Author: Hope Pre School

[caption id="attachment_509" align="alignleft" width="300"] What's new at the river?[/caption] As long as you are wrapped up warm there's lots of fun to be had out and about even in wintry February. [caption id="attachment_527" align="alignright" width="218"] "Look I've found some more footprints!"[/caption] We found squirrel and bird footprints, so the animals don't let the weather stop them either. After doing some "snow stamping", like Marshmallow in Frozen, we travelled "round and round the garden, like a teddy bear" at the cemetery and managed to spot daffodils starting to grow and snowdrops in bloom. There was enough snow to make white chocolate cake at the mud kitchen, especially for Judith's birthday (it's not really!) Apparently I needed "lots of candles"! Picnicing in the Mud Kitchen is ideal, under the shelter, then some…

This week we have been practising small-motor movements. The children have really enjoyed the activities on offer! We now have a table where we concentrate on manipulative play. This week we have provided alligator tweezers to grip and control in order to pick up pasta pieces and coloured beads, that can then be transferred into different containers. Craft activities have included bending and shaping pieces of pipe cleaner, scrunching and twisting pieces of tissue paper, cutting scraps of foiled paper and manipulating scissors, glue spreaders and glue sticks. The older children have been experiencing the "Dough Disco"! Each child has a piece of play dough in their hands. They are shown how to manipulate the dough in different ways using their hands and individual fingers, e.g. squeezing, rolling and prodding…

[caption id="attachment_498" align="alignright" width="300"] Mince pie, anyone?[/caption] We enjoyed a little bit of snow on Friday 13th, but it wasn't unlucky because we had a super time out at the Mud Kitchen (despite getting a little chilly.) Before we left the school playground, we built a snow person, then tramped through the slushy snow down to the mud k. We had to be a bit more careful than usual so we didn't slip down the hill but it was good practice in how to walk in different conditions! Then some of us built models with the snow; someone made mince pies, some of us mixed different party food and we did quite a lot of singing!   Last week the Wednesday bakers practiced cutting up different fruits then arranged them…

We are open! Take care travelling and please txt Preschool if your child is not attending Forest Fun today.

The children have been making spells in our "cauldron" in the woods. First, we need to fill the cauldron with all manner of ingredients. Then we need to give it a good stir, saying the magic words, which could be "Abracadabra fiddly foo, turn you into a mountain of goo!" After some spell making, it might be time to go on a broomstick ride with our friends. This week we decided to continue the theme at the Mud Kitchen by each making magic potions in mini cauldrons. We collected interesting ingredients to mix into a potion. Each child decided what power their magic potion would have. The children thought of lots of amazing ideas, such as turning them into a jet, turning them into a superhero Batman, making them grow…

We re-open after the holiday on Wednesday 4th January!

It was rather cold and wet on Friday 18th November. However, we still managed to have fun at the Mud Kitchen! There was a lot of singing to brighten spirits, despite the soggy weather. The children have found that if they keep moving, they don't get cold.     We had stick peeling for those who were feeling in a crafty mood. Potato peelers are good for this! The children were taught how to handle the peeler safely, peeling away from the hand. Some got pretty good at it. Then some musically creative children had the great idea of building a drum kit using pans and lids.Our crafted sticks were great drum sticks. We even had conductors leading the group and giving instructions when to begin and finish playing. [caption…

After having our dressing-up days and spotty cake sweepstake we managed to raise £36.50, which is pretty good for a small preschool! The correct number of spots on the cake was 821. Congratulations to Tristan and Jenni for guessing the nearest number and eating the cake! Thanks to all those who contributed. The children really enjoyed dressing-up. We had princesses, Superheroes, a knight, a skeleton, a spider and many more!    

This term we are launching our Guest Story time on Tuesdays; to promote Literacy and to include parents/friends a little more in what we do during Preschool sessions. We have a list of dates on our notice board for you to sign up to come and share a story with the children if you wish. It could be a favourite children's book from home or one of our books in Preschool. It could be an oral story that you have made up or something real that happened that would capture the interest of the children. It could be a fascinating factual picture book aimed at young children. So dads, mums, grans and friends we would love to welcome you for just 15 minutes or so of your time, at around…

Due to it's popularity we have been doing Show and Tell again this week. The children have brought in lots of different items to show us: favourite toys and books, a key, a special certificate, a Remembrance Day wristband, to name but a few. It has been a valuable experience as it helps to build each child's confidence, gives them chance to practice speaking to an audience and develop their language skills and gives us an insight into each child's interests and personalities. We still have a few more Show and Tell's next week, so don't worry if your child hasn't done theirs yet!