News
Planting
We have had a lovely morning in the rain planting lots of healthy vegetables and herbs
Road Safety
We have been chatting about staying safe near roads today. We had our own car wash and even went out and practiced crossing the real road. The children were fantastic at telling us how they need to stay safe.
Farm Shop and Teeth Cleaning
We have had a fantastic start to Healthy Me Fortnight. We have made a farm shop with yummy healthy vegetables and also cleaned the germs and dirt off our chalk teeth.
Healthy Me Fortnight
Healthy Me Fortnight starts on Monday 14th June. We will be having lots of fun playing and learning about all the ways we can lead a healthy life.
The Hungry Caterpillar
We have had a lovely week exploring the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, including making our own caterpillar out of sticks during forest school.
Visit from a Hen
One of our fantastic Pippins parents showed us a hen and day old chicks this morning.
Butterfly House
As part of National Book Sharing Month we are very lucky to have a Pippins parent who works at a Zoo, and who has kindly volunteered to live video call us to show us some real animals from the stories we are reading each week. Yesterday we had a fantastic tour of the butterfly house to link in with our book The Hungry Caterpillar. There are some very exciting tours coming in the next few weeks!
Egg update...
Hatching has started! Watch this space for more updates. 
Crisp Packet update
Crisp packets update !!
Thank you to everyone who has been helping us to recycling - this week we are sending off just under 13.5kg of crisp packets (that’s not including the boxes!!!)
Please keep collecting 
Open Morning for September 2021 starters
We have held open mornings (by appointment only) on the 13th March and today for September 2021 places!
We have our next open morning on Saturday 17th April and currently have the following slots avaliable:
10.15am,
11am and
11.45am
If you would like to book in please email Alice at admin@gravenhurstpreschool.org.uk
Thank you!!
A big thank you to all those in our lovely Pippins community who have answered our pleas for house plants and picture frames over the last week or so. We really appreciate your generosity. Our framed nature pictures will be going up over Easter and Pippins is already looking more calm, hygge and homely with all the new plants. 
More Easter Fun
We have enjoyed the messy creativity of decorating our Easter baskets over the last few days. 
Easter Fun
A big thank you to Jo @jo.disco.licious for donating eggs for us to have some Easter fun today. We decorated the eggs and then had fun rolling them down the garden.
Eggs
We were super excited to put eggs in our incubator today. Hopefully we will have some chicks in a few weeks.
Yoga
Jane made a cosy corner for the children to practice their yoga moves
Fundraising Update
Happy School Bags
Thank you to everyone who donated to the clothes collection today !
We raised £408.50 !!
Which is the most we have ever raised ...
World Book Day
We had a lovely World Book Day celebrating one of our favourite books - Room on the Broom. We made some fantastic potions and some yummy biscuits - fit for a dog as keen as can be.
Planting
We did our first bit of spring vegetable planting yesterday. Looking forward to them growing into some yummy snacks for us.
Easter Craft Fair
Our Craft Fair is now live ... Follow the link below to look at the things on offer...
Messy Painting
Some lovely messy mud painting yesterday
Fundraising Update
Massive thank you to everyone who has been collecting crisp packets for us !
We are just about to send off another 11.3kg of crisp packets which is fantastic!
The scheme allows big and little crisp packets as long as they have silver foil inside! So please spread the word and get friends , neighbours and family collecting!
We have currently raised £68 for Preschool since August 2020. Let’s see if we can get to £150 by August 2021.
Pancake day
We made lots of pancakes at Holiday Club today!
Announcement
We are delighted to annouce that on 1st March we shall be lauching our Easter Craft Fair !!
Nature Imprinted Salt Dough
Today we used different bits of nature such as shells and leaves to make imprinted salt Dough.
Busy Day
We had a very busy day today - making Apple crumble, bird feeders and yummy biscuits!
Making Rocky Road
Today we made some yummy rocky road using biscuits a bag and a rolling pin, melted chocolate and marshmallows.
Flapjack Making
We made some tasty flapjack this morning then ate it for snack - delicious!
Mixing Spices
We had a lovely time mixing spices together today - lots of very interesting smells!
Exploring Diversity
These past few weeks we have been talking to the children about how some people are different to us. 
