Activities
The pre-school offers a huge range of activities and experiences for children, and regularly holds Forest School sessions, bake and share lunches, trips to Charmouth Beach and local walks.
Bake & Share
Baking provides a wealth of learning from cooking skills, vocabulary, maths (weighing), trying different foods, eating a meal in a group situation (in preparation for school), sharing, concern for others and so much more. So, once every half-term, (varying the day of the week each time) the children cook an entire lunch for themselves and the staff, and we all eat together.
The lunch comprises a main course and a pudding. Ideally all the children will participate in both the cooking and the eating. The lunch will be offered to all the children having lunch on that day so no packed lunches are required. There is a voluntary contribution of £2.
Forest school
Forest School provides a range of benefits to children in Early Years Education - increasing confidence, building self-esteem, hands-on practical learning and exploration to name just a few!
'Natures classroom' provides an enriching, engaging and ever changing environment for children to be creative and get active - it really has become the highlight of everyone's week. We rotate our forest school days each term allowing the majority of children to discover the benefits of learning with nature. Come rain or shine we all enjoy our forest school sessions - the mud slide on the mound is a particular favourite, as well as freshly popped corn on the fire!
Beach sessions
Children love to explore the outdoors and what better place to do this than the beach! Once every half-term we take a morning trip to Charmouth Beach - some days everything just flows and a session just naturally comes together. The little rivulets flowing down to the sea are perfect for floating boats made by the children - children spend ages chasing them down towards the sea, picking them up and repeating the cycle. Plus, when the tide is out it of course reveals lots of little pools, perfect for exploring and paddling. Children can also start to see, understand and experience water flowing (direction, depth and rate) and how things float. A ‘hands-on’ activity such as this has much more meaning for young children and they are more likely to absorb the learning and retain it for later.
Ideas for Home:
Put your wellies on and get stuck in; Forage for fossils, go rock pooling or maybe dig for dinosaurs - we do live on the Jurassic Coast after all!
Nature is a fantastic playground and natural obstacle course
Build sculptures, make patterns in the sand, collect driftwood, pebbles and seaweed and create your own pictures
We strive to find fun, new and exciting activities for children to try and experience at pre school.
Some of these activities are listed below - a small contribution is usually requested to help fund these
Music
Footie 4 Dorset
Yoga
Coopers Circle