Wednesday 30 November 2016

Casper The Owl & Friends


We were lucky enough to be invited to another childminders house this morning where she had arranged a special visit from the local charity Casper the Owl & Friends. While we were waiting for the owls the children had the opportunity to stretch their legs and engage in some owl colouring activities. 

Once underway children ranging from 1 to 4 were fascinated by the talk about the 3 owls present, Gandalf, Indie and Albus. The children learnt about the owls habitat and how their body is adapted for the climates within which they reside. The children were then able to stroke the owls, feelings their feathers and examining their beaks! The older children were able to put on the glove and hold the owls themselves, something that they were very proud to describe to their parents. 


The highlight of the day for the children was a completely unplanned flight around the adjacent valley by the 'naughty' snowy owl, Albus! Luckily Albus returned when he had had enough! This had the children giggling for the rest of the day. 


At home to provide a more relaxed end to an exciting morning we engaged in some owl poetry, reading the owl and the pussycat together!

Thursday 10 November 2016

Bonfire Night 2016

With safety being an important factor of educating children about bonfire night, older children engaged in a powerpoint quiz that tested their knowledge about firework safety and prompted some discussions on how the children could stay safe if they were going to see fireworks. The children really enjoyed this and became very vocal as well as taking it in turns to move the mouse. 



This year we also decided to do some activities relating to bonfire night after the children had been out to see some fireworks enabling us to use the knowledge they had gained to prompt use of language to describe fireworks as well as engaging their artistic talents to enable them to design their own fireworks. 


For younger children I used this opportunity to enhance their sensory skills and their motor skills. They used cardboard tubes to move paint around paper, creating explosion patterns. Some of the children chose to explore the paint with their fingers while others looked at the resulting colours and also enjoyed shaking glitter shakers over the wet paint.