Curious Minds

25/03/2025

Looking forward to hearing from you 😀

10/02/2023

Sensory Play/Experience
Today in our Explorers room we used large bubble wrap and stuck it down on the floor. The children then took off their shoes and lined up taking turns to walk on it. The were cautious at first and walked slowly. Pamela and Courtney then asked the children: What does the bubble wrap feel like?
Tadhg- It feels hard and a bit soft.
Abbie- Soft
Pamela suggested that the kids sit down in a line to see what it feels like and we sang row row row your boat.
Yusuf- I want to jump. Yusif and Sami jumped up and down. They got so excited as they could hear the bubble wrap pop.
Conor- I made a big bang.
Gift- I'm popping all the bubbles.
Pamela asked the children: Where are all the bubbles gone. The children told her they were popping them. We then moved over to another group of children on the other side of the room were there was more bubble wrap.
Yusuf- oh it feels nice. I have done a big jump.
Addidah- comes over and jumps up and down and pops some bubbles. Sami continues to walk up and down on the bubble wrap while Abbie Shay and Terry David jump up and down excitedly.
Abbie and Terry David - it's popping Pamela.
As the children's confidence grew one of the children decided to do a Rolly Poly on the bubble wrap. He was delighted with himself when he succeeded. The other children were very impressed by this.
Rayan- I can do it.
Yusuf- me too.
Yusuf tried and succeeded so he was very proud of himself. This activity was so much fun and the children really enjoyed it. The children were able to act on their curiosity, take risks and be open to new ideas and uncertainty which will help them build confidence, be resourceful and have a positive attitudes towards learning.

28/01/2023

26/01/2023

Process over product
In process focused art experiences for children there are no instructions, no right or wrong way to explore, the art is focused on exploration of techniques, tools and materials. Children's art is unique and individual and entirely the child's own imagination.
Over the last few days in the Explorer Room the we have been continuing with our process focused art activities. For our new learning experience we got an extra large piece of cardboard that extended over two tables. We set the table up with glue and provided the children with a large variety of materials such as cotton wool, matchsticks, sequins, paper, fabric, cotton wool and paint. The children then got to work using the materials provided in their own unique way. They each created different creations on the cardboard. As it was snowing outside on the day the children decided to use white paper, cotton wool and white paint to make snow on the cardboard as they worked they shared their techniques and stories with each other.
Gift- " I'm making snow."
Kara- " the North Pole. These sticks are going to make a sleigh."
Abbie- " I'm painting snow."
Ryan was very busy painting and gluing on some sequin spiders.
Ryan- "a spider . He's on the the paint. Look at his leg. Ryan points it out. Thers all spiders in here hiding. I'm painting the spider house."
Daniel and Tadhg were busy using the red and black paint to paint volcanos.
Tadhg- "I'm going to do he inside of a volcano. It's lava."
Daniel- " a big lava."
One of the other children painted some train tracks.
The children were engaged and focused working with the tools and materials, relaxed, feeling confident and competent, as they worked their individual creations as part of a group project. This learning experience will be available to the children until they are happy to move on to a new project.
Vygotsky states "It must not be forgotten that the basic law of children's creativity is that its value lives not in the product of creation, but in the process itself. It is not important what children create, that they do create, that they exercise and implement their creative imagination."

23/01/2023

. In June 2021 Curious Minds were invited by Lorraine Farrell from the National Council for Curriculum Assessment to share examples of our practice for the Aistear Siolta practice guide. The practice guide draws the two Irish frameworks Siolta the quality framework and Aistear the curriculum framework together in a practical way and offers suggestions, ideas and examples of how they can be used to develop a curriculum that helps all children to enjoy and progress in their early learning and development. We are very proud of all the videos from our Children, parents and staff. You can view the videos [email protected] under Parent Partnerships. We would like to share one video from one of our parents to give perspective parents some idea of the way we work to promote parent partnership in our service.

17/01/2023

Interested in enrolling in Curious Minds we currently have spaces available in our Afternoon Session 1-4pm and are taking enrollments for September 2023 for ECCE. For more information call Ann on 0872977249 or email me on [email protected].

17/01/2023

The children in our Explorers room have been busy this week exploring open ended art. We used paint and different animals to make prints on the paper. Some children wanted to build with the lego and others just wanted to draw their own pictures. Open ended art and materials allows children to express themselves through their art and play. It supports their physical, language and social development. It encourages children to experiment and explore without the pressure of having to have a picture perfect outcome as there is no specific end product. This allows children to expand on their ideas. Aistears exploring and thinking Aim 1 and learning goal 1 states that in partnership with the adult children will engage, explore and experiment in their environment and use new physical skills including skills to manipulate objects and materials. The children had lots of fun and were very proud of their work.

17/01/2023

Our Explorers have been working on their developing social and emotional skills by developing and singing up to their own Morning Agreement.

17/01/2023

Happy New Year To All!
Welcome to our first post of the Year 2023!
We hope Santa was generous and you had a fun filled time with family and friends. Thanks to every one of you for the great turnout at our Christmas Party last month. The children were
wonderful, as expected and a special thankyou to
Santa and all the team for putting on an amazing
show. Now that January has come round we are
ready for routine again. Routine helps children
understand what is about to happen next without being told. This makes children feel secure, comfortable and helps with their emotional regulation.

21/12/2022

Happy Christmas to all of our children and families!

09/12/2022

Congratulations Selina and Jessica on their Graduation
We are so proud of our amazing team members
Selina and Jessica who have completed a major award
this academic year and received their Level 7 Degree
Early Childhood Education from ATU

31/10/2022

Happy Halloween to all our Superhero's in Curious Minds who raised €200 for the Special Olympics as part of our Superhero Day. We have been very busy preparing for ancient Irish festival of Samhain marking the end of harvest and the beginning of winter exploring and carving pumpkins and carrying out experiments to create exploding pumpkins!!!!!!!
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