Hippo and Giraffe Group at Cashmore Early Years Centre have been having a wonderfully busy time, with fine motor skills, transport, people who help us and some brilliant books all featuring this term!
Fine motor development has been a big focus, with the children getting to grips with tweezers to move small loose parts, threading pasta onto pipe cleaners, and twisting and screwing nuts and bolts together. They have also been having a go at using scissors to make snips in paper, which takes real concentration and control. These activities are all fantastic preparation for writing and other skills the children will develop as they grow.
The children have also been exploring transport and the people who help us, looking at a range of vehicles including cars, trains, fire engines and ambulances, and investigating how they move down ramps, through tunnels and around curves. Alongside this, the children have been learning about different occupations, from dentists and doctors to nurses, firefighters and police officers, sparking some brilliant conversations about the world around them.
Story time has been just as engaging, with the Three Little Pigs capturing the children’s attention beautifully. The children have been giving their focus to a longer narrative and beginning to join in with repeated refrains, and “huff puff” has been heard a lot around the room! Dentist themed books have also been a lovely link to the people who help us topic, with the children concentrating on the key words “brush” and “clean” as a fun reminder of how to look after their teeth. Counting songs including Five Little Men and Five Little Ducks have rounded things off brilliantly, with children using objects and their fingers to count up to five.
