Harbury Pre-School

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If you see any of our children making actions with their hands as they speak, it may be that they are recounting some of our Makaton signs.

As a setting, we have always signed the first letter of the children’s names when we sing our ‘Hello’ and ‘Goodbye’ songs. Additionally, for our Christmas Nativity Song Time, the children learn to sign ‘Silent Night’ to their parents and carers, which they always do brilliantly; often picking it up quicker than the adults!

We have all been learning a few simple signs weekly and sharing them with the children. We do this during circle time and also look for opportunities to integrate them across the day. Signing can be extremely valuable for children who struggle to express themselves using the spoken word; providing them with another way of sharing information. Our ‘Two Signs of the Week’ this week are ‘kind’ and ‘gentle’.

2026 is the Year of the Horse and the children have been enjoying learning all about China and how the Chinese New Year is celebrated. We have transformed our role play into a Chinese home corner with lights, Chinese dress up costumes, Chinese ‘noodles’ and lanterns. The Children have also been painting colourful dragon heads using our home-made Chinese Dragon as a guide.

The Chinese Dragon dancing is always a favourite with children and staff. The children get into groups and each group take it in turns to bang the drums, wave the flags or dance around under our infamous dragon so traditional Chinese Music.

The children have also enjoyed eating Chinese noodles, prawn crackers and stir fry and carefully cut up their own vegetables with a safety knife. They used chopsticks to eat their stir fry and we were impressed with their ability and persistence.

We have been reenacting the story of the Great Race which determined the order of the animals to their representative years. Using a fabric ‘river’, 12 animals and the emperor, the children loved recreating the story and finding out why there is no Year of the Cat.

We have had a busy couple of weeks at Pre-School. As part of our topic around traditional tales, we have been reading and re-enacting Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The children have been playing in the bears' cottage with the bears, where they can dress up as Goldilocks or as a Bear! We have been using the language of size when looking at the different bowls, chairs and beds Goldilocks tried and also made some yummy porridge for snack to warm us all up. We have added oats to a tray with lots of bowls and spoons for the children to scoop, pour and feel the texture of the porridge oats.

Last week we were treated to a sprinkling of snow which was very exciting for the children and staff. It provided us with a host of learning opportunities. The children enjoyed making ‘snow castles’ using buckets and spades. They also tried mark making in the snow with brushes and spades. We had filled the tuff tray with ice and hidden some treasures for the children to ‘free’ from the ice. The children loved breaking up the ice to reveal what was inside. The ice and snow prompted lots of discussion about the weather; why we get snow and what happens when snow and ice melt.

Our role play area is currently full of furry unwell Teddies. Luckily, we have a lot of budding vets in our Pre-School.

The children have been looking after their ‘patients’; putting on bandages, providing medicine, listening to their heartbeat and giving them injections. Our young vets have also been taking phone calls and lots of ‘notes’. I am happy to report that the teddies are now on the mend!

It's Children in Need today. The weather is torrential outside but children and staff are staying lovely and warm and cosy in our PJ and slippers day! The children have been learning all about Pudsey Bear and with the help of our kindness mascot (Kayla Cat) they have been sharing all the different ways that they have showed kindness to their family and friends. We have also raised over £40 for Children In Need. Once again, we thank our parents for their support and donations. It is much appreciated and will be sent to a great charity

While the children were away, we got to play! As part of our recently awarded grant towards outdoor learning resources, the staff had a training day with a representative to review our outdoor area and look at ways of developing the children's learning. The take away from the day was that practically anything can be used as a learning tool; funding and space is not an obstacle and the only limit is our imaginations! We had a fantastic day, creating landscapes, dens, representations of each other and making an obstacle course; all using natural materials and some of things we have already outside at the Pre-School. See if you can guess the landmark or the staff member!

As I type this, I can hear the children singing, 'little lamps are burning bright, it's Diwali' in the background!

We have started to learn about Diwali, the Festival of Light, and how it is celebrated. We have an Indian Role Play area with Indian clothes and artefacts for the children to explore and wear. We have make some lovely Rangoli patterns using stencils and paint and we will be trying some Indian food during snack time. The children have also been making some lovely Diva lamps out of clay.