In the tuff tray, we had a fantastic time experimenting with foam paint mixing. The children loved watching the colours swirl and blend together, creating new shades and patterns as they mixed the paint with their hands and brushes. It was a wonderful sensory experience that encouraged creativity and exploration!

On the creative table, children enjoyed paint blowing, using straws to blow paint across paper to create fun designs and explore colour mixing. They also had a great time making animal masks, cutting, glueing, and decorating their chosen animals. We also focused on keeping safe in the cold, discussing the importance of warm clothes, and practising these ideas through a sticking and cutting activity, where the children cut out clothes for our paper person to keep warm. 

Over at the water tray, the children enjoyed playing with water beads, which were smooth, squishy, and so much fun to explore. They had a great time feeling the beads, scooping them up, and watching them bounce and roll. It was a fantastic way to develop fine motor skills and encourage sensory play.

In maths this week, we have been exploring patterns. The children looked at various images of repeating patterns and discussed the shapes, colours, and order in each pattern. At the maths table, we were busy creating coloured patterns with beads. The children worked hard to string the beads into repeating patterns, such as red, blue, red, and blue. This activity helped reinforce their understanding of patterns and colours, building important skills for early numeracy.

In phonics this week, we sang the song "The Staircase,". The children enjoyed listening to the rhythm and sounds, and they took part in actions to match the words. It was a fun way to develop their listening skills and reinforce sound recognition.

It’s been a week full of creativity, learning, and fun activities! We can’t wait to see what next week brings!

Packed lunches - 

As we're currently walking a bit of a longer route to the lunch hall due to building work, we need to hold onto hoops on a rope to stay together safely. This means the children only have one hand free to carry their lunch boxes. If the lunch box doesn't have a handle, it can be tricky for them to carry it!

If possible, could we kindly ask that lunch boxes with handles be used? Alternatively, putting the lunch box in a plastic bag would work great too.

Shoes - 

Just a quick note about shoes—some styles, like those with lots of laces or boots, can be tricky for the children to put on by themselves. We've noticed that this means we often need to help each child individually, which takes up some valuable learning time. While we love encouraging them to be independent, shoes with one strap or slip-on styles are much easier for them to manage and quicker for us to lend a hand to every child. This helps us get started with activities on time and keeps things running smoothly. 

Thank you for your understanding!

Have a good rest of the weekend!

Anemones team.