August was the first time since March 2020 that we have been able to start greeting parents back into the setting to collect their child after a fun filled day. It has been so great seeing the excited little faces as the children greet their parents and show them their homes from home and being able to spend some quality time with our families.

Our youngest children in Bumblebees have enjoyed making noise this month as they have explored the way in which things work. Our peek-a-boo boxes have been a highlight as the babies have shook them, twisted them and explored the various locks and latches to recover the coloured blocks from inside. The delivery of some lovely new wooden instruments has also opened up a world of discoveries as maracas were shook, xylophones were played and tambourines were hit.

Food is quite often at the centre of our toddlers minds and this month was no exception. Our Ladybirds excitedly took part in a home learning task in which they explored and created food at home with their families in which they shared photos with their peers. This then lead onto the children making both their own pitta pizzas for tea as well as peeling, chopping and breaking to create a delicious fruit salad to take home and share with their families. We have also continued exploring our interest of how things grow beginning to look at how humans grow, discussing heights within their own households.

Butterflies excitedly became the parents of some very wriggly caterpillars this month which provided amazing opportunities to watch the life cycle of a butterfly in real time, we now have three beautiful butterflies that we can’t wait to release into our nursery garden. In pre-school we have also been exploring science and how things work through scales, pipettes and sieves, working out the many ways in which they can be used.

We were so thrilled to be able to invite both our baby and toddler parents down to our garden area for Hawaiian themed parties. They were great opportunities for our children to share their space with their parents, allow the parents to socialise with each other and spend some time bonding with the staffing team that looks after their child.