Week 8

"Zoo on the Broom" Zoo Lab Workshop

Rob the wizard came to visit Reception.  We were introduced to many exciting creatures including a snake, giant snail, rat and even a hissing cockroach.  

 Halloween Party

Our Reception children had a spooktacular time at their Halloween party.  I'm sure you'll agree that the children looked frightfully good in their Halloween costumes.

 Tasty Halloween Treats

Rainbow group helped to stir and spoon the mixture into cases.  Adults supported with hand over help when needed.  Grown ups also encouraged the children to make choices and point when selecting toppings.

 Creepy Cookies

We squeezed coloured icing tubes to decorate spooky shaped biscuits for snack time.  To finish our design we added sprinkles.  Delicious!

Spooky Sensory Bin 

The children enjoyed exploring the fiddle toys, hidden amongst the Halloween shaped pasta.

Wow Moments!

Theo played alongside two other children in class.  He briefly allowed them to use the same toy and place their Weebles on the slide.  He also looked carefully at the picture in the board book and enjoyed feeling the different textures.

Week 7 

 Pumpkins

Scarlett completed both finger challenges in the Reception classroom this week.  She demonstrated good hand eye co-ordination when hammering and adding sticky spots to the pumpkin.

Zoom Zoom Zoom, We're Going to the Moon

We offer children chew buddies as a safe alternative to chewing fingers and toys.  Some children will chew and bite on non-edible objects to obtain sensory feedback.  

Theo has taken a shine to the rocket shaped chew buddy.  He listened to the song 'Zoom Zoom Zoom, We're Going to the Moon'.  Theo stimmed and made the rocket ship fly in the air.  He vocalised the count down 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 blast off!

Here is the song link to play at home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZragmYBm9o 

  Bubbles

Bubbles are a very motivating activity for our children in the Rainbow room. 
To use bubbles they need help from a grown up.  Blowing bubbles encourages children to look at your face as you talk and blow more.
We withhold the bubbles, smile and wait for the child to request some more.  If they point, look or make a sound we say "more bubbles?".  When holding the bubble wand ready to blow we say "ready, steady…" then pause… before saying "go!" and blow some more.  We pop the bubbles with your child saying "pop pop, pop" and to end "all gone", "bye bubbles" or “finished".

 More

This is the Makaton sign for more.  We model the action and say the word if the children request more by looking, making a noise or gesture.  

Week 6

Gross Motor Fun

Boing!

Bouncing up and down can help a body's balance system and build muscle tone.  Theo also finds it a lot of fun!  We use sensory circuits to energise and calm before an adult led activity.  Bouncing is an alerting activity.

 Whiz!

With help from Miss Reid to steer, Scarlett placed both feet on the scooter whilst it moved forwards.  Fantastic balancing!

Help

This is the Makaton sign for help.  We model the action and say the word if a child requests help by looking, making a noise or gesture.  

Fine Motor

Moving small beads encourages children to use a pincer grip.  This will strengthen the muscles in our hand that are used to hold a pencil.

Silly Spout Whale

Cause and effect toys teach children that their actions can cause something to happen.  This helps us form an understanding of our own sense of control and the world around us.

Rowan pressed down the spout to pop out a ball and make a noise.  He had a lot of fun shooting the balls and repeated the action.  Ball play is one of Rowan’s special interests.

Week 5
 Owl Babies

 Owl Toast

Theo placed fruit onto toast to match an owl toast picture.  We allow children to explore and play with different food, without the expectation that he or she has to eat it. 

Week 4
 Room on the Broom

Rowan had a great time with his friends making his own witch's hat biscuit for snack.  He liked watching the sprinkles fall while putting them on the sticky chocolate sauce.

Magic Wands

We wrapped sticky tape around our magic wand and decorated it with star stickers.  This will help us to develop our hand eye co-ordination and fine motor skills.  Bippity boppity boo! Abracadabra! Iggety, ziggety, zaggety, zoom! 

 Alan Shearer Centre

Our Rainbow group go on regular trips to the Alan Shearer Centre.  In the 'green room' we enjoyed feeling the vibrations and looking at the changing coloured lights of the new borealis and snow tubes.   

Membership is free and they hold some family fun events at the weekend.  The sensory rooms and hydrotherapy suite are available for families to book.  Check out their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/@AlanShearerCentre and ring 0191 267 8118 to book a space.

 Music and Movement

Scarlett enjoyed shaking and banging to explore the percussion instruments.  The glockenspiel was a firm favourite! While playing chase Miss Jewers stopped and waited for Rowan to look back and request more.  He stopped and looked over his shoulder at the grown up.  Well done! 🏃‍♂️👀

Week 3

 Walking Through The Jungle

Snakes

We looked at photographs of snakes with different colours and patterns.  Grown ups encouraged the children to make choices and select which colours they want to use.  The children open and closed scissors to make snips around their snake design, with hand over help from a grown up.  The bingo dobbers were a popular choice when adding scales.

The Enormous Crocodile

As part of Roald Dahl Day Theo played Crocodile Dentist with Miss Henderson.  He copied pushing down the teeth while Miss Henderson repeated "Theos’s turn, Miss Henderson’s turn" and "SNAP!".  We are working on developing joint attention with a grown up.

 Bushcraft Adventure

We explored the woodland area with our friends.  Scarlett enjoyed kicking out her feet, to go higher and faster on the swing.  Rowan couldn't stop giggling when being chased and tickled by Miss Knowles.  He explored the different buckets and pans, filling to the top and then emptying.  This is exploratory play.

Week 2

 Alan Shearer Centre

The new 'Immersion Room' was a big hit with the children!   

Week 1

 Welcome to Rainbow Group

Our Rainbow group enjoyed exploring the Reception classrooms and Rainbow work space.  Scarlett loves to make to and fro scribbles and dots with the felt tip pens.  Theo enjoyed pedalling on the tricycle, watching wheels spin and water play.  Rowan loves catching bubbles with a grown up and spinning toys.