Spring is properly here! Flowers are blooming, the sun is shining, the ducklings have come and gone and the chocolate eggs have become a memory. Apart from all the glorious spring and Easter celebrations, the nursery has also been celebrating a variety of other festivities such as St Patricks day, Mothers day and Anzac day for our resident Australians and New Zealanders.
The nursery has had  a lot of fun exploring spring and Easter. All floors have been doing some gardening which the children thoroughly enjoyed. The children have been watering, digging, planting and smelling the flowers and it has been a beautiful and educational experience for them.
 
All the nursery children had had the pleasure of a lovely Easter egg hunt and a Easter Bonnet Parade just before Easter and it was made so much more fun by the contribution of  all the parents and children who took part in creating the Easter bonnets. They were all so creative and unique, it certainly was a tough decision in picking first, second and third prize! 

The ducks!

The definite highlight over month of April was by far the lovely little ducklings that came to stay. The duck eggs arrived on the 13^TH of April and we kept them up in the pre school room for ten days. We were very lucky to have this opportunity and it was such a special experience for the children as well as the adults. Some of the team and children were very lucky to get to watch some of the ducklings hatch out of their eggs- and some of the ducklings decided they would hatch over night! If you haven’t seen already, we have some amazing footage of the ducks hatching on our Facebook page.

Beautiful picture of one of our ducklings, taken by Avalon

All floors experienced looking at the ducks, we talked about what the ducks looked like and what sounds they make. Stars and Shooting stars had a great opportunity in looking at the ducks outside of their cage. On several occasions we let the ducks walk around the children and drink water from a shallow tray. We encouraged the children to have their hands on their knees, but as time went on some of the children’s confidence grew and they wanted to touch the ducklings and they did not mind if the ducks pecked at their shoes!



The ducklings in their cage

 

The ducklings having a paddle

 

 









 
The Easter Bonnet Parade

We had a lovely Easter bonnet party for the children and parents on floor one and floor two this year. Both parties were fantastic, and there were some beautiful hats created, well done and special thanks  to all of you that took part, it really did bring a lot of smiles to the children's faces!

To top it all off, the weather was gorgeous, especially at the Angels and Cherubs party. Mini chocolate eggs were scattered all around the Roof garden and the children were given baskets to find some eggs.  Both floors also had a party tea such as bunny shaped biscuits and nibbles. The highlight of the party was most definitely the appearance of the Easter Bunny (Charmayne). Floor two’s children loved  asking why Charmayne was dressed up in the bunny costume!

At the Angels and Cherubs party The children had access to a wide range of activities such as books about ducks and bunnies, a water tray filled with shredded paper and plastic eggs and lovely little yellow ducks scattered on the Roof Garden. At the Stars and Shooting stars party, the children thoroughly enjoyed  dancing around with their Easter hats with the Easter bunny and enjoyed joining in with songs such as ‘Peter Cotton Tail’.

 

Mother’s Day, St Patricks, St Georges and Anzac day

All floors celebrated Mother’s day as it is a special day for the children’s mothers  and we wanted to make sure the mums at the nursery got a lovely treat from their loved ones. On floor two the children made beautiful Mother’s day cards and on floor one the children created some lovely flowers with paint and card. The Angels also created some lovely foot print paintings for their mums to take home.

For St Patricks day, floor one created some vibrant green four leaf clovers and explored some lovely green play dough.

One of our Angels making a four leaf clover

St Georges day was a big hit with the children, and all floors read the classic tale of 'George and the Dragon'. The children loved this story and floor one read the story with a little red dragon to bring the story to life.

Floor one celebrated Anzac day by creating beautiful poppies out of red card and paint and the preschool group made ANZAC biscuits to take home and try.

 The Cherubs

One of our cherubs gardening with Charlotte

The babies have had a lovely time over April. They have done a lot of creative activities to do with spring and Easter. The babies have been creating beautiful duck pictures with Sophie. Sophie pre-cut out a duck shape and the children painted their duck with various colours of paint.

The daffodil pictures

The babies have also created beautiful daffodil pictures using lovely yellow and green paint looking at a real daffodil flower. The cherub’s room has also had a few changes around the room. We have made a beautiful book corner with little books that are stuck on to the wall for the children to get at when they please. We all know that the babies love exploring reflective objects so we put another mirror in the book corner for them to explore. We have also created a lovely soft play area in the main room on the Cherubs side so the babies can climb and roll around as much as they like!

The babies also joined in with the gardening activities on the Roof Garden, those babies really do love exploring the soil and making a mess!

The Angels

One of the Angels help paint the Easter bunny

The Angels have had a lovely time over April too. They have done a range of creative spring activities such as painting a huge Easter Bunny, painting flowers for our windows, and they have also done a lot of planting of flowers and painting Easter eggs. The children love getting creative and have created some beautiful Easter pictures. If you're a parent at our nursery, next time you're in, have a look around the room and see if you can find your child’s lovely Easter Egg.

The Angels looking at the spring photographs

The children have also been looking at the book ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ a firm favourite amongst children and the adults, to help the children learn about new life. The children love looking at all the beautiful pictures and they get really excited when they see the butterfly.

The Angels have also had access to a wide range of spring pictures, such as caterpillars, rabbits, ducks and daffodils. They have been looking and naming them at circle times and they are also stuck around the room for the children to look at, pull off and stick back on again -thanks to our wonderful felt walls and Velcro displays!

The Angels gardening

The children have had a lovely time gardening on the Roof garden. The children loved feeling the
soil with their hands and smelling the flowers and talking about them at every opportunity.

 Stars

'Quack, Quack'

Spring is blooming on Floor two  as well, with lovely creative activities and gardening. All the children have been involved in creating beautiful egg pictures, painting flowers and creating Easter bonnets and baskets. The children have also been enjoying singing the ‘Peter Cotton Tail’ song on a regular basis during circle times, and of course enjoying playing with the little ducklings in preschool.

The children on floor two have also been gardening and helping to grow some beautiful flowers to bring the natural world into our castle in the sky. 

Shooting Stars (Pre school)

Floor two children gardening

Avalon has been focusing on ‘New life’ in the Easter months and the children have had a great opportunity to learn about animals, flowers and growth. The ducklings were a big hit with the pre-schoolers, and the children thoroughly enjoyed learning about the ducklings, such as following the transition from the egg to the duckling, learning about the parts of the duckling, i.e. the webbed feet and beak and learning about what the ducklings eat and drink.

The children also learnt about the life cycle of a frog and also had the opportunity to grow fruits and salads on the Roof Garden. The children have panted sunflowers, cucumbers, tomatoes and broad beans. They have also been learning how to care for flowers, focusing on the three basic needs such as sunlight, water and air. They have also been painting some lovely daffodil and duck pictures too.

That's it from me for now, I hope you continue to enjoy the sunshine with your children!

A fun spring idea!

I have come across this cool idea from www.pinterest.com to help your child with fine motor skills development.

If you have a spare colander at home, why don't you make use of it by letting your child put some plastic flowers inside the holes. This is a fun way to help promote your child's fine motor skills.

Happy spring activities!

Katie McGraffin