Rock A Tots - Compton Acres, Canford Cliffs

Forest School Fun! 🍂

This week at forest school, the children used real life tools and built upon their imaginations! The children used a hammer with big, controlled movements to bang the nail into the wood as they create their very own windmill! The children also participated in making boats, decorating their sails and finding a big piece of bark. Exploring through STEM play, the children were able to see if their boats floated or sank! ⛵
The children were free to engage in the mud kitchen too creating potions with natural resources, and take turns in the hammock as they wrap themselves into a cocoon!

Extending upon the children's interest from our beach trip with the younger children and the children sharing their adventures with us at the weekends... we created our own beach image! 🌊
Using real life resources in play, the children spread the glue and then sprinkled sand on top as they build upon coordination and fine motor skills. Together we engaged in conversation about what the children were creating, exploring imaginative play with our thoughts and bringing our own experiences to an image. Exploring different textures, we added blue tissue paper to represent the ocean.

The children took great pride in showing parents/carers their creations, explaining what their image represents! ❤

Sun Bears took advantage of the cooler weather yesterday and took a lovely stroll to the beach! 🌊

The children enjoyed observing their surroundings and maintaining good eye contact with their practitioners as objects are identified. We sang the wheels on the bus as we watch them go by, using pointing to communicate what we can see.

The children were able to enjoy a little splash in the sea with their feet and practitioner alongside, sharing many giggles as the waves crashed into their toes! The children built upon their hand eye coordination with scooping and transporting sand using various resources, displaying early turn taking skills by offering items to peers nearby. Together we collected shells, identifying the textures of them! We placed them into buckets and hid them within the sand, exploring object permanence 🐚

Help save the sea animals! 🐋

The children have been engaging and stimulating their senses recently with some wonderful messy play! Our animals were stuck within the blue ocean which was super cold and sticky, so using our fine motor skills we picked out the animals so they were safe! Practitioners role modelled simple and descriptive language such as cold/wet/blue, which the children did a super job at repeating back.
We had ocean sounds playing in the background to immerse ourselves further, adding in nursery rhymes such as Tiny Tim. Our ocean had a lovely smell to it too, zesty lemons (that doesn't happen too often!)🍋
The children also enjoyed focusing on their hand eye coordination painting big pasta shells, as we prepare to build our very own coral reef! 🪸

🇬🇧⚽ Come on England! ⚽🇬🇧

To celebrate England reaching the semi-finals, our babies enjoyed a fun sensory shaving foam tuff tray with a sprinkle of glitter, exploring different textures, making marks and developing their sensory awareness through play.

Our Brown Bears and Panda Bears (2s and Preschool) also got creative by designing their own England flags. The children proudly painted, coloured and decorated their flags while talking about the colours, patterns and the excitement of supporting their team! ❤️🤍

These activities support the EYFS by encouraging:
⭐ Communication and Language – talking about football, colours and teamwork.
⭐ Physical Development – developing fine motor skills through painting, mark making and sensory exploration.
⭐ Expressive Arts and Design – exploring creativity using a range of materials and media.
⭐ Personal, Social and Emotional Development – building a sense of belonging, celebrating community events and sharing excitement with friends.

We wish the England team the very best of luck in the semi-finals! 🦁🦁🦁

☀️💦 Sunshine, Smiles & Splashes! 💦☀️

We’ve had lots of fun this week while making sure everyone stayed nice and cool! The children absolutely loved splashing about in our water tuff trays, pouring, scooping and enjoying lots of laughter with their friends. 💙

Our Under the Sea adventures have continued too! We’ve been busy making colourful jellyfish and turtles, and the children have enjoyed talking about all the amazing sea creatures they know.

We’ve also had some lovely conversations about summer holidays. The children were so excited to tell us where they’ve been, where they’re going, or where they’d love to visit one day. It’s always wonderful to hear their stories and see their imaginations come to life! 🌍✈️🏖️

All of these activities support the children’s learning through the EYFS, helping to develop their communication and language skills, creativity, understanding of the world, physical development through water play, and their confidence as they play, share and learn together.

Thank you for helping us remember sun hats, sun cream and water bottles—it really helps us keep everyone safe and comfortable in the warm weather. ❤️

We hope you’re all enjoying the sunshine and making lots of happy summer memories together. Have a lovely weekend! ☀️🪼🐢🌊

🌊🐠 What a wonderful first week we’ve had exploring our new theme, Under the Sea! 🐢💙

The children have loved discovering the different animals that live in the ocean. They got creative by colouring their favourite sea creatures and made some fantastic turtles using potato mashers to print their shells! 🎨🐢

Our babies had lots of fun exploring a blue, sea-themed tuff tray filled with their underwater friends. It was a lovely sensory experience that encouraged curiosity, exploration, and plenty of smiles! 🐙🐟

We also enjoyed a special visit to the library, where we shared lots of exciting sea-themed stories together. Reading stories helps to build the children’s imagination, language, communication skills, and love of books. 📚💙

We’re also excited to celebrate that Claire, our newly appointed Curriculum and Learning Lead, has recently achieved her Maths Champion Award! ⭐

Through her training and passion for early maths, Claire has been implementing fun, meaningful maths opportunities throughout our curriculum. This week, our Under the Sea activities included counting, sorting, comparing sizes, recognising patterns, and using mathematical language as the children explored different sea creatures through play. By weaving maths into their interests and everyday experiences, we’re helping children build confidence and develop a strong foundation for future learning.

We’re so proud of how engaged and enthusiastic everyone has been this week, and we can’t wait to continue our underwater adventure together! 🌊🐠💙

In celebration of World Turtle Day last week 🐢, our younger children have been exploring turtles within play. The children engaged in a vibrant tuff tray of the ocean, with turtles hiding within the sea and other animals amongst the sand and rocks!

We built upon language by singing nursery rhymes to the children, such as Tiny Tim, encouraging actions alongside, and reading through the book 'That's not my turtle...'
Practitioners role modelled imaginative play as we made ocean sounds (strengthening mouth muscles), letting the turtles glide through the ocean. Later, we expanded upon the activity by having water play with the turtles, an exciting time for the children as they observed the turtles fins move to swim! The children showed a good understanding of actions words, such as splash!

🌊🐠 Exploring the World Around Us 🐠🌊

As part of our June topic, The World Around Us, the children have been learning about our oceans and the amazing animals that live beneath the sea, linked to World Ocean Day.

Our tuff trays were transformed into exciting ocean habitats where the children explored sea creatures through sensory and imaginative play. They enjoyed discovering different textures, developing their curiosity, and learning about marine life through hands-on exploration.

In our Arts and Design activities, the children practised their fine motor skills by carefully cutting, colouring, and creating their own beautiful jellyfish artwork. They showed great creativity and concentration while expressing their ideas through different materials and techniques.

These experiences support the EYFS by promoting:
🌟 Understanding the World – learning about oceans, habitats, and sea life.
🌟 Expressive Arts and Design – exploring creativity through art and imaginative play.
🌟 Physical Development – strengthening fine motor skills through cutting and colouring.
🌟 Communication and Language – encouraging discussions about sea animals and their environments.

We have loved diving into this exciting topic and discovering more about the wonderful world around us! 🐙🐬🦀