Early Years in Action

We're going on a bear hunt. We're going to catch a big one!
There's nothing quite like feeling thick oozy mud between your toes or icy cold water to get a real sense of the meaning behind the text. Our children love this sensory experience. Unfortunately we can't show you the look of delight on their faces. Don't just take our word for it, try it for yourselves and you'll know exactly what we mean.

The things children say...
Teacher- "When we have been at school for 100 days we are going to celebrate with a special 100 day party"
Child - "We have to come to school for 100 days? But I don't t have enough socks!"
Another classic - Child "Where's Jane?"
Kate - "She's just gone to the toilet"
Child - "Do teachers go to the toilet?"
We're sure you must have some great ones. Share them with us

Some new outdoor open ended resources arrived this week consisting of wooden poles and stands. The children quickly decided one way they wanted to use them. They arranged the poles on the stands in a zig zag pattern to try balancing along them. One child said "I've got an idea. If you fall off you lose a point." It was pointed out that they would need to start with a certain number of points to enable points to be deducted. They opted for 5 points. We wrote down the names of the children who wanted to be part of the challenge and added 5 marks for each. They took turns balancing and deducting points on our score board. With just a little adult support initially they were soon able to organise themselves, keep score and offer advice whilst working on their balancing skills. We're looking forward to seeing how many other creative ways they will use the resources.
P.S We ordered these from Cosy in case you were wondering.

We had a great day today delivering training to early years practitioners on quality outdoor play. We always include hands on activities using natural resources and we're pleased to say everyone on the course got stuck in making mud creatures then worked in groups to build fairy houses. Fun was had by all and we hope they took back plenty of ideas to their settings along with the free copy of our 50 Fantastic Ideas for Exploring Nature book.

Little girls with dreams become women with vision.

We have moved on to Nocturnal animals and wanted to share this very successful activity with you. The children were far more patient than many adults while searching for Wally!

The children were enraged today as a green alien ran through our setting stealing the underpants they had decorated! They have decided to write to him to ask him to return the pants. Some of the children have a few questions they would like to ask him too.
It caused great excitement and was one of the first things the children told their families about as they were collected from school.

Here are some images taken around Halloween time when the children were showing a real interest in skeletons. They drew some fabulous pictures and made good use of their phonic knowledge to label some of the bones. There were skeletons painted outside in the tough tray (although it migrated onto the floor as some children took it in their own direction). We provided some interesting animal skeleton images which they responded to with their own artstraw designs. We discussed keeping healthy and the children mixed up their own milkshakes ("full of calcium for strong teeth and bones") It also provided some amazing opportunities for discussing books and authors. We often have verbal book reviews after a story and the children are proficient in discussing why they liked a story or not and know that their classmates may not share the same opinion. We have heard "I liked the part when..." "My favourite character was..." "I didn't like it because it had too many words". They will usually ask who the author is and will want to hear the blurb. During a guided reading session this week a child said "Julia Donaldson? She wrote the Gruffalo." Another child responded "And Room on the Broom". All this talk about skeletons naturally led onto talk of dinosaurs and our learning journey continued.

Reposting some of the fun the children had last Autumn

Some lovely retelling of the Bear Hunt story this week. The children have heard the story, sung the song, used small world to retell the story, designed their own bear masks and chalked the story map outside. We can safely say the children know the story inside out and the signs that go with it. Our favourite quote - "Shh. What's that? Two Googly ears, one wet nose. It's a bear!"

After a busy three days of home visits (which we consider to be invaluable) and some time to create an exciting and welcoming environment, we have really enjoyed getting to know the new children in our setting. The children have all been engaged with the resources available, meaning initial assessments were unobtrusive and so easily collected.

Like many other Early Years educators out there, we are always on the look out for resources to enhance our environment and the children's learning. Whilst spending a blissful week on a beautiful Greek beach this summer, we discovered an abundance of perfectly flat pebbles in a range of sizes. Just like the children, we had our own ideas as we played with the stones.
Kate's thoughts were of the Syrian sculptor Nizar Ali Badr who expresses his thoughts through the ordinary media which can be found just under feet – pebbles. Taking into consideration the difficult situation that has developed in his country – war, refugee movements, loss of loved ones – all this could not but affect his work. He recreates the events taking place in the country through pebbles – he transmits the pain of the people who have to die, to suffer, to leave the country, but also there is a hope for the revival of the country, the return of human values – love, home, family.
Jane went down the more mathematical, problem solving route of stone stacking. This is an activity we had endeavoured to provide for the children in our setting before that had proved on the whole to be unsuccessful because the stones were not flat enough and too slippery. These pebbles however were perfect for the job!
We returned home with a small stash of these pebbles and are looking forward to seeing what our new intake of children will make of them. We'll post some images of them in action soon.

A very successful problem solving activity based on the book Twenty One Elephants. This is the true story of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. We rephrased a lot of the text whilst reading the book to the children, but the illustrations are lovely. The children worked in groups of ten to design and build their own bridge, which had to be strong enough for 21 elephants (some were substitued with other animals!) to cross. They were provided with materials to draw their designs if they chose to do so and could choose any other resources to build their bridges with. The children in all 3 groups were focused throughout. They listened to suggestions given by children in their groups and adapted their structures to improve them.