Apple Tree Montessori Nursery School, Rottingdean

🐜 This week we learnt about ants! We headed outside on a big ant hunt — but the rain had other plans for us!

🐌 Due to all the wet weather, we mostly found snails on our bug hunt — an exciting discovery all the same!

🌿 We continued decorating our bug hotel with natural materials foraged from outside 🪵 Bark and logs collected from the garden were carefully placed to make cosy bug homes 🍂 Old leaves were added — perfect hiding spots for tiny creatures!🎋 Bamboo sections tucked in to give our bug residents their own little rooms.

🌱 In the garden the children helped paint plant pots — each one beautifully unique! We filled the pots with fresh compost and got our hands lovely and earthy. Beetroot seeds were planted — we can't wait to watch them grow!

✨ The children have also been busy with their Montessori work this week — showing wonderful focus and independence as always! What a brilliant, busy week! 🐛🌸

🏨 Our bug hotel is open for business!

We've been busy filling up the rooms in our garden bug hotel with beautiful natural materials found right here in our garden. And the exciting news — we already have our very first guests! 🎉

🐌
The snail room has new residents!
The children were absolutely fascinated, spending lots of time watching the snails move and asking brilliant questions about them. Their curiosity was wonderful to see! 🔍

🪱 A very special garden visitor!
This week we made an exciting discovery in the garden — a real live millipede! 🔍🌿

The children were brilliant scientists, watching it move with its rippling legs and asking so many great questions. Did you know millipedes aren't insects? Insects have 6 legs — millipedes have many, many more! This sparked a wonderful conversation about what makes a mini beast. 🤔💡

🎨 Messy play and colour mixing magic!
We got wonderfully messy with foam and powder paint — and it sparked something special. The children started asking all sorts of questions about colour mixing, so we turned it into our very own experiment! 🧪

Together we explored what colours we could create by mixing — the learning was entirely child-led, which makes it even more special. 🟡 + 🔵 = 🟢

🐞 Mini beast topic: all about ladybirds!
This week we've been learning all about ladybirds — their spots, their colours, and why they're so important in our gardens.

The children have even created their very own ladybirds — we can't wait for you to see their amazing artwork! 🎨❤️

🐝🌼 World Bee Day – We celebrated Bee Day by making wonderful bees using pine cones, wool, and pom poms. We searched for our bees in the garden and talked about the different parts of a bee and why they are important.

• 🌧️🥧 Mud Kitchen Fun – We made the most of the muddy weather by creating mud pies, squelching, squashing, and exploring different textures outdoors.

• 🐌🌿 Snail Spotting – The rainy weather brought out lots of snails in the garden, and the children enjoyed carefully observing them and talking about where they live.

• ✏️🟡 Letter Formation Practice – We practised our letter formation using sandpaper letters and the sand tray, supporting early writing skills through sensory play.

• 💛😊 Talking About Emotions – Each day we talk about our feelings and explore pictures showing different facial expressions to help us recognise and express emotions.

🪲 We explored the wonderful world of mini beasts this week! We went on a hunt and discovered woodlice and worms hiding in our outdoor space. The children had a fantastic time learning how to dance like a bee — wiggles and all!

🪥 🦷 We completed our supervised toothbrushing this week — keeping those little smiles sparkling clean! We remind the children that it's so important to brush our teeth twice a day at home too! We had a brilliant activity where we used shaving foam and toothbrushes to scrub the dirt off pretend teeth — a great way to see how brushing works.

🌨️ The hail caused lots of excitement — we watched in wonder as it got heavier and settled on the ground! The children couldn't wait to get their coats on and explore and play outside in it!

🎶🫙 Musical Bottles – The children created their own musical bottles using lentils, chickpeas, sand, and other materials. We explored different sounds and rhythms by shaking and listening to our homemade instruments.

• ☀️🌿 Garden Play – The children enjoyed spending time in the sunshine, exploring the mud kitchen and using their imagination through messy outdoor play.

• 🐞🔍 Bug Hunting Fun – We went on bug hunts around the garden, carefully looking for insects and talking about the creatures we found.

• 🫧🎨 Bubble Paintings – The children created colourful bubble paintings using paper cups and paint, exploring patterns, textures, and creativity through process art.

💭🟡 Feelings Check-In – During circle time, we shared how we were feeling by placing coloured pom poms into the matching jars, helping us recognise and express our emotions.

• ✏️🔤 Letter Formation – We practised forming our letters through tracing, building early writing skills and confidence.

