Well, we’ve certainly had a busy month in Early Years with lots of new explorations and fun activities!
We started of exploring the colour yellow in many different ways such as painting, making collages, manipulation with lemon scented dough and making fresh lemon and orange juice for morning snack. The children also brought in something yellow from home for our weekly ‘Show-and-tell’ activity.
After this we embarked on our first group project experience ‘Tales of Light’ inspired by a wonderful exibition ‘Favole di luce’ by the photographer Nino Migliori (which the Early Years teachers had the pleasure of visiting in July at the Maxxi Museum). Nino Migliori’s experimentation with photographs involved a group of children aged 3-5 years which enabled them to express their thoughts, emotions and desires. Our experience of this project involved many different ways of exploring and experimenting with light and shadow, both in class and with our art teacher, Mr. Justin. The children responded positvely to the various activities and were fascinated by what they saw and what they could do. This exploration with light and shadow is something we will carry on investigating throughout the year by linking it to future class topics (such as Autumn, Christmas, Winter, Spring, transportation, Nursery rhymes, Fairytales and Emotions).
Activities which help develop and refine children’s fine motor abilities are part of daily life in early years; these include using pegs, pincers, eyedroppers, puzzles, manipulation with playdough as well as learning to take off and put on shoes, non-slip socks and rainboots. With consistent practice, children are becoming more and more independent in self-care. Very well done to all!
During music lessons with Mr. Davide, children are curious to explore the different instruments. They enjoy and join in singing some favourite songs and especially love the movement activities. The children love outdoor play and at times we take toys from class to use outside such as role-play costumes (firefighters and construction workers).
In preparation for Halloween, the children made cardboard jack-o-lanterns, hanging bats and hand-printed spiders. For show-and-tell, they brought in masks, halloween pictures, pumpkins, decorations and lanterns. They really enjoyed the fine motor activities with eye-balls, spiders and insects.
See you all soon!