A special guest at Christmas time

At the end of the term the children celebrated Christmas with a party which included a special visitor - Father Christmas!

Tiny Mites Music comes to Meadgate

Tiny Mites came to Meadgate Nursery last term where the children got to sing, dance, move to different music and meet the Tiny Mite characters. The children enjoyed the session so much that we are now going to introduce the class to the children at the end of every term.

Tiny Mites Music is one of the UK’s leading providers of music, movement and drama classes for babies, toddlers and pre-school children. The  fun filled music based programmes is designed to encourage children’s natural curiosity and imagination and maximise their potential in a playful, safe and encouraging environment, during their most formative years from 6 months to 6 years of age.

Musical fun with guest violinist

To support our topic on Music we invited a Violinist to come and play to the children. The children were able to listen and observe and sing along to some of our favourite songs such as Jingle bells and Twinkle Twinkle Little star. The children also got to experience what it is like to play the Violin and identify the different parts needed to play. The children danced, sang and listened to the different sounds made. The children enjoyed this so much that we have arranged another session again this term.

Grandparents Week

Last term the Grandparents got to come in and play! After recognising that a high number of Grandparents are now providing childcare support to the parents we wanted to get to know them and give them an insight into what the children get up to at nursery. The children listened to stories, played with their favourite toys and enjoyed their grandparents also having lunch with them.

Our Trip to Tropical Wings

An end of term trip to Tropical Wings in South Woodham Ferrers took place in July to support the theme of tropical lands. The children were able to explore the wonderful array of animals on offer and they had the opportunity to explore the Tropical House where they caught a glimpse of some of the world's most exotic and vibrantly coloured butterflies. They could watch the butterflies fly freely over their heads and some were even brave enough to let them land on them. Following the butterflies, there was also the opportunity to experience the variety of free flying birds and reptiles.

In order to capture these learning experiences, the children took their own photos using the disposable cameras provided which were then used to document their learning against the EYFS framework. The trip was extremely well received by staff and parents alike and most importantly the children who are already all looking forward to our next outing!

Children amazed by artist

Meadgate Nursery was fortunate to participate in the Essex Early Years Creative Project which is based on the Reggio Emilia Approach, an Italian child centred and led approach to learning. This involved a visual artist Jacqueline Davies who worked alongside the staff and children to undertake a number of creative projects.

The children, staff and parents were able to explore and use a range of recycled and unusual materials in which they made fantastic dens, musical shakers and large scale pieces of artwork.

Both managers Lauren Garwood and Carolyn Locke commented how the project enabled staff to look at a creative way to document children's learning and was really beneficial to their learning and development eabling them to get messy and have fun.