Thanks to our spring garden makeover we’ve been professional POD Nature Explorers, digging in dirt, investigating insects and of course whipping up some delights in our mud kitchen. But that’s not all. We’ve slayed dragons with St George, explored the beautiful festival of Eid as well as getting our eco-fun on for Earth Day. April has been pretty ace even if we say so ourselves. Here’s some of our April awesome bits!

 

Extra Outside Awesomeness in our *NEW* Spring Garden

Spring is perfect for outside learning. Our POD theme this term is “Nature Explorers” and what better place to begin our April adventures than in our newly revamped Spring Garden! Nurturing 5 holistic areas; Physical, Spiritual, Intellectual, Social and Emotional, our gorgeous garden is full to the brim with nature inspired learning that promotes whole child development. Whether our kids are climbing, scooting, hunting for minibeasts, creating nature inspired art, or making mud pies, they’re benefiting from the freedom of being outdoors.

Outdoor play is not only good for well-being, but it’s brilliant fun too. This month, we’ve created our own bug binoculars and headed off on a bug hunt to see what we could find in our garden! We’ve gone mini-beast mad as we decorated ladybird stones, counted their spots and even enjoyed a ladybird themed tuff tray too. We flexed our fine motor strength using our emerging scissor skills as we made spider-inspired hats that gave everyone a giggle. Then, we rolled up our sleeves and got all the dirt on the lifecycle of a worm which inspired some super squishy worm painting too!

Thanks to the brilliant book “Down at The Bottom of The Garden” we’ve been singing songs and mastering movements like fluttering like a butterfly, jumping like a cricket and marching like an ant as we explored our own POD garden and all the secret areas right under our noses! Whether we’re pressing flowers or planting seeds, building bird feeders or building dens, we can see our kids learning and growing perfectly, just like our garden.

 

Acceptance and Kindness - Autism Awareness Day

Autism Awareness Day (2nd of April) was a chance for us to wear blue as we celebrated diversity and talked about what makes us all unique. Having the freedom to be ourselves is what makes our POD so special. From our bustling blue scavenger hunt around the POD to our playful sensory activities everyone loved, this day was a great way for our kids to foster empathy and a greater understanding of what makes everyone tick!

 

Eid, Earth Day, Dragons & Dance - April’s Amazing Cultural Celebrations

April is awash with lots of lovely cultural celebrations and national days, and we’ve enjoyed every one of them to the max! We always make a big deal out of celebrations and cultural events because not only are they exciting but they’re a wonderful way to help our kids understand different beliefs and values from around the world.

Eid (10th April) saw the POD filled with beautiful twinkling lights and colourful decorations as we delved into the rich traditions of Eid al-Fitr - the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast. We explored the history behind this cherished festival, got busy making beautiful moon pictures using different coloured lentils and enjoyed having intricate mehndi patterns painted on our hands.

Earth Day (22nd April) was a chance for us to get eco-tastic as we thought about how we can make our world a little greener! It was the perfect opportunity to do one of our favourite activities -junk modelling! Creating art from recycled items makes our hearts sing! What could be better than making something wonderful out of items that would be put to waste! Earth day is an excellent opportunity to talk to our kids about ways we can reduce, reuse and recycle and the importance of looking after our wonderful planet.

St Georges Day (23rd April) turned us into courageous knights as we went back in time to defend the realm against dragons and other mythical beasts. We made our own colourfully decorated shields (complete with the red and white colours of the St Georges cross) and talked about what it means to be brave and courageous!

International Dance Day (29th April) allowed us to really put our Diddidance skills into action! From hip hop to Irish jigs, ballroom to breakdancing, we tried it all! Moving to music, listening to rhythm and bopping to the beat was the BEST fun. Letting kids express themselves through music is a fantastic way to bring out their self-expression and confidence and let their creativity soar! We loved seeing all the funky moves and the innovative use of scarves and ribbons to match the different flow of the music.



April has been full of fun and fantastic learning. We’re getting ready for a sensational summer (despite what the unpredictable weather is thinking). We’ll be starting our topic on health and well-being and planning plenty of outdoor adventures to align with our Mindful Movers theme. We know it’s going to be a totally A-MAY-zing month ahead!