Nursery News – December 2020

The whole nursery had an amazing energy during December 2020. The spirit the staff had to ensure all the children enjoyed the special moments this month can offer was incredible.

The dark December mornings were not a problem at Monkey Puzzle, Orient Close as we dressed the nursery in as many different fairy lights as we could, Colour changing Christmas tree, tinsel and more to welcome the children every morning and they absolutely loved it!

With some thought and a lot of planning we also managed to bring the children and staff to come together (apart) for our annual Christmas lunch with all the trimmings!

Yellow Monkeys

This month our youngest monkeys have been exploring many different media such as paint, chalk, glitter and glue and created reindeers for 2021 calendars and Father Christmas for cards for their family. They also made decorations for a winter display with snowmen, trees and snowflakes.

Bringing the ‘cold’ to life for our youngest children they touched and squashed frozen veg, tickled the tinsel and were exploring sensory bags.

Blue Monkeys also explored Christmas activities with Tinsel, Brussel sprouts, pat painting, crazy foam and glitter all being part of the planned activities.

Music is another way we bring celebrations and festivals to life at Monkey Puzzle and this month has been no exception with our youngest children listening and moving to Christmas songs.

Downstairs Pink and Red Monkeys excitement was palatable as the celebrations built throughout the month of December.

We celebrated Hannukah by painting our own candles after being lucky enough to see a real Menorah. We felt the colourful rice between our fingers and enjoyed the sweet Hanukah menu served up by Simon our amazing nursery chef. Food and music really enrich a young person’s experience and allows all their senses to engage.

Another highlight of this month was listening to lots of Winter stories bought alive by our carers.

Red Monkeys made their own Polar Express…All aboard!

Lots of crazy foam was seen flying around Red Monkeys as the children ‘made’ snowmen and snowflakes. The normal use of glue, glitter, tinsel and sparkles were all in abundance.

All our children were listening, dancing and singing along to Christmas songs and Red monkeys also learnt Christmas songs in Makaton which is a non-verbal communication language.

Red Monkeys walls were donned with stockings around a fireplace which also sparked interesting converstions.

We ended the festive period with an amazing Christmas party which included pass the parcel, a gift from Santa, musical statues and lots and lots of laughter.