All posts by Louise Gough

W/c 16th October – The Gruffalo

  • Read the story in small groups and encourage them to join in to fill in words
  • Sequence pictures in order
  • Children to talk about their favourite food
  • Gruffalo dice game
  • Sensory play: Scrambled snake, owl ice cream, Gruffalo crumble
  • Add the peg prickles to the Gruffalo
  • Make crispy Gruffalo cakes
  • Paint creatures from the Gruffalo story
  • Move like animals in the story
  • Shadow puppet theatre
  • Find the numbered Gruffalos in sequence
  • Measure and sort flour footprints by size

W/c 9th October – Autumn

  • Autumn Walks – Monday & Wednesday. Set off from nursery at 9:30am and return at 11:30am
  • Read Autumn themed books, e.g. Leaf man, We’re going on a leaf hunt
  • Learn new songs for Autumn
  • Cosy cottage themed role play (indoors)
  • Natural café (outside)
  • Thread the leaves on the string
  • Create Autumn pictures with natural items
  • Conker in paint rolling
  • Make leaf/bark rubbings
  • Learn new words e.g. Hibernate, deciduous, acorn, chestnut, conkers, foraging
  • Finger painted tree
  • Make leaf soup
  • Discuss seasonal changes
  • Make playdough hedgehogs
  • Use natural objects for one for one counting

W/c 2nd October – Owl Babies

  • Read Owl Babies with props
  • Talk about how each owl felt during the story
  • Discuss have you ever felt lonely, scared, sad, happy
  • Cafe role play area
  • Use natural media to make owls
  • Make marks with feathers
  • Sort & count natural objects
  • Talk about road safety
  • Work as a team to complete a task
  • Find out facts about owls
  • Use guttering to move objects
  • Make nests from dough and natural objects
  • Use scissor snips to create feathers
  • Make marks in sand with sticks

W/c 25th September – Families

  • Discuss our families
  • Think about different family members – e.g who is the tallest?
  • Read stories with puppets
  • Sing nursery rhymes with props
  • Create gingerbread people
  • Salt in the square tuff spot
  • Think about body parts
  • Hide name cards in sand and find and label
  • Make a car out of large blocks and think of journeys we go on
  • People dressing up puzzles
  • Make faces out of play dough
  • Draw around each other and compare heights
  • Draw around hands and count fingers

W/c 18th September – Ourselves

  • To notice and describe faces
  • Read stories with puppets e.g “Colour Monster” “Owl Babies”
  • Baby clinic themed role play, practice dressing dolls
  • Paint self portraits using mirrors
  • Make marks in shaving foam
  • Threading with small beads
  • Move using different parts of our body
  • Listening games, e.g bean game
  • Make faces in sand using natural objects for features
  • Colour Monster – what makes us feel different emotions
  • Touch and feel sensory books – use descriptive words
  • Use large chalks on the playground
  • Draw round hands and count fingers

W/c 11th Sept – Nursery Rhymes

  • Learn new rhymes
  • Look at the nursery rhyme sacks
  • Talk about feelings – how did Humpty Dumpty feel?
  • Ask what is our favourite rhymes
  • use instruments to add rhythm to rhymes
  • Explore spiders and drainpipes
  • Songs in the water tray – explore floating and sinking
  • Draw happy/sad faces on Incy Wincy spider
  • Lightbox with stars
  • Plant bulbs like Mary Mary
  • Make spiders with 8 legs
  • Nursery rhyme jigsaw puzzles
  • Ring songs, e.g Hokey Cokey, Mulberry Bush
  • Make jam tarts in playdoh
  • Move buses along the road, people and vehicles

W/c 10th July – Rosie’s Hat – Seaside

  • Read seaside stories – Rosie’s hat, Spot goes on holiday, What the ladybird heard on holiday
  • Ice cream parlour role play
  • Make ocean music using instruments
  • Learn about pollution/littering
  • Parachute: Make waves for beachball
  • Write letters in coloured sand
  • Learn how wind can change appearance and position of things
  • Investigate weight using buckets and seaside items e.g pebbles
  • Make sea creatures from playdough
  • Cutting skills – create octopus tentacles
  • Play volleyball in sandpit
  • Experiment with sand to make castles
  • Magnetic fishing game
  • Make marks in coloured sand
  • Make messages for bottles
  • Use tongs to find items in jelly
  • Share stories/experiences of holidays