December is one of the most magical months at Monkey Puzzle, the children delve into celebrations and festivities with wonder and delight…

The first week of the month was spent celebrating Hannukah as the children were interested in learning the story of this Jewish festival and watched with fascination as we lit a candle on the Menorah each day. Using their fingers and other tools, the children created their own Menorah pictures and developed maths language as they counted candles and days. The children discovered Hannukah traditions by tasting donuts and each child took home some Hannukah Gelt chocolate coins as a gift from us.

The Christmas countdown was well and truly under way as the children delved into a variety of festive activities and created cards, gifts and calendars to take home, using a range of media and materials. During Christmas week, something festive was planned for each day. The staff got involved with the children for the special dress up days including Christmas Jumpers, Festive Pyjamas and ‘Get your Sparkle on’ Charity day for the NCPCC.

During our annual Christmas Party, each age group enjoyed a Tiny Mites session, party games and a festive party tea as all the parents got involved. The children cheered with excitement when Santa Claus visited the nursery and gave every child a gift from his sack!

The Christmas Dinner was a huge success as the whole nursery came together to enjoy a traditional Turkey Lunch with all the trimmings. There was a buzz of excitement as Christmas music played and everyone sang along. Dean the nursery chef did a truly magnificent job cooking for 85 people.

The eldest children had the opportunity to walk to St Albans beautiful Cathedral where they observed the Christmas displays and Nativities and laid their homemade Christingles. To end an amazing week, Red Monkeys were very lucky to have a Pantomime Visit who put on a spectacular Cinderella show!

As the end of the year draws closer, we have been overwhelmed with the amount of thank you cards and gifts from parents/carers to the staff which once again shows what an amazing community we serve.

2018 has been another amazing year at Monkey Puzzle, and we are looking forward to 2019!