This week we are looking at Yoga in the outdoors. Has your child tried posing like a mountain or enjoyed stretching out in the downward dog? Lets try it all together!
At the moment we are looking at the possibilities of rain showers during our session, so it is a good job that Marina has been out shopping for new tent pegs and props to support our shelter! I am sure that our new shelter will be brilliant.
Please where your splash suits this week as a bit of rain never hurt anyone, but could make us feel uncomfortable.
Also I would like to thank anyone who has voted for us in the 'Mum's in the Know' competition and if you haven't yet voted please do I think it is this sort of validation that makes the whole idea of 'Etherow Mini Rangers' worth while.
http://www.mumsintheknow.co.uk/stockport/mitk-awards-2015-the-nominations-are/
Thanks everyone and see you there!
Mel
Sunday, 22 March 2015
Sunday, 15 March 2015
Winter is over lets go into the woods and explore! Monday 16 March 2015
Our phonics sound is 'w' this week and so without further ado a list of activities, snacks and a story!
This week lets have some waffles.
We are getting creative with our 3d web so get ready to get involved with some weaving of a spidery web!
Our book is called 'once upon a slime' and it is all about a spider who explores a little far from home one day. Here are some spidery facts because the more you know about a spider, the less he will make you jump when he scuttles past your feet!
The silk web spiders weave is very strong in fact spider silk is five times stronger than most metals!
spiders spin webs to catch flies and bugs!
they wrap it tightly round food they have caught
they knit it together to make spider dens and egg sacs!
Don't worry though you are most likely not to find a spider in your house till august and september!
This is short and sweet today, its mothers day enjoy!!
Mel
This week lets have some waffles.
We are getting creative with our 3d web so get ready to get involved with some weaving of a spidery web!
Our book is called 'once upon a slime' and it is all about a spider who explores a little far from home one day. Here are some spidery facts because the more you know about a spider, the less he will make you jump when he scuttles past your feet!
The silk web spiders weave is very strong in fact spider silk is five times stronger than most metals!
spiders spin webs to catch flies and bugs!
they wrap it tightly round food they have caught
they knit it together to make spider dens and egg sacs!
Don't worry though you are most likely not to find a spider in your house till august and september!
This is short and sweet today, its mothers day enjoy!!
Mel
Friday, 6 March 2015
Phonic sound 'v' as in volcano and Velociraptor - Monday 9 March 2015
Oh what a Monday last week was, being able to catch falling snow, making and eating jammy baguette, eating jelly and hearing about the terrible jumble bum who only appears in messy bedrooms, which reminds me must sort out house!!!
We welcomed many new faces to our natural wonderland of ever changing terrain. Seeing children begin to adjust their balance and using their whole body to negotiate the bumpy ground, sometimes falling, but using that intrinsic quality that motivates children to want to move their bodies and be active.
When I attended my own forest school training in 2010 I could immediately see the benefits that I had read about in the childhood and nature study commissioned in 2009 for supported play outside. At Mini Rangers we are supporting our children in the type of play that we as adults took for granted when we were children. Mud pie constructing encompasses a wide range of learning schemas, I am of course misleading you in the use of mud pies as they could be anything and the time that children take in collecting objects to put into the pots and spooning earth and leaves into them and then proudly showing this off means that to just call them mud pies is much too simple a term.
This week Pure Innovation team have been down to our area to clear some of the brambles off of the slopes surrounding us. This means that more able children will be able to climb up the banks without getting cut! So that should become a more exciting opportunity for older children.
Ranger Steve will not be coming and Neil has a dental appointment this week so I am hoping that my lovely volunteers Mark, Mark, Marina and Sam will be able to assist as usual.
So this week we are focusing on the letter sound 'v'.
We will be making some volcanos out of mole hills, some vegetable soup. Due to its volcanic connection we are going to have 'the dinosaur that pooped the past' by Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter.
So see you Monday for some more mini ranger fun.
We welcomed many new faces to our natural wonderland of ever changing terrain. Seeing children begin to adjust their balance and using their whole body to negotiate the bumpy ground, sometimes falling, but using that intrinsic quality that motivates children to want to move their bodies and be active.
When I attended my own forest school training in 2010 I could immediately see the benefits that I had read about in the childhood and nature study commissioned in 2009 for supported play outside. At Mini Rangers we are supporting our children in the type of play that we as adults took for granted when we were children. Mud pie constructing encompasses a wide range of learning schemas, I am of course misleading you in the use of mud pies as they could be anything and the time that children take in collecting objects to put into the pots and spooning earth and leaves into them and then proudly showing this off means that to just call them mud pies is much too simple a term.
