OCEAN ADVENTURES!

October 31, 2016October 31, 2016 Samart, playschool, small world, under the sea themeLeave a comment

The weather has been warming up at school and the children have been more and more interested in spending their time outdoors and cooling off with plenty of water play! This has led into a natural progression and interest of all things ocean!

Apart from wet and dry small worlds to explore, we have had plenty of sensory and sorting activities to keep us busy and spark off plenty of discussion…

We have also had fun with art and different processes as well as making some craft art to remind us of our friends under the ocean!

NATURE

September 16, 2016 Samart, early childhood development, loose parts, small worldLeave a comment

All our little ones are passionate about nature and caring for the earth…They love discussing how to look after nature…We chatted about how to care for the earth, it’s creatures and resources…A big theme this week was discussion around negative actions that destroy the beautiful land we love and how it makes us feel and what actions we can do to keep nature beautiful…

We had fun with different art forms and activities…

Great fun with sensory sorting and nature loose parts…

And some art to remind us of all our meaningful nature discussions this week…

DINO FUN!

September 10, 2016 Samdinosaur, dinosaur theme, play, small worldLeave a comment

The palaeontologists were in full swing this week at school! There was so much purposeful play in action as the children worked together excavating fossils, hatching dino eggs and exploring the small worlds around our play area…

We had fun with dinosaur sensory play and sorting…

Various dino art and activities…

Highlights of our week were our volcano experiment, searching for fossils and hatching our dino eggs!

Some art to remind us of our week amongst the dinosaurs!

And some eggs left over to enjoy!

dino-egg-fun

SAFARI ADVENTURE!

September 5, 2016 Samplay, safari theme, small worldLeave a comment

Last week the sun was out and we all spent most of our time outdoors enjoying the garden and sandpit… During our play we explored the african safari and had a great time learning about animals, singing safari songs and engaging in plenty of imaginative play…The children chatted about the concept of “wild” animals and we had many discussions around the different types, where they live, what they mean to us and how they interact with each others… We had many monkeys, lions, elephants, giraffes (amongst many others) traipsing through school all week!

We had great fun enjoying other small worlds to cool us off…

Fun with sorting activities, stamping and process art…

And a selection of art to remind us of the animals we met on safari!

FUN ON THE FARM!

August 13, 2016August 26, 2016 Samart, farm theme, loose parts, play, sensory play, small worldLeave a comment

So many budding farmers at school this week! The children have loved talking about and exploring the farm… Of course farm animals are always a favourite but there was also a deeper level of discussion around our food and where it comes from…Caring for animals and our responsibilities towards nature as well as a sense of gratitude for farms and farmers were also hot topics this week!

There were plenty of opportunities for open ended creative activities as well as great sensory play…

Creative and memorable art to remind us of our week on the farm!

UNUSUAL ANIMALS

May 27, 2016 Samanimal theme, play, play provocations, sensory, small world, sortingLeave a comment

We’ve had great fun this week learning about animals we don’t get to see naturally in the wild in our part of the world…The children have loved every minute – learning new songs, getting familiar with weird and wonderful creatures, dramatic play and art…

Small world discovery, sensory play and colour and shape sorting…

Of course lots of different art to remind us of our fun week!

DINOSAURS 02

September 10, 2015September 10, 2015 Samactivities, art, dinosaur theme, play provocations, playschool, small worldLeave a comment

It’s that time of the year again – all our paleontologists are in full swing! We spent the week exploring plenty of small world play, digging for fossils, baking, volcano experiments and plenty of fun art…

Interest corner with plenty of books…

A dinosaur cave…

Digging for fossils…

Fun dinosaur baking…

A volcano experiment…

And plenty of fun messy art!

ANIMAL PLAY PROVOCATION

June 2, 2015June 25, 2015 Samanimals, creativity, indoor winter play, play provocations, small worldLeave a comment

With the wet weather set in we have been busy at creating various play provocations and small worlds for the children to explore and create. It’s been a good opportunity for us to discuss and learn about some less familiar animals – and great fun! The children have had lots of questions and spent ages playing with the different set ups.

Along with a ton of different puppets, puzzles and animal books to pore over…

Each day we have added a new small world to explore…

Plenty of opportunity to play, sort, discuss and create!

And of course lots of fun with various art forms!

INSECT PLAY PROVOCATION

May 19, 2015June 25, 2015 Saminsects and spiders, ohp, play provocations, small worldLeave a comment

With the chilly winter days approaching we have been trying to bring a little of the outdoors in with some enticing play provocations. The children had great fun with our insect and spider small world play.

Each day we would add some more natural elements to build homes and hidey holes for all the insects. On one of the days we put out a basket of different textured wool and threads with some scissors to create spider webs – the children spent hours unwrapping the wool, cutting and winding it.

And of course what could be more fun than creating giant size insect shadows with the OHP?!

RAINFOREST SMALL WORLD

May 12, 2015June 25, 2015 Samdiscovery, rainforest, small world, sorting, textureLeave a comment

We have been having so much fun learning about the rainforest lately. The children have been fascinated by all the different creatures living there and by what a unique and beautiful environment it is. As our children are still so young one of the best ways for them to expand their understanding and promote discussion is through small world play. So we turned a wall on one side of the playroom into a miniature rainforest they could explore and play with.

We built up our rainforest to include a waterfall, river, mountain, trees, branches and caves. It is filled with different textures, materials and interesting items for the children to discover and handle. Loose parts are scattered all over and little bowls for collecting their findings for further discussion and sorting! Everyday I have added some new little treasures or creatures for the children to discover…