Spring 1 – Week 2

This week’s traditional tale was Little Red Riding Hood. In Willow, we have been exploring food by making items for Little Red Riding Hood’s picnic basket, such as cakes and jelly, practising packing a picnic basket and role playing with the food. The children really enjoyed mixing the cake batter almost as much as eating it! We have also looked at the characters in the story and created our own artwork to represent each one. Maths and literacy this week focused on counting down until the huntsman arrives and making the /a/ sound when Little Red Riding Hood is scared.

Spring 1 – Week 1

Our topic this term is Traditional Tales, and this week’s focus was Goldilocks and the Three Bears. There was a strong focus on gross motor skills, with the children practising being Goldilocks and ‘going on a bear hunt’, as well as being the Three Bears searching for Goldilocks. The children enjoyed lots of sensory exploration with oats this week, exploring hot and cold, as well as dry and wet. We also got creative by making pictures of the Three Bears’ porridge and creating bear masks for role play.

Autumn 2 Week 7

 Christmas has officially arrived in Willow this week! We have had great fun exploring the lights, sounds and feel of Christmas. The work never stops, though, and the children have been putting all of their new skills to the test by being creative and making lots of Christmas crafts to take home, such as cards, wreaths and pictures. Willow also had their Christmas party, which involved lots of balloons, bubbles, music and, of course, party food, which is always a hit in Willow.

Autumn 2 Week 6

This week, we ended our Space topic with a space party! We revisited many of our favourite activities from the topic, including investigating different textures to create an alien, using sticks to create an out-of-space picture, and introducing aliens to things they might find on Earth if they visited. Willow Class have really enjoyed this topic, especially the many sensory activities involving light and dark exploration, as well as exploring different textures. Towards the end of the week, we also started some Christmas crafts, as the children were showing an interest in the Christmas trees around the school.

Autumn 2 Week 5

We have looked at Aliens and Space Creatures focusing on Imagination, textures, and movement. Children used their imaginations to create a flying saucer, sticking a paper plate with a paper bowl to make the shape and then decorating them but cutting and sticking their own shapes. Children also had an opportunity to paint their own space alien portraits. We had some fantastic sensory experiences with alien slime, and an alien feelie box. Fine motor skills were put to the test when cutting out aliens and flying sauces to create their own space creature scene.

Autumn 2 Week 4

This week we have focused on the moon - texture, shape, movement. Children really enjoyed taking part in our astronaut training, using gross motor skills to; climb, run, jump and balance. We had lots of sensory exploration creating a moon out of puffy paint, as well as painting bubble wrap and pressing it to create the moons creators. In food Technology children created their own moon Crater Rice Krispie Cakes which is always a hit!

Autumn 2 Week 3

This week our focus has been on the stars and Constellations, we have explored light and dark, as well as patterns. Children had particularly enjoyed using lights and bubble tubes to explore how the stars look in a night sky, creating a great sensory experience which proved to be highly engaging and soothing. We have also explored our creative side creating our own constellations and practicing printing with paint.

Autumn 2 Week 2

This week we have focused on the solar system. We explored the planets though images, physical toys and videos, creating lots of sensory experiences. Children loved using different materials to create their own planets. Our main focus this week was on fine motor skills, especially cutting skills. Children painted their solar system background and then cut out planets to stick onto the background, they also cut out puzzle pieces to order and stick as well as cutting and sticking space objects in maths to order the amounts.

Autumn 2 Week 1

This half-term we have the topic of Space!

This week we focused on Blast Off! – Rockets and Astronauts. We introduced rockets though stories, pictures, videos and models. Children loved mark making in flour, trying to create their own rockets and thinking about the lines rockets make in the sky. We also had lots of fun creating our own astronaut masks and doing some role-play, pretending to be astronauts! Playdough was used to create our own rockets as well as using college to decorate our own rockets. The spinning chair has been a great way to give a sensory experience of a rocket launch.

Autumn 1 Week 7

This week we have focused on Adventure week! We have had lots of fun doing some of our favourite activities from the term. Playdough is always a firm favourite and children really enjoyed creating their favourite farm animals. We also played lots of games, including farm bingo, practised our numbers and fine motor skills all in one go and created some art for Halloween and bonfire night. Of course, we also decorated some biscuits with icing and sprinkles as was deserved after a busy half-term. 

Autumn 1 Week 6

This week we have focused on harvest at the farm. This we brought to life when exploring a variety of fruits and vegetables and making a soup from the ingredients. Children also really liked exploring the textures of a farm harvest when completing a sensory walk through straw, oats and cereals. We had a great time creating cow's udders and milking them. It led to lots of laughs and some very determined children to empty the udders!

Autumn 1 Week 5

This week we have focused on Farm Machines. Children have created lots of art this week using farm machinery. They especially liked rolling the wheels though paint and then making tracks on paper. They also made some of their own tractor tyres, using different foam shapes to see how different shapes create different marks in ‘mud’. Fine motor skills were put to the test again when trying to make some machinery from playdough. Additionally, children particularly enjoyed some maths this week involving colour matching toy dinosaurs to the numbers when thinking about concrete amounts.

Autumn 1 Week 4

This week we have focused on feeding time. Children really enjoyed the sensory experience of a farmer’s field made from cereal! They loved being able to be tactile but also being safe to eat. We linked food to colours to expose children to a variety of foods, and then expanded this to encourage fine motor skills through colour matching and games. In PE this week, the children loved practising their climbing, balancing and jumping skills. Our gross motor skills in the Willow are a real strength!

Autumn 1 Week 3

This week we have focused on noisy farm, we looked at the animals and the noises they make; building our own sheep to embed the link between sound and image, and practising weaving on farm animals while imitating the sounds. We also looked at the machinery and the difference in sound by cutting and sticking the noisy parts of machinery as well as driving the machines on different surfaces. This week was all about linking the sensory experience of sound to other experiences.

Autumn 1 Week 2

This week we have focused on meeting the farm. Children have used their fine motor skills to mould playdough into farm animals. We have had many sensory experiences using natural materials focusing on the changing seasons, and with the delivery of bubble warp, we just had to have lots of fun popping it.  Children also enjoyed making jam sandwiches while cooking. We tried to follow the instructions to support independence.

Autumn 1 Week 1

Farmyard adventure!

This week we have introduced our first topic of the year in Willow, Farmyard Adventure! We have started off by exploring the animals on the farm. Children have enjoyed ‘feeding’ the animals, using the animals to create art from footprints and matching the animals to their shadows. This has supported their hand-eye co-ordination, fine motor skills, and attention. Of course,  we have also had lots of sensory experiences with the oats.