The weather was kind to us as the rain held off and enabled our whole nursery to get out on a walk through the village together.

We walked up to the park led by Chicken Steve who had clearly been practising his best chicken walk for us!! He was also EGGcellent at helping our children cross the road too (no jokes required, as he knew exactly why this chicken was crossing the road!! ) as we made our way to the field.

We congregated together and sang in our best Eastery voices and parents/carers/friends and family who had accompanied us there all joined in too… We saw some great wing flapping, some wiggling bottoms as eggs were laid and some brilliant hopping and flopping of feet and ears!!

Our children did us proud as we paraded around the village they cheerily jingled bells and wished all passersby a very Happy Easter! We got quite a few waves from passing motorists too – we definitely brought some smiles to Woodlesford today

After our sing along in the park our oldest children said goodbye to the rest of the nursery as they paraded on to Midland House to visit our lovely friends there…

We took them an Easter hamper and handed out chocolates too after singing some songs together

We had a drink and a biscuit before walking back to the park to have a play before returning to Jollies just in time for James’ yummy lunch!!

It was very well received and we were grateful for the chance to refuel and rest after our very, very busy morning parading!

However, there was one final surprise awaiting us as we walked back through nursery’s door…. The Easter Bunny had been whilst we were all out and he had left us all a chocolate egg on the stairs!!

He was a little bit clumsy as he’d knocked over a paint bottle when he hopped on in, but we didn’t mind as we liked to see where he’d been hopping as it led us to our Easter eggs!!!!

A HUGE thank you to our children, Team Jollies, all our helpers, our friends at Midland House, Chicken Steve and to Easter Bunny for making our morning such a magical one xxxx

These two cheeky chappies had busied themselves transporting all the Easter items from around their room into the cosy area.

They carefully arranged the different items all over the little sofa and they proudly told their friends and the grownups that they were ‘decorating for Easter’… What they created was brilliant!

They then used what they had created within their game as they pretend to role-play going to sleep and waiting for the Easter Bunny to come!!

We really hope the Easter Bunny hops into nursery tomorrow when we are all out and about (fingers crossed for no rain!!) parading around the village… Last year he was pesky and knocked over some paint on his way into nursery and he’d left painty footprints, but also lots of chocolate eggs for us all…. So we quickly forgave his mess!! xxxx

Climbing up onto the decking via the climbing wall before building and playing, under the cherry blossom, with bricks at the top? …… it’s a yes from us!! Xxxx

Bunnies, chicks, eggs and spring blossom blowing in the gentle breeze above us…. It’s beginning to feel a lot like Easter!! xxxx

Oh my how our caterpillars have grown… Cheeky Monkeys enjoyed having another good look at the caterpillars again recently to see how much they had grown and changed since they first got them and they were amazed at the changes they could observe!!

Whilst having a close look at the caterpillars they also explored the accompanying caterpillar tray; reading through the different books and looking at the toy butterflies and discussing what they will do when they are finally here!

It will be a magical moment when we release them to fly free into the skies above…

Springtime is so very exciting as we look closely at all the changes occurring in the wonderful world around us xxxx

In an open-ended creative way!!

Will our children scoop, pour, mix, empty, fill, stir, pat, will they build a sandcastle, or make a sand pie? Will it be cups of tea all around? (as Terrific Twos have now incorporated their sand tray with their kitchen units) Or will the people/animals/creatures/aliens explore the islands/mountains,/jungles, or will they whizz off into outer space? Will gems and jewels be buried and become the very best pirate treasure?!?!

Who knows?!? What we do know though is that whatever our children decide to do next it will certainly be exciting!! Xxxx

Cheeky Monkeys enjoyed testing their bodies’ abilities recently by climbing on the stepping logs outside and trying super hard to keep themselves steady!

Sometimes it was a little bit tricky so the children got a little help from Chloe (that’s the skill of a closely observing practitioner who knows just the right level of support to offer in that moment) but they all tried super hard and they definitely didn’t give up even when they had to change their approach in order to succeed… We saw some real resilience and total persistence and determination and the smiles of achievement (and high fives!!) at the end were priceless… Xxxx

It’s all the rage in the best B&Bs and we like to give our children opportunities to choose here at Jollies too!

From selecting their cereal of choice, using the dispensers to fill their bowls, to pouring on their own milk; our children love to develop their independence skills as they express preferences, develop their fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination and generally show what grown up superstars they truly are!! Xxxx

Digging, sandcastle-building, sand pie mixing, squashing, squeezing, moulding, filling, emptying and transporting on a HUGE scale are just some of the things that have been occurring in our Jolly sandpit in the garden xxxx

We listening to stories

Our children absolutely adore the Tonie boxes we have at nursery…

These devices are such a brilliant way for even the youngest of children to make choices and express themselves.

They are brilliant at showing cause and effect as our children choose their favourite story book character and place it on the top of the box to then hear their chosen story begin to play!

This is also a wonderful way to encourage turn-taking too as our children begin to understand that both they and their friends need to select stories to listen to as this is the only fair way

Which is your favourite character to sit atop the Tonie box we wonder?! Xxxx