Rhymetime Nursery Northampton

Selfie Sunday 🤩

Happy Sunday everybody!!

“Every child is a artist” 🎨

Jack and Jill’s have had a lovely week re visiting our story, “the very hungry caterpillar”, following on from this they painted their own large scale caterpillar alongside each other. They were very proud seeing their finished art work displayed on the wall, “I did that bit”, “I did the face”.

From this activity we also learnt:

🐛 Expressive arts and designs - Exploring media and colour. Discovering what happens when we colour mix.
🐛 Personal, social and emotional development- Sharing ideas, taking turns, being proud of their achievements.
🐛 Physical - Developing control with our paint brush, creating big and small movements.
🐛 Communication and language-We communicated to each other what we were doing, talking through the story.

We hope you all are having a lovely weekend.

The Incy’s had a lovely time at their special Teddy Bear Picnic! 🐻💕 They enjoyed feeding their teddy bears, giving them drinks and taking care of them through imaginative and meaningful play.

This activity support their learning through:

🌟Personal, Social and Emotional Development – showing care, kindness and empathy towards their teddy bears.
🌟Communication and Language – talking with their friends and practitioners, naming foods and drinks and sharing their ideas through pretend play.
🌟Physical Development – developing fine-motor skills and hand-eye coordination while using cups, spoons and plates.
🌟Expressive Arts and Design – using imagination and creativity to develop their own pretend picnic experiences.

🎨 Making Marks Together! 🌈

Today Incy Wincy’s enjoyed a wonderful mark-making experience, using a large sheet of paper on the floor and exploring crayons with their whole bodies. They stretched, reached, moved and leaned as they created their own unique marks. ✏️

The children also showed lovely social skills as they shared the crayons, took turns and noticed what their friends were doing. It was lovely to see their creativity, curiosity and confidence grow through this open-ended experience.

• Physical Development – developing gross motor movements, coordination, strength and control.
• Expressive Arts & Design – exploring colour, movement and mark making.
• Communication & Language – sharing ideas and responding to others.
• Personal, Social & Emotional Development – sharing resources, taking turns and playing alongside others.

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“Messy play fun”

Jack and Jill’s have searched through the foam to find the caterpillar, fruit and leaves, encouraging curiosity and problem-solving. They can practise naming colours, counting the fruit and describing textures using words such as soft, fluffy, wet, cold, smooth and squishy.

The activity supports fine motor development as the child squeezes, scoops and pours, helping to strengthen the muscles needed for later writing skills. It also promotes communication and language as the adult introduces new vocabulary and asks open-ended questions such as “What can you find?”, “How does it feel?” and “What do you think the caterpillar will eat next?”

The child can also use the resources for pretend play, feeding the caterpillar and retelling parts of the story. This supports imagination, confidence, social interaction and early literacy skills.

✨Communication and Language: Encourages the child to talk about what they can see, feel and do. They can learn words such as soft, wet, fluffy, smooth, cold and name the caterpillar, fruit and colours.
✨Physical Development: Scooping, pouring, stirring and squeezing supports fine motor skills, hand strength and hand-eye coordination.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development: Encourages independence, confidence, curiosity and making choices about how they want to explore the activity.
✨Literacy: Links play to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, supporting listening, remembering events, developing vocabulary and retelling parts of the story.
✨Mathematics: Children can count the fruit, compare amounts, recognise colours and begin to use mathematical language such as more, less, big, small and empty/full.

Today our Incy’s enjoyed a hands-on bug hunt tray, filled with soil, leaves, sticks and lots of different bug cards! 🪱🐌🐞🕷️

The children used their little hands to explore the different textures, search through the soil and discover the hidden bugs. They enjoyed picking up the sticks and leaves, moving the soil around and talking about the different creatures they found. 🌱🔎

This activity supports their learning:

🪱Communication & Language – learning new vocabulary and talking about bugs, textures and what they discovered.
🐛Physical Development – developing fine motor skills through digging, picking up, moving and manipulating the natural materials.
🦋Understanding the World – exploring natural materials and developing curiosity about insects and the world around them.
🐝Personal, Social & Emotional Development – encouraging independence, confidence and shared exploration with friends.

🧩💛 Little Minds, Big Discoveries! 💛🧩
Humpty Dumpty’s have been busy solving puzzles, exploring shapes and figuring things out! 👶✨
It was so lovely to see their concentration, curiosity and those proud little smiles when they completed a puzzle. 🥰👏
Through this simple activity, our babies are developing important skills including:
🌟 Physical Development – strengthening fine motor skills as they grasp, pick up and place puzzle pieces.
🌟 Cognitive Development – encouraging problem-solving, thinking and understanding cause and effect.
🌟 Communication & Language – listening, learning new words and communicating their ideas.
🌟 Personal, Social & Emotional Development – building confidence, independence and perseverance.
📚 EYFS: This activity supports the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning, particularly Playing and Exploring, Active Learning, and Creating and Thinking Critically.

Every little piece they place is a BIG step in their learning! 🥹🧩💖