Toddlers – Kincraig Primary School & Children's Centre

April 2022

In April we carried on looking at the farm, we looked at the different farm vehicles that are used and Mr Houghton even brought his tractor to school to show us. The children had the chance to climb up on the tractor and have a little pretend drive, they couldn’t believe how big the wheels were and the children really enjoyed watching it ride around the playground. We also celebrated Easter with our story ‘The Great Easter Hunt’ we enjoyed lots of activities such as filling and emptying egg containers with different materials using tweezers and our fine motor skills. We also enjoyed a eater tuff tray that was filled with easter treasures, we challenged the children to find the hidden eggs and then to count them out. Alongside this we enjoyed crafts such as decorating eggs and making Easter cards for our families and an Easter egg hunt with the Easter bunny.

March 2022

Through the month of March, the toddlers carried on looking at all different animals who live in the jungle. We did this through creative activities, such as creating different animal faces for out Elmer display board and mark making to create a huge elephant using different colours. We read ‘Giraffe’s can’t dance’ and used our gross motor skills to dance like Gerald and all the other animals in the book, we did this outside just like in the story.

We also looked at the story of ‘Solomon the Crocodile’ and all about how he looks after his teeth, so to explore this topic we looked at being healthy, we did this by food tasting a variety of different fruits, vegetables, and other health options, some we liked and some we didn’t but we all tried them. We also roleplayed with the dentist outfits and dentist kits. Then we moved onto farm animals next story we read was ‘What the ladybird heard’, we enjoyed a big farm sensory tray with all different textures, the children used their senses to explore, and we spoke about all the different animals that belonged on the farm and the different noises they made. Also in march we celebrated world book day, we set up lots of different activities that linked to out children’s favorite books.

February 2022

In February, we have been very busy as we explored all the different creatures that live under the sea.

We looked at the story Commotion in the Ocean, the children enjoyed sensory painting on cling film, using neon paints and photographs of sea creatures pegged onto the inside, to create a colourful masterpiece, we also chose a different sea creature to craft each day and had lots of fun getting creative. Our next book was Hooray for Fish, the children were amazed with all the bright colours in the story and were able to spot the differences between all the fish. We also used our math and physical skills as we went fishing in the water tray, using the big nets, the children were asked to fish out as many sea creatures as they could and then we counted them out together afterwards. Another activity that we enjoyed was baking biscuits, we had to measure out the ingredients to create so delicious fish shaped biscuits, we added all the ingredients into a bowl, rolled out the dough and then decorated afterwards, the children were encourage to use mathematical language throughout.

The following week, we looked at the stories Mister Seahorse, we decorated our own seahorses with bubble painting, the children needed to follow our instructions carefully to be able to master the bubbles and they did a really good job. Another activity we enjoyed was digging for shells in the sand pit, we explained how it was the same texture as the ocean floor and the children observed the change from dry to wet sand. They described how it felt as well as using different tools to find the seashells that were hiding in the sand.

The final story we looked at was Sharing a Shell, we spoke about friendship and being kind. The children agreed that sharing toys and using kind hands was a good way to be kind. We enjoyed a sand and sea, edible, sensory tray. We used crushed biscuits, gloop and whipped cream to create a beach scene with different creatures added in, the children used their senses to explore the different textures.

December 2021

This month in the toddler room, we focused on everything Christmas, we loved getting stuck into lots of different Christmas crafts such as puffy paint snowmen and collaging sparkly Christmas trees. We created lots of lovely decorations to display around our room, as well as adding baubles to our Christmas tree. This month we looked at some brilliant story books such as ‘There’s an elf in my book’ and ‘The Christmas bear’ we did lots of work around these books that prompted intrigue and lots of questions. The children really enjoyed the build up to Christmas, with Christmas jumper days and all sitting together to enjoy a delicious roast dinner with music and crackers. We also had so much fun at our class Christmas party, where we joined up with the rising three’s celebrate with party games, dancing and a very special visitor, Santa!

November 2021

Following on with our theme, this month we have looked at the ‘Gruffalo’, hunting around school grounds to find him, using lots of positional language. We also made a Gruffalo’s face using collage materials and spoke about where we placed eyes, nose mouth etc. The next week we read ‘Little Raindrop’ where we looked at the effects of rain and water. We played in the water tray, adding different materials to see if they would sink or float. Another little raindrop activity was puddle jumping, we really enjoyed making a splash and using our physical skills to jump up and down. We then celebrated Anti-Bullying Week and focused on the story ‘The Squirrels who Squabbled’. We did lots of fun activities such as body painting with lots of ‘kind words’, we also joined up with Pre-School and Rising Threes to make friendship soup, we chopped up vegetable and thought about the different qualities it takes to be a good friend. We also used our gross motor skills as we lifted the parachute up and down to sing songs and take turns with a ball. This week we are reading ‘Fairy Felicity’s Moonlight Adventure’. We have been experimenting and as we made fizzing fairy potion, the children had to listen carefully to instructions and they were very excited to see their own potions fizzing up and over the beakers. We are also making fairy dust in our tuff tray with pattern sheets and challenging to children to copy the marks.

October 2021

This month, we have been building up to Halloween. We looked at books such as “Aarrgghhhhh Spider” and “We’re Going on a Pumpkin Hunt”. We have been working on our gross and fine motor skills and have enjoyed activities such as a finger gyms that looked like a spiders web with lots of creepy crawlies in for the children to get and threading a pumpkin and making it look like a spooky spider. This helped the children to further their hand eye co-ordination skills. Another book that we looked at was “The Scarecrow’s Wedding”, we used this to talk to the children about harvest and what kind of foods grow and where from. We enjoyed food tasting as well as crafts and a dancing and rhyme session.

September 2021

This month, our theme has been ‘Into the Woods’ and we have been looking at a new book each week.

Our first book was ‘We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt’. We went on our very own leaf hunt around school, we looked at the different shapes and sizes of the trees as well as the different coloured leaves they produce depending on the season. We also had fun exploring different activities such as leaf printing and sensory trays. Another book we looked at was ‘Owl Babies’. We discussed the different sizes of the owls and created a dark den that provided the children with opportunities to talk about night and day. We have also been observing the changes in the weather and watching Autumn come in. Alongside this, we have been very crafty making different types of Autumn animals such as hedgehogs, squirrels and bears.