Latest From Crawford
06 Feb, 2017
With lots of new arrivals in the Exploring room there is a new level of curiosity when it comes to exploring and discovering. We encourage this interest by providing opportunities for the new babies to explore through heuristic play. Heuristic play describes the activity of babies and children as they play with and explore the properties of 'objects'. These 'objects' are things from the real world. One of the staff was coming back from her break and picked up some recycled cardboard rolls in Reception and brought them into the room. Some of the children were very curious by the cardboard rolls and soon got…
Discovery Room The children had lots of fun at our interest table this week making pictures/creations from the different objects and materials that were provided. We followed the children’s interest and added material to our table such as Christmas cards, cardboard, paper, crayons, cellotape and envelopes. The children got to work using their imaginations and creativity. The children used some of the new material in role play. They used the paper, crayons, cards and envelops to make postcards and Christmas cards to send to their friends. Robert decided to send his card to Poland, while Zach wanted to send a card to his house. Some…
Adventure Room With Christmas well and truly over we felt the need to get back into ‘routine’ so we started working on our independence looking at taking on and off our coats and shoes and tidying up the toys. We all helped each other and made sure to tidy up the room before we went outside each day. It took a little time to get into the habit of doing things for ourselves and to be aware that we need to tidy up after playing with the toys or games that we use. Tom’s Dad was very proud to see him putting his own coat…
Adventure Room Lots of fun painting this week as the children were very interested in getting brushes, paint and paper plates. Very quickly they started to put the brushes aside and found their hands/fingers much better at the job! Elena gave them some paper so they could stamp their handprints. Parents were very excited to see the handprints on paper. Exploring Room Kieran was pointing up to the treasure basket on the window ledge so we had to bring it down for him. After placing it on the floor for Kieran other children quickly came over to explore and investigate the contents of the basket.…
Discovery Room It’s Christmas week and what a busy one! The children have been talking about Santa and some even had a home visit from him. Tucker recently went to Robert’s house for the weekend and he brought a Christmas present in for Tucker which they opened together. On Wednesday night the children performed their show ‘Christmas Around the World’ for their families and it was a great success. After the show we a had a party for everyone and some parents kindly brought in some treats. On Thursday Santa and his elves came to visit and the children sang some Christmas songs for him.…
Discovery Room Our Christmas show is only around the corner and practise is in full swing. The children are very excited about the big performance and we are discussing what props are needed. This year’s show is called ‘Christmas around the World’ and the children have been wondering how Christmas is celebrated in Hawaii and Australia so we decided to make props for these countries. You’ll have to wait until the show to see them! Some parents have told us the children are very excited about the show and practising their songs at home. Adventure Room There’s no escaping Christmas at the moment! Amanda got…
Exploring Room Our babies have discovered the sand box! A few weeks ago we placed it on a shelf in the library with a lid on. It didn’t take long to be explored, when one afternoon Caoimhe was playing with her sister Roisin and she came across the box. She pulled it off the lower shelf onto the floor. As the lid was on it she tried to figure out want was inside, carefully investigating the box. A few moments later she managed to get the lid off and was so excited to see all the sand inside. Upon hearing her excited squeals Roisin and…
Discovery Room On Monday Tiernan brought in a countdown to Christmas calendar. This started up a conversation between some of the children about Christmas with saying they didn’t have their Christmas tree up yet. Some children helped decorate the Christmas tree in the reception area. James shook ‘Jingle Bells’ on the tree while Peig put some balls on and David was asking when we were going to use the calendar. We also spoke about how Christmas is celebrated all around the world and made decorations for the classroom. Some children showed their parents the tree which they help to decorate. On Thursday Tiarnan stared the…
Adventure Room Christmas talk is starting already! When some of the children came in this week they were talking about the Christmas lights being turned on in Cork and seeing Santa. Some of the kids wanted to paint so we asked them what colours and red or green where the chosen ones. Conor wanted to paint a Christmas tree on cardboard. Emma wanted green card like a Christmas tree and Leon chose red for Santa. Conor’s Mum commented how nice the painted cardboard was and told us how Conor was all talk about the Christmas Tree with the star and what he told Santa he…
Exploring Room This week we decided it was time for a change and moved our Cosy Corner in order to make it more accessible to all the babies. The bookshelves were moved in order to create a more welcoming and comfy area for all our new arrivals. Some of the children noticed the change immediately and were excited to have a new area to explore and unwind in. As we have many new books we are spending more time storytelling and saying nursery rhymes with the children in the Cosy Corner, which we hope will continue to be an area that is calm, relaxing and…