This week Pure Innovation team have been down to our area to clear some of the brambles off of the slopes surrounding us. This means that more able children will be able to climb up the banks without getting cut! So that should become a more exciting opportunity for older children.
Ranger Steve will not be coming and Neil has a dental appointment this week so I am hoping that my lovely volunteers Mark, Mark, Marina and Sam will be able to assist as usual.
So this week we are focusing on the letter sound 'v'.
We will be making some volcanos out of mole hills, some vegetable soup. Due to its volcanic connection we are going to have 'the dinosaur that pooped the past' by Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter.
So see you Monday for some more mini ranger fun.
Saturday, 28 February 2015
Jumping frogs!! Monday 2nd March
Jumping into Spring, I am starting to see the changes with the snowdrops popping up everywhere, crocuses blooming and daffodils getting ready to show their yellow trumpets!
This week our sound is 'j' a tricky sound to just throw into a mini rangers session! So I am thinking a lot will depend on the rather tempestuous weather we have been having of late with heavy downpours some mornings and glorious sunshine on others. So far the weather predictions are for light showers or snow ?? Not sure what to believe! This week Mark is stepping in as fire expert, so we will be having our cosy fire and I am planning on making some jelly for snacks. If anyone wants to bring a snack, like the lovely flap jacks which were very much appreciated, we will be happy and grateful for that.
We also have Oliver's dad Mark assisting us with shelter building and general other bits so thanks to him too!
We will be having some jumping races and I will be providing us with bits of string to make nature jewellery with.
Our book this week will be Jumble bum!
As an aside I was reading a book called Thinking games for preschoolers by Susan Baltrus and one of the games was lovely called Hippopotamus. The purpose is to exercise listening skills, critical thinking, imagination and verbal communication skills. You don't need any materials.
How to play: The first player thinks of sentence that describes a true fact about one or more of the other players. The player says the sentence aloud, but substitutes the word for hippopotamus for one of the nouns. Other players try to guess the correct word. The first player to name the correct word thinks of another sentence.
example: Lauren says, 'mum brought her hippopotamus to work this morning because it might rain' Sam correctly guesses umbrella, so he creates the next sentence.
You may have to do quite a few examples to get the ball rolling, but I have used this idea with the three year old's that I look after and they were in stitches.
Skills developed: As your child listens to your sentences, she/he sharpens listening skills and uses critical thinking to determine the correct word. She/he's likely to find the role of creating her own sentences to be more challenging, but more rewarding (and funny!) This part of the game develops imagination and verbal communication skills.
Anyhow, as ever looking forward to seeing you all, and I hope you had a good week!
Mel
This week our sound is 'j' a tricky sound to just throw into a mini rangers session! So I am thinking a lot will depend on the rather tempestuous weather we have been having of late with heavy downpours some mornings and glorious sunshine on others. So far the weather predictions are for light showers or snow ?? Not sure what to believe! This week Mark is stepping in as fire expert, so we will be having our cosy fire and I am planning on making some jelly for snacks. If anyone wants to bring a snack, like the lovely flap jacks which were very much appreciated, we will be happy and grateful for that.
We also have Oliver's dad Mark assisting us with shelter building and general other bits so thanks to him too!
We will be having some jumping races and I will be providing us with bits of string to make nature jewellery with.
Our book this week will be Jumble bum!
As an aside I was reading a book called Thinking games for preschoolers by Susan Baltrus and one of the games was lovely called Hippopotamus. The purpose is to exercise listening skills, critical thinking, imagination and verbal communication skills. You don't need any materials.
How to play: The first player thinks of sentence that describes a true fact about one or more of the other players. The player says the sentence aloud, but substitutes the word for hippopotamus for one of the nouns. Other players try to guess the correct word. The first player to name the correct word thinks of another sentence.
example: Lauren says, 'mum brought her hippopotamus to work this morning because it might rain' Sam correctly guesses umbrella, so he creates the next sentence.
You may have to do quite a few examples to get the ball rolling, but I have used this idea with the three year old's that I look after and they were in stitches.
Skills developed: As your child listens to your sentences, she/he sharpens listening skills and uses critical thinking to determine the correct word. She/he's likely to find the role of creating her own sentences to be more challenging, but more rewarding (and funny!) This part of the game develops imagination and verbal communication skills.
