Hedgehogs Chatham

Lunar New Year at Hedgehogs Chatham🧧

Last week the children enjoyed exploring Lunar New Year through sensory play, role play and investigating a range of artefacts and traditional items. They particularly enjoyed using chopsticks, exploring the red themed dough and looking closely at the decorations🥰💛

As part of our celebrations, the children have been learning about the culture and traditions linked to Lunar New Year. We’ve explored how families prepare for the festival, the meaning behind decorations and why certain colours and symbols are important!

These experiences support our EYFS curriculum by developing fine motor control, introducing new vocabulary and helping children learn about different cultures and traditions around the world!🌍❤️

At Hedgehogs Chatham last week, the children celebrated kindness, friendship and the many ways we can show love and care for one another 💖

At nursery, Valentine’s Day is a lovely opportunity to explore love in an age- and stage-appropriate way. For our little learners, that means:

❤️ Talking about what makes us feel happy and safe
💗 Celebrating friendships and positive relationships
🤝 Practising kindness, sharing and turn-taking
🎨 Expressing our feelings through creative activities, stories and play

✨ Loose Parts, Playdough & Learning Through Play ✨

Playdough is such a powerful learning tool — especially when it’s paired with loose parts and open-ended resources. Recently, the children at Hedgehogs Chatham have been deeply engaged in exploring playdough using a variety of natural and everyday materials.

Loose parts invite curiosity. Children can roll, press, pinch, squash, cut, build and create in their own way, following their own ideas and interests. There’s no set outcome — just endless opportunities for exploration and discovery.

Through this kind of play, children are developing their fine motor skills and hand strength, building early mark-making skills, exploring mathematical ideas like size, shape and quantity, and expressing themselves creatively. We’ve also seen lots of language development as children talk about what they’re making, share ideas and work alongside their friends.

Playdough play supports focus, imagination and confidence — all while being calming, sensory and lots of fun 🧡

✨ The Power of Open-Ended Provocations ✨

Open-ended provocations invite children to take the lead in their learning. Instead of being shown what to create, children are free to explore how to create — making choices, testing ideas, and following their own curiosity.

Look at the incredible variety of marks the children have made. Each one tells a story. By choosing different tools, materials, pressures, and movements, children expressed themselves in unique ways. No two outcomes are the same, because no two thought processes are the same.

When children lead, learning becomes deeper and more meaningful. They build confidence, creativity, problem-solving skills, and a strong sense of ownership over their work. Our role is to provide the space, materials, and trust — and then step back and watch the magic happen. 💛

We’re delighted to recognise Nikki as our Employee of the Term at our Hedgehogs Chatham nursery. Nikki showed incredible patience and adaptability when a brand-new menu was introduced for Foods Around the World Week, embracing the challenge with a positive and can-do attitude.

She consistently goes above and beyond to ensure all food and safety regulations are met, helping to keep our children safe, healthy, and happy every day. Thank you, Nikki, for your hard work, dedication, and commitment – we truly appreciate everything you do! 💛👏

📰 Health Update 🦠

As seen in the local news, there has been an increase in cases of colds and flu within the community.

To help protect all of our children, families, and staff, we kindly ask that you only bring your child to nursery if they are well enough to attend and able to take part in daily activities.

If your child is feeling unwell, has a temperature, or is showing flu-like symptoms, keeping them at home helps reduce the spread and keeps everyone safe 💙

Thank you for your continued support and cooperation in helping us maintain a healthy nursery environment.

If you’re ever unsure, please feel free to speak to a member of our team.

🎄✨ A Busy Christmas-Inspired Week at Chatham! ✨🎄

What a wonderfully festive week we are having at Chatham! The children have been fully immersed in Christmas magic, exploring activities that spark imagination, independence and meaningful learning.

🛍️ Visiting the shops & buying Christmas gifts
The children enjoyed a special trip to the local shops to choose Christmas gifts for their loved ones. Experiences like this help build independence, confidence in the community, real-life maths skills (like counting money and understanding value), and social communication.

🌿 Creating loose parts wreaths in the playdough
Our Christmas playdough station was transformed into a loose parts invitation to create festive wreaths. This supported fine-motor development, creativity, problem-solving and early design skills as the children explored textures, patterns and shapes.

💌 Writing and exchanging Christmas cards
The children also spent time writing and giving Christmas cards to their friends. This festive activity nurtures early literacy, mark-making, name recognition, and the joy of thinking about others—supporting social-emotional development and building a sense of community.

✨ These activities may look like Christmas fun (and they certainly are!), but each one is rooted in purposeful, meaningful learning that helps children build essential real-world skills.

We’re so proud of how engaged, thoughtful and excited the children have been throughout this festive week. Christmas magic is definitely in the air! 🎅🎄❄️

Our children at Hedgehogs Chatham enjoyed a learning rich trip to see the boats down by the water. While they were watching, they spotted a rainbow, which led to many conversations about how rainbows appear and the science behind sunlight and colours.

There was lots of learning taking place such as, noticing the different boats, talking about where they might travel, building vocabulary, and sharing ideas. The bus journey added to the excitement, with observations along the way!

A day filled with curiosity, discovery, and joyful exploration! 🌈🌟

Remembrance Day Visit 🇬🇧

Today our Chatham Hedgehogs took part in a very special Remembrance Day visit to the local Monument, to visit the beautiful poppy wreaths left in honor of those who served. 🌺

We were joined by our local MP and the Chief of Police, who both took the time to shake hands with each of our Hedgehogs and thank them for coming to pay their respects.

❤️Our Hedgehogs stood so quietly and respectfully during the two-minute silence — the Chief of Police was very impressed! We are so proud of how thoughtful and kind they all were today. ❤️

This week, our little learners at Hedgehogs Chatham have been exploring the beautiful festival of Diwali – the Festival of Lights! They have been busy creating colourful rangoli patterns, and learning how families around the world celebrate with light, love, and kindness. 🌈💛

It is important for children to learn about and celebrate the many different cultures, traditions, and festivals that make our world so special. 🌍💫

By exploring celebrations like Diwali, our children develop understanding, respect, and appreciation for others — helping them grow into caring and inclusive individuals. ❤️