Welcome to the St. Ultans Early Years Blog.

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School readiness activities

Over the next few weeks ECCE-2 will be posting school readiness activities.

To help get you ready for starting school in September we have decided to set you some fun little challenges. We have decided to pick the theme 'Independence' as part of our school readiness programme!

In this theme we will focus on our independence skills - these skills will allow your child to transition to school a lot more smoothly as they will be able to do things for themselves. We feel this theme is so important as we want your child to feel confident and ready in being able to do things for themselves without the help of an adult, this is something we work on daily as part of our curriculum. Click on the pictures below to see the weekly challenges

Craft Activity

Good morning everyone,

Today we have a great craft activity with fruit and vegetables called “Vegetable Printing”

Here are some of the learning benefits that can be achieved for your child from fruit and veg printing.

• Improve your child’s creativity.

• Sensory-exploring through the shapes, textures and colour of different types of fruit and veg.

• Encourage hand-eye coordination as pieces of fruit or veg are moved from paint to paper.

• Encourage new language development.

• Improve fine motor development as your child learns to grip the pieces of fruit and veg.

 
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Following on from the Sleeping bunnies during the week, the sleeping bunnies song this activity explores creativity and imagination. The making of little sock characters can encourage pretend play and develop language skills

We hope you have a lovely Easter from all the Early Years staff.

 

08-04-2020

Today’s update is Sensory Play and the theme is Easter 🐣 🥚.

Age group: All

Items needed: A simple box, Rice, Food Colouring/ Paint, Zip-Lock Bag to mix in, any Easter toys such as small chicks and eggs

What is sensory play: It can be a simple activity that stimulates the child’s senses. These senses are touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. Through a sensory play activity children can explore through play. Play is considered a form of communication in our Aistear curriculum.

Aistear is the early years framework curriculum from birth to six years of age.

Sensory Play particularly encourages verbal and non-verbal communication though conversations, sharing and experiences. Lastly the theme of ‘Well being’ can be reached through Sensory Play with the physical development it brings. Messy Play has been proven to help develop fine motor skills and brain development.

Benefits of our Easter sensory box:

- Helps with fine motor skills and strengthens muscles

- Develop vocabulary

- Concentration

Easter Special of Peter Rabbit
Easter special of peter rabbit with the family and parents can spark conversation around what happens in the cartoon. A great way to develop language and listening skills. Parents can answer questions children might have after watching the cartoon or comment on what’s happening while watching it.
https://youtu.be/Yx8gVDBWVuY

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Finger Painting & Hand Printing Video

  •  Fosters creativity

  •  It’s great for exploring and recognition of colours & mixing of colours.

  •  Enhances emotional growth as this kind of activity can be seen as calming and relaxing.

  • Finger painting helps to develop strength little hands need for holding a pencil & writing.

  • Develops the senses such as sight and touch.

  • The junk art with toilet rolls allows children to work with materials in a different kind of way.

  • This video fosters listening skills and language development

  • It promotes physical development with actions and builds self esteem and social skills.

This outdoor activity is great because it turns cheap everyday items from your house and garden into valuable tools to play and learn with nature. 

Here’s what your child is working on during this activity:

• Pretend Play…..as you and your child get into ‘roles’ creating and making soups/potions

• Creative Play…..combining all sorts of things from your kitchen cupboards with elements from nature.

• Physical Play……..as your child will build up fine motor movements through chopping/ tearing/ mixing and stirring. 

• Language Development…..as your child explores you can name and chat to them about the ingredients and other things from your garden giving your child new words in their vocabulary

Pasta Threading

This activity is cheap and cheerful and helps your child to develop the following Skills.

  • Hand -Eye Coordination

  • Fine Motor Skills in the fingers.

  • Pattern making, which is really useful in Maths.