Our topic book this week has been Ten Terrible Dinosaurs by Paul Strickland. In the book we are met with a group of fiery dinosaurs and as the book develops we slowly count down from ten to one. The story was a great platform, not only to start to focus on number recognition with the children, but also because it introduced lots of amazing new words such as ‘feisty’, ‘tetchy’ and ‘elated’. We discussed the meaning of each of these words and tried to think of examples of when we could use them. We loved the story so much that we continued to engage in a number of dinosaur-based activities throughout the week!
Our Role Play Area has been set up as a dinosaur cave, which the children have enjoyed spending time in reading books and playing with the dinosaurs. We have also had a ‘dinosaur nest’ making area, where the children could choose from a variety of different materials to make their own nest for the ‘dinosaur’ eggs’. The plastic eggs were a very popular resource and we used them further in the week with the playdough where the children were able to explore the different materials and various ways of combing the playdough and the eggs together. This activity developed the children’s fine motor skills and also supported the Kits understanding of maths concepts as we filled the eggs with the playdough and discussed if they were empty or full.
Experimenting with the plastic eggs introduced conversations about which animals lay eggs and where they come from. So, we continued this learning further in our Cookery Focus Time where we made cheese and broccoli frittatas. The children had the opportunity to crack their own egg into a bowl and we discussed the different parts of the egg including the shell, yolk and egg white. The Kits also developed their hand strength as they used knives to cut the pre-cooked broccoli and beat the egg with a fork. The frittatas smelt delicious as they cooked and the children were all very proud to take them home at the end of the day.
In the Outdoor Learning Environment we extended the development of our gross motor skills and explored mark-making by stepping in talcum powder to make big dinosaur foot prints on the floor and roaring like dinosaurs as we did so!
The change of season has led to us supporting the children in their self-care as they learn to put their coats on independently. We are so proud of the great progress the children are making with this already and they are beginning to hang their coats on their pegs and flip them over their heads to put them on by themselves.
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