Tummy time is just as important at two years as it is at two months old, as children are continuing to grow, develop and strengthen their bodies and their fine motor control and providing tummy time and the chance to make marks from a different perspective will most definitely encourage and facilitate this.

So armed with this knowledge, it was time for Jade to follow her children’s interests of wanting to make marks, draw and create, but not at a table top or on an easel, but rather flat on the floor instead…

Her children immediately gathered around and laid on their tummies as they reached and stretched and held their heads up and positioned themselves on elbows and twisted and turned as they chatted to each other and checked out their friends’ drawings/creations too.

This was such a simple activity, but such an incredibly grounding one too, as this time can help develop sensory awareness surrounding the stomach (particularly significant for those who are building up to potty training), it strengthens the core as children look up and around and push themselves up on their hands and elbows, it enhances their ability to track movements and people and focus on the marks (fine motor!) they are making whilst maintaining their tummy drawing position (great early reading skills!), it reduces the desire to fidget as it can encourage focus as the children feel so grounded and secure and know exactly where their body is within space (something that can be hard to feel and achieve when sat upright on a chair).

There are many, many other benefits to time spent laid on tummies too, so why not push the table to one side and get down on the floor as you draw, glue, build and create together as your little one will reap the benefits in the future whilst having lots of fun experimenting and exploring in the present moment too xxxx

We love our sensory room as it’s such an exciting space to explore for all our children; from our babies to our oldest giraffes… We simply change the sensory resources within the room to match their differing needs, abilities, ages and stages of learning and interests…

In these photos there are buttons to press, lights to switch on and off once the switching mechanisms have been mastered, cause and effect to be explored, reflections to be marvelled at, funny faces to be pulled, wonderful imaginary conversations to be held on exciting light up phones and these are only a teeny-tiny example of the fun that can be had in this superb sensory space here at Jollies xxxx

You know our children mean business when the ‘concentration tongue’ comes out… we love it when our little ones try, try, try again to achieve their self-selected desired challenges.

In this case perseverance definitely paid off as the balls eventually balanced on the tees in the dough!! Xxxx

……… (just an amazing friend to race and chase around the decking with waiting outside the door)xxxx

This week the children in Free-Flow have been fascinated with face painting and pretending to paint their friends’ faces.

This interest was shown again this morning when they imaginatively used some different coloured wooden owls to pretend to paint faces.

Well you all know how we just love to follow our children’s interests here at Jollies; so Emma and Imogen decided to get the real face paints out for our children to use!!

This little one has absolutely loved getting his face painted by his bestie… he requested a monkey and she waved her magic paintbrush and suddenly there was one very cheeky monkey stood in front of us!!!! xxxx

Our little ones have a splashtastic time getting muddy and messy as they mix away!!

Will you fancy a brew, or will a mud pie catch your eye?!

Whatever you decide upon we know you’ll have a muddy marvellous time cooking and creating here xxxx

Yesterday morning toothbrushing got mentioned by a few parents at drop off time; as one child had loved it and another had struggled a little over the weekend.

So to encourage positive toothbrushing, supporting our parents/carers and also following on from our children’s interests Jade brought the toothbrushing box into her room and set it up in a tray.

The room began by reading some books together before then brushing some giant teeth…

Our children were on a mission to ensure every tooth was brushed thoroughly within each of the mouths and they practised squeezing the toothpaste carefully onto their brushes.

Hopefully they will now be very excited to go home and show their expert toothbrushing skills and share what they have learnt through looking at the books with their mummies and daddies and grandmas and grandads too

Partnership working ways and perfecting toothbrushing days spent learning here at Jollies xxxx

Once a week one of our rooms takes its turn to make pudding for the whole nursery. This is a great opportunity to reinforce hygiene and safety messages, introduce the concept of weighing and measuring, follow instructions as a recipe is worked through, develop understanding of sequencing; what is done first and what comes next, look at how mixtures change and transform into buns, or how chocolate changes from a solid, to a liquid, back to a solid again; to discuss melting and heating and cooling, to turn-take and share, to develop an awareness of time as our children wait for the oven to bake their treats and then to feel a HUGE sense of pride and achievement as our children taste their goodies at lunchtime and proudly discuss how they’ve all made some delicious treats for themselves and all their Jolly friends too!!

We have anything from tray bakes, fairy cakes, jammy biscuits to crispy buns… it’s up to each room to choose what they’d like to bake and create together… whatever next?! We simply cannot wait to see (and taste!!) xxxx

To start with we’ve opted for a refresh of the garden side… lots of pressure washing, sweeping, weeding, cleaning, sorting and throwing away, refreshing of sand and bark (and lampshades!! ) and adding new and exciting resources into the garden to enhance our areas.

We are very lucky at Jollies to have a HUGE outdoor space and we want it to be as inviting and exciting as it possibly can be for all our children…

Next week we move on to Spring cleaning the playground side… watch this space!!

‘Happy, Happy Weekend’ one and all and we hope the lovey weather continues so you can really enjoy your own gardens at home too with your little ones… xxxx

This other morning this little one was sat in the book corner and was busy looking through the ‘That’s not my…kangaroo’ book. Alice observed that she was VERY excited to see the nearby toy kangaroo that looked just like the pictures in her book!

She seemed to really enjoy the sensory aspect of this book where she could touch and feel all the different textures and it was a super sweet moment when she shared with her friend kangaroo asking if they wanted a turn touching the book too…

Story sharing days and magical reading ways spent playing here at Jollies xxxx