World Book Day 2017

In order to celebrate world book day this year we had a 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' themed session courtesy of one of our fellow childminders.  

We read the book with the children who all took turns at lifting the flaps and discussing, where able, what they could see underneath. We talked about aspects of the story that hey liked and what they thought would happen next.

In order to engage the children further, various sizes of teddy bears were provided together with various sizes of chair. We used this to encourage the children to develop understanding of the language for size, shape and general numeracy although the presence of the bears also encouraged children's ability to share and engage in imaginative play. One of the youngest was particularly drawn to a large teddy bear the same size as himself!

Also provided was some sensory play based on various sizes of bowls and spoons. The children tested out their shopping and mixing skills and, with many children present, were encouraged to take turns and share. 

Shrove Tuesday

Today was Shrove Tuesday and we had a few activities planned that even the youngest children could participate in in order to enhance children's understanding of their community. Initially a fellow childminder set out a role play tray. We talked about the ingredients used to make pancakes and about using up the food before we give up some of our favourite items for lent. The children pretended to mix, break eggs and generally make pancakes for each other.

Then came the cooking and eating element of the day! The children watched how the pancakes were cooked and then all had a go at trying to flip a pancake. They chose some toppings and then attempted to squeeze some lemon juice to go on their pancakes.

Later in the week the activity was extended through incorporation of some pancake themed messy play. I incited the children to play with flour, some small jugs of water and a combination of utensils. For the benefit of the older children there were numbers and words that they could incorporate into their play. The children had a great time scooping the flour into the water, stirring, pouring and eventually being brave enough to get their hands into the dough!

On their return from school our older children were keen to come and play and introduced the concept of making the dough into pancakes that hey could attempt to flip.

Chinese New Year 2017

Due to the diversity of modern society it is important that children learn about cultural diversity from a young age. I aim to incorporate special celebrations of other cultures and this week we have been celebrating Chinese New Year. With a wide age range opresent this year I chose a variety of ways to ensure that children of all ages were able to participate in the Chinese New Year festivities. 

All children had a lovely time engaging in sensory play with noodles and chopsticks along with some colours, glitter and several other tools to develop imagination and fine motor skills. This play was extended for older children with some banners to enhance letter recognition and some glass pebbles in gold and red to promote counting and sorting. 

The older children particularly enjoyed dressing up in some Chinese clothes as well as watching a powerpoint presentation about Chinese New Year kindly provided by another childminder. We also read our Chinese New Year book showing pictures of the celebrations involving children. 

The favourite activity involved food where the children tried some egg fried rice, some noodles and some lovely vegetable spring rolls. We talked about what vegetables were used and the differences between the textures of the food.