Kits News - 27th September 2024
The Kits have had another busy week at 345 Balham, filled with lots of fun activities taking inspiration from our Topic Book, If You're Happy and You Know It by Ladybird Books. This is a lovely book with bright, detailed illustrations. There are fun peek-through holes throughout for children to explore and it encourages the children to sing along and follow the actions accordingly.
The children have been exploring various activities throughout the week and were particularly interested in the magnetic dolls which they enjoyed dressing in the various magnetic clothes available. The children talked about what clothes they liked and what colours they were wearing. The Doll House was also very popular as the children spoke about their families and what was happening inside the house.
The Kits loved making faces using playdough and a variety of Loose Parts and we also used playdough on the Maths table, where the children practised recognising numbers and matching quantities to numerals. The Kits loved looking through the shredded paper to find hidden animals inside. The children used tongs to practise their Fine Motor Skills by using them to take the animals out.
The Safari and animals were very popular with the Kits. The children named all the different animals and we discussed what the animals were doing and what they liked to eat and described how they looked. We even talked about the various sizes of the animals, as some were small and others were quite big.
During our Outdoor Learning Environment, the Kits explored bugs, magnifying glasses and natural objects. They looked through the magnifying glass to see the small details on each bug, where we discussed the different names and how they looked. The diggers with soil and Bob the Builder were very also area the Kits loved engaging with this week. The children helped Bob the Builder fix the road by using different vehicles and they scooped, transferred and used the roller to smooth the road. In the Mud Kitchen, the Kits made Pumpkin Soup and cupcakes using natural objects and utensils and they continued to practise their Gross Motor Skills by using the climbing wall and slide safely with their friends.
This week the Role-Play Area was set up as a 'Supermarket'. The Kits loved purchasing a variety of items; they filled up their baskets and then went over to the self-scan till before placing their shopping into bags. The children practised counting coins at the tills and named different items, too.
This week’s Cookery lesson involved making 'Pizza Faces'. The children used a plastic knife to spread tomato sauce onto their muffins, chopped vegetables, and used their pincer grip to sprinkle the cheese on before decorating it. The children decided that they were all very happy, so they made a pizza face with a big smile!
For their Maths Focus lesson, the children made a face using 2D shapes. We named the different shapes and discussed their properties, counting how many sides each shape had.
During our Literacy Focus lesson, the Kits discussed emotions, using playdough mats and playdough to explore different emotions. In class, we also examined our Emotion Board, discussing how we felt and the other emotion pictures. For our Fine Motor Focus lesson, we practised using scissors or crocodile scissors to make some snips on paper safely.
During our Art this week, the children observed their reflections using a mirror before painting their faces. They then added details to their faces, such as eyes, noses, hair, and some even added ears. We talked about how we were feeling and what made us feel happy.
In the Messy tray, the children continued to strengthen their hand muscles and practised scooping by using Kinetic Sand and small scoops and pots. They also used larger cups and spoons. We discussed how heavy and light the cup was and counted how many more spoonfuls we needed to make the cup full. The children then made several sand castles.
We look forward to another busy week at 345 Balham!