Little Ones Childcare

Dates for your diaries..... as usual, all Little Ones nurseries will be closing at 4pm on Christmas Eve to allow our teams time to get home to their families. We will then be closed for the Christmas period. We reopen at 7.45am on Monday 4th January.

At Budlake....this week our book of the week is going to be “I love Halloween” by Emma Dodd, our number will be 6 and our sign is pumpkin. In expressive art and design area, we are going to make some witches hats and using resources like googly eyes, lolly sticks, glitter and paint and crayons. Outside we will be doing a Halloween trick or treat treasure hunt! The children will have to listen carefully to instructions and follow simple tasks, whilst using their problem-solving skills to find the treasures!



Last week we have really loved creating silly monsters out of different coloured Playdough using googly eyes, pipe cleaners and lolly sticks. The children have also loved a small world area, which was turned into emergency services and people who help us area, the have been working together to put out fires, check teeth, fly police helicopters to help people and using the doctors role play to bandage up our teddies and friends!

At Honiton....last week in the Baby room we have been learning all about me! We had great fun finding our faces in the oats tray we used our hands and wooden spoons to mix the oats and reveal our faces.

Our book of the week was making faces and we loved looking at the babies different facial expressions, we tried to copy them we were happy, sad and grumpy we looked at ourselves in the mirrors which made us laugh.

We had puzzles that we had to put together finding the other half of our faces to match.

In the garden we explored playdough with our loose parts we made great patterns using the pine cones and wooden pegs. The playdough smelt of cinnamon it was lovely.

This week we are going to be doing Halloween activities and our book of the week is Peekaboo Pumpkin.

At Budlake....Next week our book of the week is going to be Monster Match by Caroline Gray. Our number will be 5 and our sign is monster. In our malleable material area, we are going to make some monsters out of different coloured playdough and lots of other resources like googly eyes, lolly sticks, glitter and pipe cleaners. We’ll be developing our fine motor skills through rolling out and shaping the playdough, using our imaginations to make up new monsters of our own and talking about our creations with our friends. Outside we will have a green gloop slime tray. It will have lots of different foods, bowls and bubbles that will look similar to the monster’s food in the story. we’ll be having lots of conversations about similarities and differences between the different monsters and us! For example, how we look different to them.

 

This week we have really loved leaf painting. we loved all the bright colours and seeing what happened when we mixed them up. we’ve enjoyed looking through our autumn themes tray seeing what we could find hidden inside and using our senses to explore the tray too. Outside as always, we loved riding round on the bikes.

At Honiton....Our book of the week is Car, Car, Truck, Jeep which is a favourite of our children’s, and our theme of the week is Transport. Our number of the week is 0 and our sign of the week is car. Inside we’re going to be doing large scale track painting. We are going to have rolls of paper across the floor and we’re going to use different vehicles to make track prints with paint. Outside we will be making slopes and ramps using the wooden planks and tyres and we’re going to have the large vehicles to explore with.

Our focus of the week will be practicing our gross motor skills. We will be doing parachute games, climbing on the climbing frame and exercises to support this.



This week we have been exploring all things Autumn, We’ve had an autumn exploratory tray outside which we’ve found very interesting. We’ve had discussions around the leaves changing colours and falling off the trees and we’ve also been doing some leaf printing using paint.

At Whipton....At Whipton this week, our Book of the Week will be The Little Red Hen, alongside our factual book Harvest Festival.

We will explore the theme of harvest, learning about where our food comes from, the different fruits and vegetables we grow, and how we celebrate harvest time.

Our Makaton sign of the week will be ‘harvest’, and our number of the week will be 8.

We will be getting creative with a variety of exciting harvest-themed activities. The children will have the opportunity to explore painting with real vegetables, discovering the different shapes, patterns and textures they can create. We will also investigate floating and sinking using a selection of vegetables, encouraging the children to make predictions about what they think might happen before testing their ideas.



