Good Morning Boys and Girls
Hope you are all in good form and enjoyed doing some of our activities last week , this week is very special because February 1st was the first day of Spring.
Spring is a very special season, its the season of new growth, the evenings will start to get brighter the weather will start to get warmer. Although it has been raining a lot lately that's to help all the new plants to grow. The birds will begin to build nests and lay eggs and all the baby farm animals and wild animals will be born.
The animals that went in to hibernation will begin to wake up. The children learned about hibernation in autumn, they learned about the squirrels and hedgehogs. It's a really exciting time when the cycle of life in the natural world begins to start its annual awakening and one of the most beautiful seasons of the year .
If we were in Pre-School we would be celebrating spring doing lots of fun activities. This week for home activities we will look at life cycles that are relevant to the children but also visible around them. We will look at the life cycle of the plant and butterfly with some fun activities songs and stories. The children always enjoy our spring activities at school, we would usually be planting bulbs and looking after them in the classroom there is always great excitement as they watch to see whose bulb starts to grow first .
Encouraging children to be aware of the world around them is very important as young children are so connected to the natural world, it's where they explore, play and learn, it's also a large part of a young child's life it's where they experience many learning opportunities. In nature, children can run, jump, hop, skip, climb, roll, and shout, which relaxes, and reduces tension, anxiety, and restlessness all beneficial to children's emotional wellbeing and development.
Children love to explore and can spend a long time just enjoying the sensory benefits of being outdoors and connected to nature.
- Build with and dig in dirt
- Watch worms wriggle through the soil
- Gaze at clouds
- Jump in puddles
- Listen to birds sing
- Collect seeds
- Construct things with twigs ,stones and mud.
It's also great fun for children where they can explore and just be children and enjoy the freedom to do what ever they choose without restrictions. With spring here hopefully they will begin to get out more and enjoy the outdoors.
This week we will look at the life cycle of the plant starting with a seed all plants that grow start from a seed ,bulb or with vegetables, carrots ,parsnips they will grow from just there tops where they were attached to the plant ,you can have great fun with these and they grow really quickly .
It's just wet kitchen towel and carrot tops and they grow very quickly.
You can create your own rain Forrest and play with animal figures.
🌱 Life cycle of a seed 🌱
This is a wonderful science experiment to do at home you can use apple/orange pips, dried beans, popcorn kernels ,any seeds from fruits.
This is great for children to watch it's also a great introduction to science, all plants need a certain environment to grow and if you remove one they will not grow ,water ,soil and light. If you try this at home as the seed grows it will need to be put in a small amount of soil and it can be planted outside when the weather gets better,
Theses are two little poems we would use in school to help reinforce the theme of the plant life cycle
🦋 Life cycle of a butterfly 🦋
This is a favourite at playschool, we do so much around this theme ,I miss being with the children and enjoying all the activities that go with this theme.
🐛 Caterpillar crafts 🐛
The children can make there own Caterpillar using an egg box and paint or markers and use twigs for his little antenna these are so cute .
🦋Window Painting🦋
Children love to experiment, draw a butterfly shape and tape it to the outside of the window the child can trace it on the inside and colour it in using markers or let them draw it themselves it will be lovely with the sun shining through and washes off easily.
🐛Caterpillar stories🐛
You can watch the hungry Caterpillar by Eric Caryle on U-tube it's a lovely animated cartoon and a favourite by all children it explains the life cycle in a lovely engaging way. I've included the link.
https://youtu.be/75NQK-Sm1YY
The children will really enjoy it.
Another lovely story is by twinkl about a Caterpillar whose afraid to become a butterfly called the cautious Caterpillar.
https://youtu.be/E0PO0QcPxbk
If you did the sandwich bag tracing activity from last week you could have the children trace a flower shape ,just draw a flower shape yourself and pop it in the bag it would be a nice activity to accompany the theme .
Draw a flower shape for children to trace.
When your out point out the daffodils that are blooming at the moment tell the children their flowers that only grow in spring and point out new leaves and buds on trees.
🌺 Flower decoration 🌺
One more cute daffodil inspired activity it's just egg boxes cut in the shape of a flower and coloured using paint ,crayons or markers and threaded on to string to make a lovely hanging decoration.
Again we would love to see some pics of the kids doing any activities or just having fun.
Enjoy this weeks activities see you next week with some more home based fun and learning.
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