Welcome to the EYFS Lockdown Journey.

January 2021

What a busy start to the year! We have created our lockdown bubble which involves children from Time for Twos, Nursery and Reception. We started by exploring our environment and learning how to play together.

Week 1

Winter Falls

We started the week discussing winter and went on a sensory winter walk. We watched various clips and came up with a lot of winter vocabulary, which we turned into a table top display.

We were very creative making Igloos with the junk modelling. We also made a small world habitat for the winter animals. We talked about what animals to add and how they could keep warm.  

In the water area we made ice cubes and talked about the difference between hot and cold. And what would happen as the ice got warmer!

In the tough tray we added flour to make a 'snowy' scene and the children added vehicles to create marks.

We also used our 'funky fingers' to write some of our phonic sounds we had learnt that week.

The reading area was very popular, as we added a mixture of fiction and non-fiction books, the children enjoyed sharing the stories and asking lots of questions.

Week 2

Winter Wonderland

We continued the week discussing winter, the children were able to contribute a lot more ideas as we had snow over the weekends! We talked about how to keep ourselves warm, what the snow felt like and what time of animals would enjoy the cold weather. 

The children got creative making 3D snowflakes and winter scenes using resources of their choices; glitter, paint, collage materials and PVA these are just a few! 

The children got creative making 3D snowflakes and winter scenes using resources of their choices; glitter, paint, collage materials and PVA these are just a few!

Together we created The Antarctic. The children added ice, water and snow from outside and placed various animals they thought lived there. We talked about what would happen to the snow as the room became warmer, we soon recognised it would begin to melt.

In the Sensory Area in a Tough tray, we added slime, we discussed how it felt and the children enjoyed getting Messy!

The writing area was popular this week with some of the children able to write some CVC words from the sounds we had previous learnt. The math focus this week was counting and recognition of more or less. The children played small team games of throwing the ball into a hoop and counting how many each child got and then recognising who got the most or least.

Week 3

The Three Little Pigs

We started the week introducing the Three Little Pigs. The children were able to talk about what they remembered from the traditional story.

The children got creative making homes for the Three Little Pigs. They used cardboard boxes for each house and worked together to create each Little Pig a home. Some children printed using the foam blocks and paint, some used sticks and tied them together to build a house and other used PVA to cover boxes with straw.

The children created a brick house for the third Little Pig, using the foam bricks wearing their construction hats and hi-visibility coats. They worked together to place the bricks together carefully. Some children created houses using the Mega-blocks and Lego bricks.

In the Funky Fingers area we used the play dough to create the little pig family, some models of different houses the Three Little Pigs could build. They created different model to keep them safe and hidden away from the Big Bad Wolf!

The writing area was popular this week with some of the children able to write some CVC words from the sounds we had previous learnt and trying to involve some new sounds we had been learning.  The math focus this week was recognition of 2D shapes. The children were able to recognise some of the shapes around nursery.

Week 4

Dear Zoo

We started the week reading Dear Zoo and discussing what types of animals we would find at the zoo. The children also watched various clips about different types of animals and their habitats.

The children got creative making animal print pictures, we looked closely at 3d animals and pictures to copy their prints. We also made animal masks using any resources we collected ourselves. We also made binoculars and went on a bird walk to search for different types of birds. The children also used various food and bird seed to create bird feeders, which we are planning on placing in various locations around our school. 

Together we created a Small World zoo using various materials. We talked about what the animals were, what types of animal’s lives in a zoo and what type of things they needed to live in there.

In the Water area, we added animals the children chose would live in water, these included fish, sharks and penguins. The children also decided to add the jugs to the water and we talked about empty and full.

In the construction area we used a variety of construction toys to build our own zoo and add animals to their enclosures.

In the reading corner, we added a mixture of fiction and non-fiction books, the children looked through the story and asked lots of questions. They shared stories within their own play. They children were able to talk about their own experiences when they had visited the zoo or safari park.

Outside the children have been particularly enjoying playing with the parachute and taking part in team games. We all helped each other to build dens. We visited forest school and built a camp fire, working together to collect the large logs and sticks. We also played ‘tag’ and ‘hide and seek’ with our teachers.

Mental Health & Well Being awareness day!

In Nursery we highlighted the day by talking about what makes us happy and how we can ensure all our friends are happy too.

The children talked about their families, friends and special events. The children made doodles of what made them happy and talked about why. 

Week 5

The Tiger Who Came For Tea

We started the week off by reading the story The Tiger Who Came for Tea. We then turned our home corner into a Tea Party, the children set out a tea set including cake, tea and biscuits. We also had a big tiger who joined us at the table. The children enjoyed feeding the tiger and pretending he had eaten all the food. They then moved onto going grocery shopping in our shop.

In the writing are the children made shopping list of food we would need for our "Tea Party" at the end of the week. They looked through food leaflets to inspire their ideas.  Some children wrote lists while others cut out the pictures and stuck them onto their lists. 

We then went onto watching a wildlife video involving real life tigers. The children were amazed at the habitat the tigers lives in and what types of things they do out in the wild. The children then went onto discussing their own experiences seeing tigers at the Zoo or Safari Park.

The children got creative by making tiger art. The children used the paint to make tiger prints, they used collage materials to make tiger pictures and junk modelling to create 3D tigers. 

We finished the week by having our own Tea Party and invited The Tiger for Tea!

We made party hats, decorated biscuits and helped to make our own sandwiches.