Category: News

Once again, we have opened our doors to welcome the animal friends of the children, namely the family pets! This year has featured a number of dogs, cats, a guinea pig, a rabbit, a hen and a lamb. We have all enjoyed learning about how to look after these pets and becoming more understanding of how to care for our animal friends. It was also interesting to find out the variety of pets owned by the Pre-school families and to learn that cats are the most popular owned pet at this time, taking over from dogs which were the most popular last time we investigated! The children have helped to create a table and a pictogram chart of the pets owned which they enjoy looking at and counting and comparing…

Many thanks to Gary (and friends?) who came to repair the window at the Mud Kitchen which unwanted trespassers had carelessly damaged recently. We are really grateful for Hope Construction Materials' continued support of the Mud Kitchen shelter, which they generously provided for us two years ago.

It can cause a lot of bother but the children absolutely love playing in the snow! If it is too powdery for building, it is fun to dig, collect and transport. We can observe the shape of individual snow flakes, watch it melt and change form, make footprints and snow angels.

We have had a busy week or two with lots of exciting experiences for the children. Quite a bit of snow last Sunday evening meant that the children who stay on Monday afternoons were treated to a long play session in the snow in the churchyard. A snow person was built, which everybody had a hand in. The children practised their snow building skills, collecting handfuls and armfuls of snow to "make it bigger and bigger". Hide and Seek in the snow was a lot of fun, as was forming snow angels by lying on the floor and moving hands and legs. Then we had a daffodil hunt, looking for the new shoots of distinctive leaves rising up. Activities inspired by Chinese New Year include dragon and ribbon dancing to…

We return after the holidays on Friday 5th January for Forest Fun. Wrap up warm! Meet in Hope Primary School playground at 9.15 a.m.

[caption id="attachment_662" align="alignright" width="300"] A string duo, Heather and Ben, came to play Christmas tunes. The children added their own percussion sounds and danced merrily along![/caption] The children have been very busy over the last two weeks learning songs and making Christmas surprises for their families to enjoy. On Tuesday 19th December it will be our annual Christmas Party day! We hire the big hall so that we can enjoy large scale play during the morning, including climbing equipment and ride-on toys. All the children are invited to come dressed in seasonal/party outfits. The highlight of the morning is a cooked Christmas dinner! Afterwards, parents/carers are invited to come in and be an audience to our Christmas songs and hopefully a special Christmas visitor will put in an appearance. Ho ho…

On Thursday we all went along to Castleton Primary School to take part in a crafts morning put on by the school. The primary school children helped the pre-school children to settle in by taking them around the activities and helping them with the tricky bits! There were lots of different activities to choose from, including Pine cone Christmas trees, reindeer bell decorations, hanging star ornaments, scratch stable scenes and Christmas card colouring. The children took home lots of items to show off to their families! The weather was seasonal for Forest Fun on Friday. A sprinkling of snow helped us to discover which animals had been to visit the Mud Kitchen early that morning! We found prints left behind by weasels and (probably) a blackbird. The children found more…

[caption id="attachment_632" align="alignright" width="300"] How many children fit on a leaf mattress?[/caption] The children love a challenge! This one was to build a comfy mattress of leaves in the woods that we could fit all the children on. It was good fun collecting the leaves with our arms and kicking them along with our feet. It's a lovely time of the year to be out in the open, with all the Autumn colours to enjoy. The children spotted leaves that were orange, brown, yellow, red, black, pink, white.... [caption id="attachment_633" align="alignright" width="225"] Meet Oinky![/caption]                   Meanwhile, back at Pre-school we have been hosting "show and tell" again where the children are encouraged to bring from home an interesting item to show the…

The children are showing great interest in the mini beasts on display when we go out into the woods. There are abundant snails crawling around, all different sizes. Here the children are holding the snails they found. They are learning to handle the tiny creatures carefully, putting them back where they found them. Yesterday we discovered some insects that even the grown-ups couldn't identify at first sight. One of the children described them as "rainbow creatures", they had such bright orange markings. We have since discovered they were Asian Ladybird larvae! [caption id="attachment_622" align="alignnone" width="300"] Ladybird larvae or "Rainbow creature"?[/caption] Not only have we been cooking at the Mud Kitchen! The children have been baking bread at Pre-school. Every Wednesday we organise a baking activity. The children learn about different…

Hope Pre-school re-opens for the Autumn term on Wednesday 6th September at 9.15 a.m.