Chicks News - 25th September 2026
This week’s learning was inspired by the lovely book ‘Super Duper You!’ by Sophy Henn. The book celebrates children for being unique, special and themselves. It encouraged children to recognise that everyone is different and that it is wonderful to be who you are. Through bright illustrations and playful language, the book explores individuality, confidence and self-expression.
Throughout the week, the children learned about inclusion, friendship and what made each of us unique. We encouraged the children to understand that we were all friends at nursery and that, although we might look different, enjoy different things and have different strengths and interests, we are all special in our own way. The children began to develop an understanding that it was okay to be different and that everyone was unique.
During Circle Time, the Chicks and Hatchlings learned the song ‘1, 2, 3, Good to Be Me.’ Singing together encouraged the children to develop confidence, self-expression and a positive sense of self.
During Circle Time games, the Chicks continued to develop their listening skills through a variety of listening games. They also played a guessing game where the teacher used simple descriptive language to talk about one child. The rest of the group listened carefully and tried to guess who the teacher was describing.
This activity supported the children’s listening, attention, understanding and vocabulary, while also encouraging them to notice and celebrate the unique qualities of their friends.
When reading the story, the children talked about the characters and explored what made each character special. We encouraged the children to notice similarities and differences and talk about simple ways we could be kind and caring towards our friends.
For our Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) Focus Time, the Chicks had opportunities to develop their confidence by standing in the middle of the circle and showing their uniqueness. They chose to move in their favourite way, sing, dance, talk about something they enjoyed or share something that made them special.
Through this activity, the children were encouraged to develop confidence and self-esteem and express their likes, dislikes and feelings. They began to recognise and talk about their own interests and preferences and noticed that other people might have different interests, preferences and characteristics.
As always, Communication and Language was threaded throughout all of our activities. Through conversations, storytelling, questioning and imaginative play, we encouraged the children to share their ideas, listen to others and develop new vocabulary linked to the story and our theme of being special and unique.
The children continued to enjoy imaginative play in our extended Role Play Area, which was set up as a Home Corner. They had opportunities to explore caring for babies and preparing delicious, nutritious meals in the kitchen.
This provided wonderful opportunities for the children to develop their communication and language skills while practising social skills, turn-taking, cooperation and listening to one another.
Through playful learning experiences, the children developed an understanding of our classroom principles, especially ‘Kind Hearts’ and ‘Gentle Hands.’ We encouraged the children to show kindness, care for others and use gentle hands when playing together.
During Science Focus Time, the Chicks explored their individual fingerprints using pencils, sellotape and magnifying glasses. They had the opportunity to look closely at their fingerprints and began to notice that everyone’s fingerprints were different.
The Hatchlings explored a variety of different textures and materials in the messy tray. They were encouraged to use their senses to touch, explore and describe how the materials felt.
During our Art activity, the Chicks used paint and brushes to create their own pictures. They were encouraged to talk about the things they liked to do and what made them special.
The Hatchlings explored a range of different materials and techniques to create their own individual pictures. This allowed them to explore colour, texture and mark-making while expressing themselves creatively.
For their Physical Development (PD) Focus Time, the Hatchlings explored different materials and textures by walking barefoot over a variety of safe surfaces. This sensory experience encouraged the children to explore how different materials felt under their feet while supporting their balance, coordination, body awareness and sensory development.
We are looking forward to another exciting week at 345 Nursery Wandsworth.
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