Chinese Good Luck Messages . . .

We found out that Chinese writing goes down the page rather than across - we enjoyed having a go at our own good luck messages! 

What would you write for yours?

We also had a go at some Cherry Blossom art - can you see what we used to create the delicate blossom?

We think they all looked wonderful - what do you think?

It has been great finding out about Chinese New Year.

Now the children want to have a Chinese Restaurant in the Nursery!

Lucky Red Envelopes!

Lucky Red Envelopes are given out as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. 

We sang a number rhyme about 'Five Lucky Red Envelopes' and then found different ways to share coins between two envelopes,

comparing them to find which had the same, more or fewer coins.

Some of the children also found how many coins there would be if they had one more or one less.

What would you spend your lucky coins on?

Chinese New Year

This week we have been learning about Chinese New Year and how it is celebrated. We learnt that people give presents, decorate houses in red and gold, put up lights and lanterns, eat special foods, have dragon dances, and give lucky red envelopes containing money to friends and family.

Today we listened to the Chinese Zodiac story: 

The Jade Emperor told the animals there was to be a swimming race across the river. The first twelve animals across the river would be winners and they would have a year named after them.  

For Wellie Wednesday today we pretended to be those animals swimming across the river. We swam very fast to get to the river bank. We then ordered ourselves in a line from

the 1st to 12^th.

Gung hay fat choi”   - which means “ Happy New Year” in Chinese.

Do you know what animal it is the year of?

Do you know what animal year you were born in?

Star of the Week!

Harry, Alex and Ava S were all 'Star of the Week' before we finished for the half-term holiday. Congratulations and well done to all of you!

Happy Birthday Kipper!

The day of the party arrived - and it was time to make the banana sandwiches!

They were very tasty, then we had wobbly jelly - but the best part of our party was when we lit the candle on kipper's Currant Bun Cake and sang him 'Happy Birthday'!

Kipper loved his party - and we did too.

We would love to hear how you celebrate your birthday - let us know!

Let's Prepare for a Party!

We all loved the story of Kipper's Birthday and decided to give him another party - right here in the Nursery . . .

Everyone enjoys opening cards on their birthday, and the children were keen to create their own for Kipper. How old do you think he is? Look on the front of this great card to see!

No party would be complete without a cake - but before we could bake one, Eva reminded us what we would need to do:

"You need to wash your hands to get germs off, and put your apron on so we don't mess our clothes"

The children all took turns, watching and talking about what was happening throughout the process. This is what Elijah said as his friend was using the wooden spoon to combine the ingredients - "The sugar will be gone into the butter, it will be yellow" And then a little later - "I can't see the sugar any more!"

We added lots of currants, just like Kipper did - then waited excitedly to see what would happen in the oven!

Kipper's Birthday . . .

When exactly is Kipper's birthday party?

Is it today? Or tomorrow perhaps?

Or was it yesterday?

Click on our Share a Story book to visit our book blog and find out more!

Star of the Week!

Our Stars of the Week from last week were 

Ellie F, Elijah, Cody and Amelia. Congratulations and well done to all of you!

Wibbly Pig's Silly Big Bear . . .

Wibbly Pig has a  bear so big, he can hardly fit on the page! 

We have been reading another story from Mick Inkpen, and this time we met a bear! Click on our Share a Story book to visit our book blog and find out what some of the children thought!

Den Building

 We had a lovely sunny Wellie Wednesday today.We worked really hard as teams building dens that could shelter us from the snow, wind, rain and sun.We helped thread string through holes in the tarpaulin to attach it to the trees and used sticks to drill holes to then peg our shelters securely to the ground. We did had fun playing in our dens. We were also concocting some delicious recipes in the mud kitchen and swung happily on our rope swing in the sun.
  

Anyone for mud soup?

Star of the Week!

Our Stars of the Week for last week were Cody and Meadow - congratulations and well done to both of you!

Look at our Puppets!

 

We were delighted with the wonderful puppet designs from the children, and they have been very busy bringing their designs to life!

   

Of course, it's no good having great puppets with no puppet theatre to use them in - we talked to the children about their experiences of puppet shows . . . 

"You have a puppet and you put it on your hand and you get a puppet show ready and people can watch you. They'd be sitting on chairs watching" (Jamie)

"They would have tickets and they would show them what seat they would be on - with numbers. We need a stage with a puppet theatre" (Meadow)

The children have set about creating our own Puppet Theatre - everyone is looking forward to using it!