Using our sense of sight!

This week we are learning about a new sense - sight! This afternoon we have been learning how to look at things closely and carefully - it's easy to miss things if you're not looking carefully!

First we read a book called Shark in the Park. It's about a little boy who looks through his telescope and thinks he can see a shark! What do you think he can really see..?

We talked about looking at things carefully and observing. Then we explored a range of games and activities to help us practise looking carefully!

We looked at Where's Wally books - you have to look really carefully on all the pages to find Wally!

We looked at some photos of animals that are really camouflaged - you have to look really carefully to see where the animals are hiding!

We played Snap - you have to make sure you're watching the cards carefully or you won't know when to say SNAP!

We looked at some Spot the Difference pictures and some wordsearches - you have to look carefully to see what's different and to find the hidden words!

We also looked at things through the magnifying glasses and magnifying sheets - they make things look a lot bigger and you can see a lot more detail.

How good are your observation skills? Are you good at looking carefully at what you can see?

Making textured playdough

Yesterday we made some special playdough that was a different texture to our normal playdough! We made one with cous cous - it had a rubbery texture. The second one we made had oats in it and was a bit bumpy. We talked about the ingredients we needed for the playdough and helped to count out the number of cups or spoonfuls we had to put in. We had to stir the ingredients together to make the dough.

After we had made the dough we played with it. We used lots of good words to describe how we could change and shape the dough, such as push, pull, squeeze, squash, stretch, pat and roll.

In touch with nature

This morning we went outside to explore the school grounds using our sense of touch. We felt all sorts of things and gathered some things in a tray to bring back into school to explore later. We felt things that were hard, soft, rough, smooth, bumpy, prickly and bendy! Not only did we have fun finding different things, we used great scientific vocabulary to describe the texture!

Exploring materials

This afternoon we were exploring different materials and learning to name and describe them. First we took it in turns to feel in the mystery box and try to identify some things that were in there. We had to try and work out what it was, what it was made from and describe it, for example, whether it was hard or soft, rough or smooth.

When we had got all the things out of the box we looked at them and talked about the materials they were made from. We discussed what the things were like and why this made them good for what they were used for - would a chair made of paper be good? If your clothes were made of wood, would they be easy to put on? No!

We looked at items made from plastic, metal, paper, card, glass, wood, clay and fabric. We also looked at a stone and a shell and talked about what they feel like to touch. We had some labels with the names of the material on. When we had read the word we had to find the object made from that material.

In groups we explored some other items from around the classroom and sorted them into groups based on what they were made from. We talked about whether they were hard or soft, rough or smooth, bendy or strong. We also looked at some differences between the objects - we had a soft skittle and a hard skittle, which felt different, and we had a clear cup that you could see through and a blue one that you couldn't, although both were made of plastic.

In our Play and Learn time some of us played a sorting game on the board. We had to catch items as they whizzed by and sort them by what they were made of - wood, glass, metal or rubber.

How many different materials can you find in your house?

Exciting Writing!

This morning we were writing in lots of different and exciting ways as we continued to explore the sense we are learning about this week - touch.

We wrote on lots of different types of paper including bumpy wallpaper, rough brown paper and smooth cellophane. Some of them were difficult to write on!

We used our fingers to make marks or write letters or words in lots of different things including sand, cornflour, custard powder, rice and glitter! We also explored writing in them with other things, such as lolly sticks, feathers and straws.

In maths Miss Ayres' group were learning how to form numbers correctly and we used the things from this morning to practise our number formation.

Popping popcorn!

This afternoon we were learning to name the five senses. We found out what the five senses were from clues Miss Ayres gave us and talked about which parts of our body we use, for example, using our noses to smell.

Then we used all of our senses to explore some popcorn! First we looked at unpopped popcorn kernels. We used our eyes to see them, our hands to touch them, our noses to smell them and our ears to hear them - but they weren't making a noise! The only thing we couldn't do was taste them.

Then we put some in the microwave and used our sense of hearing to listen to the kernels as they began to pop! We also used our noses to smell the popcorn as it cooked. When we took it out of the microwave, Miss Ayres opened the bag and we used our sense of sight to look at how the popcorn was different to the unpopped kernels. It was a different colour, size and shape! We also used our hands to feel the popped kernels and talked about how it was different to the other kernels. Finally, we used our sense of taste as we ate the cooked popcorn!

Welcome back!

Welcome back to a new term - and a special welcome to the five new children who have just joined us in Nursery!

This morning we were exploring some new things in our classroom, reminding ourselves of how we use and take care of things in the classroom and teaching the new children where things are. We also played together and started getting to know our new friends.

We have also started to explore our new topic, The Five Senses. This week we are learning about the sense of touch. We have been exploring and sorting things on our discovery table, feeling and sorting different types of pasta and making textured pictures. We also had lots of different textures of things in the sand including sequins, stones, shells and seeds! On the maths table we explored textured number cards. Our challenge was to put the numbers in the right order!