Allsorts Pre-school

Our outdoors is rich in wildlife. When this busy builder found a ladybird in his construction site, he was keen to move it to a safer place, drawing a group of interested onlookers to help decide what it was and where it would be happy to live.

Building and then negotiating their own obstacle course develops confidence, social skills, self reliance and physical attributes such as strength, agility and balance. The enabling environment at Allsorts means that children are able to select their own resources and safely put them together however they choose.

Having built dens from a variety of resources, including the trimmings from some tree pruning, the children then drew pictures to decorate the walls inside. Seeing their ideas and creativity take shape is always fascinating, with lots of discussion, decision making and problem solving.

"Mine's cake soup." "Mine's chocolate cake soup!". The mud kitchen café is never short of interesting items on the menu! As well as imaginative, interactive communication, the mud kitchen is also a rich source of maths activity with measuring, counting, estimation, volumes and weight all involved.

"I'm getting the water - we're digging deep!" Digging in wet sand and carrying containers of water is a simple way to develop core body, shoulder, arm and hand strength which is crucial to effective pencil grip and control later in school. It is also effective for emotional regulation as it involves heavy lifting and actions which stimulate proprioceptive sensory receptors. Simple but effective.

"The aeroplane is ready to go!" The children arranged the chairs into an aeroplane, so the teacher wondered if they had their tickets and seat numbers, providing pencils and paper for them to make their marks or copy numbers if they wanted. Having stuck their numbers to their seats and taken a look at the map, off they flew around the world.

🌟NEW Talking walk-in dates 🌟

"Emergency! Its on the train track!" Reading stories to each other is a comfortable and engaging way to develop literacy skills. The children are familiar with the stories and able to interpret the pictures that they see to tell the story in their own way. Taking it in turns to share the books, talk and listen to each other is invaluable in developing confidence and social skills.

A variety of containers and utensils in the mud kitchen is a simple way to introduce mathematical concepts such as weights, volumes and measurements. Apply that maths to the making of soups, cakes and porridge and its a real winner.

As well as being great fun and a confidence booster, climbing, swinging and balancing on the outdoor climbing frames is a great way to build core strength, upper body, arm and shoulder muscle development and hand grip. This is all preparation for sitting well and writing in later years.