Free-Flow we’re playing outside with Emily when they discovered a worm! They took time to observe closely together and they noticed how long he was and how much he wriggled around.

One of the children placed a small twig in front of him and Emily commented and asked, “I wonder if he will go underneath, or on top of, the twig? ….. What do you think?”

This got our children pondering and they waited patiently and watched very closely and found that the worm went underneath their twig! “He’s super worm!!” one little one announced!

Another child then placed a second twig and asked their friends, “Do you think the worm will go underneath or on top of the twig?” They unanimously shouted “Underneath!” as the worm slowly wiggled its way under the twig. The children were just so excited by the wriggly wiggly worm’s antics and they shouted, “Emily! Look Emily! He is going underneath the twig”.

We like to take every opportunity gifted to us to enhance our children’s learning and understanding and Emily used this chance to focus upon some positional language and developed their conversation further in a very natural way.

Fascinating observation of nature ways and wriggly worm inspired days spent discussing together here at Jollies xxxx

(and gets the ducks onto a ‘boat’ too!)

Stephen closely observed some great teamwork going on recently in the water area within Free-Flow! This busy, focused group of collaborating friends were helping each other to get the ‘ducks on the boats’ enabling them to travel swimmingly down the plastic drainpipes! But how would this work?! How could they get them to travel in the quickest, smoothest, most effective way possible?! Lots of problem solving and critical thinking skills were called upon…

Of course… let’s help each other to pour and fill with the various jugs, buckets and containers to create LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of water, to throw down the tubes and help those ducks swim, swim, swim!

It’s amazing when a team comes together to achieve their self-selected task and complete a desired shared goal so successfully! Xxxx

make learning journeys possible and help our children to thrive… although that time of year is coming up when we have to begin to say goodbye to our BIG school leavers and it’s a real wrench to let them go as we’ve known and cared for them since they were tiny!!

Getting ready to spread their wings and fly… but us Jolly grown ups will have a tear in our eye….

Xxxx

a partner in crime!!!!

Friendships make our hearts smile here at Jollies… xxxx

Free Flow love roleplay!!! That’s definitely not a secret here at Jollies… There’s nothing they like more than putting on one of our masks and pretending to be Spiderman, Batman or basically any other superhero they can think of.

Recently one of the children asked if they could make their own mask, and not long after that ALL the children wanted to do this!

So that’s exactly what they did with Jess… their wish was her command!!! Our children had so much fun making their masks and they were so excited they could wear them and role-play until their hearts were content xxxx

Bob the Builder… Yes we can!! Cheeky Monkeys have enjoyed using the Bob the Builder play set to scoop and pour the green sand. Throughout this activity they worked upon their colour recognition as they chatted about, and passed each other, the different vehicles and construction items and they also focused upon their fine motor skills too as they transported the sand in a careful, coordinated way!

Master builders are what we have here at Jollies!! xxxx

On Friday Emma, Imogen and Free-Flow went for a walk into the shady forest!! They had lots of fun along the way. En route they passed the new shelter in the train station and just had to sit in it!! Imogen showed everyone how to print tickets and they then each got one!

They then marched over the bridge, stamping their feet to make lots of noise, as well as spotting the 446! They walked very sensibly along the path, holding hands with their friends to keep safe, BUT then the path ran out… So they all chatted about needing to stay near the very edge (and not in the road!) and this quickly turned into a balancing game…… They had to balance, staying on the white ‘snake’ (the white lines!!). We saw lots of great control and coordination…

Emma then noticed their shadows so they all spent some time making their shadows wave and some shadows even stood on one leg!!!

They moved onto the kissing gate which led to the wiggly paths through the forest!! Emma and Imogen let their children lead the way; choosing which path to follow whenever they got to a crossroads until they all found the perfect spot for a snack!

A lovely dog must’ve smelt their fruit as it came bouncing out of the bushes to see everyone before running back to find its owner.

Refuelled it was swiftly on to even more adventures through the twisty paths and into a meadow… It opened up into a very wide space which gave everyone the perfect opportunity to do some spinning and twirling!!

They stumbled upon a little magpie who was blocking their path and it looked to be asleep, but they thought it actually had a poorly leg when they carefully and quietly looked more closely…

They then ventured back to Jollies by travelling over the trip trap bridges, going around the muddy patches and avoiding the nettles!!!

Exhausting …. but excellent all at the same time!! xxxx

Teamwork made the dream work… and experimentation and investigation was definitely the name of the game!!

Different ramps were created, speeds compared, sizes discussed (as some vehicles simply didn’t fit down the tubes and ramps!), cars were counted, dumper trucks filled and general fun was had between friends; as they all played imaginatively together and solved any problems they encountered along the way when their cars’ journeys were temporarily halted by too tight a tunnel!! xxxx

We’ve been football crazy today here at Jollies!!!

All that’s left to say is… COME ON ENGLAND !!!! Xxxx

Experimentation was the name of the game when Jade and her children were using and exploring the paint recently as they decided they wanted to do some painting, but instead of just using paint Jade added crazy foam into the mix!!

Her children could add foam and different colours and quantities of paints into their tray and then they gave it a mix to see what would happen before placing their paper on top.

Fabulous mixing occurred and lots of discussion about the colours of the paint and what it looked like when it mixed with the crazy foam naturally arose. Once the paper was placed onto the paint the children then pressed it down firmly to transfer the print onto their paper.

When they all lifted the paper off they were very pleased with their artwork as you could see all of the different colours and how they had squashed and squeezed and mixed together.

A unique and wonderful piece of artwork was created, but the process was way more important as it was fascinating to watch colours mixing, textures being explored and little fingers really got working and strengthening to independently add paints from their chosen bottles by pumping them and then mixing them into the foam with little sticks which required a firm pincer grip and excellent control!

Painting with a twist… it’s just the Jollies way!! Xxxx