🍎 Preschool Blog – Oliver’s Fruit Salad
Hello everyone,
We hope you have all had a lovely weekend enjoying the beautiful autumn weather with family and friends!
Last week, we continued our learning all about fruit, vegetables, harvest and farming, inspired by the story Oliver’s Fruit Salad. We have had a wonderful week full of exciting, hands-on experiences, exploring different foods, learning new vocabulary and developing our understanding of where our food comes from.
🥕 What have we been up to this week?
🚜 Monday – Exploring Tractors and Music
On Monday morning, we visited the green tractor outside the main school in small groups. The children were fascinated as we explored the different parts of the tractor and learnt about what they are used for. When we returned to preschool, we painted our own representations of the tractor.
In the afternoon, we enjoyed a music session and learnt the names of some of our new instruments. We also played our Stop and Go game, listening carefully and responding to the instructions. The children did brilliantly!
🥔 Tuesday – PE, Apples and Apple Threading
On Tuesday morning, we enjoyed PE in the hall, using scarves to move in lots of different ways. We explored cross-lateral movements and positional language as we moved our bodies and scarves around the space.
Some children also visited the school orchard to collect apples and visited the chickens to collect eggs. We then put our ingredients to good use by making delicious apple muffins. We hope you enjoyed tasting them at home!
In the afternoon, we explored apple threading, practising our pincer grip, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills as we carefully used needles and thread to weave in and out.
🛒 Wednesday – Visiting the Care Home and Relax Kids
On Wednesday morning, a group of children visited the care home to enjoy a lovely sing-song, share a story and eat cake with the residents. It was a special opportunity to spend time together and share some smiles!
Back at preschool, we continued with our apple threading activities.
In the afternoon, we enjoyed our Relax Kids session with Sian. The children had a lovely time playing games, stretching, taking part in massage activities and practising relaxation techniques. It was a wonderful opportunity to focus on our wellbeing, develop body awareness and enjoy some calm time together.
🎨 Thursday – An Adventure at the Park
On Thursday morning, we headed across the road to the park, where the children had an amazing time! There was lots of bouncing on the trampoline, whizzing down the zip wire, swinging, balancing and climbing. The children had so much fun while developing their gross motor skills, confidence and physical coordination.
In the afternoon, we recalled our park adventure and played Duck, Duck, Goose in the hall. There were lots of smiles and laughter as we practised listening, taking turns and moving quickly!
🐄 Friday – From the Orchard to Maiden Castle Farm
Friday was another exciting day! In the morning, we visited the school orchard to collect apples and popped in to see the chickens to collect eggs. We then headed to the kitchen to make more delicious apple muffins. The children thoroughly enjoyed being involved in the process and seeing how our ingredients could be turned into something tasty.
In the afternoon, we visited Maiden Castle Farm, where we had an amazing time! The children loved jumping in the puddles, exploring the different tractors and even sitting inside one. We learnt about the cows, sheep and horses and had a fascinating look at the combine harvester and the grain.
It was a fantastic opportunity to experience farm life first-hand and bring our learning about farming, food and harvest to life. What a wonderful end to our week!
🏡 Learning Through Play
Throughout the week, the children have been busy exploring our exciting continuous provision, building on their real-life experiences and developing new skills through play.
🗣️ Vocabulary Tray: We have enjoyed exploring different fruits and learning new words to describe what we can see, touch, smell and taste.
🌱 Small World: Our farm scene has inspired the children to create their own stories, exploring farm animals, tractors and life on the farm.
🏠 Home Corner: The children have been drawing on their real-life experiences to act out familiar situations, recreating activities they have enjoyed at home, in the shops and at preschool.
🧵 Finger Frenzy: Wooden fruit and string have provided opportunities to practise threading, strengthen little fingers and develop hand-eye coordination.
🧱 Construction: We have been busy building with marble runs, magnetic shapes, wooden gem blocks and wooden robots, developing our creativity, problem-solving and construction skills.
🔢 Maths Area: We have been counting apples and matching quantities to numerals up to 5, developing our early number recognition and counting skills.
🔦 Light and Shadows: The children have been exploring torches and shining light through different materials, discovering how shadows are created and how they change.
🥣 Flour Mark Making: We have been using our fingers to make marks and create patterns in flour, developing our early writing skills and exploring different textures.
📚 Vocabulary for Learning
The children have brought home a vocabulary sheet containing some of the key words we are exploring over the next two weeks. During group time, we have also enjoyed playing ‘What’s in the Bag?’, investigating different fruits and using our senses to describe what we discover.
We have been learning about the differences between fruit and vegetables and talking about where our food comes from. Revisiting these words at home will help the children become familiar with them and use them in their everyday conversations.
Some photos from the week.....
🍎 Looking Ahead to Next Week
Next week, we will be continuing our learning about fruit, farming and harvest, with some lovely farm-themed stories and activities.
The children will have opportunities to get involved in some yummy cooking activities using eggs and apples, developing their understanding of ingredients and recipes. We will talk about where our ingredients come from and how they are changed when we cook them.
At snack time, we will explore and taste a variety of different foods, talking about where they come from, how they grow and how they are made. We will encourage the children to use their senses to describe what they can see, smell, feel and taste.
Alongside this, we will enjoy lots of exciting activities to support our learning, including developing our vocabulary, early maths skills, creativity, fine motor skills and understanding of the world through play.
We are looking forward to another week full of exciting discoveries, delicious tastes and fun learning experiences! 🍏👩🍳🌱
🏡 Home Learning
Here are some ideas for things you could try at home this week:
🍎 Apple fun: Can you help to wash, peel or cut an apple? What does it look, feel and smell like? Can you describe its taste?
🥚 Cooking: Can you cook something at home using eggs? Talk about the ingredients you use and where they come from. Can you use words such as ingredients, recipe, mix, stir, bake and cook?
🌱 Where does our food come from? Look at some of the foods you have at home. Can you talk about where they come from? Which foods grow on trees, in the ground or on plants?
🔢 Counting: Can you count some fruit at home? Can you find 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 apples and match them to the correct number?
Please bring any WOW's for our WOW board you have.
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The closing date for applications is 15 January 2027.
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