the magic of circle time!!

Recently some of our Free-Flow children sat in a circle and participated in some ‘circle time’. Whenever they had the worm teddy, that signalled it was their time to talk and if they didn’t have hold of it it meant they had to listen carefully to what their friends were saying instead.

Circle time is a great way to develop speaking and listening skills and build confidence and as it was their first time taking part they started simple and had to tell their friends who lived in their house, their favourite colour and what they liked to eat at home.

Our children were very excited by the prospect of having their turn and most liked to chat away when they had the worm in their hands…

It was fascinating for these friends to listen carefully to their peers and gain an insight into each others’ lives as they chatted together xxxx

in preparation for our Jolly Pink Day next Friday (6 October).

Your little one is invited to dress in pink (if they’d like to) and there will be lots of fun pink activities happening throughout the day (and probably earlier in the week too!) and there will be a donation box in the entrance hall to pop some pennies in if you’d like to make a donation to support Breast Cancer Now.

As most of you will know this is something very close to Team Jollies’ hearts; especially after my diagnosis in January 2019 which resulted in me having a double mastectomy after chemotherapy.

Team Jollies were superbly supportive (to me personally and) of the charity and they raised money for Cancer Research by running 5k in pink attire and giraffey ears… they were all truly a vision!!

So we hope we can keep the fund raising, and awareness raising, going by having a pink day again at Jollies next week.

We’ll leave the donation box there all week so if Friday isn’t your little one’s day you can still donate if you’d like to and they are welcome to dress in pink any day next week too…

Thank you all for your support, it really means a lot to the team xxxx

Please check your boobies for your babies everyone… this website may be helpful…

Recently Imogen’s children started off outside setting up and completing obstacle courses where they went up the steps, down the slide, over the bridge, across the crates and walked the plank to finish their course off after first getting really low to crawl under the stand.

This quickly changed when one little one slithered like a snake and this just brought everyone’s imaginations to life as they were suddenly then in the Free-Flow jungle!!

In the next magical moment they were snakes hissing everywhere, grizzly bears looking for their lunch and to finish off with they then morphed into elephants who stomped around!! Oh and, of course, they had to catch a lift on Imogen as it was the only way to travel through the jungle!

They certainly had lots and lots of fun (although we’re not sure who had more… Imogen or our children?! ) collaborating together creating role-play scenarios and moving in so many varied, interesting amazing ways! Xxxx

Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo

Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo

Baby Shark

This little one found it highly hilarious to make her Baby Shark ‘get’ Ava xxxx

Jade and Ava noticed their children were trying to climb on everything within the room…. They seemed obsessed!!

So what did they do? As every intuitive practitioner should, they got the soft play equipment out when they went outside to play so they could both feed their children’s desire to climb but in a safe, suitable, challenging way

The needs of little brains were certainly being met as little bodies could climb, climb, climb away… xxxx

(…. and it’s ESSENTIAL we do too!!)

Putting our bodies and balance to the test as we engage in movement play outside on the soft play mats… Fiona demonstrated, scaffolded and joined in too and her children were all moving in the most marvellous of ways as their coordination and control developed as pathways were forged within their brains!!

When children move this builds critical neural pathways within their brains and this develops their physical competency.

So the more repeated physical experiences they encounter, their sensory receptors increase and this leads to the subsequent cementing of neural pathways within their brains.

The more repetition of movement they experience the more these movements become fully automated…

Once these movements are automated our children’s brains are then free to process other ‘thinking’ tasks such as talking, listening, planning and problem-solving as they are not having to think about the mechanics of how they are moving, as this part is then automatic!

Each repetitive function they experience (through play) becomes an automated movement in time, therefore our children need frequent, varied opportunities to move often and refine their physical skills as the more they move the more they will learn and, in turn, the more their bodies and brains will be able to do!!

Movement play is marvellously fun, but also absolutely essential to get those brains and bodies working really hard!

Admit it though, you thought we were just ‘playing’ didn’t you?! xxxx

This little one manipulated pegs effectively to place them carefully exactly where he wanted them on his board.

Colours were discussed, emerging patterns were spotted and imaginations were used as the carefully-placed pegs were ascribed meaning as the desired picture was created!

All this whilst little fingers were being strengthened and control and coordination was worked upon…. and, of course, …. THE BEST concentration faces emerged too!!! xxxx

Last week we had firefighters with their fire engine and this week we have had a visit from our local police officers with their police van!!

It was AMAZING… our children got to explore the whole van and see what it’s like to drive, through to what it’s like to be locked in the back!! (Not that any of our Jolly children will ever get to see the back of a police van apart from on this one very special occasion we’re sure….)

We looked at the uniforms the officers wear and all their clothing and kit… the children loved to slip their hands into their handcuffs!

The police offers talked about how they help to keep us all safe (and obviously catch the ‘baddies’ as all our children all said!!) and our children know that if they see a police officer in their uniform they can ask them for help if they were ever to find themselves lost or worried

The best bit though…. the sirens!!!!! We heard them from inside the van and it was brilliant… one little one even started raving along to them!!

Thank you so much for visiting and bringing your amazing police van and all the mini uniforms and hats and for letting us explore the van and ask our questions.

You will be inspiring so much future learning, role-playing and fun here at Jollies!! Xxxx

Artistic ways and easel-loving days spent creating here at Jollies xxxx

We just adore these books as a nursery… for a book with so few words there’s just so much conversation to be had together What can be seen? What can be felt? What can be heard? And… where’s the mouse? Soooo many textures to be felt and so much discussion to be had…

Which ‘That’s Not My…’ is your favourite to share together? Xxxx