Sensory smiles….

When you find yourself exploring the sensory corner with Nat Nat loving all the brightly coloured ribbons and the different textures and sounds around you.

Ribbons tickling the tops of heads produced the biggest giggles!!! Although shaking them in the air all around came a very close second!!

Sensory fun for everyone spent giggling together here at Jollies xxxx

(… that is…when your usual working day involves transforming yourself into a ‘big bird’!!!!)

That’s the life of a Team Jolly member as your children’s interests and the spontaneity of the nursery day can take you literally anywhere and in Imogen’s case it turned her into a gigantic bird!!

A couple of children had been watching the birds out of the window and one little one was absolutely adamant that a big bird was coming into Jollies!

So their wish was Imogen’s command… she disappeared upstairs to the attic and quickly created some feathery wings and a beak before flying back into the room much to her children’s amazement and excitement!! She had also been flying around collecting nesting materials before swooping into the room and in the next moment the perfect nest had been created for the baby birds too.

Lots of bird fact finding and role play later and our children’s imaginations were even more fired up than before.

‘Bringing the magic’ is what early years practice is truly all about… (and a little sprinkle of total craziness helps too of course!!! )

Imogen’s crazy ways and following our children’s interests during days spent enjoying learning together here at Jollies xxxx

Our babies have loved to explore the play dough recently sat at the table… They had lots of different wooden tools to roll out the dough and make marks with too!

They also had some cutters to make different shapes and after careful modelling by practitioners they had soon learnt how to use them and were amazed by the shapes created and the marks they had made in their dough!

Our children were confident when handling tools and they used them effectively to make marks (and consequently then explore texture and pattern!), but many also liked to simply use their hands to make marks too as they enjoyed the sensory feedback the dough provided them with.

They also loved changing the form of the dough by breaking off different pieces and then passing them to the grown ups… After all, we do LOVE to share here at Jollies

Squishing and squashing doughy ways and exciting imprinting days spent exploring here at Jollies!! Xxxx

Tummy time is just as important at two years as it is at two months old, as children are continuing to grow, develop and strengthen their bodies and their fine motor control and providing tummy time and the chance to make marks from a different perspective will most definitely encourage and facilitate this.

So armed with this knowledge, it was time for Jade to follow her children’s interests of wanting to make marks, draw and create, but not at a table top or on an easel, but rather flat on the floor instead…

Her children immediately gathered around and laid on their tummies as they reached and stretched and held their heads up and positioned themselves on elbows and twisted and turned as they chatted to each other and checked out their friends’ drawings/creations too.

This was such a simple activity, but such an incredibly grounding one too, as this time can help develop sensory awareness surrounding the stomach (particularly significant for those who are building up to potty training), it strengthens the core as children look up and around and push themselves up on their hands and elbows, it enhances their ability to track movements and people and focus on the marks (fine motor!) they are making whilst maintaining their tummy drawing position (great early reading skills!), it reduces the desire to fidget as it can encourage focus as the children feel so grounded and secure and know exactly where their body is within space (something that can be hard to feel and achieve when sat upright on a chair).

There are many, many other benefits to time spent laid on tummies too, so why not push the table to one side and get down on the floor as you draw, glue, build and create together as your little one will reap the benefits in the future whilst having lots of fun experimenting and exploring in the present moment too xxxx

We love our sensory room as it’s such an exciting space to explore for all our children; from our babies to our oldest giraffes… We simply change the sensory resources within the room to match their differing needs, abilities, ages and stages of learning and interests…

In these photos there are buttons to press, lights to switch on and off once the switching mechanisms have been mastered, cause and effect to be explored, reflections to be marvelled at, funny faces to be pulled, wonderful imaginary conversations to be held on exciting light up phones and these are only a teeny-tiny example of the fun that can be had in this superb sensory space here at Jollies xxxx

You know our children mean business when the ‘concentration tongue’ comes out… we love it when our little ones try, try, try again to achieve their self-selected desired challenges.

In this case perseverance definitely paid off as the balls eventually balanced on the tees in the dough!! Xxxx

……… (just an amazing friend to race and chase around the decking with waiting outside the door)xxxx

This week the children in Free-Flow have been fascinated with face painting and pretending to paint their friends’ faces.

This interest was shown again this morning when they imaginatively used some different coloured wooden owls to pretend to paint faces.

Well you all know how we just love to follow our children’s interests here at Jollies; so Emma and Imogen decided to get the real face paints out for our children to use!!

This little one has absolutely loved getting his face painted by his bestie… he requested a monkey and she waved her magic paintbrush and suddenly there was one very cheeky monkey stood in front of us!!!! xxxx

Our little ones have a splashtastic time getting muddy and messy as they mix away!!

Will you fancy a brew, or will a mud pie catch your eye?!

Whatever you decide upon we know you’ll have a muddy marvellous time cooking and creating here xxxx

Yesterday morning toothbrushing got mentioned by a few parents at drop off time; as one child had loved it and another had struggled a little over the weekend.

So to encourage positive toothbrushing, supporting our parents/carers and also following on from our children’s interests Jade brought the toothbrushing box into her room and set it up in a tray.

The room began by reading some books together before then brushing some giant teeth…

Our children were on a mission to ensure every tooth was brushed thoroughly within each of the mouths and they practised squeezing the toothpaste carefully onto their brushes.

Hopefully they will now be very excited to go home and show their expert toothbrushing skills and share what they have learnt through looking at the books with their mummies and daddies and grandmas and grandads too

Partnership working ways and perfecting toothbrushing days spent learning here at Jollies xxxx