Lanterns Nursery School and Extended Services

🦋 Butterflies Class Busy Bakers! 🧁

Our Butterflies have been busy in the kitchen this week, turning into fantastic little bakers! 👩‍🍳👨‍🍳 The children worked together to make delicious cakes, carefully weighing out the ingredients and taking turns to pour, stir and mix. We loved seeing their teamwork and growing independence as they followed the recipe step by step. 💛

Once the cakes were baked, the excitement continued with decorating! The children sprinkled icing sugar over their creations and added green sprinkles and sugar paper footballs ⚽—they looked (and smelled!) amazing!
This activity supported early maths skills through measuring and counting, as well as developing fine motor skills and cooperation. Most importantly, the children had lots of fun and were very proud of their tasty creations! 😊

We wonder… will there be some baking at home this weekend? 🏡🍰

Our curious 2‑year‑olds had a brilliant time exploring a tray full of colourful vegetables today. They loved touching, smelling, and discovering all the different shapes and textures. Using child‑safe knives, they practised cutting the veggies with great focus and growing confidence — all at their own pace and with no pressure to taste.

This hands‑on activity supported their fine‑motor skills, encouraged sensory exploration, boosted independence, and sparked lots of lovely language development as they chatted about colours and textures.

We love watching them explore, experiment, and grow with confidence every day 🌱💛

✨ WE ARE HIRING! JOIN THE LANTERNS TEAM! ✨

Are you passionate about making a meaningful difference in the lives of young children? Lanterns Nursery School and Extended Services is looking for enthusiastic, playful, and dedicated Early Years Practitioners to join our outstanding team starting this September!

We currently have two fantastic permanent, term-time-only opportunities available:
💼 1x Full-Time Position
🗓️ 1x Part-Time Position (Working Monday, Tuesday, and Friday)

Why work with us?
🌟 Be a part of an 'Outstanding' Ofsted-rated local authority Maintained Nursery School.
🤝 Work alongside a supportive, passionate, and inclusive team.
📚 Benefit from incredible professional development opportunities (including Makaton, Attention Autism, and trauma-informed practice).
🍂 Enjoy amazing indoor and outdoor learning environments.
💼 Access Hampshire County Council benefits, competitive local authority pay conditions, and a great pension scheme.

Whether you're looking for full-time hours or a balanced part-time role to start the new school year, we would love to hear from you!

👉 Find out more and apply today: https://www.lanterns.hants.sch.uk/join-our-team

******erJobs

Join our team Are you an experienced, passionate, and reflective practitioner looking for a permanent role in a setting that values your expertise?

✨ What is Bucket Time? ✨

At nursery, you may hear us talk about Bucket Time – a fun, short group activity designed to build babies’ attention and listening skills 👶💛

Using exciting objects, songs and surprises, children are encouraged to:
👀 Focus their attention
👂 Listen carefully
⏳ Take turns and wait
😊 Enjoy shared experiences with others

Why is this important?
Strong attention and listening are the foundations for speech, language and learning – helping your child to thrive as they grow 🌱

We keep Bucket Time short, engaging and full of fun to match our babies’ development… and they love it! 🎉

🌼 Our Grasshoppers have been busy posting this week! 🌼

This week the Grasshoppers have been completely engrossed in exploring our posting activities. They’ve been experimenting with a variety of different‑sized post boxes and discovering how to manipulate the pieces to make them fit.
Posting is more than just fun — it supports:

▶Fine motor development
▶Problem‑solving skills
▶Hand–eye coordination
▶Early mathematical thinking (size, shape, spatial awareness)

It’s been wonderful to see their concentration, determination, and excitement as they mastered new skills. We’re so proud of their curiosity and growing independence!

🌿 Want to build on this at home?

Here are simple ideas you can share with families:

▶Homemade posting boxes using cereal boxes and lids
▶Sorting games with spoons, lids, or pegs
▶Fine motor challenges like threading or transferring items

🦋 Butterfly Class Fun in the Sand! 🏖️

Our children have been having a wonderful time exploring the sand this week! From digging deep holes to building imaginative creations, the sandpit has been full of busy, creative learners.🌟

Digging, scooping and transporting sand helps to develop their gross motor skills, strengthening arms, shoulders and coordination 💪. It’s also a fantastic sensory experience, allowing children to explore different textures as they pour, pat and mould the sand. Some of the children even enjoyed feeling the sand with their bare feet, adding an extra sensory experience as they noticed how it felt between their toes 👣😊

Learning through play is at the heart of what we do, and our sand area is the perfect place for both fun and skill-building! 😊

🐝 Our Bumblebee Class had an amazing messy play session today! 🎨👣🖐️
We covered the floor with lots of paper and the children had so much fun using their hands and feet to paint and explore different colours and textures. There were plenty of giggles, messy footprints, colourful handprints, and lots of creativity all around! 🌈
Most importantly, the children enjoyed themselves, expressed their creativity, and had lots of fun learning through play. 💛🐝

🐝Our Bumblebees have been busy this week🐝

The children had so much fun creating their very own ball run using pipes and guttering down the hill outdoors! They worked together to problem solve, test ideas, and explore what happened when the balls rolled at different speeds and directions ⚽🛠️ Through this activity, the children were developing important skills including teamwork, communication, critical thinking, and perseverance 🌟

This wonderful learning opportunity links closely to the EYFS, supporting:
✨Communication and Language – talking about ideas and solving problems together
✨ Physical Development – lifting, carrying, positioning and coordinating movements
✨ Personal, Social and Emotional Development – sharing resources, turn taking and working as a team
✨ Understanding the World – exploring movement, gravity and how things work
✨ Mathematics – investigating speed, distance, size and position

Well done, Bumblebees — we are so proud of your creativity and curiosity! 💛🐝