Shining Stars Day Nursery - Clare Road, Halifax

Off they go...

This morning the baby room have ventured outside to release their butterflies. The butterflies have become confident flyers since emerging from their cocoons, so they didn't hang around for long. We watched them fly away to begin new adventures. Following the release, we had a snack themed around "the very hungry caterpillar" the children throughout nursery have enjoyed trying a range of different fruits and treats.
We have loved following the journey from caterpillar through to butterflies.

"He built a small house, called a cocoon, around himself. He stayed inside for more than two weeks. Then he nibbled a hole in the cocoon, pushed his way out and... HE WAS A BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY"
Over night our butterflies have emerged from their cocoons. The babies have enjoyed watching them flutter around the net, as well as feeding them nutritious fruit and the special nectar.

This week at nursery the children have enjoyed looking at our caterpillars which have transitioned into cocoons. The children have listened to The Hungry Caterpillar book to familiarize themselves with the life cycle.

This week in the baby room, the babies have enjoyed exploring a range of different sensory experiences. The babies enjoyed feeling the different consistency from each experience and exploring what they can do or make with each different texture.

Eid Mubarak to all of our families at Shining Stars! Today the children have enjoyed tasting a range of different cuisines. The children also enjoyed decorating some stars and moons to put up around nursery.

Today some of the preschool children have visited the local library. Whilst at the library they have enjoyed listening to a selection of books and predicting how the story may end. This has helped to develop the children's imagination and literacy skills.

Today our babies have been for an early morning outing to the local library.
"I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a book." - JK Rowling

This week in nursery we had a special delivery... Our very own caterpillars! Each room has their own caterpillar cup filled with nutritious food for the caterpillars to eat. The children are very excited and intrigued about our new wriggly, furry friends. To support the children in their learning of this process, we have been reading “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. The children have also taken part in activities based on the life cycle of a caterpillar and practitioners have taken our children to explore the local environment collecting leaves and stones to make their very own interpretation of a life cycle. We will continue to share with you regular updates as our Caterpillars emerge into beautiful Butterflies!

This morning in the baby room the babies have been practicing using their palmar grasp, using paintbrushes to make marks on their paper. The children enjoyed the sensory experience and the different textures that they discovered.

Today the preschool children helped to prepare their morning snack. The children were able to chose their fruit before using the safety knives skillfully to cut the fruit into pieces. We discussed using our knives safely throughout the process.

Today, the babies have enjoyed a trip to Eureka. All of the babies really enjoyed the sensory experience of feeling the sand between their fingers and toes, and enjoyed using their physical skills to explore the equipment in the sand area.

This afternoon some of our children requested that we revisited the Eureka outdoor play area. The children really enjoyed exploring the sand pit, making a variety of sand castles, playing football and enjoyed taking some risks by climbing and jumping off the play tunnels.

As the warmer weather is now upon us, can parents/ carers please ensure that their child/ children's bags have appropriate clothing in them; sun hats, spare clothing and suitable footwear. Nursery provide a factor 50 Nivea sun cream, however if you wish for your child to use an alternative sun cream, can you please provide your child's key person with the chosen sun cream. Many thanks from the Shining Stars team.

Today some of our children had a lovely visit to the Eureka outdoor play facility. We enjoyed digging in the sand, looking for oncoming trains and exploring the sensory garden. We discussed the importance of sun safety, why is was important to wear hats and suncream, as well as describing the current temperatures.

Yesterday in preschool the children enjoyed making their own play dough. We discussed the quantities of each ingredient before the children used their gross motor skills to stir the mixture together, we used craft pieces to make our bugs, which promoted fine motor skills. The children then used cutlery to practice their cutting and co-ordination.

This morning the babies have enjoyed playing in the water, we added bubbles and animals to the water for the children to explore. The children enjoyed singing the tiny turtle song and imitating 'pop' as they played with the bubbles!

In the baby room, the babies have enjoyed exploring paint today. The babies used both their hands and the paintbrushes to make various marks on the paper and enjoyed mixing the colours together to see the different colours that they could make.