Children in Willow Room at The Limes Nursery School have been celebrating birthdays this month, with the joy and excitement inspiring creative learning across all areas of the nursery.
After celebrating the birthdays of two children, the class began thinking about the different ways birthdays are celebrated, sparking discussions and activities throughout the environment. Children have been writing recipes and baking in the mud kitchen and home corner, and creating birthday cards in the creative area, developing early mark-making and writing skills through purposeful activities. They have also explored making birthday cakes with clay whilst creating three-dimensional celebratory treats. Party hats were added to the home corner, which led to children making their own party crowns using collage materials. The children have also been doing some excellent dancing outside to celebrate in style!
Across the nursery, children in Green and Green 2 have been developing phonological awareness through alliteration, rhyme and sound discrimination games, building essential foundations for reading and writing. In Red Class, children have been sharing their favourite books and exploring the core story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, whilst showing keen interest in clay exploration, rolling it, squishing it and making pretend food.
These playful experiences show how meaningful topics like birthdays can inspire learning across the entire environment whilst building children’s creativity, social skills and sense of celebration within their nursery community.