Happy Friday Everyone!
Thank you all for a wonderful week, we have had such a lovely week welcoming all our friends back and sharing lots of cuddles and giggles.
This morning Miss Crystal and Miss Shae welcomed our friends Kyla, Jordan, Larsson, Fletcher, Zelia and Shayaan with lots of smiles and cuddles and couldn’t wait to start our Friday! We started our morning with indoor/outdoor child led spontaneous play. Outside Jordan had found our sensory bags which have been made with hair gel and had sequins and pom poms added to them. Jordan enjoyed pushing down on the bags watching the sequins move around underneath his hands, giggling as he did. The sensory bags are great for fine motor development as they use their hands to move the items inside around, it is also beneficial for encouraging exploration of sensory play and feeling different textures. Larsson had found the push lawn mower, he had it on its side as he looked and studied the wheels, he began to push the wheels, he noticed that they moved as he would push them. He began to look at them closely, looking as though he was trying to understand how they work. Larsson was demonstrating his ability to use his gross and fine motor skills as well as his problem solving as he played with the lawn mower. Fletcher was over at the wooden climbing equipment showing off his walking by walking over the mini bridge and walking around the cube climbing frame. Fletcher is enhancing his gross motor muscles through walking and beginning to explore more challenging approaches to moving his body through climbing and balancing. Zelia has begun to take steps, so she demonstrated excitement when she spotted the walker. Quickly pulling herself up into a standing position and walking as the pushed the walker. Zelia is demonstrating her confidence and sense of agency as she seeks out support to help her with her walking.
Our group time today we sat together on the mat before getting ready to put some friends down for their first sleep and morning tea. We danced and sang along to ‘Baby Shark’, ‘Incy Wincy Spider’, ‘ABC’ and ‘Dingle Dangle Scarecrow’. We loved singing and dancing along sharing lots of smiles, clapping and laughing. To finish off group time we sang ‘Bee Bee Bumble Bee’, we sing this everyday to be consistent with our transitions to meal time and continuing to help our friends recognise and acknowledge their names.
After morning tea and as our friends woke up, we engaged in a one-on-one learning experience which encouraged our friends to view themselves in a mirror and identify their reflection. At first, we placed the mirror down and sat in front of it to allow our friends to acknowledge it and take a moment to notice their individual reflections. Once we had recognised ourselves, we used some face chalk to draw on our nose and see what their reactions would be when they saw it in the mirror. After this we then allowed our friends to explore their creativity by giving them opportunity to draw on the mirror with the chalk. Shayaan was very intrigued with this learning experience and displayed curiosity as he sat in front of the mirror and reached out, looking as though he was attempting to reach and touch his reflection. He laughed as he saw himself and as Miss Crystal pointed to the chalk on his face. When he was given the chalk, he gripped it in his left hand and attempted to draw on the mirror. When it didn’t work, he looked at the chalk, moved it around in his hand until it was facing the opposite way and then attempted to draw again. This time it worked! Shayaan had a big smile on his face as he continued to use his imagination and creativity on the mirror. Next up was Fletcher and he demonstrated a sense of eagerness to explore what his friend was just doing. He sat in the mirror and spent some time sitting, looking at his reflection, then looking to Miss Crystal. Miss Crystal would put her face next to Fletcher’s and giggle with him as we both looked at our reflections. Miss Crystal then added some chalk to his nose, Fletcher took a second to take in what had happened and then looked in the mirror looking like Miss Crystal pointed to the chalk on his nose. Outside we had a sensory small world tray set up with some coloured chickpeas and some Australian finger puppets. Our friends were able to explore this area with their sense of touch and sense of taste. Miss Crystal has been getting some inspiration for fun sensory based experiences that are taste safe. We loved picking the chickpeas up, squeezing them in between our fingers and tasting the chickpeas. This activity was a fun way to extend on our interests in sensory play and extending our fine motor skills. While our friends were playing with the chickpeas, Kyla was wanting to sit up, we put her in our bumbo so she could see what was going on. Miss Crystal placed the sensory bag with sequins in front of her, Miss Crystal used her hands and helped Kyla to press down on the sensory bag. Kyla had a big smile and giggled at Miss Crystal as they played with the sensory bag.
Our friends all followed their own individual sleep routines as best as they could! We endeavour to follow each child’s home routine in whatever way we can. As the afternoon sets in, we will enjoy some indoor/outdoor play, having opportunity to play with what we choose before all coming inside when the weather becomes cool.
Morning Tea: Scrumptious Bananarama Split with some fresh fruit
Lunch: Roast Vegetables, Vegie meatballs and fresh side of salad
Afternoon Tea: Crunchy munchy chocolate topped rice and sunflower slice and side of fresh fruit
Have a beautiful weekend and we can’t wait to see you all next week!
Love Miss Crystal and Miss Shae xx