We have watched Jonnie Peacock (Paralympic runner) who has one leg and a blade ,Libby clegg (partially sighted Paralympic runner) and David Weir (wheelchair Paralympian) on the TV in their Paralympic races.
(We have also watched clips of jonnie and Libby on strictly Come Dancing and Dancing on ice too 
)
The children have been interested in talking about the differences between them and these athletes and today to extend this Jane brought in her daughters walking cane who is partially sighted and therefore has restricted vision so uses a cane when she is out walking with her family and Oscar the dog. 
Today some of the children got to try out using her cane to see what it feels like to need a cane to help move around.
Hygge Friday (2)
Another lovely Hygge Friday...we had a lovely morning out in the woods and nature area. We made some self & family portraits of dough and items we could find. We also collected interesting treasures in egg boxes in the woods and then told each other what we had found. A yummy hot chocolate at picnic snack and then this afternoon baked our own bread which was delicious.
Bear Hunt
Those cheeky bears hid in the spaghetti this morning! Luckily the children rescued them with the tweezers. 
Ice Play
We have been playing with ice today.....brrrr....chilly
Snow Day
We had a lovely snow day today; a snowball fight, snow angels (adult & children!), playing with food colouring and pipettes in the snow, and making snowman biscuits!
Hygge Friday
We have had a lovely Hygge Friday today; fed the birds, had warm milk with honey for snack, played with cinnamon play-dough, watched the Winterwatch Live webcams, done some snowy cosmic kids yoga, and listened to some calming waterfall sounds.
Healthy at Home Challenges
Today we lauched our healthy at home challenges. Children send in their photos of them going for walks or cooking at home and we share at Pre-School and display on our board.
Dinosaur Eggs
Today the children found 3 Dinosaur eggs in the garden. 2 had already hatched, but together we made a nest so that hopefully the third will hatch.
Our Autumn Collection
We have been asking children to collect signs of Autumn on their walks and bring them to Pre-School to add to our table. Here is what we have so far...
Fundraising Update
We have just have confirmation that our Crisp Packet total for the last two months (july and August) has raised us over £30, and we have all these to go for September too!!
1st Day Back...
Today was our first day back and here are some of the displays that we created for the children today.
Other changes...
We have also been doing a few other changes too that we wanted to share with you...
Book Corner
Today Abi has been adapting our book corner to make it feel more cosy.
Hygge at Pippins
We have started a new accreditation - Hygge in the Early Years, this means we are making adaptions to our setting to make the environment more homely and natural. Here are some snaps of our adaptions...
February Holiday Club
February Half Term Holiday Club starts....
Visit to Barton Library
The children have been enjoying a visit to the library on Thursday's Morning
Listening to the story of Elmer and making their own Elmers too!
First Teddy Football Session
For the last year and a half the children have been having monthly Teddy Tennis sessions. This month instead of Teddy Tennis we decided to introduce Teddy Football session, which the children are loving!
Forest School - Putting up our Bird Feeders
Today the children helped to feed the birds at Forest School!
Teddy Tennis Session
The children enjoyed a Teddy Tennis Session in the drizzle!
Farm Visit
We have had 2 visits to the farm in the last week, the children got to sit on a tractor, meet the guinea pigs, goat (called Beril) rabbits and chickens plus the children got to enjoy a piece of cake and drink.
Forest School - Autumn Themed
Today the children looked at our new bird and bug houses and then explored the colour of the leaves!
They then had a go at making their own trees using twigs and playdough.
Harvest Festival
Today the children walked beautifully to the Chapel for Harvest Festival!
They sung the Harvest Samba to the parents, made their leeks and then donated items towards the Harvest display!
Granny Smiths - Welcome Back Banquet
The children helped to make their lunch yesterday! They made crumble for pudding and home made baked beans which were served with jacket potatoes and fish fingers.
Forest School - Stick Man
The children enjoyed an afternoon in the woods making stick men!
Teddy Tennis Session
Today the children had their first session of Tennis. All our children enjoyed showing off their skills!
Forest School - Making our new Bug Hotel
Today the children helped to make a bug Hotel in our new natural area.
1st Apple Blossom Playgroup Session
Today's session was 'all things colourful' !!
The children played with duplo, colourful pom poms and got to do some cotton cool painting.
