Reception Explore Nature at Severn Valley Country Park

Our Reception children enjoyed a wonderful day of outdoor learning during their trip to Severn Valley Country Park, where they put their knowledge of minibeasts and habitats into action. The visit gave them the perfect opportunity to explore real-life environments and discover which creatures live in ponds, trees and the forest.
Pond Life Up Close
The adventure began at the pond, where the children took part in pond dipping. With nets and trays at the ready, they carefully scooped through the water to see what they could find. Their excitement grew as they spotted frogs, small fish, and a variety of water bugs. Using magnifying pots, they examined their discoveries closely, noticing details they had learned about in class.
Searching for Minibeasts

Moving into the woodland and meadow areas, the children continued their exploration. They searched under logs, around tree roots and through leafy patches, finding woodlice, worms, beetles, and even a few speedy spiders. They talked about why different creatures choose different habitats, thinking about food, shelter and safety.

In the forest, the children looked carefully at the trees and the forest floor. They noticed how damp, shady areas were perfect for some bugs, while others preferred dry or sunny spots. Their observations showed just how much they have learned about the natural world and how confidently they can apply their knowledge outdoors

The very busy Spider

This week we read the story of the very busy spider. We spent the week making spiders and their webs using different materials. We caught and counted spiders in our tuff spot web and even had a go with a remote control spider called Harry.

Runaway pea

This week we read the story of the runaway pea.

We had a go at catching peas in the water tray and counting how many we caught with our nets. We made different vegetables from the story using the paints and the playdough and even made some funny pea faces.

The children also practiced their ball skills, rolling and catching them down the pipes in the garden.

Stay and play

This week we welcomed our parents and carers into Daycare for a stay and play session. The activities were all based around our story of the week ‘The runaway pea’. The children and their adults had a lovely afternoon exploring the different activities and catching some runaway peas.

Titch

This week we read Titch. The children have been focusing their learning on size, looking at big and small and full and empty. We have been exploring the jugs and cups in the water tray, building towers in construction and threaded hoops on spaghetti to see how tall we could make them.

The children have also been painting sunflowers and we had lots of fun planting our own sunflowers this week, ready to take home.

From the garden

This week we read ‘From the garden’ and learned all about the different fruits and vegetables that grow in the garden. The children had a go at identifying different produce, chopping it and made their own salad to eat for snack.

We also did printing with the vegetables and explored the different shapes they make.

The children continued to explore the garden centre roleplay and made their own flowers to go inside.

Reception stay and play

Thank you to everyone who came along and took part in some exciting activities at our Reception stay and play. You made a track game for you and your child to play, painting patterns, making spring flowers, and much more.
The children were also excited to showcase their learning through Number Sense and sing the Number Sense song for you.
We hope you all had a fun-filled morning.

Garden Topic

This week we have started our garden topic. We have been exploring flowers and insects that we might find in the garden.

We have been organising seeds and petals by colour and counting how many we have. The children have made their own flowers using pom poms dipped in paints and we have made insects in the playdough.

We had a great time exploring forest school this week looking at all the flowers and plants and we even found some worms!

 

Easter

This week we read the story of Higgly hen. We did activities based around Easter and eggs.

The children explored the Easter tuff spot, sorted and counted eggs and we even had an Easter egg hunt in forest school. The children took a particular interest in the different colours and patterns we could see on the Easter eggs.

Stanley the farmer

This week we read Stanley and learned all about growing things on the farm. We explored our vegetable patch tuff spot, sorted and counted seeds and even had a vegetable hunt in forest school.

We were also lucky enough to have a visit from the chicks, which have all hatched now. We talked about how we look after them and used kind hands to feel their feathers.

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