Week Commencing 9th November 2026.

The Investigation Hub at Sidney Grove

Active Learning

We have had another lovely week in Nursery, with lots of exciting opportunities for the children to explore, investigate and learn through their play. This week we have enjoyed celebrating Nursery Rhyme Week, thinking about Remembrance Day and following the children’s interests through a range of creative and hands-on experiences.

Nursery Rhyme Week

There has been lots of fun in the Investigation Hub this week as we celebrated Nursery Rhyme Week! We have enjoyed singing a selection of familiar nursery rhymes throughout the week, beginning with ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat’.

The children loved singing together and exploring lots of different versions of the rhyme. We introduced some new characters along the way, including crocodiles, lions and polar bears!

Following our singing, we decided to investigate boats. We used tin foil to create our own little boats and explored how we could make them float on the water. Once we had made our boats, we set ourselves a challenge to see who could make their boat travel across the water.

Some children experimented with splashing the water to make their boats move quickly. However, they soon discovered that this allowed water to enter their boats and, eventually, they sank! Other children had a different idea and decided to use pieces of card and laminated paper to gently waft their boats along.

We had some lovely observations and discussions during our investigations:

“It’s like the wind that blows the leaves.”

“The foil is shiny. It feels like crunchy leaves.”

It was wonderful to see the children testing their ideas, noticing what happened and thinking of different ways to solve the challenge.

We have also enjoyed singing Incy Wincy Spider, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I Caught a Fish Alive and Hickory Dickory Dock. These familiar rhymes have inspired lots of different play and sensory experiences throughout the week.

Remembering Together – Remembrance Day

This week we have also been thinking about Remembrance Day. We recognise that this can be a difficult concept for young children to understand, so we began with something familiar and meaningful for them: looking closely at poppies.

The children spent time observing real poppies and talking about what they could see. One child commented:

“Poppies are flowers… they have a black thing in the middle.”

As we looked more closely, the children discovered that the black parts were the seeds inside the flower!

We then set about making our own poppies. Through our conversations, we introduced the idea that poppies help us remember people who are no longer with us and those who help to keep us safe.

The children did a fantastic job creating their poppies, but we soon realised that we needed somewhere special to display them!

We decided to create our very own poppy field. Using a cardboard box, we painted the surface green to create the field. Our discussions last week about the different shades of autumn leaves came in very handy, as one child suggested that we should use lots of different shades of green.

We loved seeing this idea develop as the children explored the different colours and worked together to create our field. Once it was ready, we carefully ‘planted’ all of our poppies into it. We were so proud of our finished creation!

Following the Children’s Interests

We have continued to offer lots of opportunities for play inspired by the children’s own interests and ideas.

Sometimes the simplest resources create the most exciting opportunities for learning! This week, a cardboard box placed outside immediately caught the children’s attention. They were keen to investigate it and decided that it needed decorating, so out came the pens!

After decorating their box, we moved it into the block area, where the children’s imaginations quickly took over. Inspired by our recent interest in the rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock, they decided to turn the box into a giant clock and even crafted paper mice to run up and down it.

It was lovely to see how the children took an everyday object and transformed it through their own ideas and imaginative play. We always enjoy seeing where the children’s creativity takes us!

Our Chalk Challenge

We have also seen some wonderful concentration and determination during our chalk challenge.

The children were given the task of making the chalk shapes and patterns disappear. However, there was a little twist to our challenge! We weren’t allowed to simply rub the chalk away. Instead, we could only follow the chalk lines using a wet paintbrush.

The children carefully traced over the shapes and patterns, watching as the chalk gradually disappeared. They were fascinated by what was happening and soon began to imagine that they were magicians making the chalk vanish!

This was a lovely opportunity to develop fine motor control, hand-eye coordination and concentration, as well as encouraging the children to investigate what happens when we combine water and chalk

We were so impressed by the care and focus the children showed as they carefully followed the lines and patterns.

Children in Need

We had lots of fun celebrating Children in Need! We created Pudsey headbands, made lots of spots to stick on our clothes, and had a fun dancing and singing session. If you would like to donate directly through their website, you are more than welcome to do so.

It has been another wonderful week full of curiosity, creativity and discovery. We are always so proud of the children’s ideas and the different ways they approach their learning. We look forward to seeing what exciting investigations and adventures next week will bring!