It has been picnic and playtime for the teddy bears at preschool this week and the children have enjoyed bringing their teddies to join our preschool bears.  We have been sharing bear stories together, enjoying the preschool equipment and having plenty of bear hunts in the garden (the bears are very good at hiding).

In the craft area the children have been creating their very own furry bear friends and painting large bears with puffs.  At the busy fingers table, we have been busy drawing all the food that we think the bears would enjoy on their picnic.

We have been talking about the queen at preschool and looking at photos of Her Majesty, the castles and palaces that are her homes.  We’ve talked about how she travels in a carriage and her favourite pets – we have these on display for the children to look at and talk about.

In the Maths area we have been making flags to wave for the Jubilee and observing the different shapes and colours that make up the Union Jack.

Our focus this week has been looking at transport and how people travel. The children have really liked seeing the pictures of themselves up at preschool and looking at the different ways that each of them travel to preschool.  In the garden they have been taking part in our very own traffic survey, observing the different ways that people travel in the surrounding area.  At our busy fingers table, we have been making and decorating hot air balloons and practising our fine motor skills and pencil control whilst doing this.

Our very own shoe shop opened at preschool this week and the children have had a great time trying on different shoes, measuring feet and helping each other with some tricky fastenings.  Next to our shoe shop is our craft area where the children have been designing patterns on boot shapes using different colours and textures.

On Thursday it was a particularly sunny afternoon in the garden so out came the paint brushes and water and the children got busy ‘painting’ the fences. Then out came the parachute for a game of ball bounce.  After all this activity it was time to have a sit in the shade have a drink of water and listen to a story.

We said goodbye to our fabulous student Riley this week as her placement with us has come to an end. The children have so loved having her here and it has been wonderful to see the way that she has worked with them and how she has progressed throughout her time here. We as a team think she is amazing and will have a great future in Early Years education.

The outdoor marketplace was opened this week in the garden and there was a shopping frenzy to buy all the essentials that the children needed for their day. The trolleys, buggies and baskets were filled to the brim and the tills were very busy.

On Wednesday the weather was so bad that the market had to be cancelled but that didn’t stop the children from having a fun time in the garden. Coats were put on, zips and hoods pulled up and the children lined up to go outside and play big group games to keep active such as follow the leader, the baked bean game and move like an animal.

Our Mud Kitchen has been busy this week with lots of cooking with mud, pine cones and leaves.

In our Flower Group ‘busy bags’, the Nursery children have been compiling maps of Abbots Langley and the surrounding area with pictures of local landmarks and shops. This started some lovely conversations about the places where we live.

In the Maths area this week it’s all about size and comparisons, we have been looking at the small, medium and large mice and sorting tails for them and sorting into different size boxes.

This week one of our focus areas has been around the emergency services and people who help us.  The children have been making headbands for police, ambulance and fire fighters and making hoses to put out fires in the garden. They have been dressing up, directing traffic, and using the water squirters to extinguish fires.

Whilst it has been very busy outside our hairdressers has been equally busy.  It’s like the end of lockdown all over again!  They’ve been doing a roaring trade and the children have really enjoyed styling each other’s and the ladies hair.

In the busy fingers area, we have been drawing around the shapes of shoes and using the scissors to cut around the shape of the soles.

At the playdough table the children have been making funny faces with the Mr Potato Head pieces, making models of themselves and people they know and making comparisons between them.

In the garden on Tuesday afternoon the children joined Judy in a fun rendition of ‘Row, Row, Row your Boat’ in the garden.

Indoors this week the children have been learning about people who help us, concentrating on the emergency services.  At the round table we have had a police station set up where the children have been answering the phones, working on the computers, taking fingerprints, and trying to identify the people the police are looking for.

In Flower Group we have been learning about firefighters and how they help us and making lovely pictures of fire engines.

The small world area has been set up with numerous emergency services from police, fire fighters, doctors, nurses, paramedics centred around our hospital buildings.

The role play area has been filled with budding chefs, preparing some delicious treats with fruits and vegetables.

In the garden the children have been really loving the mud kitchen and have been making us lots of things to eat.  Soup, tea, ice cream and porridge – all beautifully presented and decorated with leaves and foliage. It Just so happens that it all tastes like mud though!

The sandpit opened this week for the children to enjoy and they have had a lovely time digging and building sandcastles. It has been a very busy area.

On Tuesday some of the children decided they would try on Lyn’s preschool fleece.  It turns out quite a few of them could fit inside! They had great fun moving together as one to make their way around the preschool and having a good giggle whilst they were going.

On Thursday the children got busy helping to build the new bikes that were delivered this week.  We were able to purchase these thanks to a donation from the Blakemore Foundation and the fundraising that you have all been taking part in.  The children have really enjoyed trying out the new bikes.  Thank you.