Children across all groups at Cashmore Early Years Centre have been exploring stories, developing construction and transport knowledge, and celebrating Lunar New Year this month through hands-on learning and creative exploration.
In Zebra and Tiger Groups, the children have been creating towers and structures using bricks whilst learning new words like ‘construction’, ‘demolition’ and ‘structures’. They have been showing resilience when towers fall or something does not go to plan, developing perseverance and understanding that mistakes are part of learning. The children have been exploring different vehicles and their purposes through books like “Duck in the Truck” and “Emergency! (Awesome Engines)”, learning concepts like ‘fast/slow’, ‘long/short’ and ‘heavy/light’ by comparing vehicles whilst singing transport songs including ‘Wheels on the Bus’ and ‘Five Little Trains’. The children have been learning their friends’ names through the ‘Hicklety, Picklety Bumblebee’ song, clapping and counting the syllables in their names whilst beginning to trace and copy letters from their names.
In Hippo and Giraffe Groups, the children have been exploring ‘Handa’s Surprise’ by Eileen Browne, tasting and cutting different fruits whilst learning fruit names. They have been introduced to Julia Donaldson’s ‘Chocolate Mousse for Greedy Goose’, developing phonological awareness through rhyming text. The children have been exploring sensory materials including cereals, using their hands, bricks and rolling pins to smash, crunch and sprinkle whilst discovering different textures. They have been mixing flour and hair conditioner to make playdough, noticing changes to the mixture and working their hand muscles to knead the dough.
Across both groups, the children celebrated Lunar New Year by reading about the Zodiac and the tale of The Great Race, using animals to make prints on long paper, exploring Chinese writing and copying the symbol for ‘horse’ because this year is the Year of the Horse. The children decorated red money pockets, which are traditionally given to children to bring good luck, and were given one lucky penny to take home. They explored noodles and soy sauce, feeling the differences between cooked and dry noodles and using chopsticks and tweezers to eat them, developing fine motor skills through cultural food exploration.
These rich, varied experiences show how children learn through stories, hands-on exploration, creative play and cultural celebration, building language, physical skills, mathematical understanding and an appreciation of diverse traditions.