Week Ending 24th April 2026

This week in Gems Nursery, we have been exploring our exciting topic of trains and travel! 🚆 The children have shown great curiosity as we’ve learned about different ways we can journey from place to place.

Our Big Gems have been enjoying the story Oi! Get Off Our Train, which led to some thoughtful conversations about endangered animals and how we can help look after them. 🐘🐅 The children showed great interest in learning about different animals and why protecting them is important.

Our Little Gems focused on Jump Onboard The Animal Train, where they have been busy identifying and naming a variety of animals. 🐶🦁 This has supported their language development and recognition skills in a fun and engaging way.

The children have been very creative this week, using a range of mark-making materials to decorate their own vehicle collages. 🎨✂️ They explored paint, glue, and colouring tools, developing their creativity and fine motor skills.

One of the highlights for our Big Gems was a trip to the big field to observe the traffic on Cromwell Road. 🚗🚌 Armed with their traffic surveys, the children worked in pairs to tally different vehicles—cars, vans, lorries, bikes, motorbikes, and buses. There was lots of excitement as they spotted each one!

In our water play, we introduced boats and encouraged the children to investigate whether objects would float or sink. 🚤💧 Using items such as corks and stones, the children began to use mathematical language to describe what they observed.

The fun continued in the sand tray, where the children explored vehicles while making marks and tracks. 🏖️ We have also been learning about shapes by using cars to create and copy lines, as well as identifying their properties.

Week Ending 17th April 2026

This week in Gems Nursery we have continued our exciting learning journey with Jasper’s Beanstalk, diving deeper into understanding the life cycle of a bean. 🌱🫘 The children have been developing their knowledge of how plants grow and what they need to thrive, building on their curiosity and observations from previous weeks.

In our finger gym, the children have been busy creating their very own flower gardens. 🌼 Using careful hand movements, they built flowers upon stems, supporting their fine motor skills, control and creativity. It has been lovely to see the concentration and pride in their creations!

In Maths, we have continued exploring length by building towers to match the height of different beanstalks. 📏 The children enjoyed comparing their towers, talking about which were taller or shorter, and working collaboratively to recreate different sizes.

Our sensory play has been a big hit again this week! The children thoroughly enjoyed scooping, pouring and emptying beans in and out of pots. 🫘🥄 This activity supported their coordination, curiosity and understanding of capacity, as well as providing a calming and engaging experience.

Outside, the children have embraced lots of physical challenges. 🚲 They have been developing their gross motor skills using our new bikes and tackling our obstacle course with growing confidence and enthusiasm. We also explored sensory play in the sand, with the children enjoying the feeling of the sand between their toes—lots of smiles and laughter! 🏖️

Our biggest highlight this week has been the baby play in the home corner. 👶 The children have shown wonderful care and nurturing skills, feeding, holding, bathing and changing the babies. It has been fantastic to hear the rich conversations taking place, as the children acted out real-life experiences and demonstrated kindness and empathy.