Snow time in Crawford

Snow time in Crawford Adventure Room When the children arrived into the creche one morning recently they saw some thingspecial had covered the outdoor area! We didn’t need to ask them twice if they wanted to go our and touch the snow. Very quickly coats and hats were put on and the wetsuits and wellies were put on in record time. They ran out into the snow and touched it exclaiming “ it’s cold,  feel it” they were telling each other. Michael and Fionn were making marks in the snow with their wellies leaving their prints everywhere. They then used different materials to make more prints on the snow.…

Latest From Crawford

Latest From Crawford Explore Room Tadgh took the flour container and started to shake it. Laura asked if he would like to paly with it. He was very excited as they opened it. We put two large back trays on the table and started to pour the flour. Other children rushed over to put their hands under the flour rain. When the shower of rain flour stopped we poured some water on top. Again, the children squealed with delight as they put their hands under the pouring water. Then the children began to mix the flour with the water and we had a new texture to explore. Next…

Happy Halloween From Crawford

Happy Halloween From Crawford Discovery Room Cathy was talking about a recipe for protein balls which she saw on the back of a packet of Ready Brek she had for breakfast that morning. It was suggested then that the class should try to make the protein balls. We got all the ingredients together and the children helped with weighing, peeling, cutting and mixing the carrot, apple, dates, pumpkin seeds and porridge oats. We had to use a blender to get the texture right for the protein balls. While they were balking we chatted about the ingredients. Rose said the dates tasted like raisins, while Conor said he didn’t like…

Muddy Puddles in Crawford

Muddy Puddles in Crawford Exploring Room As a result of heavy rainfall puddles formed around the sandpits. The children love playing in the puddles as water play is a shared interest of theirs. In order to expand this interest we added washing up liquid to the puddles which created large quantities of bubbles. This really appealed to the children with two of them jumping right in! Once the bubble puddles were created the children began to walk through it. Having shown interest other materials were introduced including footballs, rubber ducks and bowling skittles. The children loved splashing through the bubbles.   Discovery Room Earlier in the week the children…

Autumn in Crawford

Autumn in Crawford Exploring Room We wandered outside and found a big muddy puddle next to the sandpit. Cillian and Jacob mad a dash to splash in the water with their feet. Then Killian saw what great fun was being had and decided to sit down in the puddle. We gave the boys a few cups from the kitchen which they used to pour the muddy water on the ground. They realised quickly that the water was sandy as well as muddy. After a while Cillian got a brush to get the water out of the puddle. He then realised that the mud could be used as paint…

Latest From Crawford

Latest From Crawford Exploring Room The children wandered over curiously to the stones that Jenny and Laura had painted. They then took some paint brushes and started to put marks on the floor so we decided to bring out trays with different coloured paints and loads of paper for the children to explore. Some children used their hands, feet and even their faces to paint! The children enjoyed mixing the paint in the trays to create new colours such as orange, purple and green. Brushes, hands feet and even their whole bodies were used to create their master pieces. Some children made master pieces of their vests! Cillian’s…

Summer News from Crawford

Summer News from Crawford Exploring Room Last week the children engaged in activities incorporating plants and flowers. As the weather has been so nice the children began to get bored of being inside and ventured over towards the gate of the Hike area so we just had to go on an adventure! In the Hike area the children had the opportunity to explore different material areas, textures and spaces. They enjoyed banging  pots and pans together for sound, bark was walked on as a different textural experience and large stones were held and walked on in the beach area. In order to develop the children's interest in exploring the…

Latest Crawford News

Latest Crawford News Adventure Room As some of the children were really interested in animals last week Amanda created a folder full of animal pictures. Amanda introduced this new material to the children and a conversation began about the animals, their body parts, characteristics and what food they ate. Sam’s Mum was happy to hear that he shared his interest in animals in the crèche, while Ethan’s Dad had a chat with him about animals when he collected him. Looks like we will have to get out some more books about animals this week. Discovery Room Many an interesting conversation starts in our Cosy Corner. Last week the…

Latest From Crawford

Latest From Crawford 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…

Latest News From Crawford

Latest News From Crawford 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…