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D i s c o v e r y D a y N u r s e r y

Nursery Activities and Events Spring 2019

Here is a list of activities that we will be celebrating and discussing over the next term (January – April 2019).

Please take note of the 'Ideas for Home' box that will enable you to join us!

Date and Event/Activity

What we will be doing in Nursery Ideas for Home

3rd January – Tamaseseri – Ball Catching Festival (Japan)

Practice our ball skills by throwing, rolling & catching different sized balls.

Find out where Japan is.

Taste some Japanese food.

Make our own Papier Mache balls and decorate them.

Go to the park to play ball games

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D i s c o v e r y D a y N u r s e r y

Date and Event/Activity

What we will be doing in Nursery Ideas for Home

4th January – World Braille Day

Find out about Louis Braille

Borrow some Braille books from the library

What does our name look like in Braille

What is it like to be blind?

Read a story with Braille text

13th January – International Kite Festival (India)

Make our own kites; what material world best?

Trip to the beach to fly our kite.

Look at different kites.

Find out how to make and also fly a kite.

Trip to Goring Gap to watch the kite-surfers

Go fly a kite with your family

17th January – Kids Inventors Day

Find out about a significant invention, e.g. the Telephone

Carry out some experiments, e.g. what is magnetic?

Junk Model our own inventions

Look for inventions around the nursery

Trip to the Science Museum

Look at Inventions at home

18th January – Winnie the Pooh Day

Read Winnie the Pooh Stories

Colour Winnie the Pooh pictures

Create our own Winnie the Pooh

Make honey biscuits

Create our own Hundred Acre Woods

Visit Hartfield where AA Milne lived

Play Pooh Sticks

Watch Winnie the Pooh Movies

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D i s c o v e r y D a y N u r s e r y

Date and Event/Activity

What we will be doing in Nursery Ideas for Home

19th January – Tulip Day, Holland

Plant our own tulips.

What shape is the tulip? How does it differ from other flowers?

Where is Holland?

Make our own tulips, what materials are best.

Trip to the Garden Centre to find out about different flowers, looking at colours and smell. What one do you like best?

21st January – Hugging Day

Talk about why we hug people?

Read Hugless Douglas

Do something nice to make someone happy

Gives lots of hugs and snuggles

24th January – Belly Laugh Day

Tell our favourite jokes

Do something funny to make everyone laugh?

Create our own silly selfies

Pull funny faces

Watch a funny film

Have a tickling competition

25th January – Burns Night

Haggis Tasting

Scottish Flag Colouring

Go to library to look for books on Burns Night

Look at Burns poems

Look at our family Tartan and designing you own.

Get recipe for Burns supper

Go to the library to look for books on Burns Night

Listen to ‘Addressing the Haggis’ Poem

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D i s c o v e r y D a y N u r s e r y

Date and Event/Activity

What we will be doing in Nursery Ideas for Home

26th January – Australia Day

Can we find Australia on the map?

Sing Waltzing Matilda

Find out about Australia; what animals are specific to Australia

Can you throw a boomerang

Plan a trip to Australia!!!

26th January – 2nd February – Story Telling Week

Create our own stories

Tell our favourite stories

Who is our favourite author?

Share a story every night at bedtime

29th January – Puzzle Day

Can we complete a puzzle?

Can we make our own puzzle?

What is the largest puzzle we can do?

Do some jigsaw puzzles

2nd February – Groundhog Day

Find out about Groundhog Day and the meaning behind it.

Create a weather chart to track the weather

Make a shadow puppet.

Talk about Season and how winter turns into spring, what happens in spring?

Take a walk in the garden; can you see your shadow?

Look for signs of spring in your garden

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D i s c o v e r y D a y N u r s e r y

Date and Event/Activity

What we will be doing in Nursery Ideas for Home

3rd February – Setsubun Mantoro, Lantern Festival

Make lanterns

Trip to the library to look for books on the lantern festival and lights

Look at electricity and where light comes from

Part of the lantern festival is solving riddles, can we make up and solve our own riddles

Release paper lanterns

Solve riddles

Have a Japanese meal

5th February – Chinese New Year (Year of the Pig)

Dragon Dance

Chinese Writing

Chinese Food Tasting

Chopstick Painting

Make red envelopes

Create our own Fortune Cookies

Go to a Chinese restaurant as a family

Make Chinese food

Go to the library to look for Chinese books

Make your own Chinese Dragon Dance

14th February – Valentine’s Day

Make Valentine’s Day Cards

Look at photos of special people to us – bring in pictures from home.

Make special gifts for our loved ones

Visit loved ones

Exchange cards to loved ones

Make valentines cupcakes

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D i s c o v e r y D a y N u r s e r y

Date and Event/Activity

What we will be doing in Nursery Ideas for Home

17th February – Random Act of Kindness Day

Be nice to our friends

Talk about how we can help other people

Visit an old peoples home for crafts and story time

Do something nice for someone you don’t know

Visit a friend you haven’t seen for a while

Make a meal for a homeless person

18th February – Canadian Family Day

Talk about who is in our family

Draw a picture of our family

Learn about Canada

Have a Nursery Family Tea

Have a family day out

Visit family you haven’t seen for a while

Have a family meal

20th February – Love your Pet day

Bring a photo of your pet to nursery

What variety of pets do we have, can we create a graph showing which animals are the most popular

Arrange a visit from some of our pets

What kind of people would you like to have?

Role play pet shop.