For anyone wanting to join us we meet at Gravenhurst Methodist Chapel, 9.15-10.45am on Wednesday's.
Hope to see lots of you next week!
Communication Friendly Award
We are pleased to announce that we have been awarded a Communication Friendly Award :)
May Holiday Club
We had a fantastic week at Holiday Club!
The children played rounders, built dens, did some facepainting, made a banana and chocolate chip lego man cake, made bread and kneaded the dough, took part in the ultimate Lego challenge, made creatures out of bendaroos, served up some pancakes for snack and had lots of bubble fun too!!!
Healthy Heroes Bronze Award
Today we gave out our first Bronze awards of 2019 ...
The 3 children who have achieved the award have done 10 healthy activities at home or in pre-school for example helping to make a meal, doing a sport or some exercise, brushing their teeth etc.
So today there got their certificate and a little fluffy Toy too to celebrate.
As the children do more healhy activities they will be able to get their silver and gold award too.
Day 10 - Healthy Me Fortnight - Gymnastics
Today we had a lady come to do Gymnastics with the childre.
Lamb Visit
Today the children were very lucky to have a visit from 2 lambs.
Day 9 - Healthy Me Fortnight - Yoga
Today the children have been doing our Mindful Monster Yoga cards from the charity Scope.
Day 8 - Healthy Me Fortnight - Dance Class
Today the children had a dance class with Laura from 'The Studio'
Day 7 - Healthy Me Fortnight - Sleep Day
Today the children came dressed in their PJ's/ onesies we talked about the importance of sleep and had a story all about sleeping.
Day 6 - Healthy Me Fortnight - Trip to Park
The children enjoyed a lovely trip to the park playing football, tennis and going on the swings.
Day 5 - Healthy Me Fortnight - Woodland Obstacle Course
Today the children have been climbing trees like a squrriel, going through a spider web, rolling like a hedgehog and moving like some other animals in their woodland Obstacle course.
Day 4 - Healthy Me Fortnight - Planting
Today's task was to set the veg in our veg garden, the children enjoyed digging and planting with Kath and Abi.
Day 3 - Healthy me fortnight - Opticians
Today we added another area of role play in the Pre-School (along with our fruit and Veg shop and Dentist area) to help teach the children about why we go to the Opticians.
Day 2 - Healthy Me Fortnight - Teddy Tennis
Today the children had a Teddy Tennis session and learnt about controlling the ball along the floor.
Day 1 - Healthy Me Fortnight - Olivers Vegetables
Today the chlildren have been looking at the book 'Olivers Vegetables' whilst enjoying the new fruit and veg shop and Dentist role play areas. They have also been digging up and washing Vegetables!
Healthy me Fortnight
Next week is the start of our Healthy me fortnight.. we will have a fruit shop set up and a dentist role play. We will also be having a dance, tennis and gymnastic session throughout the fortnight too.
Forest School
The children have had some lovely Forest School Sessions over the last few months, collecting objects in the woods and helping to find the missing fairies.
February Holiday Club
This half term the children have...
Monday - Nature day - the children had a trip to the local park and went on a nature hunt
Tuesday the children enjoyed book day bringing in their book and telling everyone about their books, they also reenacted parts of the stories on stage.
Wednesday - Military day - The children came in dress in camoflague and did some decoding activities, made dens and enjoyed doing obstacle courses in the garden.
Thursday - Valnetines day the children made truffle and heart shaped treats to take home to their loved ones... they also got to make slim.
Friday - Games day
All week the children enjoyed drawing classes too!
Website Photos
We have changed our Website photos - take a look and see all the fun our children get up to!
Eric the Elf
Eric the Elf arrived in Pre-School on Friday. So far the children have helped to decorate the tree, been on a chocolate hunt and helped to make snow in the garden.
Christingle at the Chapel
Today the chidren went down to the chapel to do Christingle activities.
Forest School
Todays Forest School took place with Gravenhurst Academy Reception class.
The children collected sticks to make there own hedgheogs.
Congratulations
We are pleased to announce that Abi has completed her Level 3 Early Years Qualifiication!
Well done Abi!
Bike and Scooter Week
During the last week the children have been joining Gravenhurst Academy Reception class for a race around the playground to earn their driving liscense.
