The Orchard Nursery at Shiphay Learning Academy

Sounds and Sights of Summer 🌿☀️🐛✨

The children enjoyed a wonderful Forest School session exploring the sounds and sights of summer.

Our curious explorers searched the forest area for signs of the changing season, listening carefully to the sounds around them and observing the plants, insects, and wildlife they discovered along the way.

The children took part in a minibeast hunt, making some exciting discoveries, including lots and lots of worms! There was great excitement as they carefully observed the worms, talked about where they live, and discussed why they might be important for the environment.

The children also spent time in the forest kitchen, creating imaginative recipes, potions, and meals using natural materials, alongside enjoying time with friends in the outdoor environment.

This rich Forest School experience supported Understanding the World, communication and language, social development, and a connection with nature, while encouraging curiosity, exploration, and wonder.

A lovely afternoon of discovery, friendship, and outdoor adventure. ✨

More Than, Fewer Than, and the Same As 🔢✨

This week, the children have been developing their understanding of more than, fewer than, and the same as through a range of fun maths games.

In our 6 Nice Things game, the children rolled a dice and carefully counted out the correct number of objects to give to a friend. As the game progressed, they compared how many objects they had left and discussed who had more, fewer, or the same number.

The children also enjoyed a game of skittles, counting how many skittles they knocked down and recording their scores using numerals, tally marks, and dots. They then compared their results with their friends, using mathematical language such as more than, fewer than, and the same as to explain their thinking.

These activities provided valuable opportunities to develop counting, 1:1 correspondence, numeral recognition, comparing quantities, recording numbers in different ways, and mathematical reasoning. Alongside their maths learning, the children practised important social skills including turn-taking, cooperation, and perseverance.

It has been wonderful to see the children becoming increasingly confident in using mathematical language and explaining how they know one amount is more, fewer, or the same as another.

Sticky Rice Banana Bites 🍌✨

This week, the children made delicious sticky rice banana bites, developing important cooking and life skills through a hands-on food preparation activity.

The children mashed the bananas, stirred in apple purée, and helped mix everything together with the cooled sticky rice. They then shaped small spoonfuls of the mixture into balls and little patties, using their hands to squeeze, roll, press, and shape.

This activity supported fine motor development, hand strength, coordination, and control, while also encouraging independence and confidence in food preparation. The children explored different textures as the ingredients combined and talked about the changes they noticed as they mixed and shaped the bites.

A lovely, practical cooking experience full of busy hands, sensory exploration, and delicious results. ✨

Shaving Foam Pre-Writing Shapes ✏️☁️✨

Small groups of children took part in a sensory Shaving Foam Pre-Writing Shapes Memory Challenge.

Using their fingers, the children explored a range of important pre-writing shapes, including vertical lines, horizontal lines, circles, crosses, diagonal lines, squares, and triangles. These shapes form the building blocks for later letter formation and handwriting, helping children develop the control and movement patterns needed for writing.

The children first looked carefully at shape cards and practised recreating them in the shaving foam, using simple movement prompts such as "straight down," "across," and "round and round." As their confidence grew, they took on a memory challenge, looking at a shape briefly before trying to draw it from memory.

This engaging activity supported early writing skills, shape recognition, memory, recall, hand-eye coordination, fine motor development, and sensory exploration. Drawing in the foam also encouraged children to experiment without fear of making mistakes, helping to build confidence and resilience in their mark-making.

A wonderfully messy and meaningful way to strengthen the foundations for future writing. ✨

Wonderful World Ocean Day Jellyfish 🪼🌊✨

Inspired by our class text The Fish Who Could Wish and to celebrate World Ocean Day, the children spent the week creating beautiful ribbon jellyfish.

This creative activity provided a fantastic opportunity to develop fine motor skills and scissor control, which are important foundations for future writing. The children practised holding scissors safely, opening and closing them with increasing control, and using both hands together — one hand to hold the ribbon and the other to cut.

As they carefully snipped ribbons to create long, flowing te****les, the children strengthened the muscles in their hands and fingers, developed hand-eye coordination, and practised the controlled movements needed for early writing. They then attached their te****les and decorated their jellyfish with drawings, marks, and features of their own choosing.

Throughout the activity, we used language such as snip, cut, hold, long, short, under, and te****le, helping to develop communication and early literacy skills alongside physical development.

The finished jellyfish looked wonderful hanging up, their colourful te****les gently waving as if floating through the ocean. 🪼✨

Parachute Games in the Forest 🌿✨

The children enjoyed playing parachute games in the forest area.

Working together, they lifted, lowered, shook, and moved the parachute, listening carefully and responding as a group. These games are a wonderful way to support gross motor development, coordination, turn-taking, listening skills, and cooperation.

Most importantly, parachute play helps to build a strong sense of community. The children had to work together, notice one another, and share in the joy of creating movement as one group.

A lovely Forest School moment full of teamwork, laughter, and togetherness. ✨