• 🌱🌼 Planting Seeds – The children planted nasturtium seeds and learned about how we care for plants as they grow.

• 🛒💰 Role Play Shop – We enjoyed playing shop, using play money to “buy” items and developing early maths and social skills.

• 🪥😁 Toothbrushing Time – We had a supervised toothbrushing session, and the children were very enthusiastic about caring for their teeth!

• 📖📚 Story Time Fun – We shared a story with the biggest book ever, capturing everyone’s attention and imagination.

☀️🌿 Garden Time – With the sun shining, we enjoyed being outside and gave our sandpit a lovely freshen up, ready for lots of play and exploration!

• 🌍🖐 Earth Day – We celebrated Earth Day by creating a beautiful “Our World” painting using our handprints, talking about how we can care for our planet.

• 🍎🥕 Healthy Snack Time – We enjoyed healthy snacks together, encouraging independence and making good choices.

• 🌸🎨 Blossom Inspiration – We looked at the blossom outside the nursery and created our own artwork using finger painting.

• 🇬🇧✂️ St George’s Day – We marked the day by making tissue paper collages, exploring colours and textures.

• 🌎🤝 My World, Your World – We explored similarities and differences, thinking about our homes, families, and experiences.

• 🖐💛 Handprint Wreath – The children created a lovely wreath using their handprints, celebrating our sense of community.

• 🌍🗣 Celebrating Languages – We talked about the different languages children may hear at home, promoting inclusion and valuing our diverse backgrounds.

🌸🧪 Cherry Blossom Potion Making – We created our own cherry blossom potions by mixing paint with water to match the beautiful colours. The children whisked, ladled and poured, developing coordination and having lots of sensory fun!

• 🧱🏗 Construction Play – Lots of building with blocks this week! The children explored their creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork skills.

• 🌱🌼 National Gardening Day – We celebrated National Gardening Day by tending to our nursery garden. The children helped water plants and do some weeding, learning how to care for our environment.

• 🪴📚 Gardening Vocabulary – We explored important words linked to gardening, building our understanding and language around plants and nature.

• 🌍📖 Celebrating Diversity Through Stories – We read a story in both Albanian and English, celebrating the different cultures within our nursery and promoting inclusion and understanding.

👋💛 Welcoming New Children – We were delighted to welcome new children to the setting and have been supporting them as they settle in, building confidence and forming new friendships.

🎨 We made Colour Monster sensory bottles – they were a big hit! The children loved shaking them and watching the colours swirl.
- Skills developed: sensory exploration, colour recognition, emotional awareness, fine motor skills, and curiosity.

🧩 In the Sensorial area, the children enjoyed constructing and exploring different materials.
- Skills developed: problem-solving, creativity, hand-eye coordination, and early engineering thinking.

🩺 The children had lots of fun playing doctors, caring for each other and using their imaginations.
- Skills developed: communication, role play, empathy, and social skills.

🌋Following the children’s interest in wild weather, we created volcano paintings and watched a volcano erupt using bicarbonate of soda and vinegar – very exciting!
- Skills developed: understanding cause and effect, early science concepts, observation, and language development.

☁️ We learned about clouds and watched coloured water slowly drip into a glass – a calm and fascinating experiment.
- Skills developed: patience, focus, prediction, and scientific thinking.

🐣 The children made their Easter cards and enjoyed playing “Find the Easter chick” around the nursery.
- Skills developed: creativity, fine motor skills, problem-solving, and teamwork.

🌱 In the garden, we watered the carrots, made marks on the chalk board, and enjoyed the sunshine.
- Skills developed: physical development, mark-making, responsibility, and appreciation of the natural world.

🫧 Bubbles in the garden – Children enjoyed blowing and chasing bubbles outdoors.
Skills developed: gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, breath control, social interaction.

🎂 Two special birthday celebrations – We celebrated their special days together by walking round the sun.
Skills developed: social skills, sense of belonging, turn-taking, understanding routines and celebrations.

🐌 Made a shelter for a snail – Children built a cosy home for a snail using natural materials.
Skills developed: creativity, problem-solving, understanding of nature, empathy for living things.

🐣 Easter craft continued – Children explored ongoing Easter-themed creative activities.
Skills developed: imagination, focus, following instructions, expressive arts and design.

🐰 Easter stickers for fine motor practice – Peeling and placing stickers carefully.
Skills developed: fine motor control, finger strength, hand-eye coordination, concentration.

🥕 Washing the plastic garden fruit and vegetables – Children helped clean up together.
Skills developed: life skills, independence, sensory exploration, understanding healthy eating.