Blog
December 2022
Merry Christmas!
Here’s our beautiful book corner with Christmas joy and warmth! The children enjoyed listening to Christmas stories and learnt about sharing, kindness, togetherness and love. We also had fun singing Christmas carols every day! Our favourites were “Mary had a baby, Oh Lord…..” and “Rudolph the red nose reindeer…”
December 2022
November 2022
Monet Exhibition
Our own twist to Monet’s water lily paintings! Claude Monet was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting. He painted 250 canvases of his water garden; Around 200 of these represent water lilies floating on the surface of the water.
November 2022
October 2022
Exploring Earth
We explored our planet, Earth, from the inside and outside. The children learnt about the layers of the Earth and that the core of the Earth is made of very very hot metal. We can also name all the continents and you would love to hear our continent song!
October 2022
October 2022
Black History Month
Children learnt about rich black heritage through history lessons, stories, listening to music, cooking special food and emphasising that we all are special!
October 2022
October 2022
Diwali Fun
We created a beautiful Diwali display at the nursery where the children enjoyed creating Rangoli patterns and the burning of sparklers; the day was full of exciting activities!
Happy Diwali everyone!
October 2022
September 2022
Andy Warhol Artwork
Our young Andy Warhol’s at the nursery, reproduced images of things special to them and explored the artist’s style of Campbell soup and Marilyn Monroe. They also created their own pop art with fruit prints and their own handprints.
September 2022
December 2021
Merry Christmas!
It is the time of the year when there is love, excitement and merriment in the air! From Christmas concert to Santa’s visit; from Christmas lunch to our Christmas party; from Christmassy arts and crafts to Christmas Holidays; children, teachers and parents could not hide their excitement for this beautiful time of the year. Hope you all have a happy, healthy and blessed Christmas with your near and dear ones.
December 2021
November 2021
Diwali Celebration
We celebrated the “Festival of Lights” today, with our teachers and children coming dressed in traditional Indian clothing. We explored Indian Candles (Divas), Indian Rangoli, Indian clothes and jewellery, Indian dance and even cooked Indian dessert, “Ladoos”. The day ended with the exhibition of sparklers and lighting divas. Happy Diwali everyone!
November 2021
October 2021
Autumn Festival Celebration
The children came dressed in their favourite costumes to celebrate the Harvest, Autumn and Halloween! We also had lots of fun with our Autumn activities such as carving Jack O’ lanterns, cooking pumpkin cakes, having a pumpkin race and reading one our favourite story books, “Room on the broom”. The day ended with music and dance amidst bubbles and balloons.
October 2021
September 2021
10, 9, 8, 7.....and Blast Off!
Our little astronauts boarded the WEMN rocket and went on a galactic mission to explore our mysterious space. Our home corner was converted into a spaceship where we learnt about “cool” gravity and how it helps us to walk on Earth but not in space. The children enjoyed the orbit walk in the outdoor garden and they even made papier-mâché planets. Our exciting Space topic enthused our children with many curious questions like why space is dark? and Why must we wear the special suit and helmet in space? How do we talk and hear with the helmets on?
September 2021
September 2021
Andy Warhol Artwork
Our pre-school children explored the work of one of the most prolific and popular artists of his time, Andy Warhol. The children created replicas of his famous artwork, the portrait of Marilyn Monroe, with their own portraits. They also created their own pop art with fruit prints and their own handprints.
September 2021
August 2021
Visit from Fireman Jamie
We welcomed one of our favourite superheroes at the nursery, Jamie the Fireman. Jamie is father of one of our ex-children and a regular visitor to the nursery. He talked about how dangerous it is to play with fire and reminded the children of the emergency number. The children even got to try on his helmet, shoes and jacket – they were surprised to see how heavy they were! Jamie gave children some colouring in sheets, emergency whistle and stickers. Thank you for making our day, fireman Jamie!
August 2021
August 2021
Beach Party in our Backyard
Our nursery garden was transformed into our very own private mini beach. Children came ready in their swimsuits, beach towel, sun hat and glasses. There was music, dancing, and milkshakes to get us in the mood! The children had fun playing the water bucket race, beach volleyball, catching bubbles and splashing in the paddling pool! What a wonderful day we all had!
August 2021
July 2021
Exploring Africa
Whilst exploring the continent Africa this month, we welcomed some special visitors to our nursery. They brought traditional clothing for the children to try on as well as some traditional home-made treats that we tasted! We also enjoyed listening to a reading of a special book and African music. We had so much fun, and we thank the lovely parents that helped deliver a very special experience for our children.