Our weekly focus will be based around developing independence and encouraging children to have a go for themselves. Through everyday routines and play, we will support the children to make simple choices, try new activities, help to tidy away resources and develop confidence in doing things independently. We will celebrate their efforts and encourage them to keep trying, even when something feels a little tricky.



Last week, we absolutely loved exploring The Leaf Thief and learning all about autumn. The children enjoyed discovering the beautiful colours, textures and sounds of the season, exploring autumn treasures and learning about the changes happening in nature.

At Honiton....Our book of the week is Gruffalo’s Granny, the children are very excited to read the book, we have made animal props out of wooden spoons to explore as we read the story.

Outside in our curiosity tray we will be learning all about autumn, exploring baby pumpkins, twigs, conkers, pine cones and different coloured leaves alongside weighing scales and tape measures so we can measure and weigh our natural resources.

Inside we will be doing leaf printing or rubbing, you can choose what to-do whilst exploring paint, we will mix red and yellow to see what colour we can make.

If anyone goes on a woodland walk, please collect pine cones, leaves and twigs to bring if for our autumn tray.



This week we spent lots of time exploring the playdough using the tools and cutters to make lots of shapes and patterns.

At Budlake....Next week our book of the week is going to be the leaf thief as we’re heading into autumn, our number is 4 and our sign is autumn. In the creative area we’ll be finding patterns, exploring textures and having conversations about the month of October and all the changes we might notice. Our activity will be leaf printing. We are going to find leaves from the garden to use and leaf shaped sponges with lots of colourful paints. In the garden we are going to play games such as the Bear game. This is where one child hides an item and all the other children have to use their listening and problem solving to skills to find out who’s hiding the item. we’ll need to take turns and follow the instructions were given. This game is similar to the squirrel figuring out who is taking his leaves! Halloween is approaching so we are also going to start decorating nursery!!

This week we loved taking part in a ladybird hunt were we found them hidden all around the garden, we loved showing off our knowledge of what we know about animals, where they live and what noises they make.

At Whipton....At Whipton this week, our Book of the Week will be The Leaf Thief.

We will talk about the different colours, textures and sounds of autumn, noticing how the leaves change colour and fall from the trees and learning about the animals that are getting ready for the colder months.

Our Makaton signs of the week will be ‘autumn’ and ‘squirrel’. Our number of the week will be 7.

We will be getting creative with a variety of exciting autumn experiences. The children will have the opportunity to make their very own autumn soup, using a selection of natural resources such as leaves, twigs, conkers and other autumn treasures.

We will also head outdoors for an exciting autumn nature hunt, looking carefully at our surroundings and seeing what we can discover.

Our weekly focus will be based around Supporting children to understand the importance of sharing resources and taking turns with their friends. We will encourage children to wait patiently, use simple language to ask for a turn, understand that everyone gets a turn, and begin to manage their emotions when they have to wait.

Last week, we absolutely loved exploring emotions and feelings through stories, discussions, play and creative activities. The children enjoyed learning new Makaton signs linked to emotions and developing their confidence in expressing how they were feeling.

""Children step into this nursery and immediately feel that they belong. Staff know them so well that every moment becomes an opportunity to help them thrive. They quickly spot any barriers to learning and act straight away, shaping precise, individualised support that lets children achieve alongside their peers. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those facing other barriers to learning, feel fully included because staff use visual and auditory prompts, signs and gestures, which deepen understanding and keep every child involved. Warm, respectful relationships instil in children a sense of security, celebrating their individuality and fostering emotional wellbeing.""
What a quote!! How proud are we !!

Little Ones Childcare @ Budlake are celebrating today after their Ofsted report was published. The first of the Little Ones chain to be inspected under the new Ofsted framework, we are thrilled to be given such a glowing report. This report reflects the hard work of our team, the dedication of our head office team and maybe most importantly, how amazing our children really are! Well done to Esme and the Budlake team. https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/16/EY233576