We have been concentrating on a variety of gross and fine motor and self help skills this week. We began with a collage activity where the children made a paper plate face which represented themselves. This was an opportunity for everyone to talk about what colour their eyes and hair are and practise observing and reproducing a face correctly.

We developed this activity further by making faces out of vegetables and wraps. Spreading and cutting with our child friendly knives is a really good way to practise fine motor skills and we also used the opportunity to talk about healthy foods and the importance of good hygiene. Hand washing is really important all the time, but especially at the moment as there are a lot of runny noses!

Another important fine motor skill is scissor use and we also included this as part of an activity.

Self help skills are really vital and children who can, for example, successfully dress themselves are better prepared for preschool and primary school. This week, we all practised finding and putting on our shoes (hopefully on the right feet first time!). Encouraging your child to dress themselves at home is a great idea as these skills are only honed with lots of practise.

The children love to move and play and show off their gross motor skills! We got the mats out and had a go at forward rolls and also balanced on the stilts outside.

In a different vein, Laura has been teaching her group Spanish and they are really enjoying learning a new language. If anyone would like their child to participate in this, please speak to a member of staff!

A quick request! If any of you has a carrier bag surplus in a kitchen cupboard, we would be very grateful for any donations. We always find ourselves running out, so thank you!

Finally, PLEASE  feel free to reply to these posts with any comments, suggestions or feedback. It’s lovely to hear from you and makes us realise that we do have an audience for the blog! 😀  We reply to all of your comments and would really like to read them!