Week Ending 26th June 2026

This week in Gems Nursery, we have continued our exciting Space topic through the wonderful story Whatever Next! 🚀📚⭐  The children talked about travelling to the moon, pretended to fly in rockets and shared their own ideas about what they might see in space. We enjoyed looking at pictures of different planets and discussing their colours, sizes and special features. 🪐✨👽

One of the highlights of the week was tasting some special "space food". 👩‍🚀🍓🍎⭐ The children sampled freeze-dried strawberries and apples while learning about the types of food astronauts might eat when travelling in space. This sparked lots of interesting conversations about what foods they would choose to take on a space mission and why. The children enjoyed recording their ideas on paper and explaining their choices to their friends.

We also enjoyed sharing the story The Smeds and the Smoos. 📚❤️💙💜 The children were fascinated by the purple baby and were eager to find out why one parent was red and the other blue. This led to a colour-mixing investigation where the children experimented with paint to create their very own purple baby, developing their understanding of colour and change through play.

With the warm weather this week, the children thoroughly enjoyed cooling off in our foot spa experience. ☀️💦🦶 We filled a tuff tray with water and encouraged the children to remove their shoes and socks before dipping their feet into the cool water. This provided a wonderful sensory experience while helping everyone stay comfortable in the sunshine.

Our creative area has been full of fantastic planet-making activities. 🎨🪐✨ Using balloons and paint, the children created their own planets while learning facts about each one. They carefully selected colours and discussed the similarities and differences between the planets as they worked.

In our maths area, the children explored magnetic shapes to design and build their own rockets. 🚀🔺🟦⭕ They enjoyed experimenting with different combinations of shapes and proudly compared their creations with their friends. This activity supported both shape recognition and problem-solving skills while encouraging creativity.

    

Week Ending 19th of June 2026

This week in Gems Nursery, we have blasted off into an exciting new topic all about Space using the story Whatever Next! 🚀📚⭐ 

Our Little Gems have loved re-enacting the story in our home corner. 🧸🚀🏠 Using a pretend chimney, a cardboard box and picnic items, they recreated Baby Bear's adventure to the moon. The children enjoyed using props from the story to support their play and demonstrated wonderful imagination as they acted out different parts of the book.

One of the highlights of the week for our Big Gems has been trying some exciting "space food" during carpet time. 👩‍🚀🍦🍌🥭 The children tasted chocolate chip ice cream, dried banana and dried mango while discussing what astronauts eat in space. We talked about why foods need to be freeze-dried and how this helps astronauts enjoy food while travelling beyond Earth. The children were very curious and enjoyed sharing their thoughts about the different tastes and textures.

The children have also enjoyed creating rockets using 2D shapes. 🚀🔺🟦⭕ As they built their rockets, they practised recognising and naming different shapes while discussing their properties. It was wonderful to hear the children confidently identifying circles, triangles, rectangles and squares during their play.

Our creative area has been full of sparkling space-themed artwork. 🎨✨🌈 The children experimented with tinfoil painting, exploring reflections and mixing colours to create unique space scenes. They enjoyed observing how the paint moved across the shiny surface and discussing the colours they created.

A real favourite this week has been making our very own space sensory bottles. ⭐💧🫙 The children independently poured glittery water and stars into bottles, developing their independence and hand-eye coordination. They were fascinated by the swirling glitter and enjoyed watching the effects as they turned their bottles upside down and shook them gently.

Our water tray has also been a busy area of learning this week. 💦🌌 The children explored dark glittery water while filling and emptying containers, developing their mathematical language and understanding of capacity. Meanwhile, our tuff tray looked just like NASA mission control, complete with rockets ready for lift-off! 🚀🛸🌍

    

 

Week Ending 12th of June 2026

We have continued our exciting learning journey with The Hungry Caterpillar. 🐛🍎 The children have deepened their understanding of the story through a variety of activities focused on healthy eating, food exploration and learning new vocabulary through repetition and discussion.

Our Little Gems have thoroughly enjoyed their daily carpet times. 📚✨ We have revisited the story together, repeated key words and phrases, and learned a brand-new caterpillar song. The children have shown growing confidence in joining in with familiar parts of the story and using new language independently.

One of the highlights of the week has been our Hungry Caterpillar Food Tasting Experience. 🍎🍐🍓🍊🍰 The children explored many of the foods from the story, including apples, pears, strawberries, oranges, chocolate cake, salami, pickles, sausage and cheese. We encouraged the children to smell, touch and taste foods they were less familiar with, helping them to develop confidence in trying new things. Some children were so impressed they exclaimed, "This is the best snack ever!" 😋

The children have also been busy developing their physical skills through our exciting insect-themed obstacle course. 🦋🐞🐛 They moved in different ways to represent a variety of insects, demonstrating fantastic coordination and imagination as they crawled like caterpillars, fluttered like butterflies, wriggled like worms and scuttled like beetles.

