Saturday 22 February 2014

Bird Week!


This week was National Bird Nesting Week!
We spent lots of time in the garden looking for the birds that live nearby. W decided to bring out the binoculars so he could see them better "I'm a bird watcher man!" he called out




We tore up lots of seedy bread for them to eat. We made sure it was in small enough pieces so the bird could carry them off. "It would be very hard work for a little bird to carry a piece of bread that big" I said, so W helped his little sister E tear up her bits a little smaller.




I had found some good templates for birds online, we printed them out and decorated them. W wanted his bird to be completely coloured in "because birds are covered in colour"

Little E had a good go at making marks on hers too. I noticed she was occasionally changing her grip around from a full handed to a pincer grasp. Sometimes right at the top of the pen and other times close to the nib. She was exploring the different grips she could do, seeing which felt more comfortable but this does mean a pincer grasp is on it's way! We will make lots of time over the coming weeks for mark making so little E can practice her grasp.


We added some concertina wings and then it was time for our birds to have their first fly!


We returned to the garden to watch the birds for a bit. We spoke about needing to be still and quiet so we didn't scare the birds away. I drew the children's attention to the larger birds being on the feeding table...


....the smaller birds were more drawn to the coconuts with the fat mix in. We spoke about why this could be, do different birds like different foods like us?


We have enjoyed this week talking about the birds and other parts of nature, a lovely beginning to Spring which is *hopefully* just around the corner!!

Saturday 15 February 2014

Valentines Week Fun!



      'B' came to us for Valentines day morning. He made us all a breakfast of..... Pancakes!!


'B' dealing with the deathly food colouring which apparently dyes anything it touches (as we discovered from many red fingers!!)
Why food colouring??


It wouldn't be Valentines Day without hearts of course!!


Pancakes were greatly enjoyed by everyone, and we spoke about looking forward to official Pancake Day in a couple of weeks time.


Also out this week was a Valentines Sensory Tray, Little E has been really enjoying other sensory trays I have done. She is a little collector and as I suspected she spent ages scooping, pouring and mixing in various containers and with different spoons.






Little M joined in the exploring with some safer items! Lots of different textures, a beany bear, smooth rubber duck and a slightly rougher cup.


We played with Play-doh and heart shapes. As little E picked up each one I spoke to her about the material and their different textures and sizes, providing her with the beginnings of some mathematical language.



E spent lots of time with the cutters, cutting out heart shapes and then squishing them together and starting again. She had a little trouble rolling out the doh so I have her a bit of help with that.
L from over at Worms Eye View was here for a visit too, she enjoyed the heart shaped mirror. Her approach was to make lumps of the play-doh and stick the hearts into it the stand them up and make displays.


 Baby M had a play with the Play-doh too, another different texture to explore! She scratched at it with her nails causing little clumps to come off, she even had a taste of a little bit...it wasn't very nice!!


Next up I dug out some paper heart shapes. W had decided to come and do some activities with us by this point which was great timing as I had planned this activity with him in mind!
We had a chat about today being 'Valentines Day' and it's a special day we use to think about all the people in our lives that we love. As we spoke W told me about the people he loves, telling me the names of people in his family and friends who are special to him. As he spoke I wrote each name down on a heart so we could see visually all the people he loves and who love him back. W then asked to do some writing too!

He told me some of his writing was his name, he then also drew a picture of a snowman and told me he loves snowmen too!

Little E was with us too for this activity, I involved her in our conversation as much as possible, as W mentioned names I asked E "You know xxxx too? Do you love them?"

We have had a lovely Valentines week practicing lots of different skills and we will be using them again in the coming weeks.