Crazy foam and gloop were the chosen materials to explore in this time and both enabled colours to mix in the most exciting sensory way!
Some children preferred to use utensils (paintbrushes and lollipop sticks created great ‘sparklers’) but some simply wanted to get both hands stuck in and make the fireworks light up the night sky!! Our children chose their own preferred ways to explore as they accessed both these innovative trays.
Fireworks certainly appeal to our senses and our Jolly interpretations of these definitely provided some excellent sensory feedback for our little ones too… xxxx
Our children’s excitement has turned from all things spooky to all things sparkly as many are now excitedly talking about watching fireworks in their garden and having sparklers with their families at the weekend!!
So this week, stemming from their interests, we have seen children creating bonfires out of craft materials, we’ve had children whizzing and jumping and twirling and swirling outside as they’ve pretended that they themselves are fireworks (with some AMAZING sound effects to accompany them too!!!) and now Tia has excitingly replicated the night sky in a mini ‘tuff tray’ ready for some very exciting mark-making in Cheeky Monkeys…
After dying some rice black and then layering this on top of sparkles and sprinkles she has then added stars and pipe cleaners in the most exciting and inviting way to entice our children to explore and play.
It has been wonderful to see the magic on their faces as their night sky turned bright and sparkly as they twirled and swirled their fingers around !! Xxxx
After going on a very exciting leaf hunt around the village collecting all things autumnal, Free-Flow have since been using their collected leaves to make their very own leaf man, just like in the story they all shared!
They had to use their imaginations to help them create their masterpieces. Our children enjoyed creating their little leaf figures and they were so very proud of them!
Whilst creating their figures they talked about all the features they would need on their leaf people’s faces before adding them on to really give them character and bring them to life…
Creativity with collected leaves… autumn is just so exciting and inspiring!! xxxx
At lunchtime today the tables were set for ‘spooooooooky’ as we enjoyed today’s ‘witchy woo stew’ followed by ‘ice scream’… the children were sooooooo excited by the addition of spooky sauce and sprinkles on their pudding as an extra Hallowe’en treat!!!! xxxx
A HUGE thank you to all our Jolly grown ups for their Hallowe’en efforts… from the dog and the frog and the cat struggling to find room on the broom to spooky dresses and pjs and tops, to sparky stars and cats… we simply have it all going on here at Jollies…
Our children look AMAZING too… we have wicked witches, the cutest pumpkins, purring cats and ghost busting heroes amongst many, many other creative things! Thank you mummies and daddies for all your efforts in helping our children to join in with the spooky fun of the day!! xxxx
Many of the invitations to play set out for our children by their Jolly grownups last week had a Hallowe’en inspired focus, because, as this exciting evening draws ever closer, it is very much on our children’s minds and we always strive to follow their interests!!
We frequently overhear them excitedly talking about how they are looking forward to dressing up and going trick or treating with their mummies and daddies as they recall previous experiences (mostly involving HUGE buckets of collected sweets ) from other years.
Throughout the week our children have enjoyed exploring with a wide range of different materials and resources across all rooms.
Stephen decided that to extend his own children’s spooky interests further they could work together to create a HUGE floor painting; which involved orange paint (did we mention our children are currently also pumpkin obsessed too?!), black sugar paper and a variety of paint rollers!
This was extremely exciting, but there was also ‘method behind the madness’ as soooooo much learning was naturally taking place…
Stephen knew that whilst his children were participating in such an activity they would be focusing upon developing their movement skills; as they were busy finding different ways to move in order to create marks on their paper…
They experimented with their body’s movement and placement and they trialled different ways of moving; would they sit and lean forward? Could they lay on their stomach and stretch out their arms to paint? Would they decide to kneel down and lean their body forward whilst balancing carefully?
The aim was to NOT touch the black paper (with anything apart from the roller), but instead to use their bodies to balance and stretch… This then in turn strengthened their muscles and the stability of their cores!!!!
Of course all our children were totally oblivious to all the learning that was taking place and why this activity had been planned for and set up in this way in the first place. Instead they just became totally immersed in excitedly chattering about Hallowe’en and they loved finding out different ways to move in order to successfully make their marks whilst ensuring all the paper was covered in exactly the way they desired it to be!!
Turns out we know exactly who to call… Free-Flow revealed themselves to be excellent Ghostbusters today… They hunted high and low and raced and chased until they spotted all the ghosts hidden in our outdoor area by Brooke and Imogen!! Xxxx
From witches’ brews, investigating the innards of a pumpkin, dressing up in an array of Hallowe’en costumes, hammering golf tees into a pumpkin, scooping spooky jelly, finding spookiness in superb sensory trays, to bowling with ghost skittles and an ‘eyeball’ we’ve quite simply had it all going on here at Jollies this past week as Hallowe’en fast approaches….
Don’t forget if your little one would like to dress up on Tuesday next week (or any other day if they are not in on Tuesday…) they’d be VERY welcome to join in all the spooky fun!! Xxxx
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