Children in Need
Today the children did a Hey Duggee Dance off, Stick Stick Hunt, Deocrated Cakes to sell and a drawing challenge all to raise money for children in Need.
Hedgehog Visit
Today we had a visit from Thomas the Hedgehog.
Trips to Lordship Farm
This month the children have been going to Lorship farm to see the animals and to buy some fruit for our snack.
Granny Smiths Jewish New Year
The children helped to make their food for lunch today, which meant they cored apples, made cake and meatballs.
Returning to Pre-School
We hope you have all had a wonderful summer!
We open again on Tuesday 4th September :)
Trip to Wimpole Farm
Today the children went to Wimpole Farm on the coach, they all had a lovely time seeing the animals and behavioured beautifully.
Sports Day
Today was our Sports Day, we had a range of field sports including Javelin, shot put, long Jump and ball sorting, followed by the running race.
Our children competed in their Keyworkers groups and the Winners of the day was the Giraffes.
Happy School Bag Collection
Today we had our Happy School Bag collection.
We raised just under £220 which will shall be putting towards more Teddy Tennis Sessions. :)
Fathers Day Rock Festival
For Fathers Day we hosted a Festival!
The children and dads made their own burgers, decorated their own cakes and then the children performed their concert to their dads which they had been practising for over a month.
We had 30 guests attend.
Teddy Tennis
Today we had a company called 'Teddy Tennis' come and do some Tennis sessions with the children.
The children loved it and we are planning to put this as a regular activity through 2018-2019.
Holiday Club
We have had a fantastic week at Holiday Club.
If you would like to book your child in for Holiday Club for summer please contact Alice
admin@gravenhurstpreschool.org.uk
Outdoor Adventure Month
This month we have been out and about of the setting to the woods and to the Park.
Messy Play - Stickman Themed
Today we did a Messy play session based on Stick man, the children made stickmen using playdough and sticks, they made snow, they played in the hair gel and they searched the garden for the stick man characters.
Mothers Day Lunch
Today the mums and grandmas were invited to lunch with the children. They made sandwiches and decorated cakes before playing some games and then sitting to eat their lunch.
Building our Bug Hotel
Today the children collected things from the woods to go in our Bug Hotel.
Fire Safety Day
Today the children had the fire pit out and toasted their own marshmallows and made smores. We talked to the children all about how to keep safe around fire. We also did some fire pictures and played fire safety bingo.
World Book Day
The children celebration World Book day by dressing up as characters from Room on the Broom. They then made broomsticks, made there own edible wands and toadstools and also helped to make a potion.
St Davids Day
Today the children learnt all about St David's Day, we had a dragon visit us over night and lay some eggs for us to look after, we had the story of George and the dragon and we made welsh cakes.
Granny Smiths Chinese New Year
This children helped to make Sweet and Sour Chicken and Pineapple and Ice Cream for our Chinese New Year Feast.
Chinese New Year Celebrations
Today we learnt how to move to Chinese music and did some dragon dancing. We also had noodles for Snack.
Forest School - Sensory Walk
The children spent the morning in the snow and frost exploring the woods.
Mad Science Day
The children spent time today exploring different states, looking at what things float or sink, making pictures out of printing duplo bricks, measuring how tall i am and watching an exploding bottle.
Road Safety Day
Today the children were learning all about road saftety, looking at different road signs, washing our cars and having a go at crossing the road safely
Tickle Fingers Cooking Session
This morning we had a visit from Annabelle from Tickle Fingers. She came in to make Vegetable samous recipe from her book. The children cut up the vegetables, brushed the pastry and then filled up their pastry before having a go and folding it up. All the children then had a chance to try them yummy!!
Granny Smiths Burns Night
The children enjoyed making mince, tatties and Vegetables for our Burns Night Granny Smiths.
Nurse Visit
Emma (the nurse) came to visit us today the children got to use some bandages, she how oxygen masks work and learned about different things that might happen at the doctors.
Forest School - Making Boats
The children had a great time in the woods find sticks to make their boats and jumping in the leaves.
Granny Smiths
Xmas special of Granny smiths was enjoyed by all. Plenty of Chicken, pigs in blanket and beautifully prepared veg by the children.
