Tiny Toes News and Blog

7th December 2020

It's been a busy few weeks at Tiny Toes! We have enjoyed exploring 'under the sea' with lots of sensory play. Using different textures and smells creates an abundance of learning opportunities for our little ones. 

We've also made a start on our Christmas themed activities. We've been busy making reindeer pictures and are looking forward to many snow themed activities this week. 

16th November 2020

This week we are celebrating World Nursery Rhyme Week.

"If children know 8 nursery rhymes by heart by the time they are 4 years old, they are usually among the best readers and spellers in their class by the time they are 8" (Mem Fox, Reading Magic).  

The five nursery rhymes we will be exploring this week are:

Monday 16th – Wheels On The Bus

Tuesday 17th – Five Little Speckled Frogs

Wednesday 18th – Hickory Dickory Dock

Thursday 19th – Old MacDonald Had A Farm

Friday 20th – Miss Polly Had A Dolly

Why are nursery rhymes so important?

Nursery rhymes are excellent teaching tools and help to develop:

• Vocabulary
• Language skills
• Literacy skills 
• Numeracy skills
• Social skills
• Physical skills
• Emotional skills

Take 5 Little Speckled Frogs for example, through this simple rhyme we can introduce children to numbers 1 to 5 and apply meaning to the numbers i.e. showing how many frogs are left and starting to count. We can learn new words and explore the world around us...what is a frog? Where do they live? What do they eat?

Here are just some of the activities we will be doing this week..

Our amazing Early Years Professional, Sandra, has recorded a sing-and-sign-along video for each nursery rhyme. Learn the signs for Old Macdonald's farm animals below and check out our Facebook page for more videos!