Fishy Friday!

The children made their own fish for our 'fish tank'. They painted them and then stuck on collage materials and sprinkled on glitter. They look fantastic.

Hope you all have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend. See you next week!

Mad Hatters

We went to Mad Hatters this morning. The children had a good time playing. This afternoon we played outside.

Cornflakes!

To give the children a different sensory experience, we put cornflakes in the sand trays. The children used spades, scoops and funnels, pretending to cook with the cornflakes and moving them from place to place.

Here is a photo of our 'pet' board - possibly finished unless we decide to add anything else!

Most popular pet and duck pond visit

We worked together to record which was the most popular pet and the answer is - CATS. We do help with this however in that we have three of our own!!

We visited the duck pond this morning. Whilst we were on the bridge, the older children started to explore which items floated and which sank. Into the water they threw leaves, sticks, catkins, flowers and stones to discover for themselves. This was a completely self-chosen activity which provided an opportunity for 'exploration and investigation', which is an area of learning within the 'Knowledge and Understanding of the World' area of the EYFS.

Children learn best and focus more intently on an activity if they choose it themselves - we as childminders and you as parents are there to provide opportunities and resources to enable them to do this.

We also fed the ducks, although there weren't very many about today, and we collected dandelions and were able to find the first dandelion clocks of the year.

New 'Happy Land' people

We bought some new 'Happy Land' characters from Early Learning over the weekend and the children have enjoyed playing with them today.

We've also played outdoors a lot, throwing and kicking the ball and on the slides, see-saws and scooters.

We started our 'pets' board, sticking on the photos of your pets.

Menu, week beginning 26th April - week 2

Monday - Corned beef hash
Tuesday - Shepherds Pie
Wednesday - Cheesy turkey and ham pasta with vegetables
Thursday - Chicken curry with rice
Friday - Fish fingers, potato wedges, baked beans/vegetables

Happy St. Georges Day

We celebrated St. Georges day by colouring in the flag of St. George and making cross-shaped and flag-shaped biscuits and covering them in a red cross made of icing. Lovely.

Duck pond visit

We had a lovely visit to the duck pond this morning. The leaves are starting to grow on the trees, the swans and grebes have built their nests and the wild flowers looked beautiful - even the dandelions!

We were very pleased to receive a picture message from Sam's mummy, showing us a photo of Sam and lots of gingerbread men that he and his mummy had made together. Hope he's saved us one for tomorrow! We love to receive your photos so please carry on sending them to us.

Thank you for the photos so far

Thanks to those of you who have sent in photos of your pets. We will be able to make a start on the board over the next few days.

We've played outside over the last couple of days, although it has been a lot colder! The children had fun watching the windmills turning really fast yesterday with that strong wind!

We might have a walk to the duck pond tomorrow morning if the children want - we'll see how they feel in the morning.

Pet photos please

As it it National Pet Month in April, we will be talking to the children about our pets, for example who has what pet, how many, what they eat etc.

We are making a display for our playroom and would be very grateful if you would send in a photo/photos of your pet/s so that we can stick them on our display. We plan to allow the older children to work out, in their own way, which is the most popular pet and will support them in doing this.

Menu, week beginning 19th April (week 1)

Monday - Sausage, mash and vegetables
Tuesday - Chicken and pasta in tomato/cheese sauce, peas
Wednesday - Spaghetti bolognaise
Thursday - Fish pie with broccoli and cauliflower
Friday - Chicken casserole and boiled rice

We got to the Easterleigh today!

We took the food that you all kindly donated and they were very grateful.

We looked around and said 'hello' to all the animals. There were lots of cats, dogs and several rabbits. I felt really sorry for them and wondered if I could become a volunteer 'cat stroker'! If we lived on a farm with lots of room (and money) we would bring them all home. As it is, at least we can donate food which does help.

Hope you all have a great weekend and that the weather stays fine and warm.

Easterleigh tomorrow

We are visiting the Easterleigh tomorrow with all the cat and dog food that you've donated.

We had fun in the garden today, the older boys played with the walkie-talkies.

The children made their own pizzas for lunch, using mushrooms, sweet corn, slices sausages, tomatoes and cheese. They smelled delicious!

Another sunny day!

We were going to go to the Easterleigh this morning, but the children got involved with their play in the garden and didn't want to go. The animals will have to wait until Friday!!

