During the holidays many families took part in special events for Halloween and as we came back to nursery many of us enjoyed Bonfire Night too. Both before the holidays and on our return, we talked to the children about Halloween and Bonfire Night and fireworks and they have been recalling their experiences of seeing fireworks with their families, at organized displays and on TV. We printed off lots of photos from Tapestry for our talking board, which helped the children to recall their experiences and is great for their communication and language as well as their self esteem.

We learnt new skills to made our stunning fireworks pictures including using our fingers to sprinkle and special colours to make firework shapes and patterns. Both of these fine motor techniques are particularly good for getting our fingers working and building up the strength in our hands.

We also made firework noises, sang firework songs and using our bodies to move like fireworks with ribbons and streamers and very importantly talking to the children about being safe around Bonfire Night.

Our activities are a very important part of finding out about British culture as part of our British Values learning and it helps the children to gain an awareness of celebrations and traditions which take place in Britain. It also gives us the opportunity when talking to discuss  safety for children, grown-ups and animals and as part of our safeguarding curriculum, discuss the adults role to make sure children are kept safe as this is their right. (UNCRC A19)

During this busy week we have been learning about Diwali, the Festival of Light that is celebrated by people who are of Sikh or Hindu faith.

As we chatted and looked at pictures of  Diwali celebrations we made some fantastic links noticing that lots of the things that they do to celebrate are the same or similar to our celebrations for example giving gifts, wearing special clothes, eating special food, decorating the house and spending time with family and friends.

We have did lots of exciting activities in nursery to help us with our learning.

We made listened to some Bhangra music and danced with ribbons, made some Rangoli patterns using our whiteboard and coloured rice and explored light using our torches and the dark tent.

Our activities are very important as they help the children to gain an awareness of other cultures and beliefs and helps them to understand the similarities and differences between themselves and others and understand their place in the wider community.

When learning about other cultures and beliefs we are supporting the children to enjoy their right to find things out about the world and other people (UNCRC Article 13) and we are also able to reinforce about every child right to choose their own religion and belief (UNCRC Article 14)