Our creative area has been full of wonderful learning this week as the children created their own butterfly life cycles using different types of pasta and rice. 🎨🌾 Through this activity, the children were able to discuss each stage of the life cycle using key vocabulary such as egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly. We were very impressed with how confidently they used these new words during their play and conversations.

Our Big Gems have been working incredibly hard on their mark-making and early writing skills. ✏️🐛 They are becoming more confident when writing the letters in their names and have enjoyed designing and creating their very own colourful caterpillars while practising their fine motor control.

    

Week Ending 5th June 2026

This week in Gems Nursery, we have loved beginning our learning around The Hungry Caterpillar. 🐛🍎 The children have been exploring the butterfly life cycle and deepening their understanding of the process through lots of exciting activities and discussions.

We have been very lucky to discover some real caterpillars on the school premises this week. 🐛🔍 The children were so excited to carefully collect them and house them safely in our butterfly net so that we can observe the life cycle happen right before our eyes.

Our sensory tuff tray has been very popular this week with red and green pasta inspired by the story. 🍝🟢🔴 The children have enjoyed scooping, pouring, emptying and filling bowls, strengthening important schemas while exploring textures and developing their fine motor skills.

Finger gym has been a huge hit this week with our Feed the Caterpillar activity. 🐛✋ The children used foods from the story to label and feed the caterpillar while repeating familiar phrases from the book and building confidence with language and storytelling.

The children have also been very creative this week by decorating their own caterpillars using egg boxes. 🎨🐛 They carefully used paint brushes to develop their grip and control while discussing colours and making creative choices.

Our Big Gems challenged themselves with their mathematical thinking by creating ABAB patterns. 🔴🔵🔴🔵 We explored lots of different ways to make patterns, including using sounds with our bodies as well as creating patterns with fruits, colours and animals to build early pattern recognition skills.

Our Little Gems have thoroughly enjoyed learning their focus song this week. 🎶🦋 Through actions, big expressions and repetition, the children have been developing their understanding of the butterfly life cycle in a fun and engaging way.

    

Week Ending 22nd May 2026

This week in Gems Nursery, we have loved learning all about the fascinating life cycle of a frog. 🐸💧 The children have enjoyed exploring how frogs grow and change from tiny eggs into tadpoles and eventually frogs.

Our Big Gems focused on the story Godfrey is a Frog. 📚🐸 In the story, Godfrey needs help remembering just how special he is for being a frog. The children enjoyed discussing what makes them special too and showed lovely confidence sharing their ideas. Our Little Gems explored the story The Teeny Weeny Tadpole. 🐟🌱 This lovely story follows a tiny tadpole as he grows bigger and bigger through the different stages of the frog life cycle until he finally becomes a frog.

In the finger gym, the children have been developing their fine motor skills by feeding bugs to the frogs using tweezers. 🦟✋ They carefully transported the bugs into the frogs’ mouths, showing fantastic hand control and concentration. The playdough area has also been very popular this week, with the children creating their own bugs and mini beasts. 🐛🪱 They used their imagination brilliantly while strengthening their finger muscles through rolling, squeezing and shaping.

In maths, the children were challenged to recognise numbers by placing them onto the frog scales and then matching the number with smaller frogs on the other side. 🔢🐸 Fantastic maths skills everyone!

The children have also been supported with the rhyme 5 Little Speckled Frogs. 🎶🐸 They practised taking one frog away each time and recognising how many frogs were left altogether.

The water tray has been full of excitement too, as the children went fishing with nets to catch frogs. 🎣🐸 This sparked some lovely conversations, storytelling and teamwork between the children.

One rainy afternoon, we introduced the children to some ball games, which quickly became a favourite activity and continued to be requested throughout the week. ⚽🌧️ We started by practising throwing and catching with a friend before progressing onto kicking the ball. The children then enjoyed taking part in some exciting 1v1 football games, showing fantastic teamwork, coordination and turn-taking skills.

    

Week Ending 15th of May 2026

This week in Gems Nursery, we have continued exploring the wonderful story Handa’s Surprise! 🍌🍊 The children have loved revisiting the story and learning more about the different fruits and animals throughout the week.

In the finger gym, the children have continued developing their wrist strength and fine motor skills by cutting wooden fruit joined together with velcro. 🔪🍎 They showed great concentration and control while carefully pulling and cutting the fruit apart.

In maths, the children have been developing their sorting skills and exploring the cardinal principle. 🔢🥣 The children practised counting objects carefully and understanding that the final number counted tells us how many items there are altogether in the bowl.

