Investigation Hub and Discovery Hub at Deckham

The caterpillars that we received last week have been eating the food we were provided with and we have already seen them grow a huge amount in just one week! The children have been observing them closely. 

“Where are its eyes?”

“I think it’s looking at me.”

“It’s wriggling around.”

“Look it’s moving. I think it’s trying to climb up the pot.”

We also noticed that the caterpillars are spinning silk, which looks similar to a spider web. 

As we explore the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and sing songs around this theme, the children have been developing their understanding of the lifecycle, and their vocabulary relating to this. They have been asking questions such as “When will they go into their cocoon?”. 

We are looking forward to seeing what happens to our caterpillars next week! 

We have also observed changes to our plants. The children have been watering the sunflowers and have noticed that they are getting more leaves and the stems are getting longer. They also observed that they have spiky little hairs growing on their stems and that the stems range from green to purple. Lots of super observational skills taking place. 

The children have continued to enjoy a variety of different water play experiences this week, as they fill and empty watering cans, use tea pots and sieves to develop their imaginative play, and care for and wash the dolls. Through this play they are developing roles and narratives, extending their mathematical skills as they talk about full and empty containers, and developing their physical skills as they carefully handle containers and transfer water between them.

Minibeasts continue to be a huge area of interest for the children, who have developed lots of knowledge about where to look for them and how to handle them carefully. There was such a buzz of excitement on Thursday when we discovered a millipede in the garden. The children were fascinated and engaged in lots of wonderful discussion, using a wide range of descriptive vocabulary as they closely observed it. We heard comments such as, “Look, he’s wiggling!”, “He’s tickling me!”, and “He has lots of legs!” The discovery sparked curiosity, conversation and opportunities to extend the children’s understanding of the natural world.

The children have been full of enthusiasm during outdoor chalk mark-making this week. We practised writing our names and created some fabulous self-portraits, carefully remembering to include all of our important features. The activity then took an exciting turn when one child suggested drawing a hopscotch! This led to lots of number recognition, counting, jumping and hopping as the children eagerly took turns. The queue became so long that we ended up creating a second hopscotch, ensuring everyone had plenty of opportunities to join in the fun! 

Story of the week: The Very Hungry Caterpillar 

Song of the week: 5 Little Butterflies 

Sign of the week: Butterfly 

The Sensory Hub

This week in the Sensory Hub, the children have thoroughly enjoyed observing our caterpillars. They have shown great curiosity, using descriptive language such as “It’s got legs” and talking about what they can see. Through daily observations, the children are beginning to develop an understanding of the caterpillar life cycle and are excited to watch the changes as they grow.

The children have also enjoyed exploring creative activities, including gluing and sticking. They showed enthusiasm as they selected and attached different materials, developing their fine motor skills and creativity.

Parents as Partners 

This week, we sent home posters for you to complete with your child and return to nursery. We will share these together with the children. It is wonderful to hear about your child’s views and we want to encourage their feeling of belonging in nursery through celebrating what makes them so special, with their friends. 

If you have any nursery clothes at home, please can we ask that these are washed and returned as soon as possible as we are very short of clothing to change children into, in particular trousers and leggings. Thank you for your support with this. 

A reminder that nursery is closed on Friday 26th June for staff training

And lastly, our summer Stay and Play session will take place on Thursday 2nd July from 10:45–11:45am and 1:00–2:00pm. A sign-up sheet will be available shortly.

Have a wonderful weekend.

The Nursery Team