Another warm week

This week in Mucky Pups, we have been loving being outside and making the most of the sunshine.  This has really brought out most of the children, some of whom would normally want to stay inside have ventured out!  We have been enjoying stories out there, especially in conjunction with what we’ve been finding in the garden.  Some of the children have been spotting ladybirds all over the place, so we read the story ‘What the Ladybird Heard’ outside.  We also found a caterpillar in the leaf bin, so we gave it some fresh leaves, and have been reading ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.  We also sang our song of the month, as it’s the life cycle of a caterpillar, if you don’t know the words, please refer back to our May newsletter.
As it has been nice and warm, we have had lots of different water activities outside.  We first had lots of paint brushes and buckets of water around the playground for the children to experiment with different mark making.  Not only that, but some of the children used the paint rollers to clean down the house and benches.
 
This week we have been making food again.  Some children have made their own pizza! They used a breakfast muffin cut in half, spread with tomato puree, then topped with cheese, peppers, and pepperoni.  They were brilliant.  Some children went a little overboard with cheese, if that is even possible.
We have also been baking some coconut cupcakes with yellow icing.  There was even one left over for Joe, which keeps him very happy.
Diddi Dance again was a hit this week with lots of the children joining in more and getting to know the steps. 
The ducks have been back yet again, and the children have been feeding them birdseed and making sure they have water in the water tray for a bath.
 
During circle time this week, the preschool children have been looking at the letter T.  Jean has been using the Jolly Phonics video with them to get them used to the kind of thing they will be doing in phonics over at school and we have been looking at the alphablocks video for the first letter sounds the children will be learning for phonics. The children have been looking at different alliteration using the letter T.  Sentences such as The Terrible T-Rex Tiptoed Tonight.  Give it a go with your children at home, see what they come up with, and see if they can find things around the house, or out on a walk that begin with the letter sound ‘t’.
 
The younger group have been doing lots of music and movement in the hall using Sticky Kids.  Before we start, Joe asks the children to feel their heartbeat, listen to their breathing, and feel if they are cold or warm.  Then, after a run around the hall with jumps, touching the ground and spins, we test our heartbeats again.  This is getting the children to realise that exercise has an effect on our bodies.  We’ve been listening to the songs – Let’s Go Walking, Stand Up Sit Down, Funky Monkey, and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.