Hassocks Day Nursery

The Butterflies loved exploring our pasta tray! They enjoyed discussing the differences between the different types, identifying which pieces were bigger, smaller, longer or thinner.

They then loved scooping them up into bowls, practicing their hand eye coordination, and serving it to their friends! They also loved trying to see which pieces they could snap easily!

Our preschoolers had a trip to the Arctic recently! They learnt whereabouts the arctic was, what the weather is like there and what animals you might find there. They then had a great time exploring the arctic themed tray!

The Ladybirds loved exploring our Moon Sand clouds recently! We enjoyed feeling the soft textures of the clouds feeling how the sand clumped together before falling apart.

We then made different shaped clouds whilst talking about where we could find clouds. It was a great sensory activity that also helped develop their understanding of the natural world around us.

We had such a fantastic time at the graduation party for our school leavers last week! Music with Mike came to celebrate with us and the children loved receiving their own special achievement certificates.

It was lovely spending time with all the children, and their parents, as we begin to say goodbye to them as they head off to school.

Our preschool children learnt all about space recently. They discovered all the planets in the solar system before designing their own planet - explaining what creatures would live on their planet and what they would eat!

They have also had to try and create their own rocket ship with the magnets, flying it to our green planet and discovering what animals were hiding in the green slime!

Our Preschool children took a very chilly adventure recently ... all the way to the Arctic!

Whilst learning about different types of weather and environments around the world, the children explored a wonderful Arctic-themed tuff tray filled with gooey, snowy sensory play and a variety of Arctic animals.

They loved squishing and scooping the "snow", making footprints, discovering different animals and talking about where they live and how they survive in such cold conditions. Through their play, the children developed their language skills, explored different textures, used their imaginations and learned more about the fascinating world around them.

Sensory activities like this are a fantastic way to encourage curiosity, communication and hands-on learning while having lots of fun too!

The Ladybirds discovered that their dolls had been playing in all of the muddy puddles recently and were all covered in mud!

After playing in the oobleck mud with them, enjoying the different textures and how it changed from a solid to a liquid as they moved it around, the children helped wash the dolls clean! They carefully poured the water into their bath tub then washed the dolls using sponges, making sure we was gentle not to hurt them!

As well as being great fun, this activity also provided sensory exploration and helped develop the children's fine motor skills, empathy and begin to teach them life skills such as self care.

The Ladybirds opened their own cafe and served up some delicious homemade cakes'!

After exploring the foamy texture they loved scooping and pouring it into the cake cases; practicing their hand eye coordination and strengthening their hand and wrist muscles.

Whilst seeing how our Hassocks Goes Gold Sunflowers have grown the preschoolers learnt all about the lifecycle of plants. They discovered how they start as a tiny seed and how, with lots of water and sunlight, they grow into beautiful flowers.

Learning about nature in this way introduces the children to early science concepts and teaches them more about the natural world around them.

Our Butterflies have been learning all about shapes! Understandig and identfiying diferent shapes is an important step in early maths for pattern recognition and puzzle solving but also for early writing as drawing and tracing shapes becomes the first steps for forming letters.

To help their shape recognition our Butterflies had to hunt the shapes amongst the sand and water, they played Shape Bingo and identified the correct shape on the floor!