What we’ve been up to this month…
We have been looking into the theme of “all about me” where we have explored our family trees and handprint painting, modelling self-portraits using playdough, building fine motor skills with making self portraits on life size faces, celebrated all the things that make us who we are, we have then been exploring stories and celebrating our differences.
We have also explored our emotions, talking about how we feel and learning that everyone can experience different feelings. Through songs, stories, role play and group discussions, the children have been developing their confidence, communication and understanding of themselves and others.
It has been a lovely month of celebrating individuality, building friendships and helping the children to feel proud of who they are! Alongside this we have celebrated ready a book day and international literacy day!
What’s happening next month…
This month, we will be exploring the exciting theme of “Transport and Vehicles.” The children will have opportunities to learn about different types of transport, explore the jobs and roles that involve vehicles, and create their own models through a range of creative activities such as painting, junk modelling and role play. We will also be thinking about how we can help to look after our planet, including discussing ways we can travel more sustainably, such as walking or cycling to nursery instead of travelling by car where possible.
As we approach Harvest, we will be bringing this into our role-play shop and talking about where our food comes from, the importance of harvest time and how we can help others. As we prepare our garden for autumn, the children will also have opportunities to explore nature, seasonal changes and the importance of caring for our environment.
October Preschool focus:
We will welcome our next pre-school cohort into daily sessions in our pre-school space, led by Charlie, Jess and Gabby, where the children will explore our focus for the month: our focus will be Journeys, Travel and ‘Our World’, alongside developing the key skills children need as they prepare for school.
Through fun, practical, hands-on activities, the children will explore different places, people, environments and ways of travelling. We will encourage them to share and recall their own experiences, supporting their memory, communication and cognitive development.
During the second half of the month, we will focus on physical development and fine motor skills, including threading, using one-handed tools, developing pencil grip and control, drawing, tracing, peg boards and using tools safely and correctly.
These activities will help build the children’s strength, coordination, confidence and independence, supporting their readiness for school. We will continue to embed our daily routines, golden rules, including exploring the days of the week, discussing the weather and completing the register at the beginning of each session. These routines will help the children to develop their confidence, independence and understanding of the structure of their day.
If you have any questions about your little one’s pre-school year, please speak to a member of the team and we will be happy to support you through this exciting stage of their learning and development.
Activities we will do at nursery:
- Junk-Model Vehicles – Creating cars, buses, trains and other vehicles using recycled materials.
- Transport Painting – Using different painting techniques and vehicle-shaped resources to create transport pictures.
- Transport Role Play – Setting up a bus, train station, garage and shop to encourage imaginative play.
- People Who Use Transport – Learning about different jobs, such as bus drivers, pilots, train drivers, delivery drivers and emergency service workers.
- Autumn Leaf Printing – Collecting leaves from the garden and using them to create colourful autumnartwork.
- Autumn Baking – Baking seasonal bakes and exploring autumn ingredients such as apples, pumpkins and cinnamon.
- Harvest Role Play – Creating a Harvest-themed shop where children can explore fruit, vegetables and food, while talking about helping others.
- Autumn Garden Activities – Preparing our garden for autumn, collecting natural materials, planting and talking about seasonal changes and caring for our environment.
Some ideas to do at home:
- Counting acorns or conkers on walks
- Using natural resources such as acorns, leaves or sticks to make pictures
- Creating and ready stories around transport and vehicles
- Go on a bus or a train ride with your little one
- To explore harvest, you could visit your local shop or supermarket and look at the different fruits and vegetables available. You could choose some seasonal produce to take home, cook together and talk about where our food comes from and how we can help others.