Here is a lovely photo of two of the children playing together, pushing the trolleys.


We're looking forward to spending an hour settling-in one of our new children tomorrow morning. All the children are looking forward to meeting him.

Thank you

to you all for completing our evaluation sheets and for your lovely comments. xx

Outdoor play all day

We spent all day outside, playing with the tents, tunnels and large blankets, which the children used to make dens.

We will visit the Easterleigh either tomorrow or Friday, but probably won't get to the Crook O' Lune this week, as its a little too cold for the children to be paddling in the river. That day-out might have to wait until the summer!

If the weather is fine tomorrow, we will go to Cottam Hall park and playing fields.

Brockhole

We had a really good day at Brockhole. We had a picnic by Lake Windermere and then the children played hide-and-seek (one of their favourite games at the moment).

They spent a while watching the boats on the lake and then played at trains on a large tree trunk.

Afterwards, we went on to the adventure playground and had fun climbing, swinging and sliding.

Menu this week

Monday - picnic at Brockhole
Tuesday - Pasta bolognaise
Wednesday - Roast dinner
Thursday - Home made pizza (created by the children)
Friday - Beef casserole and mashed potato

Brockhole tomorrow!

Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine!

Chris and William have been working hard this afternoon swapping the tadpoles from the large outdoor container to the indoor tank. The water was very green and made it difficult for the children to see the tadpoles. They should be able to observe them clearly now.

We're going to Brockhole tomorrow. We'll be taking a picnic for lunch and will be home no later than 4pm. Fingers crossed the weather stays like this!

Bowland Wild Boar Park

We've had a fantastic day at the boar park. The sun shone on us, which was a bonus!

We fed the lambs and stroked the chicks, played on the pedal tractors, in the straw bales and on the park, had a ride on the trailers attached to the real tractor and saw lots of animals.

All the children fell asleep on the way home and if we hadn't been driving, Chris and I would have too!!

Duck pond and outdoor play today

The children played outside making cakes out of bark, sand, water, pebbles and soil. Very tasty!

We went to the duck pond this afternoon and saw the swans and the nesting 'great-crested grebes'.

Tomorrow, as long as the weather is fine, we will be visiting Bowland Wild Boar Park, taking a picnic for lunch. We're really looking forward to it!

Stanley Park

We had a really good time at Stanley Park today.
We played hide and seek in the gardens and the children ran around, hiding behind trees, bushes and walls. We then went to see the ducks for a little while before visiting the Italian Gardens. We all enjoyed putting our hands in the fountain and getting splashed!

Mad Hatters

We went to Mad Hatters this morning. It was quite busy, but the children had a really good time playing. They were extremely hot after all their running around!

After lunch, we played in the garden.

Fingers crossed, we will go to Stanley Park tomorrow, but if it's raining, the children have decided that they would like to make some biscuits. Actually, William is hoping that it will rain so that he can make biscuits!!!! We will definitely make some during the holidays so he's no need to worry.

The children's learning journeys are being sent out this week. We hope you enjoy reading about your child's time with us.

Plans for this week

Tuesday doesn't look good weather-wise, so we'll probably stay at home.

On Wednesday we may visit Stanley Park, especially to play 'hide and seek' as the children enjoy playing this game at the moment.

We will have a day at home on Thursday - the weather forecast is good so the children will probably want to play outdoors for most of the day, perhaps visiting the duck pond if they choose.

On Friday, if the forecast remains the same, we plan to go to Bowland Wild Boar Park (please see our links), but we will confirm it with you towards the end of the week.

We will be visiting the Easterleigh next week, so if you would like to donate any pet food (dog, cat or rabbit) then please could you bring it in to us this week. Thank you.

Menu - week beginning 5th April

Monday - Holiday
Tuesday - Shepherd's pie
Wednesday - Cheesy turkey and ham pasta
Thursday - Chicken curry and rice
Friday - Fish fingers, wedges, baked beans/peas

Thank you!

..to Adam and his family for a lovely chocolate cake and bottle of wine, and to Thomas and his family for William's Easter egg.

Hope everyone has a great Easter....apparently the weather will improve from next Wednesday. Yippeeeee!!!!!!

Easter

Chris is with the children doing jigsaws, so I'm taking this opportunity to quickly post a photo of our Easter creations.

Happy Easter to you all - hope you have a lovely break and we'll see you next Tuesday x.