Do something special for our pets

Take our dogs for a walk

Give them a special treat

22nd February – World Thinking Day

Find out about The Baden Powell’s and the different clubs they set up (rainbows, cubs, brownies etc.)

Think of something nice that we can do to help our friends and family

Do something nice for someone

Visit a neighbour or family member and offer to help the in some way

Attend a local Thinking Day Service

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D i s c o v e r y D a y N u r s e r y

Date and Event/Activity

What we will be doing in Nursery Ideas for Home

26th February – Tell a Fairy Tale Day

What are our favourite fairy tales

Roleplay our favourite stories

Write our own fairy tale

Visit the library to look for fairy tale books

Enjoy a fairy tale at bedtime

1st March – St David’s Day

Make Leek and Potato Soup

Find out how to say some words in Welsh

Make a Welsh Flag

Talk about the Welsh Dragon

Make Welsh Cakes

Trip to Wales

Find Wales on the map

2nd – 5th March – Battle of the Oranges (Italy)

Look at different types of Oranges

Squeeze your own Orange juice to drink

Orange Art Work

Make a red hat for the battle

Plant an orange tree

Make some orange jelly and have an orange themes picnic

3rd March – National Anthem Day

Learn Our National Anthem

Listen to some National Anthems

What are the anthems of countries you have visited on holidays

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D i s c o v e r y D a y N u r s e r y

Date and Event/Activity

What we will be doing in Nursery Ideas for Home

5th March – Pancake Day

Make Pancakes at Nursery

Sing rhymes about pancakes

Let the children try pancake tossing

Pancake races

Make pancakes

How high can you toss your pancake?

5th March – Learn what your name means Day

Write our names

Use google to find the meanings of our names

Trace our names and decorate our names

Find out about your family names

6th March – Ash Wednesday

Talk about things we can give up for lent

Listen to the Easter Story

Visit Christ Church

Give up something for Lent

7th March – World Book Day

Make a book display, featuring our favourite characters

Read our favourite stories

Dress up as our favourite story character

Visit the library for a story telling session

Visit the library

Check theatre listings for a stage show of our favourite stories

Bedtime stories

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D i s c o v e r y D a y N u r s e r y

Date and Event/Activity

What we will be doing in Nursery Ideas for Home

8th March – International Woman’s Day

Who are our favourite women

Look at famous women

What jobs can women do?

11th March – Commonwealth Day

Look at what Commonwealth means

What countries are in the Commonwealth?

Design a flag for our own countries

Do a Google search with your children and look at some of the Commonwealth countries

11th – 15 March – Comic Relief

Look in to what makes us laugh

Dress up in funny clothes

Face paining

Tell jokes

Sponsored event

Do something funny for money

Watch some of the programmes

17th March – St Patrick’s Day

Trace a Shamrock

Paint Green clovers

Make shamrock shaped pictures

Make leprechaun hats

Irish Dancing

Make Soda Bread

Look for Shamrocks in your garden

Talk about Ireland

Have a Guinness!!

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D i s c o v e r y D a y N u r s e r y

Date and Event/Activity

What we will be doing in Nursery Ideas for Home

20th March – Holi (Hindu Holiday)

Listen to the Story of Pahlad and Hoilika

Create a bright coloured picture

Find out what Holi is

Have a Holi party at home

Create a bright family picture with your whole family

31st March – Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day Cards

Talk about why mummies are special

Draw portraits of your mummies

Create a bouquet for our mums

Have a mummy’s day tea

Spoil your mummy; do all the chores, make her breakfast in bed

1st April – April Fool’s Day

Tell each other a joke

Explore the meaning behind April Fool’s Day

Paly an April Fools Trick on a family member

10th April – National Siblings Day

Talk about our families, do we have any brothers or sisters?

Why are our siblings special?

Paint a family portrait

Visit any siblings and family who don’t live with us

Buy our siblings a gift

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D i s c o v e r y D a y N u r s e r y

Date and Event/Activity

What we will be doing in Nursery Ideas for Home

13th – 15th April – Songkran Water Festival (Thailand)

Find out what the Songkran Water Festival is

Lots and lots of water play

Find out about Thailand?

Can we say any Thai words

Have a Thai Meal

16th April – Wear your PJ’s Day

Come to nursery in your Pyjamas

Make your own Pyjamas

Buy some new pyjamas

Go to work in your pyjamas

21st April – Easter Sunday

Easter Egg Hunt

Make Easter cards

Make chocolate nests

Make rabbits and chicks

Make an Easter Bonnet

Listen to the Easter Story

Visit a National Trust house for an egg hunt

Have a family roast dinner

21st April – Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday

Make a birthday card for the Queen

Make our own crown

How old is the Queen going to be?

Junk model castles

Sing the national Anthem

Visit Arundel Castle

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D i s c o v e r y D a y N u r s e r y

Date and Event/Activity

What we will be doing in Nursery Ideas for Home

22nd April – Earth Day

Find the Earth in the Solar System.

Use the World Map to find out about the world, look at the different hemispheres, Equator, North and South Poles, continents etc.

Talk about how we ca help save the World

Look at recycling at nursery

Do we recycle at home

Look at ways in which we can help ‘save’ the world

23rd April – St George’s Day

Listen to the story of St George and the dragon

Make a St Georges Flag

Have an English Tea Party

Investigate all things English

Morris Dancing

Have a family Roast Dinner

Visit Highdown Gardens and look at the Rose Garden

23rd April – Prince Louis’s Birthday

Make a 1st birthday card

Have a birthday party

Make a birthday cake

Visit Kensington Palace