Looking after our wellbeing

This week, the children in Early Years have been thinking about how they would feel if they were to discover a bright, shining moon in the forest, just like Anansi did! Playing in role as Anansi, the children came up with lots of different responses and ideas, from “Wow, a shiny moon! I will give it to my family!” to “I want to keep it in the sky for everyone!”. The children enjoyed writing down their responses and creating shiny pieces of art.

We enjoyed our first gymnastics session this week, as we practiced creating gym shapes with our bodies. On a journey through the jungle, the children moved in different ways as they pretended to be scuttling crabs, hiding scorpions and crawling caterpillars! On their way, they found rocks, branches, trees, rivers and even bears… using their fantastic observational skills, they were able to replicate the shapes these made with their bodies, through gymnastics positions such as a tuck, a pike, a straight shape, a star and a straddle. The teachers were so impressed with the high level of engagement during this session, that the jewel jar nearly overflowed as we celebrated their excellent listening!

Now you see us… now you don’t! Can you spot the children in these pictures? We had so much fun creating dens and shelters this week during our choosing time outside, as the temperatures had us getting creative with making new shady spots for us to play together.

We have also been thinking a lot about how to look after our mental health, as we have marked Mental Health Awareness week with lots of different activities. Using the wellbeing wheel, we spoke about how there are different ways to help ourselves feel better when we are struggling with big feelings. The children got active dancing to another favourite Anansi song, they gave to others when they made cards in the writing area for their friends, they connected as they developed maths stories together, they created art work for themselves, and practised mindful sorting. These five types of activities were really enjoyed by all! It was lovely to see how the children began to develop preferences when choosing between these activities, as they got to learn how to help themselves feel better if they ever felt they needed support. We also reminded ourselves of how important it is to talk to our special people on our network hands when we were struggling with big feelings.

The children have also been thinking about self-belief, perseverance and how they can achieve amazing things. Some of the children shared ideas such as being a footballer or olympic gymnast when they’re older, whilst others wanted to be able to swim and ride their bikes.

During Forest school, Ash and Saplings created their own balance beam and enjoyed taking it in turns to walk across, thinking about balance, agility and using their core strength to walk to the other end. Others enjoyed painting the shed, stretching as high as they could to make sure it was all painted! Some chose to draw pictures in the soil and others were busy den building. It was a very busy forest session.

We also squeezed in a very well deserved jewel jar treat, chosen by the children. They thoroughly enjoyed drinking a cup of hot chocolate whilst watching an Octonauts episode, what a great way to end the week!