Spring 2 week 1

Expressive arts and design – Minibeast painting

Children took part in minibeast painting, creating pictures of spiders, worms, ladybirds, butterflies and bees, and chose colours purposefully to represent the features of each minibeast.

Understanding the world – Growing and planting 

Children planted seeds and observed the stages of plant growth over time. They talked about what plants need in order to grow and described the changes they noticed as the seeds developed. Through regular observation, discussion and drawing, children developed an understanding of growth and change.

Spring 1 week 6

Understanding the world – Chinese New Year

We learnt that Chinese New Year is a colourful celebration, and that the colour red represents good luck and happiness. We discovered that family and friends give each other red envelopes, which traditionally contain money, as a symbol of good fortune for the year ahead. We also learnt about the many decorations used during Chinese New Year, including lanterns, which are often seen in homes and on the streets. We explored Chinese New Year parades and learnt about the dragon, which is a popular and exciting feature of the celebrations. Finally, we learnt that 2026 is the Year of the Horse in the Chinese calendar. The children really enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year and its traditions.

 

Expressive arts and design – Chinese New Year

We explored Chinese New Year through different creative activities:

Chinese New Year Animals: The children painted animals, choosing colours for a purpose and using thin brushes to add details.

Chinese Lanterns: They created lanterns, exploring shapes and decoration.

Chinese Animal Cone Characters: The children made cone-shaped animal characters, developing fine motor skills and creativity.

Physical development – Chinese New Year

We explored red rice using chopsticks, spoons, and bowls. The children practised scooping, pouring, and transferring the rice, noticing how it moved and felt. They experimented with different tools and enjoyed the challenge of using chopsticks to pick up the grains.

Spring 1 week 5

Understanding the world – Muddy swamp

We explored the muddy swamp. The children squished, stirred, and shaped the mud, noticing how wet, sticky, and squelchy it felt. They used their hands to make patterns, dig, and create, enjoying the messy, sensory experience.

Understanding the world – Animals of the world

We sorted animals from the rainforest and the polar regions into hot and cold habitats. The children looked at pictures of different animals and decided where they live, noticing how the environment affects what animals need to survive.

Spring 1 week 4

Literacy – We're going on a jaguar hunt!

We discovered an explorer’s bag in our classroom! Inside, we found binoculars and a special letter from an explorer. Our teacher read the letter to us, and we listened carefully. We then enjoyed listening to the story We’re Going on a Jaguar Hunt, which helped us imagine going on an exciting rainforest adventure.

Expressive arts and design – Rainforest animal painting

We painted rainforest animals like jaguars, monkeys, parrots, snakes, and sloths. The children chose colours for a purpose and used thin brushes to add details, enjoying experimenting with patterns, textures, and fine brushwork to bring their animals to life.

Mathematics – Water play

We explored water using funnels, jugs, colanders, and pipettes. The children poured, filled, and transferred water, noticing how it moved through different tools. They experimented with pouring at different speeds, watching the water flow, and enjoyed splashing and mixing.

Spring 1 week 3

Expressive arts and design – Kandinsky-inspired art

We explored circles inspired by Kandinsky. The adult prepared cut-out paper circles and squares, and divided sheets into squares. The children drew or painted circles inside the shapes, experimenting with colour, size, and placement. They enjoyed exploring patterns and expressing their creativity through this activity.

Mastering number – Composition

The children explored how the number 5 can be made from smaller parts. They investigated part–part–whole relationships by moving frogs from a log to a pool in a nursery rhyme, noticing how 5 can be made in different ways, such as 3 and 2. The children enjoyed seeing how a whole is made up of smaller parts and comparing different ways to make 5.

Understanding the world – Cornflour exploration

We explored corn flour. They pressed, squished, and ran their fingers through it, noticing how it felt hard when tapped and soft when squeezed. We enjoyed experimenting with the unusual texture and seeing how it could change.

Understanding the world – How does the weather affect how we dress?

We sorted clothes for different types of weather. The children looked at items like raincoats, wellies, sun hats, sunglasses, jumpers, scarves, gloves, and hats, and decided which to wear when it’s raining, hot, or cold. They enjoyed matching the clothes to the weather and talking about why we wear certain items.

Spring 1 week 2

Literacy – Cut up stories

We went into the classroom to find fur, snow and some frozen polar bear food. We were very excited! After lunch, we discovered polar bear footprints. Polo has been exploring our classroom. Polo also left us a story map and needed our help—it was all cut up! We worked in small groups to sequence the story and put it in the correct order.

Physical development – Tweezers and pom-poms

The children used tweezers to pick up purple, blue and white pom-poms and place them into containers. They practised their pincer grip and hand-eye coordination, enjoying the challenge of moving the pom-poms carefully.

Expressive arts and design – Little builders to the rescue

We received a letter from Polo the Polar Bear asking for our help! He told us that the Big Bad Wolf might be nearby, and the Three Little Polar Bears need the strongest house ever to stay safe. The children accepted the challenge! They designed, made, and evaluated junk model houses to keep the polar bears safe. They planned their models, chose from materials like boxes, cartons, tubes and lids, built their houses, and then talked about how effective each design would be.

Understanding the world – Exploring melting and change

We explored ice and excitedly observed the changes as it melted, noticing the cold surfaces and slippery water.

Physical development – Bikeability 

We took part in a bikeability balance bike session. We had a fantastic time practising our skills. We worked on balancing, steering, stopping safely and gaining confidence while riding. We listened carefully to instructions, took turns and showed great determination.

Spring 1 week 1

Understanding the world – There's a polar bear in our classroom!

We launched our exciting new topic! The children were excited to discover a surprising visitor, a photograph of a polar bear sitting right in our classrooms. Together, we shared our ideas and questions: Why is the polar bear here? What does he want? Where did he come from? Our curiosity grew as the teacher read a special letter from the polar bear, setting the scene for lots of learning, imagination, and discovery ahead.

Understanding the world – Exploring the frosty outdoors

Despite the frosty weather, our children had a wonderful time exploring the outdoors this week. We wrapped up warm in our coats, scarves, hats and gloves before heading out to investigate our environment. The children enjoyed noticing the frost, talking about how the cold weather felt and exploring the changes around them.

Understanding the world – Squishy, squashy shaving foam

We explored shaving foam. The children used their hands to squish, spread, and pat the foam. Everyone enjoyed feeling the soft, fluffy texture and experimenting with different ways to move and play with it.

Expressive arts and design – Painting Arctic animals

We painted Arctic animals like polar bears, wolves, and penguins. The children chose colours for a purpose and used thin brushes to add details. They also explored painting on different textures, including tin foil, enjoying experimenting with how paint looks and moves on each surface

Understanding the world – Investigating magnets

We explored magnets and how they attract objects. The children tested different materials to see which ones the magnets would stick to, moving the magnets over and under objects and discovering what was magnetic. They enjoyed experimenting and observing the “pull” of the magnets.