Anyhow, as ever looking forward to seeing you all, and I hope you had a good week!
Mel
Friday, 20 February 2015
Hope you had a happy half term- see you all Monday 23 February 2015
Last half term we covered the phonic sounds of
e u r h b f
We managed to warm our hands on boiled eggs, create an umbrella pathway, runaway with raisins, we bought crazy hats, read about bog babies and created fairies while eating fish fingers!
For our best bits check out the facebook page Etherow park mini rangers.
e u r h b f
We managed to warm our hands on boiled eggs, create an umbrella pathway, runaway with raisins, we bought crazy hats, read about bog babies and created fairies while eating fish fingers!
For our best bits check out the facebook page Etherow park mini rangers.
This term we are starting with phonic sound 'l' and moving onto 'j','v','w','x','y'.
With the half term we have just celebrated the chinese new year, so what better way than for us to join the fun than to make lanterns to hang. For our snack this week I shall be bringing some Lychees and for our book we have had a kind donation from Peejmaybe of the blog 'read it daddy' with a book called 'How many legs' by Jim Field and Kes Gray. Hope you like it!
See you Monday 23 February 2015, 10 am!
I did check the weather and it seemed fair, remember we have the shelter and the fire so we should be ok. Please let me know if you have any ideas for activities, snacks or books for upcoming phonic sounds!
Friday, 6 February 2015
Post for February 9th February 2015 - Phonic sound 'f'
Well f could stand for fairwell to Ranger Steve for a little while. Ranger Steve is off to have an operation so this Monday will be our last time to say good luck with everything and hopefully see you back here after Easter.
f could also stand for friends as that is what you have all become and thank you to the friends that have been volunteering to help especially while Steve is recuperating.
Neil is still attending his assemblies this week in order to appear in the Kingsway School assemblies to publicise the Stockport Cancer Research Relay for Life a 24 hour walk that Neil organises each year and will be taking place on the 4 and 5th of July. If anyone wants to know more please ask us or go to the following link http://relay.cancerresearchuk.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/General?pg=entry&fr_id=1478 .
So Ranger Steve will be making his fire for the last time in a while on Monday which I feel is an exciting event in itself and I think we should have something special on the BBQ for the last week, Steve will be making fish fingers.
Our Story will be Barry the Fish with Fingers.
We will make a fairy or a fish stick.
First we will collect our willow sticks (there are some in our area) and we will weave wool and bits of fabric in order to make a fairy or a fish. We can then tie our fairy or fish on to the end of the willow and let the them bounce round the area. All will become clear...
So looking forward to seeing you all on Monday for our last session before half term, it also marks our one year anniversary of doing mini rangers.
Mel
f could also stand for friends as that is what you have all become and thank you to the friends that have been volunteering to help especially while Steve is recuperating.
Neil is still attending his assemblies this week in order to appear in the Kingsway School assemblies to publicise the Stockport Cancer Research Relay for Life a 24 hour walk that Neil organises each year and will be taking place on the 4 and 5th of July. If anyone wants to know more please ask us or go to the following link http://relay.cancerresearchuk.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/General?pg=entry&fr_id=1478 .
So Ranger Steve will be making his fire for the last time in a while on Monday which I feel is an exciting event in itself and I think we should have something special on the BBQ for the last week, Steve will be making fish fingers.
Our Story will be Barry the Fish with Fingers.
We will make a fairy or a fish stick.
First we will collect our willow sticks (there are some in our area) and we will weave wool and bits of fabric in order to make a fairy or a fish. We can then tie our fairy or fish on to the end of the willow and let the them bounce round the area. All will become clear...
So looking forward to seeing you all on Monday for our last session before half term, it also marks our one year anniversary of doing mini rangers.
Mel
Thursday, 5 February 2015
Bog Baby
Last week we heard the story Bog Baby by Jeanne Willis and Gwen Millward. This has become inspiration to make our own Bog Baby swamp at Etherow in our Mini Ranger area. As it is quite cold at the moment I think it would be great if you could make a Bog Baby at home and bring it to Mini Rangers to create our Bog Baby area.
I would normally use air drying clay, but if you don't have this how about this possible alternative?
Making the Clay -
Ingredients
1 cup Cornflour or Cornstarch
2 cups Bi Carb Soda
1 1/2 cups Water
(Food colouring if you desire)
Let me know how you get on!!
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