The children have thoroughly enjoyed tasting different fruits from the story this week. 🍍🥭🍌 They tried mango, pineapple, orange, banana and avocado. Mango seems to have been a firm favourite with many of the children! 😋

We have been very creative making beautiful silhouette pictures of the animals from the story. 🎨🦒 The children worked so carefully on their artwork, and the finished pieces are proudly displayed around our classroom for everyone to admire.

The children also enjoyed fruit printing this week. 🍊🖐️ They explored the different patterns and prints the fruit could make, and some children even began creating repeating patterns with the shapes and colours they discovered.

Our Big Gems explored different textures during a “What’s in the Box?” carpet session. ✋📦 The children used their senses to describe and talk about what they could feel. Meanwhile, our Little Gems had lots of fun moving around like the different animals from the story. 🐘🦓

Physical development has been full of excitement this week as the children tackled our obstacle course challenge! ⚽🏃‍♂️ They practised balancing beanbags on their heads while carefully walking up and down benches, showing fantastic balance and determination.

We have also loved listening to African music and creating our own music using the drums. 🥁🎶 The children explored rhythm, beat and sound while enjoying dancing and music making together.

    

Week Ending 8th of May 2026

 

This week in Gems Nursery, we began exploring the wonderful story Handa’s Surprise! 🍎🍌 The children have shown lots of curiosity and excitement as we started to unpick the story and learn about different cultures.

Our home corner has been transformed into a busy fruit and vegetable shop! 🛒🍇🍅 The children have loved weighing different fruits and vegetables, packing them into bags and baskets, and pushing trolleys around the shop. This imaginative role play has supported early maths skills and encouraged lots of communication and teamwork.

Fine motor skills have been developing beautifully this week through cutting the wooden fruit and vegetables. 🔪🥕 The children have been strengthening their wrist muscles and hand control while carefully cutting them in half.

Our tuff tray has been filled with red lentils and jungle animals, creating a wonderful sensory experience. 🦁🌾 The children explored different textures while learning about animals from Africa and engaging in imaginative play.

Music time has been full of excitement as the children explored the drums. 🥁🎶 They experimented with making different sounds using different parts of their hands and enjoyed listening to the different sounds they could create.

Our Little Gems have been practising their counting skills using the 7 fruits from the story. 🔢🍌 Starting with 7 fruits, the children counted down all the way to none, just like in the story.

Big Gems have enjoyed exploring the 7 different fruits from the story and even had the opportunity to taste some of them. 🍍🍊 Yum! T

    

Week Ending 1st of May 2026

This week in Gems Nursery, we have been exploring our exciting topic of vehicles and transport! 🚗🚁 The children have shown great enthusiasm as we learned about different types of vehicles and how we use them in our everyday lives.

Our Big Gems have thoroughly enjoyed the story You Can’t Take an Elephant on a Bus! 🐘🚌 This story sparked lots of laughter and conversations about what we might (and might not!) see on different types of transport. The children loved sharing their own ideas and experiences of journeys.

Our Little Gems have been engaged with the story Maisy’s Bus, where they explored simple storytelling, familiar routines, and enjoyed joining in with repeated phrases. 📚 This supported their listening skills and early language development.

The home corner has been a big highlight this week, where we created our very own bus station! 🚌 The children showed fantastic imagination in their role play, taking on the roles of drivers and passengers. They demonstrated excellent turn-taking skills and worked together beautifully.

In maths, the children were challenged to count out the correct number of vehicles to match given numbers. 🔢 Our Big Gems also explored colour patterns, creating ABAB sequences and showing great problem-solving skills.

Creativity has been flowing this week! 🎨 The children made their own buses using paper plates and milk bottle tops for wheels, as well as using junk modelling materials to design their own unique vehicles. It has been wonderful to see their ideas come to life.

Outside, we used large boxes to transform into different vehicles such as buses, cars, and even helicopters! 🚁 The children loved climbing in and pretending to go on exciting journeys together.

Phonics was a big hit this week! 🔤 The children matched objects to their initial sounds on our “sound buses.” For example, the “S” bus carried items like a snake, saw, sock, sun, and sunflower. We also explored sounds for A, T, P, I, and N, supporting early phonics development in a fun and interactive way.

Outdoor mark making has been very popular, with children using paintbrushes and water pots to create marks and patterns. 🖌️ This activity encouraged long periods of engagement and supported both creativity and early writing skills.

Our Little Gems also enjoyed their music and movement sessions, singing and dancing to “The Wheels on the Bus.” 🎶 They had lots of fun joining in with actions and building confidence through movement.

    

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.