Dear Parents,

This week the children have been very busy discovering the different aspects of space. Following on from their activity last week where they flicked paint onto paper to create an astronomical scene, the children have been studying the different planets. Using pom poms to represent planets and tweezers and spoons to further develop their fine motor skills, the children practised picking up the pom poms one by one and Paul decided it was a good idea to categorise them into colours; red in one pot and blue in another. Joshua spent a considerable amount of time trying to scoop the pom poms up with a spoon. To further extend the idea of planets and the way that they orbit the sun, the children watched food colouring mix with milk. The reaction of the two substances created a ripple effect; Humphrey described it as “planets that are dancing”. Paul pointed out that when the liquid was moving, patterns arose, and when it was still, the patterns disappeared.

The children have become archaeologists this week; excavating fossils and trying to match them to their ‘living’ copy. They had to dig in the sand and find a fossil of a dinosaur; they then had to clean it off using a brush. Once completing that part of the task, the children considered the key characteristics of each dinosaur then match it to their ‘matching’ version. Danny was very excited to share when he found a dinosaur in the sand. This will be extended next week when we look at making our own fossils.

Despite the change in the weather (which is a bit of a shock compared to the lovely sunshine we had!), the children utilised the rain and made their very own rain gauge. Paul and Humphrey used a ruler to measure each centimetre and mark it out so that they can review the changes and watch as the level rises. One characteristic of the garden that the children often point out is the birds and the sounds they make. To extend this idea, the children made bird feeders out of lard and bird seed. Thomas was very good at using his fine motor skills to roll the mixture into a ball; we then poked a hole in the middle and threaded some string through the middle so that they could be hung around the garden. The children were very excited to see that the birds have already been pecking at the feeders.

You will be able to view the accompanying photos of the children enjoying these activities through the ‘Galleries’ section on Babysdays.

Have a lovely weekend; stay safe,

The team at Broughton.