Ellison’s excellent close observation of her children playing in the role play area led to her following their interests and developing their physical fine motor skills and manipulation of tools…

She spotted them trying to chop up the Velcro fruit in the role-play kitchen, but struggling, so she supported their play with demonstration and guidance through effective communication to enable them to do this in the most effective way possible.

She then went on a hunt and located the very special young children’s safety ‘knives’ that we have and later her children were spotted putting their newly-acquired skills to the test when they chopped up some real water melon for their own snack!!

Lots of concentration and determination was seen on our children’s faces and they were VERY proud of their achievements!! xxxx

Jade and Tia-Mae’s children have been loving the babies in their room and it turns out they have all been taking very good care of them too.

Following their interests another element was introduced when they brought a baby bath with bubbly water into the room to create a fun bath time for the babies.

They added flannels and towels and they were then good to go!! Quite a few children needed a little demonstration initially about how to gently wash and care for their babies rather than just dunking them under!!

Lots of lovely communication and demonstration inspired their play and soon our babies were having the happiest, bubbliest, giggliest bath times ever!! xxxx

Learning should be fun and turning it into a game and setting challenges is just the perfect way to engage our children.

Free-Flow learnt all about colours and sorting (and counting!) them and raced and chased to do it in the speediest of ways too.

Turns out their colour knowledge is fantastic and that they are also VERY competitive!!!! Xxxx

we simply love to explore!!!!!

Recently our children have wrapped up warm and been filled with awe and wonder at the exciting weather they’ve discovered outside…

They attempted to break the ice up that they found in the tray and then they sent the smaller pieces whizzing and sliding down the tubes to see if the pieces would break up into even smaller pieces!

They also enjoyed exploring and investigating the different sounds they could create by hitting and scraping the ice with the metal utensils… they made a whole range; from very loud to extremely quiet sounds.

One little one collected lots of icy pieces together in a bowl and then explained to Stephen excitedly that she’d made some ‘crystals’… truly awesome and a little bit wonderful!

The funniest of all though was when our children decided to create their very own version of ‘dancing on ice’… slipping and sliding and moving and grooving in the whizziest of ways!! Xxxx

The perfect choice of fun snack here at Jollies xxxx

On Friday Free-Flow definitely had that ‘Friday feeling’… so they decided to bake a cake together with Imogen and Emma

They found a recipe, followed it carefully; weighing out ingredients as they went and they even found out how to safely use the electric mixer to ensure all their ingredients were whizzed together and super smooth.

The result… an awesome cake baked and then decorated with icing and an array of sprinkles… created through the perfect blend of teamwork… yummy!! xxxx

Making choices and independence doesn’t stop at breakfast you know! Our children expressed their preferences and showed off their skills when they poured their milk and peeled their chosen fruit at snack time recently… what stars they truly are!! xxxx

Learning our colours through play… can there be a better way?!

What fun our Exploring Elephants had as they learnt all about the colour blue whilst exploring their imagination and creativity with a very exciting ocean-themed sensory tray! xxxx

Exploring mixing colours again, but this time on a much larger scale!! Our children used a variety of brushes and rollers to move the paint around on their huge sheet of paper.

They loved to discuss the colours they were all making together…everyone decided that when they had finished they had created a dark green/brown colour… ‘just like the forest’ apparently! They then discovered that by turning their paintbrushes upside down and using the other end they could continue making even more marks in this new shade of paint!

Discovering ways and paint mixing days spent creating here at Jollies xxxx