Adderley Nursery

This week in nursery...

Parents joined their children in a workshop to find out how we play, learn and have fun together.

We want to help parents and carers understand our approach (Ordinarily Available Guidance - Local Offer Birmingham).
We focussed on filling and emptying, giving lots of ideas of what to use, when and how.

Huge thanks to those who came; we hope you enjoyed your goody bag of resources.

Here are some of the things parents said:

‘I had an amazing time with A. at nursery. I really enjoyed playing with the things she enjoys at nursery and seeing the friendships she has formed whilst here. I thought it was a great idea for parents to come and play to experience with their child the things they enjoy and also gave me ideas on things to do with A. outside nursery.’

‘Best hour spending time with my daughter. We were learning sticking, gluing and colours. The staff are always lovely, always good feedback.’
‘I really enjoyed the workshop today. I’d like to have more like these. The staff are very good and helpful. I’m very happy. I learnt some good ideas – I don’t need to spend money on toys, I can use bottles, flowers, leaves.’

Inside nursery this week……
Painting in both the outdoor and indoor studio have seen children really focus on the detail in their work.

🎨 Children experiment with powder paints and water all the time, but this week have been showing interest in how the powder reacts with the water. Watching the movement, and being very intentional about how much water they add to vary the consistency of the paint

🎨Our younger children notice the detail of each droplet of paint and interact accordingly; watching them drop onto their hands and listen to the sounds as paint falls into various containers

🎨Some children use the natural environment to scaffold their ideas and make ‘moving paint’.
“It’s the rain in the garden, see it’s moving down fast”

🎨Inside, we discover how we can use our paintbrush at different angles to create different shapes

It has been wonderful to join children on their journey of becoming more observant of the world around them, whilst they refine their motor skills and be in a deep state of flow as they work.

Help us sort a problem

Rock or potato? 🥔

The boys have a debate to decide who is right?

“It’s a rock because it’s hard”

“No it’s a potato because it’s got soil on it like the shop”

“No it’s a rock because it’s heavy”

“It’s not heavy because I can hold it. It’s really a potato look”

“I’ll show you, it’s a rock, there’s lots in the forest”

“No, really its a potato, we can cut it. I’ll show you”

“You can’t cut it, rocks don’t cut”

After finding the right tool to cut the potato, they discover they they cannot cut it.

“See…. I told you it’s a rock ages ago!” 😂

Inside nursery this week…
Children have returned to explore how patterns are formed in paint. They closely observe how different resources can create a range of marks.
We can push and pull the paint and be excited about what we can see.
We can make large marks and smaller marks with our fingers.

“It’s like writing!”

We have a vacancy for a Parent Governor!

Comment PARENT for more information on how to stand for election!

Inside nursery this week……
Children continue to construct buildings using blocks, collaborating ideas and working together to build giant structures.

🏠 Their initial focus was on houses, adults explore further by reading Three Little Pigs, and identify suitable resources for building.

🏠Children want to know more about how to stay safe; recalling how their house needs to have a roof to keep them dry

🏠 A door to keep the wolf out

🏠 Sticks for a fire to stay warm

🏠 A kitchen to cook food

🏠 A bed to sleep

And of course a toilet! 🚾

This quickly evolves to talk of hotels, car parks and airports.
The large scale constructions moves to small scale, as children create model buildings, adding all the specific rooms.

There is lots of talk about where to place objects that represent those rooms.

🌍Children have later taken us across the world to Thailand; more specifically Lego City Thailand.

The assembly of structures continues….

In nursery this week, children have been using a range of plastic resources to support their model making.

Children notice that plastic materials possess unique physical and sensory properties that differ from natural materials like wood or fabric.

They discover transparency as they fill bottles and realise materials are not hidden, whilst also noticing they can layer lots of glue on the top and still see the object beneath.

They listen attentively to the different sounds objects make as they drop inside the bottle.

A focus in the studio this week using plastic was to create water bottles.
💧Bottles with multiple straws
💧Bottles that have a button to tell you when to drink,
💧Even a bottle that comes with its own water tank, ready to fill your bottle!

I’m sure our children would happily collaborate with if you need any ideas! 😊

We have found that children can easily manipulate the plastic by twisting, cutting and reshaping their materials.

We ask you to continue to collect your recycling ready for it to be transformed!

We plan to open as normal tomorrow (Monday 12th January)
Please take care as some roads are still very icy.

What an exciting first week back at nursery!

The snow had transformed the garden into a winter wonderland, offering unique sensory and scientific learning opportunities.

The week was filled with classic winter fun, including building snowmen and creating snow angels.
Self directed experiments are set up by the children to understand melting

Q: “Will snow buddy be there later?”
🕧🕦🕝 As time goes on children quickly discover the answer to their question;

Child 1 “The rain came down and snow buddy went up into the sky, that’s why it’s gone”
Child 2 “No, I think someone smashed it”
Child 1 “No I saw the rain come down”
Child 3 “No guys….. it’s just melted!”

The excitement unfolds as the snow melts and children find ice. They question the differences between snow and ice.
❄️”You makes a sound, a crunchy sound”
❄️”You can roll the snow into a snowman”
🧊 “Ice is so cold”
🧊 “Ice is slippery, you can’t even hold it properly”
🧊 “You can crack ice if you drop it. You can even stamp on it”
🧊 “Ice makes lots of pieces when you drop it”
The contagion continues as children find different shapes of ice, and talk about what they can see and feel.

❄️We hope you are enjoying this snowy day.... what have you made or found?❄️