Author: Hope Pre School

[caption id="attachment_436" align="alignright" width="300"] Monday afternoon playing at the playground[/caption] It's great to have the freedom on a Monday afternoon to be able to take the children to the park. We are lucky to have such good facilities in our village. All the children love to play outside in the fresh air, getting plenty of exercise and having fun with their friends. They are developing their large bodily strength, which also helps them to develop the small motor skills which they need in controlling small tools, e.g. pencils and scissors.   [caption id="attachment_434" align="alignright" width="300"] Adding decorations to our shields.[/caption] As parents are aware, we are constantly observing the children to find out any current interests they have. We can then plan activities we know the children will enjoy and…

  The 10 keys to unlocking school readiness*  I can settle happily without my parent/carer I can tell friends and grown-ups what I need I can take turns and share when I am playing I can go to the toilet on my own and wash my hands I can put on my own coat and shoes and feed myself I can tell a grown up if I am happy, sad or cross I know that what I do and say can make others happy or unhappy I am curious and want to learn and play I can stop what I am doing, listen and follow simple instructions I enjoy sharing books with grown ups  *If a child is developing typically for their age

Every Wednesday the children take part in baking or food prep. activities. Last week they made Chocolate Cornflake buns. It was fun watching the chocolate melt, then mixing in the cornflakes The children practiced lots of skills. It was quite a fiddly job filling the bun cases with the sticky mixture. I'm sure it was worth it when it was time to eat them! This week we plan to make "Stone soup" with the help of the vegetables we picked when we went to visit Cheryl's garden. I hope the children are ready to do lots of chopping. Let's hope it tastes good! N.B. We won't really put the stone in! Read the story Stone Soup to find out how the clever fox managed to trick the farm animals into…

Most of the children enjoy messy play so we mixed up some gloop last week. It's a simple mixture of cornflour and water. It's more fun to add some colour, so we ended up with purple. It's great for practicing making shapes with your finger or using a scribing tool. Last Monday we all went on the bus to Castleton to play at the primary school and have our lunch. The children were very good at listening to instructions on the way there. They are learning how to keep safe crossing the road and walking on the pavement. We walked to the school and then back to the village hall. Luckily we had some parents to help us on the way.  Thank you! You know who you are.. Most of us…

What a lovely afternoon we had last Thursday! We had our "Art afternoon", making papier mache models of our house. They are currently drying on the windowsill, ready to paint next week. Then we played outside in the yard. All the children enjoyed dressing up and wearing their outfits outside. Some were builders, others were firefighters, some were mummy or daddy... Soon after, someone spotted  mowing in the churchyard. Well, we all had to have a look! On Monday afternoon we walked to the churchyard. First we practiced our road-crossing skills. Then we had a walk in the long grass, observed the gargoyles and had a run in the big space. When we returned, we got the footballs out as one of our new children was really keen. We all…

It's a great way to finish the week and because we are now meeting at Hope Primary School, we haven't as far to walk to our sites, which means we get there sooner! More time to play!! We have played at the Mud Kitchen for our first two sessions of the term, taking advantage of the rainfall this week, which has filled up the water butt for us. Before we started, the older children filled in our new recruits with the rules for Forest Fun that we all have to follow to keep everyone safe. Then the children spent time creating some delicious messy meals, mixing soil, sand, water and foraged tasty treats from the mud k. environment! We have talked about what we can/can't eat I hasten to add!…

[caption id="attachment_349" align="alignnone" width="300"] The Forest Fun Crew[/caption] We said goodbye to our school leavers with a final end-of-year Forest Fun party. The children helped to collect our special ingredient: nettles to go in the omelette! We cooked our nettle and cheese omelette on a camping stove. It was delicious! The children all made a special Forest Fun medallion to take home as a keepsake.

FOREST FUN From September Forest Fun will take place on Friday mornings, whatever the weather! We will meet at Hope Primary School, in the School playground, and continue from there to the woods via Green Drive. On alternate weeks we will go to the Mud Kitchen at Hope Primary Conservation Area. The children need to arrive at 9.15 prompt, dressed and ready to leave as we will leave at 9.20 to make the most of our time. Please ring or text us if you are running late. Please don’t bring bags as we have everything we need, including changes of clothes, in our trolley. It is important that the children are dressed suitably for the morning. Waterproof coats and trousers or all-in-one suits are best with waterproof boots as a…

We have transferred our chrysalides into our butterfly enclosure in preparation for the emerging butterflies! We now need to watch and wait for the Painted Ladies to cast off their final layer of skin and show off their new wings. We will feed them with fresh fruit and sugar water, then after a few days release them into the wild. Let's hope they like their new habitat on Green Drive..

Now that we have a smaller group for Forest Fun because of school visits, we are making use of a different site for a change. If you go a short way up Pindale Road, cross the road and walk along the footpath there is a lovely clearing next to the river. The group explored the area and we found there are lots of possibilities for fun and learning. We played Hide and Seek, looked at mini beasts, sawed with sticks and tried to make a sound with grass whistles! [caption id="attachment_308" align="alignright" width="300"] What's the joke?[/caption] We plan to take buckets and fishing nets next week to see what we can catch in the river!