This week, in preparation for our Christmas Nativity Show, our chosen topic was the Nativity where we recounted the story and extended our knowledge of the Birth of Baby Jesus. Our Role Play area was set up with a Nativity Scene and the children spent the week enjoying acting out different parts of the story. They actively engaged with the pictures, words and signs in our Role Play area, confidently pointing out that “Mary is Baby Jesus’ Mummy”. The children also recounted their understanding that Baby Jesus was born in a stable.
We extended our learning and understanding of the Nativity story on our mark-making table where the children drew the different characters from the story. We further extended this during our Team-building focused activity where the children used boxes and worked together to build a manger for Baby Jesus. It was lovely to see the children use their problem solving skills throughout the activity to collectively think of different ways in which they could build the manger.
In the Outdoor Learning Environment messy play was an absolute favourite. The children washed our bubble cars with large brushes and in response to the children’s requests we extended our messy play by washing babies as well. The children were very busy washing the babies with sponges, giving them bubble baths and then drying them with a towel and wrapping them up to keep them warm. Afterwards, some children placed the babies in the back of the bubble car and pretended to go shopping or to the park. It was lovely to see the children combine their imagination and first-hand experiences while they were playing to develop their role-play scenarios.
This week the Blue Group went on their Outdoor Learning Day where the children went on a Scavenger Hunt to collect natural items! They were each given an egg box in which to collect their found objects. During the Scavenger Hunt the children explored the outdoors environment and the different characteristics of the plants and trees they could see. The children used amazing language and descriptive skills in response to their observations of the natural objects they found
After our Scavenger Hunt the children chose to play ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’ which is fast becoming a tradition amongst the children in the Blue Group and a firm favourite activity on our trips outside the classroom. Afterwards, we discussed what hibernation was and why it is important. The children soon got started on our next activity, working as a team to build a shelter out of sticks for our bunnies who were getting ready to sleep through the Winter Season.
It has been lovely to see the children's confidence growing outside the classroom, with many of them exploring risk taking by climbing trees and sitting on branches. They were very excited to explore different ways of using our natural environment to play which also supported their physical development, imagination, creativity and teamwork skills.