Children at St Pauls Nursery School have been exploring the natural world, developing their creativity and building practical skills this month through hands-on investigations and collaborative projects.
In Nursery Room 1, the children have been following a line of enquiry about birds, becoming ornithologists as they observed seagulls, magpies and robins in the nursery garden and listened carefully for their different calls. The children were delighted to welcome a parent visitor who taught them how to create bird boxes. They learnt how to use different tools to tap, drill, measure and join, persevering through tricky learning to collaborate together and create cosy new habitats for their feathery friends. This experience connected to St Paul’s Promise “I connect with the wider world,” helping children immerse themselves in awe and wonder whilst marvelling at the natural world and building an understanding of themselves within it.
In Nursery 3 POD, children have been immersed in shape play, exploring how to rotate, change and combine shapes to make patterns, designs and constructions. They have been discovering that everything in the world has shape whilst developing their understanding of space and measure. The children have also been exploring messy materials including paint, playdough, water and sand, using their hands as their best research tools. They squeeze, pour, push, pat, pinch, mix and manipulate, engaging all their senses in scientific enquiry. Imaginative play has flourished too, with children taking on roles as doctors and patients, acting out their own stories and expressing ideas and feelings through dramatic play.
These rich learning experiences show how children at St Pauls are developing as creative thinkers, scientists and researchers, building connections with their community and the natural world whilst laying crucial foundations for future learning through hands-on exploration and collaborative discovery.