Chicks News - 2nd May 2025

The Chicks have had a very busy week at 345 Wandsworth and we have enjoyed exploring a variety of activities inspired by our two Topic Stories  ‘What the Ladybird Heard’ by Julia Donaldson and ‘Cows in the Kitchen’ by June Crebbin. This week everything was about exploring the farm and farm animals in preparation for our farm visit next week.

During Free Play we explored farm puzzles, played the farm animals matching game and coloured in farm animal pictures using soft crayons and felt tip pens. In the Messy Tray we explored various materials including mud and hay and pigs, water and ducks and sand and diggers. To work on our construction, design and problem solving skills we used popoids, Duplo blocks and Magic construction to build our own constructions.

Our Role Play Area was set up as a Farm Shop and everyone was kept busy choosing what to put in their baskets, scanning products at the till, and packing them into their shopping bags. Role play activities help the children to develop their communication and language skills as they engage in conversations with each other and their teachers and also supports the development of their social skills as they make friends and develop their imaginative play with each other. 

During our Focus Time we talked about where our food comes from and what products we get from a farm. We looked at milk and we learned that both goats and cows give us milk, and hens give us eggs. We also looked at where tomatoes and apples grow.  To support ur learning we watched a video about sheep shearing and we discussed where we get wool from and we can use it to make jumpers and hats to keep us warm in Winter. During our Communication and Language Focus Time as a continuation of this, we matched food products with their origin on our activity sheet.

During our Write Dance Lesson we worked on our upper arm strength, pretending to drive our cars holding plastic plates in our hand and making a steering motion whilst listening to the song ‘My Dinky Car’.

In the Outdoor Learning Environment we had water play with the ducks and boats, we sprayed the chalkboard with water, we built sand castles in the sand pit, cooked meals in the Mud Kitchen, and explored farm animals, with the dome and small people. We worked on our Gross Motor Skills when we practised jumping from spot to spot with our feet together, and on our balance when we walked on the balancing beams and had fun riding cars and tricycles.

In Art we embraced the children’s love of painting and design and created beautiful farm animals using paint and sponges, glue and feathers or cotton wool. We also took part in a collaborative art project where we used paint, soil and hay to create a background for our farm. 

We are looking forward to another busy week next week at 345 Wandsworth.