“Through their play, children explore imaginary and abstract worlds making meaning through story making, mark making and drawing. As their ideas develop they often create increasingly elaborate versions of their understanding of the world around them”
Read moreFrozen in the Burrow
For a long time now in the Burrow in one way or another Frozen has been part of our everyday routine! When Soraya started with us in January she very bravely brought in the frozen sing-a-long CD which has a huge 32 songs on it and I am sure this CD has probably been on every day since, with Lauren, Soraya, Chynna and I knowing every single word to every song!!
Read moreMatching, sorting, climbing, balancing and getting very very muddy!
We’ve come back from the new year with all our new children settling in brilliantly and we’ve gone straight back to our routine of Forest School and group activities. As our parents know, we spilt the Burrow in the mornings and afternoons...
Read moreA week full of Christmas fun and glitter galore!
As we all know the big day is approaching us quickly, so excitement has over ridden us this week in the Burrow for our Christmas week (especially that we can get very..very glittery!)
Read more“Moooosic”
Lauren and I recently went on a “Let’s make some noise with toddlers” course. This was all about, well you probably guessed it, making lots of noise! However it was more about how and what we used to make the noise with.
Read moreUpdate from the Burrow
We have had a busy couple of weeks with welcoming lots of new children in the Burrow and exploring what we have to offer. We’ve have been…
Read moreWe're going on a pine cone hunt
This week’s forest school activity in the Burrow is pine cone painting. So last Friday we set off around the nursery grounds looking for a pine tree. We started our adventure in the paddock having a sneaky go on the assault course, we climbed and crawled up our mud hill, searching for the pine tree at the top!
Read morePotty Training
Potty training is a big step for our children (and of course parents!!). Each and every child is different and will be ready at different times. Potty training depends on your child's emotional and physical readiness.
Read moreMy Five Senses
I have recently become a new and obsessive customer of Pinterest. Pinterest is a visual discovery tool that people use to collect ideas for their different projects and interests. People create and share collections (called “boards”) of visual bookmarks (called “Pins”) that they use to do things like plan trips and projects, organize events or save articles and recipes.
Read moreA quick and easy recipe…made by accident!
Whilst I was busy with the burrowers playing in our sand tray, I wondered how I could change the original, grainy wet sand into something more exciting. In the past in a previous setting; washing up liquid was accidently added to the sand and water, which produced an unusual feel and texture.
Read moreSpring into action!
We’ve come back after Easter to welcome lots of new children and families into the Burrow. The children are mixing and settling in well with their other Free Ranger friends and new, exciting surroundings.
Read moreIf you're happy and you know it.....show us a smile!
I sat down on the carpet with a group of children, along with a whiteboard and a pen! Firstly I started off by drawing some shapes that I saw on the puzzle nearby. I brought the puzzle into the middle of the circle.
Read moreAn update from the Burrow
In the Burrow we have been splashing at the beach, making a muddy mess and having snow fights! SOIL Last week I filled the sensory/messy tray up with soil then added several pairs of wellies. C, A and M enjoyed filling the wellies up with the soil, putting their feet in them and trying to walk along!
Read moreRice is Nice!
In the Burrow last week we celebrated Chinese New Year. We did this in a variety of ways; rice paintings, Chinese lanterns and Chinese stencils. The larger aim of this week’s activities was to celebrate and understand cultures and promote an environment of inclusivity. We believe empathy and understanding is crucial to helping a child to develop holistically, so sharing a cultural celebration such as Chinese New Year with the children, greatly helps to promote these sentiments. One activity in particular, the children really loved, was making some coloured rice. We began with uncooked rice in three separate bowls. As children started to arrive they were very inquisitive about what the rice was for. We had three basic food colourings, red, green and yellow. M and C sat with me at the table with spoons at the ready! I poured some colouring into their bowls and the mixing began. When the rice was covered C, B and I transported the rice into a warm cupboard to let it dry.
Whilst playing with the rice they used their senses of sight, hearing and touch - which made me think, how best I could incorporate smell! So over the weekend I made some more colourful rice, going for a more vibrant blue, pink and green. This time I added a dash of peppermint flavouring so the children could use their sense of smell whilst playing. I brought the rice in on Tuesday making sure it was 100% dry (so we had no stained coloured fingers!) What a hit again! It’s great how this activity has attracted and interested the children in the Burrow for two weeks, watching them use all their senses whilst they are exploring.
Whilst playing with the rice, “A” said to me, “Look Nic, they are bouncing.” She let the rice pour out of her hand from a height and then let the grains fall into the tray.
It amazes me how something as simple as rice can begin to form the foundations of understanding key concepts such as volume and the differences between liquids and solids and therefore gradually help children to understand how the world works. The more links we can facilitate, the greater the understanding. That’s why as a practitioner I try to use questioning to further understanding and strengthen learning. For example, “What happens if we pour the rice from higher up?” or “Does the rice run down hill?’ From these simple activities, problem solving, creative thinking and language development are just some of the areas covered and explored.
And like the legend of the “chessboard,” who knows where and how this understanding might exponentially grow?