There have been some spooky additions to the crèche this week. Windows have been painted with giggling ghouls, wizened witches, plump pumpkins and barmy bats. Boney our resident skeleton is camped out in reception along with his friend Winnie the Witch. Press her hand to hear her spell and cackle. The hallways have been decorated for the build up to Halloween and the babies have been busy making pumpkin masks. Beware -arrivals and collections are taking a little longer than usual as children are stopping, looking, pointing and talking about all they see!

In the Montessori room the children have been learning about zoo animals. During role play some of the children took a bus trip to see other children dressed as and acting like their favourite animals they have seen in a zoo. Lions, monkeys and giraffes were the children’s top three animal choices. During the road trip we also practiced our road safety as we crossed our chalked road to reach our cardboard box bus. Some of the children decided they would like to be vets when they are bigger so that they can look after the animals when they get sick.

The toddlers have been moving, swaying and dancing to all different types of music. We have used scarves and balloons in our dance to give an extra twist. The balloons were so popular we tied a string to them and took them outside. The children loved making them fly like kites by running really fast. There were a few shocked faces when one or two popped but we learned that this is ok and that sometimes balloons do pop.

The babies have been snuggling up in their cosy corner in the story area. They also used their handprints to personalise this keepsake poem for their mums and dads:

You always clean the fingerprints
I leave upon the wall,
I seem to make a mess of things
because I am so small.
The years will pass so quickly
I’ll soon be grown like you,
And all my little fingerprints
Will quickly fade from view.
So here’s a special handprint
Just so you can recall
Exactly how my fingers looked
When I was very small.

Check out next week’s blog for the latest news of what is happening in the crèche!