Spring Topic
This week at Nursery, we would have been thinking all about Spring! We would have looked at pictures of things that you see in Springtime and gone on a walk to see if we could find these signs of Spring for ourselves. Maybe you could look at some Spring pictures with your child and talk about what they all are. See what your child knows already about the different objects and talk about how they change in Spring.
BBC Teach has a short video with beautiful images of Britain in Springtime set to music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLAnt9__5Mg
If you are able to, maybe you could go out in your garden or go for a walk or a drive to look for signs of spring. There is a printed-out checklist in your home learning pack to help you guide your child about what they could be looking for:
There is also a Spring home learning challenge in your pack with further ideas and talking prompts:
Rhyme of the Week
Our rhyme of the week would have been ‘See the Little Bunnies Sleeping’. We have sung this song before as part of singing time so your child may already know it. Here are two different versions of the song on Youtube (please always supervise your child while they are using Youtube):
This version by Mr Tumble:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY4joIoPf80
This version (with lots of other animals too) by Nursery Rhymes TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWbNN9WHvcg
Other springtime songs that you could watch with your child are:
Numberblocks Spring Song:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/numberblocks-days-of-spring-song
Barefoot Books version of ‘Over in the Meadow’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6ljGXMMB-g&list=PL0maGUp7cdUkPJgFg9PL0CAqzSDsWo2UR&index=6
Understanding the World
To tie in with our Spring topic, we were going to start planting seeds in pots to plant out in our garden later on. As the weather seems to be finally improving, if you have flower or vegetable seeds at home then you could start to do some planting. If your do not have seeds but have a garden or outdoor space, try to at least get out in the fresh air and sunshine every day.
Mathematics
We were going to work on the mathematical concept of separating a group of objects in different ways but realising that the total stays the same. We were going to use broad bean seeds, but you could use any small object. Give your child 5 beans (or whatever small object you are using) and 2 pots (or baskets/ plates etc) and make sure that they count so that they know how many beans they have to start with. See how many different ways your child can separate the 5 objects e.g. 2 in one pot and 3 in the other, 1 in one pot and 4 in the other. Ask your child to count and tell you how many beans they have put in each pot. Then ask your child how many beans they have altogether in both the pots. What we are aiming for is to see whether your child is beginning to recognise that there will always be 5 beans no matter how they have separated them so eventually they should be able to answer ‘5’ straight away without having to recount. To record this work, we usually take photos of the different ways that each child has managed to separate their beans and then note whether they have counted them accurately and whether they know that the total is always 5. If you would like to add your own observations to Tapestry I would love to see how your children have got on.
Expressive Art and Design
For Expressive Art and Design we were going to mix colours to make a beautiful Spring display. If you have paints at home, you could help your child to mix blue and yellow to make green to paint new Spring leaves and also to mix white and red to make pink for blossom. If you do not have paints, look through your crayons and try to find spring colours that your child could use to make a picture. If you can, please take photos of your child’s Spring creations and put them on Tapestry.
Another fun activity to do would be to make a springtime nature collage. Look for leaves, petals, stones and sticks outdoors and use them to make a piece of transient art. There is a wonderful artist called Andy Goldsworthy who has spent his career making natural art and you could look at his creations with your child for inspiration. Do a google image search for 'Andy Goldsworthy Art' to see examples of his transient art work.
Penpals Handwriting
This would have been our last week working on our handwriting pattern of loops. Maybe you could have a go at drawing upward loops (like smiles) and downward loops (like rainbows) at home. You could draw them with chalk or water outside; with paints, crayons or felt tips on paper; or trace them in trays of flour, sand or rice. There is a handwriting sheet included in your home tasks pack with loops on it and your child could either use their felt tip (easier) or pencil (harder) to trace over the dotted lines.
Yoga
On Tuesday we would have had our yoga session with Georgie. On her website is a free video of Georgie doing yoga that you could watch and join in with your child:
Georgie can also be found on Facebook (where she offers online classes):
Physical Development
Finally, in our Superstars PE session children would have been working on early ball skills. If you are able to play with a large ball outside you could practise throwing, catching and rolling. If you only have indoor space, you could use a balloon. It can still be used for throwing and catching practise but won’t damage things if it hits them.