At the start of the week some of Stephen’s children enjoyed exploring with the coloured wooden blocks, building with them and spontaneously talking about the colours they were using and matching them with their friends’ ones as they played…

So Stephen decided to extend this current interest further by introducing the blocks into the paint!

He sat back and observed closely to see whether the children would colour match? Which colours would they make and use? Which shapes would they spot and discuss as they appeared before them on their paper?

The children loved painting with the blocks; often colour coordinating them carefully by choosing to use a red block in the red paint, and an orange block in the orange paint etc.

There was much discussion around the shapes that were being printed and some children recognised and knew them all and for those that were a little unsure about some of them Stephen was on hand to support them as they chatted away happily together. Xxxx

It was definitely a yes from Jessica as this little one treated her to a delicious hot chocolate complete with wooden ring ‘marshmallows’….

(Although Jessica was a little shocked when she asked how much it would cost at the cafe and was told £5!!!!! …. Good job she’d been saving up all her pennies!)

Creative days and hot chocolate imagining ways spent playing together here at Jollies xxxx

Tomorrow morning’s drop off may take a little longer than usual as tonight some fabulous (pizza munching) fairies have flittered into Jollies to bring tinsel, sparkle, cheer and magic to us all…….

Watch out for Frank (he’s the gigantic dinosaur) as he’ll be waiting to say a big hello when you walk through our Jolly doors and don’t forget to wave to our very own Jolly Snowman too!

HUGE thanks to our fabulous fairies for bringing the sparkle and magic…. we think our children will be sooooooo excited!!!! Xxxx

By playing musical instruments we…

develop a sense of rhythm

learn to discriminate between different sounds

develop our motor skills

strengthen our grip/grasp/hand strength

develop our hand/eye coordination

learn about cause and effect

enable our creativity to flow

respond to others around us

learn how to take turns and share

experiment with movements and their associated sounds

learn about different volumes and speeds

develop our listening and attention skills

….. plus there are many, many other benefits to getting musical, but, as always here at Jollies, our main aim is for our children to simply LOVE LIFE as they learn, learn, learn! It’s not just musical instruments and voices that sing here at Jollies… it’s our hearts too!!!! xxxx

Natalie observed that her children had been obsessed with using certain toys within the room as telephones and they were holding them to their ears and talking intently to the other person on the line.

They appeared to be having some great conversations…. so to extend this interest further and enable even more children to join in (as others around the room were clearly fascinated by the scenarios emerging, but perhaps didn’t quite yet have the confidence to repurpose and imagine another toy/object to be a telephone handset) Natalie brought the light up phones and some other old phones into the room for all the children to use if they so desired.

It is safe to say that her children have then loved using these technology toys and other props and it really was truly lovely to see all these fabulous friends chatting away together and being very imaginative (as the conversations we were hearing were certainly that!!).

The children also loved to pretend to ring their families too and were chatting about how everyone’s day was going so far amongst many, many other topics of interest. They all had so much fun…. proving, as we’ve always known here at Jollies, that it’s GOOD TO TALK!!!! xxxx

…… or at least the cogs are!!! Our sensory room is a space which is a ‘blank canvas’ that can be adapted to suit the needs and current interests and fascinations of all our children from our very youngest to our oldest by bringing in the most appropriate boxes of resources to set up within the room.

We like to utilise every space and opportunity here at Jollies and so these window ‘sucker’ resources have proved to be the perfect addition to this room.

Cogs that turn, fidget spinners that whizz, sucker figures that are flexible and adjustable have really got little fingers working and big brains whirring!!

So many possibilities, so much exploration and investigation as cause and effect and problem-solving elements are unearthed… this sensory space just got even better!! Xxxx

This recent wintry weather has brought us all so much fun!! ….From bringing the snow inside to create a magical winter wonderland to exploring the snow and ice outside. We have loved scooping, pouring, sliding, scraping and throwing!

Today the snow was mostly gone but we still managed to find some amazing icy pieces so we experimented with making them melt as quickly as we could using our warm hands and breath… it’s fascinating stuff this wintry weather xxxx

What a fun-filled time we had last week when we dressed in yellow, pyjamas and spots to support Children in Need. Our children took part in so many yellow, spotty, crazy activities and we can definitely say Jollies was well and truly Pudsified!

Thank you Team Jollies for bringing the fun and thank you to everyone who donated too.

Pudsey will stay in the entrance hall all this week so if you’d still like to make a donation you can… xxxx

Role-playing ways and the happiest kind of days spent pretending together here at Jollies xxxx

Just one VERY happy little one riding his ‘donkey’ Imogen around…

Oh the life of an early years practitioner… our children’s wishes are our commands!! xxxx