Sherwood Playgroup CIO Early Years and Childcare Setting

As you will no doubt be aware we are heading for some extreme hot weather in the UK. As a setting we do everything possible to keep the children and the staff team cool. We will provide lots of cold water for drinking and encourage the children to sit and play in cooler places or near the air con machines when inside.
However temperatures are likely to exceed 30 degrees indoors during the afternoon even with aircon and are likely to be hotter outdoors out of the shade.
If you are able to collect your child earlier in the day it would be helpful during the hotter days but we appreciate that may not be possible for everyone.
We will try to use the garden area shade when we can and cool down with water play and the hose spray .
Please ensure children’s shoulders and necks are covered and if you have any UV protection suits they are great for water play as they dry out quickly. But please no swimming costumes.
Please bring a named sun hat and apply suncream before your child comes in to setting and we will re apply at mid day .
We will continue to provide shady spots when possible but young children do often struggle in the heat.

We hope all the Dads, Granddads, Uncles and those who support and care for our children have had a good “Father’s day.” The children enjoyed drawing pictures of the special people in their lives and making wind chime gifts.

Thanks to those who joined the Great Get Together yesterday. It was great to meet people and share food and crafts together.

As a small community based setting we love being part of many of the events and celebrations happening locally. Today Saturday 13th June is Open Gardens. When we started to talk about the event one child confidently said I already have the book and the map! There are many gardens open today for viewing £5 to get entry to many across the local area. Yesterday we had a little peek at the Sherwood Community Garden near to us on the site of Sherwood Community Centre. We spotted grape vines, herbs, strawberries, huge tall poppies and more.
The children gently touched the herbs so that they could experience the differences between sage, rosemary and mint.
They found some tiny apples on the ground underneath the apple tree and we talked about how they were not ready to be eaten and would taste very bitter.

There is a puppet making workshop in tomorrow Sunday 14th June at Sherwood Community Centre in the hall as part of the Sherwood Art Week Programme. The booking link is in the post below. It looks like a lot of fun!

This event has been arranged to fit around the finish time for playgroup so please do support it if you are able. Siblings welcome too!

💜 Join Us for The Great Get Together 💜
Sherwood Community Centre is delighted to be taking part in-

The Great Get Together, inspired by Jo Cox's belief that "we have far more in common than that which divides us."

Come along for a relaxed afternoon of community, connection and fun on the lawn outside the centre.

🌈 Crafts and creative activities
🎈 Games and family fun
🤝 Meet new people and connect with your community
☕ Refreshments available

📅 Friday 19 June
⏰ 3:30pm – 5:30pm
📍 Sherwood Community Centre

Everyone is welcome. Whether you come with family, friends or on your own, we'd love to see you there as we celebrate kindness, friendship and what brings our community together.

It has been a busy few weeks and not everyone had chance to decorate leaves for Sherwood Art Week but for those who did the leaves from some of Sherwood Playgroup are on display in Indigo Dry Cleaners in Sherwood. Sherwood is looking very vibrant with all the art in shop windows.

Yesterday we took a walk to the top of the Woodthorpe meadow reserve to see the beautiful Willow creation which is part of Sherwood Art week. We looked from a distance to guess what the structure might be. One child thought it looked like a cave and another thought it looked like a large snail shell. We watched Gem weaving and adding some crochet creations and any children who wanted to look inside were given the opportunity. Eventually we had 8 children sitting inside the beautiful structure!
On the way back to Sherwood Playgroup we walked back through the swishy swashy grass, avoided the nettles and found a long branch to sit on to sing 8 speckled frogs. We are so fortunate to be next to the Woodland and meadow and also have such a great buzz of activity for Sherwood Art Week. Thanks to everyone who works so hard to make the events happen!

All ages are welcome to the “have a go” crafting session tomorrow 12-3pm in the hall at Sherwood Community Centre. There will also be a Nottinghamshire Bobbin Lace demonstration, an information stand from Fostering for East Midlands, some food tasting with the Co op ( Come and find out about Co op membership as we are one of the Co op Causes)
The hall will have a range of materials for creative work : card making, painting, using paper punches, gentle colouring, using pastels and much more….
There will also be organised Tours of the historic parts of the building to learn more about the history of the oldest building in Sherwood.

My Site The wonderful shopkeepers of Sherwood give over their windows to house a wide variety of art from local artists and makers. ​ Fantastic displays can be seen the whole length of Mansfield Road and...

One of our families wanted to buy something for the children to enjoy at Playgroup both this term and for the future.
One of the favourite annual activities is buying a caterpillar kit of babies and watching them grow and transform first to chrysalises then to butterflies. However the kits have now extended to include stick insects, ladybird larvae and habitats and an ant kit.
The baby caterpillars arrived today ( pen to show the size) we know seeing the mini beasts transform is an amazing memorable opportunity for children. One of our previous children knew us as Butterfly school as one of her first visits was when we released our butterflies.
So we are looking forward to the arrival of these gifts which will be an amazing experience and later after observing will be able to release some back in to nature.