The Den:
Characteristics of effective learning
We have been exploring mark making opportunities with paint this week using brushes and cars. The children have been creating individual pictures using paints and brushes. The children spoke “dab dab” as they created their pictures and we spoke about the colours they used.
Laney also planned a messy activity as part of her course which involved paint and cars. The children got super messy as they rolled cars into the paint and looked at the track marks left behind.
Since the children enjoyed the rice last week, we continued this into this week but using sand instead. We added some metal scoops so they could experiment with filling and emptying. Some of the children brought animals over to the sand, so we followed their lead explored the sand in different ways. We stomped them in the sand and looked at the track marks, one of the children spoke “wow” then copied. We also buried the animals in the sand and asked the children to dig to revive them.
Developing fine motor skills (small hand movements) is really important for young children as it helps develop muscles in the hands. This will support tasks such as writing, eating and hand eye coordination skills. This week, we have put some resources out to specifically target fine motor movements. The children enjoyed using the ring stacker- working hard to slot the peices onto the post. We observed the children using good fine motor skills to grip the pieces, then manoeuvre them around to fit onto the post. We encouraged the children to ask for help when they got stuck by saying “help please”.
Parents as partners:
This week, the children have particularly enjoyed the song “sleeping bunnies”. Below, I have attached a link to the song so you can sing it at home with your child.