Ilminster Avenue Nursery School is launching an exciting new term with the curriculum theme “Play a Game,” where children will explore traditional tales, turn-taking, physical games and creative activities that build essential skills for learning and life.
True to the nursery’s vision of “Igniting Children’s Passions through Play,” children will be engaging with traditional tales through story language, rhythm and rhyme, retelling stories through play and small world activities. They will be learning the vocabulary of turn-taking including “my turn,” “your turn,” “wait,” “stop,” “before,” “next,” “after,” “beginning,” “middle” and “end,” helping them understand sequencing whilst developing patience and social skills. The children will practise taking turns with adult support, joining in with small group play and following the rules of games in the classroom.
Physical development will be at the heart of the term, with children practising running, changing directions and avoiding obstacles whilst developing spatial awareness and control. They will be making large marks with chalk, paint and pens, and creating controlled marks on paper using the nip, flip and grip technique whilst learning to hold a pencil correctly. Children will be making controlled cuts with scissors, developing the fine motor skills and hand strength essential for future writing.
The children will explore mathematical concepts through games, learning to subitise up to 5 by identifying quantities without counting, noticing and continuing patterns, and understanding that numerals represent a total. They will be counting for a purpose during game play, making maths meaningful and fun. Creative movement will also feature strongly, with children linking emotions to movement through Dough Disco, exploring big drums and claves, and using their imagination to create simple games of their own.
These playful, game-based experiences will help children develop independence, make decisions and choices, share ideas during conflict resolution, use words to express feelings and problems, and gain confidence in trying new things whilst building the foundations for lifelong learning.