:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development: Through interacting with their peers and discussing their thoughts and ideas the children learn how to interact with others and develop appropriate social behaviours. 

Physical Development: From climbing on trees, wading through long grass and squelching through mud through to picking up sticks to float down the river and throwing stones the children develop both fine and gross motor skills and benefit from the fresh air and exercise. 

Communication & Language: The children talk about what they can see as well as discussing their ideas with one another. 

Literacy: We related the different surfaces that we encountered to those detailed in the 'going on a bear hunt' book. 

Numeracy: The children instinctively counted a range of objects from sticks and stones through to the steps they were taking. 

Understanding the World: We looked at the environment around us, discussing the autumn, inspecting the effect of the low sun on our shadows and watching the river carry the sticks downstream. 

Shakers

In order to enhance listening for specific sounds this week we began by making shakers. Through providing rice, beans and pasta the children practised controlling their movements by using spoons to transfer these into their choice of container. When they had done this we sealed them up and painted them.  

We listened to the sound that the shakers made and tried to imitate these with our mouths. 

Finally we added in some music and coloured scarves and the children used their shakers to add to the music and then dance with their scarves, practising swinging them around in circles as well as high and low and slow and fast.