This Month we enjoyed a range of celebrations here at Monkey Puzzle Orient Close. We focused on springtime and went for plenty of walks around the local area to enjoy watching the flowers and trees bloom around us.

We also celebrated easter with a big nursery egg hunt around the nursery and in the garden. Everyone got involved and the children were very excited to seek out all their little eggs. We also had our environmental health inspection in which we retained our 5-star rating!

In bumblebees this month we have started introducing more Makaton to the babies. They have learned how to say ‘Hello’, ‘please and thank you’ and ‘more’. We have lit up our senses too and explored some scented water play using fresh lemon and orange. The babies have been making bubble wrap cars and exploring with paints the pattens and tracks they can make.

In our ladybird’s room we have been looking at all different types of bubbles, from blowing our own bubbles to looking at bubble wrap and having bubble parties. We have also continued our interest in transport by looking further into how things move and different modes of transport. We have been very interested in trucks and lorries, so when the truck with the crane came to remove our hippo skip, we were very excited to watch! The children have started adding some decorations to their small garden and have loved to watch how the windmills move in the wind.

In our preschool room the butterflies have been really interested in the Gruffalo, so they made our own Gruffalo Crumble. We went for a walk down the Alban Way, to see if we could find the Gruffalo or any of the other animals from the book. We found lots of sticks, leaves, and squirrels! We had a role play afternoon tea party, where we made little tea cakes, scones, cups of tea and biscuits. We sat on a picnic blanket and spoke about our favourite sweet treats and drinks. We loved sharing these with our friends and carers. Matt also came down from the kitchen and helped us make our own homemade gnocchi that we had for lunch. Finally, we enjoyed our Sports Day We worked together and alone to complete different exercises, such as egg and spoon races, bean bag throwing and space hopper races. It was so much fun!