The Den:

We have begun our autumn exploration in The Den this week as the children made cinnamon scented play-dough!

Characteristics of effective learning:

While out in the garden, the children have been interested in the leaves falling. This has prompted some lovely conversations about autumn and weather changes. To support this, we encouraged the children to collect some sticks and leaves so we could explore them further. The children helped to make play-dough, we added some orange colouring and cinnamon to make the dough autumnal themed. We added the sticks and leaves collected to the dough so the children could explore further. Each child used the items differently- some children placing sticks into the dough, while others ripped the leaves and put it in the dough. We encouraged the children to smell the dough to add to the sensory exploration. We heard some lovely relative language like “leaves, stick, orange” and “smell”.

Following our autumnal theme, we added some small pumpkins to the sand tray! The children were fascinated by the pumpkins and made an attempt to say “pumpkin”. We encouraged them to cover them in sand to hide them! They really enjoyed brushing the sand away to find them again.

Outdoor learning:

The weather changing has caused leaves to fall from our tree. The children have noticed the fallen leaves, so this has been a talking point while in the garden. We have been discussing the different colours, textures and sizes of leaves! The children have really enjoyed playing with the hoola hoops this week too. They have enjoyed rolling them around the environment and retrieving them. They have been using language like “go! spin” and “roll”.