Easter crafting

We made some lovely Easter cards and Easter baskets today. The children had fun using the glue and decorating them with stickers.

We're hoping that the Easter bunny will come along and fill up the baskets with some little eggs! We thought that if we sang some lovely songs it might encourage him.

Our 'spring' board is more or less finished, so here is a photo of it. I think you'll agree that it looks very 'spring-like' indeed!

Exploring the new resources

We went shopping this weekend to add to our resources. We bought some Peppa Pig items, some 'My Little Ponies', a selection of soft balls, and two transporting carts especially for use in the garden, as the children enjoy moving the pebbles around. We got a couple of Power Rangers, some frogs and other bits and bobs.

The children have enjoyed playing with the new toys today; a particular favourite was throwing balls at Chris!!!! We've got some great photos of children laughing uncontrollably at this :-)

We're also very happy to be welcoming a little boy to our setting from May. His mummy and daddy came to visit us today and would like us to look after him. Thank you to them for trusting us to care for their little baby.

Our menu week beginning 29th March

Monday: Sausage, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables
Tuesday: Chicken and pasta in tomato/cheese sauce, peas
Wednesday: Spaghetti bolognaise
Thursday: Fish pie with broccoli and cauliflower
Friday: Holiday

Daffodils again

The children painted their own version of daffodils today. We looked at a photograph of a group of daffodils and looked closely at a daffodil from the vase we have here. We talked about the stem, petals and trumpet. The children decided themselves that we would need yellow and green paint to create their own daffodils.

After daffodil painting, the children painted with the colours of their choice, creating their own personal piece of artwork.

Mad Hatters

We all went to Mad Hatters again this morning. The children had a good time and ran off lots of energy - they were all shattered this afternoon!

We made little books about frogs yesterday (to link with our very own tadpoles) - hope you all enjoyed looking at them as much as the children enjoyed making them!

Musical fun

We had great fun with the musical instruments this morning. We used the shakers, the bells, drums, maracas and xylophones. We did lots of singing and actions to the songs too. Chris and I were exhausted!




We're really excited as we've heard today that a little baby girl will be starting with us in September - another little friend for the children. I had a cuddle of her yesterday which was lovely. Thank you to her mummy and daddy for trusting us to care for their little girl.

Daffodils and Cafes

A big thank you to Joel (and his mummy), who brought me a gorgeous bunch of daffodils this morning. They are mine and his mummy's favourite flowers. The children helped me to arrange them in a vase.

The children have been playing at cafes today. They have made us some lovely meals; combinations of pizza, chicken, asparagus, rice, soy sauce followed by chocolate cake and raspberry buns! Chris and I are very full!

We've played outdoors with the pebbles and bark, transporting them to and fro using various methods.

The tadpoles have hatched!

We have lots of tiny tadpoles - not yet able to swim, but wriggling whilst attached to the pond weed.

Today the children have spent a lot of time playing with the wooden blocks and wooden vehicles. We've talked about shapes, both 2-d and 3-d shapes, and done some counting. The children have made houses, farms and "big towers"!

Easterleigh Animal Sanctuary

We will be taking the children to the sanctuary during April and will be taking a donation of tins of dog, cat and rabbit food.

If you would like to donate some tins to add to our collection, then I'm sure that the animals would be very, very grateful :-)

I've just been looking at the website (see our links) and have fallen in love with most of the cats and about half of the dogs and rabbits. Unfortunately we haven't any room for any more pets here so making a donation is the next best thing!

Thank you on behalf of all the animals at Easterleigh xx

Weekly menu, week beginning 22.3.10 (week 3)

Monday: Chicken fried rice
Tuesday: Pasta bolognaise
Wednesday: Roast turkey dinner
Thursday: Ham and mushroom pizza fingers
Friday: Beef casserole and mashed potatoes

Frogspawn Friday!!!!

We all went to 'Mad Hatters' this morning and had a great time. Unfortunately we're not allowed to take photos in there.

This afternoon our friend brought us some frogspawn. We've put it in a tank so that the children can watch what happens over the next few weeks. This links in with 'Knowledge and Understanding of the World' - 'Develop an understanding of growth, decay and changes over time'.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend and see you next week.

Crocus time at St. Chads

We visited Poulton today to see the crocus display in St. Chads church grounds. The children thought they were 'beautiful' and kept bending down to smell them.

After that, we visited the park. The children had fun climbing up various playground equipment and playing on the swings.

We saw our first butterfly of the year whilst we were there.

Grumpy swans

We had a walk to the duck pond today. The children enjoyed running through the woods. We found some sticks which they gathered and brought back. This provided an opportunity for counting and talking about 'more or less'.

The children fed the ducks with bread, eating some as they went along. Luckily we always take fresh bread with us for this reason! We do feed the children, honestly :-)

Maggie came with us and was in a playful mood! She ran towards the pond and encountered two swans, who hissed very loudly at her! I've never seen her move so quickly, running back towards me and standing by my side. This made the children laugh and we all decided that the swans were feeling 'grumpy' today.

On our way back home, we spotted some daffodils, catkins and even a daisy growing in the grass.

Spring has sprung!!

Just nipped on to write the blog for today whilst Chris is entertaining the children.

We have had a great time outdoors today. The weather has been very spring-like. We read 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' on the logs in the natural area of the garden, using puppets and props. The children were able to join in with the story using various objects and then we all ran around the garden, flapping our wings like butterflies!

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Contracts due for renewal

Just to remind everyone that contracts are due for renewal by April 5th. We will be completing the new ones over the next 2 weeks.

Thank you

Happy Mothers' Day

Happy Mothers' Day to all the mummies of the children we care for. Hope you all had a lovely day xxx

Experimenting

Just set up my blog. Not sure how it all works so trying it out.