Little Jem's ChildCare

Last week was the last week of term so we said goodbye to our school leavers, and term time only children for the summer ⛱️☀️

We had our Hawaiian theme leavers party on Tuesday, this included a bouncy castle, making fruit kebabs, dancing to Hawaiian music with balloons, pass the parcel, and Hawaiian theme sensory play 🌺

We all had such an amazing time and the children loved showing off their Hawaiian clothes and accessories 🌋⛱️🌊🌺

Last week was another very warm one, so we have enjoyed lots of fun water-based activities to help us stay cool while learning through play 🥵

Our water play included a beach-themed tuff tray with small world people, boats, shells, and sea animals, encouraging imaginative play, storytelling, and language development. We also enjoyed fishing with our fishing rods, exploring foam blocks in the water tray, and using water sprayers to cool ourselves down, helping to develop our gross motor skills and coordination 💦🐙🎣🧱

The children were very creative during our summer craft activities. They made their own beach pictures using glue, sand, and shells, exploring different textures and materials while developing their fine motor skills. We also created colourful ice lollies using paint sticks and lolly sticks, giving the children opportunities to express their creativity 🏖🍭

Throughout the week, we shared lots of stories together, supporting the children's communication, language, and early literacy skills. We also enjoyed daily singing sessions, helping to build confidence, rhythm, listening skills, and language development 🎶📚

This week we have made the most of the lovely weather by spending lots of time exploring and learning in the garden ☀️😎

The children enjoyed building and creating with the trains and tracks outdoors, as well as exploring a variety of sea animals during our water play activities 🚄🛤 🦀🐬

We also encouraged early writing skills through mark making with chalks on the patio and by using sand in the tuff tray, allowing the children to develop their creativity and fine motor skills✍️

To celebrate and support the England football team, the children had great fun making England flags, having their faces painted, and choosing football-themed tattoos 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⚽️

It has been a fantastic week full of outdoor play, creativity, and lots of excitement!

Last week we got back to see that our caterpillars had hatched from their chrysalis's and we had 5 beautiful butterflies 🦋. We loved watching them drink from the flowers, and we didn't really want to say goodbye but we had to let them go.

We have really spent most of the week trying to stay cool 😎 we had lots of water play, including sea animals, paint brushes and cups, saucepans scoops and bowls, and lots of rubber ducks 🐠🖌🥣🦆

Luckily we had a big gazebo that we put up in the garden so we could still be outside when it wasn't too warm without the sun 🥵

This week began with an exciting update from our caterpillars—they had all formed chrysalises! We carefully moved them into their new home, learning about caring for living things with patience and responsibility 🐛

We also enjoyed our Sports Days, with activities like running, jumping, throwing, and egg-and-spoon races. The children showed great teamwork and determination while developing coordination, balance, and confidence 🏅🏃‍♀️🥎🏀

On Wednesday, we held a mini England party to celebrate England’s first game. The children enjoyed face painting, making noise makers, and dancing to football songs, encouraging creativity and shared celebration 🪩🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⚽️

Role play in the kitchen has been popular, especially birthday celebrations, helping to build communication and imagination 🧑‍🍳🎂

The children also loved outdoor play, exploring water activities and equipment while developing physical skills and teamwork 🛝💧🥏🏐

This week we enjoyed an exciting “Under the Sea” theme and explored a variety of sea creatures through fun, hands-on activities. The children investigated sea animals in the sensory tray, using their senses to explore textures, colours, and different creatures found in the ocean. They also matched toy sea animals to picture cards, developing their recognition, communication, and problem-solving skills 🌊🐋🐠🐡

The children had great fun using the soft fishing rod to catch coloured fish, supporting their hand-eye coordination, turn-taking, and fine motor development🎣

Creative activities included making fish and jellyfish crafts, as well as sea-themed paintings, where the children explored colours, textures, and different ways to express themselves artistically 🐟🪼

We talked together about how fish live under the sea and discussed other sea creatures that live in the ocean, encouraging curiosity and extending vocabulary 🦈🐙🪸

The children also enjoyed listening to a range of sea-themed stories during group time, including Clumsy Crab and Sneezy Shark, helping to support listening skills, attention, and language development🦈🦀

Outdoor play continued to be a favourite, with the children enjoying bikes and scooters to develop their physical skills and coordination. They also spent time drawing with pens, encouraging mark-making and creativity.

This week our tiny caterpillars arrived, and we are very excited to watch them grow and transform into butterflies! 🐛🦋

We enjoyed lots of creative activities linked to our caterpillar theme. The children made caterpillar crafts using paper plates to create wiggly bodies, and they used pom-poms and paint to print colourful caterpillars onto leaves🖌🖍

Our Hungry Caterpillar sensory tray was a big hit, filled with twisty pasta, magnifying glasses, and toy caterpillars and butterflies for the children to explore🐛🦋

We also retold The Very Hungry Caterpillar story using felt boards and story props, encouraging communication, imagination, and storytelling skills 📖

Alongside our themed activities, the children had lots of role play fun in the home corner kitchen. We also practised our fine motor skills through drawing activities and learning to use scissors safely and carefully✂️

We also picked our countries for our world cup sweepstake, each child picked two countries each and the winner will get a special football themed prize ⚽️🏟