We all love messy play!

Friendships
This week in Snowy Owls Scarning we are focusing on the topic of friendships!
On return to nursery after the lovely Christmas break we have had some Tawny Owls transition up enjoying their first week with us in Snowy Owls
Today we have created a focused tray based on our current and new Snowy Owl interests of messy play and small world animals!
All of the children loved exploring this tray throughout the day, using scoops to explore the oats and showing lots of interest towards the natural features of logs, pebbles and artificial trees
They also loved engaging with the small world animals, mainly the dinosaurs! Stomping them through the oats and transporting extra animals into the tray such as their favourite farm and zoo animals
Throughout the morning this sensory tray has kept most of the children engaged for long periods of time allowing them to play nicely alongside each other and being able to share and turn take all the resources forming lovely friendships with their new and current peers
It has been fantastic welcoming all our new snowy Owl friends this week and we look forward to watching them learn and grow during their time with us.

String painting
This morning in snowy owls Toftwood we have been string painting! The children used string in the paint to create wiggly lines, we then added glitter for a bit of sparkle!

Bear Hunt Sensory Trail
In Tawny Owls today we have been very busy exploring a ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ themed sensory trail. Tawny Owls used their senses to investigate a selection of sensory activities. We first walked through the ‘swishy swashy’ grass, the children stomped and used their fingers to feel the wavy grass. We then came across a ‘deep cold’ river, the children splashed and jumped in the water. After we had explored the water we moved on to the ‘thick’ mud, Tawny Owls used some spades and buckets to move the mud around and to create marks in the tray. We then walked through a forest of trees and found our way in a ‘swirling whirling’ snowstorm. We used our feet and hands to explore the texture of the shaving foam, and used our fingers to pop some bubbles!
After we had finished our sensory trail we continued our journey through the garden and we discovered a bear
Whilst enjoying this activity the children babbled and said some words including ‘pop pop’ and ‘bear’.
This was a much enjoyed activity.

Today at Tawny Owls Scarning the babies have had such a tremendous time inspecting an array of textures from the shiny foil to the bumpy bubble wrap with some wonderful paint.
Some of the babies acquired their little hands to touch and poke the material and others incorporated their stomping feet to create lots of marks across the material.
This activity enhances all the senses from touch to sight and is a fabulous opportunity for some of our younger children to been immersed with lots of sensory resources.