Preschool - Bear hunts, mud pies and raised pulses

We have spent a lot of time outside this week. Following our ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ theme, we have fully embraced the curriculum outdoors.

On Monday, we went on a bear hunt. First, we sat and listened to the story from Miss Atieno. We identified the key points of the story such as the grass, river, mud, cave, and the bear (of course). We discussed the letters and sounds linked to the words, we then went on a walk. Following each other, we crossed the field (grass) then we crossed the river. It was quite deep, so we needed to help each other across. Once over, we squelched in the mud, and pretended to be in a snowstorm. When we came back into the Preschool garden, we found a cave which had a bear in it! The children then ran away; but we were glad to find out that it was just a friendly teddy bear!

We continued the muddy theme later in the week by exploring our mud kitchen. We looked back on the elements of our bear hunt, and the aspects they had really enjoyed which were the river and the squelchy mud! In the mud kitchen we had a variety of wonderful ingredients such as bubbly water, mud, grass, sticks and bark and the children were allowed to explore and create their recipes. The children thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with the ingredients and making some wonderfully imaginative concoctions. The activity allowed the children to experiment with quantity, different mediums and materials as well as developing their physical skills with stirring and picking up items. When the children had finished creating their pies and potions, they came into Preschool and documented their recipes. They drew pictures of their ingredients and creations and were able to tell us exactly what they used to make them.

We finished off the week by playing games on the court. The children showed fantastic listening and attention skills by following the instructions for the games. The children had to identify sounds from their name to allow them to ‘cross the river’ and not get chased by Mrs. Dunn, the bear! We played ‘What’s the time Mr. Wolf?’ and then finished with laps of the field track whilst being our favourite superhero. When the children finished we talked about the effects the exercise had on our bodies. The children were able to talk about how their hearts were beating, and their breathing had changed, as well as feeling quite warm too!

What a busy and very energetic week!