This week the children were introduced to the lifecycle of a sunflower. We discussed what a seed needs to grow to become a strong and healthy plant, after which, in the ‘garden centre’, everyone planted their own dwarf sunflower seed. We now wait in anticipation with care and the help of a sprinkling of water and sunlight to see the first seedling leaves as our plants begin to grow.

In the letter room, the children enjoyed playing with the small world insects and learnt the names of their body parts with the song, ‘Head, Thorax, Abdomen’, to the turn of ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’. There was a lot of laughter whilst playing the original retro game of Build a Beetle and with lashings of glue, the children created their own collage insects.

Under the stairs, a variety of minibeasts moved into our garden. The children created stories around and made homes for the six legged, eight legged and ones with no legs, soft toy creatures.

In the Number Room the children enjoyed the small world farm, matching the mothers with their spring babies. We will continue matching and learning the names of the animals over the following two weeks.

On Thursday we celebrated St Patrick’s Day! The children had a lot of fun playing in the sensory story tray with the leprechaun who came to visit with his pot of gold. We enjoyed a day of potato waffles, stories about leprechauns, shamrocks, Irish music and creating green works of art.