Xmas Party
Thank you to everyone who attended our xmas party!
The children had a great time performing their play for you, joining in with the A for Active games and tucking in to Jacket Potato at lunch time.
Xmas Party with GA
We enjoyed a lovely party with the reception class at Gravenhurst Academy, we played games, made reindeer food and had a lovely story!
Festive Fun
This morning the children helped to decorate the Xmas tree, we also started our own advent calender where instead of opening a present we give a present. We put all the food presents in a basket and at the end of term we will donate.
Christingle
This morning the children went on a trip to the chapel to learn about christingle.
They heard the story about Christingle, made their christingle, ate snack and then made X-mas cards and Snowman.
Each child got a present from the villagers at the chapel.
Remembrance Day
This week the children have been making poppies to make our very own poppy wreath. This morning we walked up to the war memorial and had our minute silence.
Holiday Club October 2017
Follow the link to see some of our Holiday Club fun!!
MacMillan Cancer Coffee Morning
We recently raised over £240 at our Coffee Morning, Thank you to everyone who supported or who baked a cake. The children at after school club and at Pre-School enjoyed making a cake for the cause too.
Harvest Festival
On Tuesday the children went down to the Chapel to learn about Harvest Festival. Whilst there they talked about different vegetables, listened to the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and made their own corn on the cob and scarecrows pictures.
Forest School Session
This morning the children have been to the woods and made musical instruments out of sticks and threaded buttons.
Sainsburys Active Kids Vouchers
We collected over 5,800 vouchers this year!
(last year we collected 2,400)
Thank you for all your support!
Holiday Club May 2017
May Half Term Holiday Club
Please check our the gallery for some pictures of this years 'magical' themed May Half Term Holiday Club.
After School Club Making Cheesecake
The after school club children last night used up some items from the fridge to make a cheesecake.
After smashing up some biscuits in bag and coated it in cream cheese, the child grated some chocolate to sprinkle on top.
Visit from some Lambs
Today we had a visit from some lambs!!
Firework Pictures
The children have been making firework pictures this morning.....
Guy Making
The children and Big Helen made a guy for Guy fawkes night...
October Holiday Club
During Half Term, we ran our half term Holiday Club.
Throughout the week the children participated in some spooky activities
Take a look in the gallery and see .....
Holiday Club
This years holiday club was the busiest it has ever been, look in the gallery for some photos.
End of Term Trip
25 children enjoyed a trip to Herrings Green Farm and Birds of Prey Centre in Wilstead for our first setting outing.
The children got to see the farm animals, hold the Birds of Prey and had a Creepy Critter Show too.
Today's Potato Picking
This afternoon the children hae been busy digging and picking potatoes from the buckets which they helped set back in April.
Forest School Session
Forest School Session today - making clay faces on the trees in the woods.
Forest School Stay and Play Session
Today was our Forest School stay and play session and we were joined by mummies, daddies and grandmas in the woods.
The children collected leaves, sticks and rocks and made their own stories out of them.
Making Cards for Fathers Day
This week the children have been busy making Fathers Day cards for their Dads and Grandads.
Minibeast Hunt
Today the children went for a Minibeast Hunt with Nicky from the RSPB.
They found woodlouse, spiders, slugs and snails and lots more minibeasts.
Sainsburys Active Kids Vouchers
Thank you to all those who have given in Vocuhers, We now have 1698!
Fun in the Sun
This morning the children have enjoyed chalking dinosaurs on the concrete. Meet Dinosaury and Allis.
Pre-School Photos
We will be having our School Photos on Thursday 5th May.
Lots of activities today!
The children have enjoyed a busy day today, plus the planting of one of our veggie beds. The children all enjoyed planting beetroot and lettuce.
Road Safety Week
This week the children have been learning how to cross the road and pretending to be Lollipop person.
Pirates & Princesses!
Some children came into Pre-School today dressed as pirates and princesses, they spent the day walking the plank and searching for treasure.
An Afternoon of Cooking!
The children helped Alice make a 5 cup fruit loaf and some shortbread.
CHINESE NEW YEAR!
Monday 8th February is Chinese New Year. The children will be going to the woods to learn more about the history of this event.Chinese DragonThey will spend the rest of the day learning about Chinese culture.