January 2021 News

Returning for the New Year was very different to previous years with lots of uncertainty and trepidation unsure if the children were going to be allowed to fill the rooms. We were of course elated that the nursery did indeed open and all our children were able to return.

This month Blue Monkeys have been exploring Nursery Rhymes through singing them, looking at pictures or resources and then creating pictures to represent them using different mark making methods, which came together to form our new display in the room. We have also been exploring lots of different textures this month but exploring them in trays as well as feeling them through cling film or in food bags.

In Pink Monkeys, the children have been enjoying reading Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs so we have extended this to create a dinosaur display! The children painted cardboard to make a bucket, exploring and discussing colour mixing to make brown. We created the dinosaurs by gluing and sticking textures and then also painted with our feet to make dinosaur footprints!

Red Monkeys this month have been exploring various letters and have particularly focused on the letter F for their display. They created different items that began with the letter F – fans, flowers, fish and fingers! They have also been exploring poems and rhyming words, going on to create their own poems! The apes have been practicing writing out the words for their poems too.

Both Pink and Red Monkeys have started the year with many birthday parties to celebrate children turning 2, 3 or 4 years old! The children enjoyed wearing the birthday hat, sitting at a birthday table and playing party games with their nursery friends!

Towards the end of January we were treated to some snow! We saw some fantastic photos of the children’s snowy adventures at home and then we got to explore the snow in our Nursery garden, even making a snowman. This encouraged further activities exploring ice and snow in different ways, such as seeing how long it would take to melt or freezing objects in water to see what happens.

January also saw our first celebration day of the year…Australia Day! The staff and children dressed up in the colours of the flag and explored a range of activities relating to Australia such as the colours and patterns of the flag. The children also talked about Australian landmarks, discussed and looked at the animals that are native to the country and also learnt about the national flower of Australia, the Golden Wattle. We also listened to the sounds of the didgeridoo and enjoyed an Australian BBQ for lunch as well as trying vegemite on toast for tea!