Easter fun

Last week in nursery, the children enjoyed a creative and engaging Easter-themed activity that supported several areas of their development.

The children began by developing their fine motor skills as they carefully cut out their own Easter egg shapes. They loved learning all about the oval shape! Activities like cutting help to strengthen the small muscles in their hands, which are essential for writing and their physical development.

Once their eggs were cut out, the children showed wonderful independence and confidence by taking ownership of their work and writing their own names. Writing their names helps children to give meaning to marks they make, while also fostering a sense of pride in their achievements.

The learning didn’t stop there! Many of the children were so engaged that they chose to extend the activity further. Using cotton buds and a range of colours, they explored creating two-part repeating patterns on their eggs an important early maths skill to master!

Using cotton buds also provided another opportunity to refine fine motor control, as the children carefully dipped and dabbed to create their designs. At the same time, they explored colour, creativity, and self-expression, supporting their development within Expressive Arts and Design.

We loved seeing the children so motivated, independent, and proud of their creations. It was a wonderful example of how a simple activity can support multiple areas of learning while allowing children to follow their own interests and ideas.

Well done, Crew Frost!

World Book Day Crew Frost

World Book Day was such a fun experience for the children. We loved seeing everyone in their wonderful costumes, and a big thank you to all the parents for spending the time and effort preparing the children’s fantastic outfits.

During our session today, the children enjoyed developing their cutting skills as they made their own Wizard of Oz puppets. They carefully used scissors and materials to create their characters, showing great focus and creativity.

The children also used their fine motor skills to draw pictures of Elphaba and Glinda, taking time to add their own details and colours. It was lovely to see their imagination come to life through their drawings and puppet creations.

What a wonderful day celebrating books and stories together.

Well done, Crew Frost!

We’re on the move!

Last week the children explored the story Whatever Next! as part of their expedition learning. This story was incorporated into our continuous provision to support their understanding through play. The children were provided with simple 2D shapes such as circles, squares and triangles and encouraged to talk about the shapes and their properties. Using their knowledge, they created their own rockets inspired by the story.

This activity supported the children’s fine motor development as they manipulated and placed the shapes, while also developing their mathematical understanding of shape and space. The hands-on experience also provided rich sensory exploration and opportunities for discussion, linking storytelling with creative and mathematical learning. Well done crew Frost.

Out door maths

Over the past few days, the children have thoroughly enjoyed exploring maths through our outdoor provision. Using our “fast maths eyes,” we have been identifying and talking about shapes we can see in the environment, developing our early numberical skills and deepening our understanding of shape in meaningful, real-life contexts.

The children have also been busy creating simple two-part repeating patterns using natural resources such as sticks, leaves, twigs and stones. This hands-on exploration supports the Mathematics area of learning, particularly by recognizing, continuing, and creating patterns, while also encouraging problem-solving, critical thinking and collaboration.

Crew Frost have also been given opportunities to write numbers using chalk and other outdoor materials which has strengthened fine motor control and pencil grip. As the children formed numbers, we used fun phrases such as “around the tree, around the tree, that’s the way we make a three” to reinforce correct formation in an engaging and memorable way.

These experiences offer rich, practical, and play-based opportunities for Crew Frost to build strong foundations in number, shape, and pattern through active exploration.

Well done, Crew Frost — amazing mathematical thinking.

Phonics in action.

During this focused activity, the children’s early phonic awareness was assessed and further developed. The children were challenged to sort a range of familiar objects according to two initial sounds they have been learning through the Read Write Inc. phonics scheme.

This activity provided a valuable opportunity to observe the children’s ability to listen attentively, recognise initial sounds and apply their growing phonics knowledge with confidence. The children demonstrated strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills as they discussed their choices and organised the objects appropriately.

Activities such as this highlight the importance of secure foundational phonics skills and how these can be applied meaningfully to support future reading and writing development. We were extremely impressed with the progress the children have made and the confidence they showed throughout the task. Well Done Crew Frost. Keep up the hard work.