We are still OBSESSED with holidays and some of the children were talking about postcards and some have even sent them to their friends back at Jollies from their travels.

So Imogen created an exciting writing/mark-making opportunity derived from their experiences when she gave her children the opportunity to create their very own holiday postcards….

Together as a group they looked at various postcards from abroad and from local places too and then they designed their own after recollecting exciting places/things they had seen. After ‘writing’ their postcards they went downstairs to post them through our Jolly letterbox…. after ensuring they’d fully glued their huge stamp on of course!!

Jolly posting ways and reminiscing over happy holidays as we spend time together here at Jollies xxxx

After their sleep recently, once everybody had woken up, Natalie’s children all spontaneously decided to observe the outdoor environment as the whole room ended up looking out into the world outside their window!

One little one stopping to pause and reflect and then reacting to what they could see outside led to all their friends then being drawn in to looking outside too at all the different vehicles they could see passing by..

Together with Natalie, their closely observing and sensitively responding grown up, they all stood for ages pointing, discussing and waving to all the different cars and vans (and even some dogs!!) that ventured past our Jolly window…

Everyone got VERY excited and they liked to talk to each other about exactly what they could see as things appeared and disappeared…

This was such a simple activity, but one that helped massively in developing their speech, conversation and communication…They even had a little sing along together when they (very excitingly!!) saw a bus; so of course “The wheels on the bus” was then a must!!

Observing and taking everything in is how we find out all about the wonderful world around us… and we are very fortunate at Jollies to have the biggest and best windows possible to enable this to happen and, as all of Team Jollies know, every moment can be a teaching one so jumping on a spontaneous opportunity and following our children’s lead can result in some golden opportunities to further conversation and communication and just generally enable us all to enjoy having a good old chin wag together!! xxxx

Stephen observed recently that some of their children could be a bit up and down with their listening skills and they could get quite distracted at times….

So to focus in upon this area more and develop these skills and have a positive impact upon their learning and development he invented a new game involving teamwork, communication, listening, coordination and balancing!!

The children had to get from one hoop to the other, passing crates down the line by coordinating their bodies and collaborating whilst also making sure they didn’t fall on the grass!

At all times the children communicated with each other whilst working as a team and they also listened very carefully to one another too.

The challenge was duly accepted and their listening ears were well and truly switched on and their focus was laser sharp!!

After all, teamwork does indeed make the dream work Xxxx

Not that our children are obsessed or anything!! The talk has all been about holidays in Free-Flow recently, either ones that have been taken, or ones that are upcoming…

So passports were found, suitcases packed and the runway prepared as our first Jolly flights began to take off……

Such excitement, imagination and creativity!! We love following our children’s interests here at Jollies xxxx

Adventures with friends and dressing up that never ends… what will you imagine and become today?!?! We can’t wait to see….

From helping to look after patients in hospital, looking after our ‘babies’, fixing the fence in the garden to having a natter in the Jolly cafe…. There are so many possibilities as our imaginations twist and turn and exciting scenarios develop!

Living our best lives here at Jollies Xxxx

Exploring Elephants have shown themselves to be excellent firefighters recently as they rushed to put out the fire Jade and Latisha had created for them!

After observing their children role-playing within the room and shouting ‘Fire! Fire!’ the grownups extended this interest outside on a much larger scale incorporating role play helmets and hoses and even introducing the real hose to fight the flames!

Fire-fighting ways and water squirting days spent roleplaying happily together here at Jollies xxxx

This little one had been very busy crafting away recently and they transformed some cardboard pieces into an aeroplane!

They then went on to show the most important parts; which they carefully explained were the wings and they told everyone around them how these were going to help fly their plane!! Xxxx

. but you find that your little people are never far from your mind!!

Couldn’t resist gathering this lovely bounty from their stunning grounds as I know they’ll make an excellent addition to our mud kitchen… I even checked with reception first before collecting and think it officially went down as their most random request of the day!!! xxxx

During outdoor play recently Free-Flow really used their imaginations and combined the hula hoop and ball they had found and did something a little bit different to their usual preference for spinning or kicking!!

Stephen was requested and soon instructed about EXACTLY what was required of him… he then stood with the hula hoop whilst the group tried to throw the ball through it! This was quite the challenge as Stephen is tall and he was holding the hoop as high as he possibly could!! (Very exciting!!)

Our children drew upon their coordination and best aiming skills to complete their self-selected mission with Stephen.

Aiming was the name of the game and our children persevered and they were focused and VERY determined! Xxxx

It was concentration faces at the ready in Cheeky Monkeys recently as the room are currently loving building and stacking!

So Elise thought her little ones could do with a further challenge of some slightly trickier things to stack and balance than your ‘bog standard’ cubes!!

She went on a hunt and returned with some rounder objects (stacking pebbles), some cylinders and lots of other different, random shapes.

Our children did some fantastic building with the different shapes and they focused and exhibited some excellent hand/eye control and coordination, balance, spatial awareness and problem solving skills!

This little one made a VERY tall tower and then found it so very funny to knock it over and then keep on rebuilding it! The challenge… could they make it even taller the next time?! Xxxx