The Old Station Nursery Granta Park

04/09/2026

04/09/2026

One of the main interest in our toddler room this week has been animals. We've done various activities around animals. Today, we've been painting a variety of different animals and we did what's in the box with a variety of animals! The children selected the animal they wanted to paint from the table and began getting creative! One child chose a cow and used yellow paint whilst another child chose a pig and used orange paint!
Painting helps to support the children with their fine motor skills and develop their communication and language skills through both activities by asking and repeating what animals sounds they make and where they live.
When asked what sound a cow makes, one child replied with "moo".
All Aboard Approach

24/08/2026

Stage 2: Becoming One Community 🌱✨

We’re excited to share a look at Stage 2 of our nursery refurbishment as we continue our journey towards becoming one community. 💚

Creating fresh, clean and inviting environments is about so much more than how a setting looks. A well-planned environment can support children’s wellbeing, independence, curiosity and confidence, while providing spaces that encourage exploration, creativity and meaningful learning.

We’re creating spaces where children feel a strong sense of belonging, where they can learn through play, develop their independence and feel proud of the environment they share with their friends and educators.

We can’t wait to see the finished transformation and, most importantly, to see our children enjoying and learning in their refreshed spaces! 🌿✨

21/08/2026

Stacking toys are essential tools in Montessori play, promoting cognitive, motor, and sensory development. They encourage problem-solving skills, enhance spatial awareness, and improve fine motor skills through hands-on exploration. 👐

This morning, in the toddler room, we have been exploring some circular pool noodles. These have been made specifically to support us with threading and stacking. This further enhances our motor skills and physical development. We used a stacking pole and a mug tree to stack and hook the circles on. Whilst we explored this, we used our communication and language skills to talk about colours, shapes, and sizes. This also encouraged us to practice our makaton signs. 🔵 🔴 🟡 🟢

Some of us clever creators made towers taller than us and had to reach up high on our tiptoes to stack them!! 😃 I wonder what this could lead to next... 💡

16/08/2026

🌿 Learning Through Montessori 🌿

At Granta Park Day Nursery, we use Montessori-inspired activities to encourage children to learn through exploration, independence and hands-on experiences. 🧩✨

Our Montessori activities give children opportunities to develop concentration, problem-solving skills, fine motor control and confidence at their own pace. From practical life activities and sensory exploration to sorting, counting and caring for our environment, every experience has a purpose. 🌱

We love watching children become curious, make choices, develop new skills and proudly say, “I did it myself!” 💕

Because sometimes the most powerful learning happens when children are given the time, space and freedom to explore. 🌟

The Focus for next week is the Pink Tower

14/08/2026

✂️ 🎨

13/08/2026

"What the hand does the mind remembers"- Maria Montessori 🧠

This morning, the toddler room has been focusing on a Montessori activity. We have been practising our motor skills using glass and metal jugs. We are working on pouring the glass jugs at meal times at the moment, and this activity supports this 🫗.

We used our hands, scoops, and other utensils to empty and fill different containers. We spoke about different sizes and amounts. We collected black beans with our fine motor skills and counted them with a practitioner. This led to conversations around different fairy tales and stories. 🫘 📖

Moreover, we noticed that tipping the lentils and beans onto the tray and metal bowls it made a sound like rain 🌧. We found this very interesting and listened closely. It was very soothing.

12/08/2026

🌓 Shadow play meets the eclipse! 🌑

In Preschool 1 we’ve been having fun getting creative with the sunshine, using the shadows of our favourite toys, equipment — and even ourselves — to create our very own shadow drawings! ☀️🖍️🌈
A playful way to explore light, shadows and the wonder of an eclipse while enjoying a little outdoor fun. 🌞👀✨

Who knew our favourite things could make such amazing shadow pictures? 🧸🌳📸

Today our little learners also had a trunk-load of fun celebrating these amazing gentle giants for World Elephant Day 🐘💙🐘

We practised our hand-eye coordination with a fun elephant ring toss, aiming carefully to hook the rings onto the elephant's trunk. 🎯🐘⭕️

07/08/2026

📚✨ Happy National Book Lovers Day on Sunday! ✨📚

Today we celebrated our love of books with a day full of stories, imagination and adventure! ❤️📖

Our little book lovers enjoyed plenty of opportunities to snuggle up with their favourite stories, sharing books with their friends and practitioners and letting their imaginations run wild. 🌟💭

The biggest adventure of the day was our sensory We're Going on a Bear Hunt experience! 🐻🌿

We:
🌾 Swished through the tissue paper grass,
🌊 Splashed across the river,
🤎 Squelched through ooey-gooey oobleck mud,
🌲 Crawled through the forest tunnel,
🫧❄️ Twirled through a magical bubble snowstorm,
🏕️ And finally found our cosy bear cave in the reading den, where we enjoyed sharing even more stories together!

What a fantastic way to celebrate the magic of books! 📚💛 On our adventure we even found a Toad in the garden! 🐸