We love a little wander and despite having a HUGE outdoor area of our own to play outside in daily we also like to venture a little further afield from time to time to explore our local environment and put our physical skills to the test on some different play equipment.

Woodlesford park is a lovely place to explore and we love a little meander up there to swing, climb, run and spin!!!! Xxxx

These two besties were sharing books about babies and making up their own stories; listening VERY intently to each other might we add!!

Then in the next moment they were roleplaying babies and looking after each other in the most caring of ways!

From sharing books to brilliant caregiving ways…. We love where our friendships take us to here at nursery xxxx

Some of our oldest children went to the park with Natalie and Eloise and on the way back they grabbed their grabbers and helped keep our village tidy as they litter picked from the park all the way back to Jollies.

They found plastic bottles, cans, tissues, cigarette packets and sweet wrappers and we all chatted together about how whenever we have an empty bottle or a wrapper we take it home and throw it in the bin.

Our children are clearly going to be the super responsible superstars of the future who will make sure their environment is looked after and we are so proud of them for this!

Thank you for caring for our local environment and being excellent ambassadors of Jollies

There’s an invitation to play awaiting the Free-Flow pirates this morning….

Will they share a pirate story or two? Will they ensconce their pirates in the best role-play action as their imaginations flow? Will they become immersed in counting and sorting the treasure? Will it be compared in terms of size, colour or shape? Will they put their fine motor skills to the test as they tweezer treasure? Will they challenge their hand/eye coordination as they fill treasure chests? Will they explore mathematical concepts of capacity and weight as the chests are filled/emptied, transported and compared? Or will they do something entirely different?!?

That’s the beauty of the early years…. Our children are the cartographers of their own experimental, creative, wonderful play and we know that with invitations to play set out and raring to go on a morning that have derived from their current interests and fascinations that ‘X’ really does mark the spot!!!

Things are growing in our Jolly Garden…. We can’t wait to watch them grow and change and eventually harvest and eat them!!!! Whoop whoop

xxxx

Following our children’s interests is a HUGE part of the ethos of our nursery so it is essential that our children’s key people know them inside out. So when tuned-in grownups hear conversations of camping fun it is only natural that they respond by creating their very own Camp Jolly within the room to enable our children to role-play excitedly drawing upon their real life experiences…. Camping days and the best role-playing ways spent together here at Jollies!! xxxx

When you spot some magnatiles, have a shared idea and then teamwork, quite simply, makes the dream work!!!! Xxxx

Terrific Twos have got creative today and designed their very own backdrop for the display board in their room…. We like our children to get truly involved!!!!

When the build you create is soooooooo much better than the planning card you originally set out to follow!!

We love that our children’s imaginations roam free and they have the confidence to follow their own plans and have such clear ideas that they want to develop…. That’s how a ‘truck with treasure’ comes to fruition… 🪎 xxxx

From crawling through a tunnel, balancing across crates, climbing up on to equipment, to jumping off as high as we possibly can…. Physical play is crucial for all our children as they learn what their bodies’ capabilities are and strengthen muscles, develop spatial awareness and hone their gross and fine motor skills and control.

Whilst moving, moving, moving pathways are strengthened within the brains and we become even more competent and skilful movers through repetition and development of our skills through play.

This doesn’t even factor in the collaboration, turn-taking, risk-assessing, communication that’s also naturally occurring and there’s often quite a bit of counting thrown in too and mathematical language through talk of how high we’ve jumped etc etc.

Early years play is truly holistic, but above all it is tonnes and tonnes of fun for our little ones!!!!