Back at work!!!! At the wood work area today the children created their own natural look to the geo boards. They hammered in the nails and also used a small palm drill to make holes in the wood. Once they had lots of nails in their piece of wood they used the different string and ribbon to wrap it around each of the nails. Whilst doing this the children were developing their hand muscles and fine-motor skills,. We love thinking of new ways to extend their learning in the wood work area as well as adding new resources to make it new and fun. #woodwork #geoboards #realtools #finemotorskills #handeyecoordination #woodworkideas #petemoorhouse #earlyyears #earlyyearseveryday #eytagteam #barnetearlyyearsalliance

Forest school activities. Last week the children began showing an interest in den building. Den building allows children to interact with natural elements. They learn to negotiate, problem solve, resolve, manage and work as a team. As the weather improves we will be doing lots of creative den building with the children and listening to their ideas of how we could make their own perfect den. The children love our hammock and there was lots of turn taking when waiting to have a turn. This was very relaxing and the children felt calm and relaxed surrounded by nature. #forestschool #denbuilding #dens #outdoorplay #teamwork #problemsolving #turntakingskills #earlyyearseveryday #eyfs #earlyyears #eytagteam

🌸 Ruby Room now have a very special gardening area where they are helping to look after the seeds they have planted …. 🌺 Being in the garden provides the opportunity to explore all their senses, develop their physical skills and extend their language and vocabulary. ☀️ Gardening can be a great way to help children to feel empowered as they take on a little responsibility for learning about and tending to plants. Having ownership of a plant, however small, can help children to gain in confidence and self-esteem #earlyyearsgardening #outdoorlearning #gardeningforchildren #understandingtheworld #physicaldevelopment #eyfs #terrifictwos #nurseryeducation #eytagteam #earlyyearseveryday #maintainednurseryschool #barnetearlyyearsalliance

Transient art, Inspired by the artist @jamesbruntartist James Brunt creates beautiful land art using natural objects. His work leaves you with a feeling of serenity and calmness and after seeing his beautiful art work we had to try this with the children. We played some calming music and used our transient art resources and loose parts for the children created their own art work. We displayed pictures of his artwork for inspiration. We did this on different occasions throughout the week and the children really enjoyed it. They were focused and engaged and also explored patterns in their play. #naturalresources #looseparts #artwork #transientart #patterns #creativity #eyfsmathsideas #artists #ideas #finemotorskills #calmingmusic #calmingart #eytagteam #earlyyears #earlyyearseveryday

Expressive arts and design- exploring and playing with a wide range of media and materials. Here are the children busy and truly engaged when creating our lovely wooden collages. Soon to be displayed in our new woodwork shed. We think they look fab!!! #wood #expressivearts #creative #designs #concentration #collage #art #shape #eyfsmaths #artwork #eyfs #eyfsideas #eytagteam #earlyyearseducation #earlyyearseveryday

You did it!!! You completed your sponsored Huff and Puff. Working their physical skills as well as having fun. The children moved around to different physical stations. They were Dancing, working their arms with the parachute, engaging in yoga moves, keep fit moves, a mini marathon around the road and their own obstacle course. Ruby room also completed our huff and puff with ring games, music and movement songs, the parachute and their own obstacle course. After our huff and puff we were all very tired and sat down to have a big drink and a tasty biscuit. Well done team St Margaret’s and well done for raising lots of money. #exercise #physicaldevelopment #grossmotorskills #upperbodystrength #ringgames #dancing #yoga #keepfit #obstaclecourse #beingactive #outdoors #running

More bubble fun today this time with paint. The children were developing the coordination between hands and mouth to create bubbles. It was a very fun and colourful activity. The children loved to see the bubble pattern on the paper. #bubbles #oralmotor #oralmotorskills #colours #patterns #finemotorskills #creative #concentration #bubblepopping #eytagteam #earlyyearseveryday

Bubble fun today in the garden. This was a very enjoyable sensory activity. Playing with bubbles encourages your child to move and coordinate their bodies. Did you know that when you are blowing bubbles you are working on many skills. Especially Oral motor skills, the movement and coordination of these are important in helping with speech development. Blowing bubbles also helps with Joint attention having the ability to share focus on something and following the bubbles together. Can you make your own bubble blower ? You will need…… * A plastic bottle ( cut off the bottom of bottle) * A sock or T-shirt fabric. * Washing up liquid and water * Elastic band to hold sock/ material in place. #bubbles #oralmotorskills #jointattention #coordination #speechdevelopment #sensoryplay #sensoryactivity #socialdevelopment #eytagteam #earlyyearseveryday #recycle #recyledresources

Today It’s World Bee Day. It is so important to draw attention to the essential role bees and other pollinators play in keeping people and the planet healthy. It is celebrated and recognised every year on the 20th may. The children tasted some honey from a local beekeeper. They helped to spread it on the their toast and really enjoyed it. They looked at some photos of a bee keeper carrying out an inspection of the hives. We spoke about how the bees bring nectar from flowers and use this to make the honey. The children were also very creative making bee patterns, chalk pictures and beautiful paintings. #worldbeeday #beekeeping #savethebees #bees #localhoney #ourplanet #painting #patterns #nectar #creative #artists

Super, slow,slimy,snails….. Snails are always a fascination to us……. 🐌 This week we have collected them, counted them,watched them make trails, looked at the patterns on the shells, drawn pictures and painted spirals. So much learning from something so small…. It has been a perfect opportunity to teach our children the importance of taking care of all living things, being gentle and using kind hands We will be looking more closely at some other living things over the next few weeks….what will they be ? 🐸 🐍 🐛 🦋 #nature #earlyyearsnature #understandingtheworld #eyfssnails #snailart #snailinvestigation #outdoorlearning #eytagteam #earlyyearseveryday #earlyyearsexploration #nurserylearning #barnetearlyyearsalliance #maintainednurseryschools

A lovely sunny day with a set up of a big water station in the garden. This was very popular with lots of learning taking place. Water play it is an open ended activity as it allows them to make discoveries and explore outcomes. When playing together the children engaged in turn taking with the different resources. Whilst in play they listened and observed ideas from each-other, which is so important when developing their social skills. They were working their fine and gross motor skills throughout by pouring, squirting , stirring and squeezing. There was also lots of maths involved when using different sized containers. Using language such as full and empty and heavy and light as well as lots of problem solving. #waterplayideas #waterplay #grossmotorskills #finemotorskills #problemsolving #exploration #handandeyecoordination #resources #looseparts #socialskills #outdoorplay #messyplay

Fantastic firefighters……. Following and extending our children’s interests …… After we had used up all the paint on our syringe paintings the children began to use them to spray water. We set up a tough spot and the children helped to draw some flames and our fire fighters got to work 🔥 They were very excited to be given the task to put out the fire and they worked as a team to get the job done 💪🏼 A fun activity to develop their fine motor skills and arm muscles as they used the syringes to put the ‘fire’ out #earlyyearsroleplay #waterplay #outdoorlearning #eyfs #earlyyearsplay #peoplewhohelpus #finemotoractivities #markmaking #cosytuffspot #nurserylearning #maintainednurseryschools #barnetearlyyearsalliance