Wow! What a busy day we had at our Family Christmas Craft Experience. It really felt like the beginning of the Christmas celebrations with our nursery decorated beautifully with trees and garlands. It was a very rainy day but we were still able to do Christmassy crafts, fun and learning both indoors and outside in the nursery garden. It was so busy with parents, carers, grandparents and siblings all joining us for a festive Christmas experience. They all had a really fantastic time joining in with seasonal activities and getting into the Christmas spirit!

At nursery we have begun reading the nativity story and learning about the meaning of Christmas and why Christian people celebrate the birth of Jesus. We have been thinking about some of the traditional religious celebrations that take place at this time of year including decorating the Christmas tree, going to church and eating special food. We have also talked about some of the non-religious and international celebrations that take place at this time of year too and this learning continued throughout todays activities and festivities.

Our children and families enjoyed threading Christmas trees and weaving ribbons to make wreaths with the willow grown in our very own nursery garden. We decorated salt dough decorations with all things sparkly and retold the Christmas story in our home corner which was set up as a stable. In the nursery garden we made Reindeer food to guide Rudolph to our homes …as we dodged the rain! There was an Toy Workshop, we wrote letters to Santa, made name snowmen and made sensory shakers to help us in the sensory room as we enjoyed Christmas songs and pictures. In the Long Room we glued, spread and sprinkled to begin to make our lanterns ready for the South Normanton Lantern Parade next week and we also makde puddin tree decorations which we put straight onto our Christmas tree at nursery. For snack today we made Rudolf’s face on a cracker and took home a special carrot for him on Christmas Eve!

These activities were really good for developing our gross and fine motor skills and some required a little perseverance. The activities also got us talking about Christmas and how we and others celebrate which therefore developed our communication skills as well as reinforcing our values and sense of community.

Towards the end of each session we joined together to celebrate the sessions fun and learning and sing some wintery songs…and even the grown ups joined in!

Thank you also to everyone who attended the day. We really appreciate everybody’s support at these events. It's a great opportunity to share the playing and learning that takes place at our outstanding nursery school and to further strengthen the links with our families and community.

We hope you enjoy the photos of our festive fun filled day.