Every Wednesday we spend the day outdoors, whatever the weather, exploring the changing seasons, consolidating learning that has taken place in class and safely learning to use new tools.
Look at what we've been up to this term!
Reception into nature - Welly Wednesday Autumn 2023
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Week 1 - Wednesday 13th September
Bog Babies and Blackberries
This week we read The Bog Baby and then discovered a suitcase filled with Bog Babies. We chose one that we'd like to take home with us and made our Bog Baby promise to teach it to read by sharing books and teaching it our new sounds. As the sun shone in the afternoon, we used the pestle and mortar to squash blackberries that we found in the garden and made blackberry paint. We used the paint to create pictures of the Bog Baby and write our 's' phonics sound.
Week 2 - Wednesday 20th September
Wind and Wheat
Today was a bit of a wet and windy day. After reading the story of The Little Red Hen, the children looked closely at some wheat and drew some detailed pictures. We talked about how wheat was ground into flour and what it could be made into. We then searched for the Bog Baby and found he has some objects in the tin that started with the letter 'p'. We then had a go at sorting objects and some fabulous mark-making, We made some windy wigglers by cutting wool and tying it onto sticks to see the direction the the wind was blowing.
Finally we tasted three different types of bread: white, wholemeal and 50/50 and talked about our favourite.
Week 3 - Wednesday 27th September
Families and feathers at the Forest
This week we read Todd Parr's Family Book and talked about everyone's families being different and special. We used found natural objects to create pictures of our own families. When entering the Secret Garden, we had to know four times to let the Bog Baby that we had arrived. The Bog Baby brought us objects that started with the letter 'm'. We used our phonics to blend and read words and try and write them too.
Week 4 - Wednesday 11th October
Apples, paint and patterns!
This week we read A New House for Mouse, where a little mouse tried to find a home that was a perfect fit for him and his large apple.
The Bog Baby brought us a special picture called a diagram which showed us what the different parts of an apple were called. We cut into apples and explored the different parts for ourselves.
We looked at the different colours that we could see on the apple skin and used prime colours to create different colours that we could use to print repeating apple patterns.
Some children explored the outside area for homes for our very own little mouse.
The children thought they'd found a watermelon growing in the garden today but discovered it's a baby pumpkin! I wonder if it will be ready for Halloween?
Our afternoon finished with a tasty treat of apples!
Week 5 - Wednesday 18th October
Webs, wool and whirling leaves
This week we read Arghhhh! Spider about a spider who just wanted to be a perfect pet.
We searched in the Secret Garden for the Bog Baby who brought us some facts about spiders and some detailed photos.
We made our own giant woolly spider webs by using our throwing and catching skills and using our friend’s names!
We used magnifying glasses to search for webs and spiders around the forest and found some other interesting minibeasts too.
Week 6 - Wednesday 26th October
Flint, fire and hammering nails in pumokins
This week at Welly Wednesday, we used two different tools. We learned to safely use a hammer to hammer nails into our pumpkins.
We then used the flint and steel to make sparks to set a fire to toast marshmallows as a tasty treat. What a perfect way to end this half-term!
Week 1 - Wednesday 8th November
Poppies and painting
This week, we read, 'Where the Poppies Now Grow' about two friends who helped each other through difficult times.
We found letters left by the Bog Baby that spelled out the word, 'Remember'.
We painted poppies on the path to school which we hoped encouraged people to remember as they walked.
Following on from our maths work this week, we looked for triangles and circles in our garden area too.
Week 2 - Wednesday 14th November
Different coloured leaves and drilling holes
Today we looked at the trees in the garden and saw that most of the leaves have now fallen. We looked for leaves and sorted them by colour. We found that most of the leaves were brown and fewest of them were yellow.
We read Leaf Man and made pictures and patterns from leaves.
We learned how to use a new tool safely. We used the hand-drill to make holes in our tree stump.
Week 3 - Wednesday 22nd November
Hibernation and honey hoops
This week we read the story Ridiculous about a tortoise called Shelley who decided to explore winter. We talked about animals that hibernated for winter.
We used our fine motor and maths skills to make bird feeders by threading five honey-hoops onto a pipe-cleaner and hanging it in a tree for birds and small creatures to enjoy.
We used found objects to create cosy beds for Shelley lined with leaf litter.
We used our gross motor skills to create mud paint in puddles with large brushes to paint on the ground.
Week 4 - Wednesday 29th November
Frost, ice and four-sided shapes
Today we read the story, 'Winter's Coming' about a horseshoe hare and how she and her friends prepared for the winter. We then prepared ourselves for the winter by wearing our coat, hat, scarf and gloves.
Today was very cold and we were surprised to find that lots of our puddles and containers full of water had turned to ice. We explored the shapes, texture and patterns in the ice.
Some of the children created a see-saw bridge to get across the icy puddle safely.
We spent some time looking for 4-sided shapes in the environment and found lots of examples of natural and man-made shapes.
Week 5 - Wednesday 6th December
Frost and foraging festive leaves
Today, we read the story Jack Frost. It would seem Jack had definitely paid us a visit today. It was so cold, we could see our breath when talking and everything was frozen and slippery.
We learned to use a new tool today, secateurs, we used them to cut twigs from our eucalyptus tree to weave into our Christmas wreath. The wreath is proudly on display in our EYFS entrance.