July 2021
July 2021
Our Annual Sports Day
The children and teachers came all geared up for the Annual Sports Day in their sports attire and with a healthy breakfast. We played some of our favourite games! Our pre-schoolers enjoyed the challenge of 3-legged race, whilst our toddlers joined in Flintstones Car Race (Yabba Dabba Doo) and babies had fun in popping the bubbles and catching the balloons. The Grand Finale was Teacher’s 3-legged race with all the children cheering us up!
July 2021
June 2021
Australia
Our toddlers and pre-schoolers went touring around the smallest continent (but the largest island) in the world, AUSTRALIA. We learnt about animals’ endemic to Australia – there are a few unique ones, believe me! Our home corner was converted to an AUSSIE SAFARI where our children got dressed in a Safari hat, binoculars, green clothes and met the Australian animals. We also learnt the new Kookaburra song and danced to the Nutbush song. Best of all, we even made “Vanilla Impossible Pie” in our cooking session.
June 2021
June 2021
Live Caterpillars
In June we welcomed live caterpillars to our nursery and watched them grow into big caterpillars – just like in our favourite story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We carefully placed the Cocoons in the Butterfly Garden Net. Then, 12-14 days later, we saw the beautiful butterflies that came out of the cocoons. It was a miracle to watch the life cycle of butterfly to unfold right in our nursery room!
June 2021
May 2021
Mini Beast Art
During the month of May our children explored all about the creepy crawlies, bugs and butterflies. We learnt about the life cycles of butterfly and lady bugs, made a bug hotel in the outdoor garden and a worm observation jar for the classroom. The children also used their imagination and artistic skills to make different creepy crawlies in our art area. We even tried Mini Beast yoga poses.
May 2021
April 2021
Easter Sponsor Hop
We at Creative Minds believe in returning back to the local community in every little or big way we can. Our children participated in our first Charity event of 2021 after a challenging COVID year; The “Sponsor Easter Hop”. Thank you to our generous CMN parents from both the nurseries that we were able to raise nearly £4,000 together for our two local charities: Log Cabin and Walpole Friends.
April 2021
March 2021
St. Patrick's Day Fun
Our lovely children were dressed in GREEN today to celebrate the special day for Patron Saint of Ireland, St. Patrick. From a special circle time in the morning, to making shamrocks, baking Irish soda bread and having a gold hunt in the garden (inspired by the Leprechaun story), the children were busy with lots of activities throughout the day. We also watched the Leprechaun story on the projector and had a go at copying the movements of traditional Irish dancing too. We had loads of fun!
March 2021
March 2021
Learning about Passover
At Creative Minds Nurseries, our vision is to create GLOBAL CITIZENS; who will respect all cultures, value all beliefs and tolerate all opinions. Today our children learnt about Jewish festival of Passover. We learnt about Seder meal, tasted Matzo, looked at the “Torah” and listened to “Dayenu” a Hebrew song, traditionally sung during the celebration of Passover. Children decorated star of David in the art area.
March 2021
March 2021
Holi Festival
Our children had lots of fun celebrating the Indian festival of Holi. Our creative teachers combined natural things like cocoa, turmeric and paprika with plain flour for children to experience playing with colours by spreading it around. We used different colour flowers from our nursery garden in our sensory tray with water. We talked about India and its splendid culture and colourful traditions. It was awesome!
March 2021
March 2021
Our Journey through Asia
The Montessori Cultural Studies Curriculum provides children the opportunity to learn about different continents. This month while travelling to Asia we visited the magnificent Taj Mahal in India, the great wall of China in the land of red dragon: and the largest country in the world – Russia. We learnt about colourful Indian traditions, tasted Chinese rice wraps and created our very own “jewelled egg” from Russia.
March 2021
February 2021
Budding Jackson Pollocks
Our preschool children at the nursery explored the wonderful artwork of famous artist Jackson Pollock. He is widely noticed for his technique of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface (“drip technique”), enabling him to view and paint his canvases from all angles. We created our own replica using drip painting technique.
February 2021
January 2021
Henri Matisse Artwork
See the cutting skills of CMN’s little artists as they explored the work of the artist of the month, Henri Matisse. Henri Matisse was a French artist who became famous for “Drawing with Scissors”. Our preschool children showed their craftsmanship in cutting around shapes and then sticking them to make their very own patterns. Children created beautiful “Matisse Vase” that decorated our nursery shelf.
January 2021
December 2020
December at a Glance
Christmas spirit was all over the place and few words are not enough to explain our experiences at CMN!
Children participated in the Nativity Play where they dressed up and sang Christmas songs. They wrote letters to Santa and Santa made all our wishes come true by visiting the nursery! The children sent and received Christmas wishes from neighbouring nurseries in Greece, India and Poland, spreading their love around the world! We also had arts and crafts activities to decorate our nursery.
The children enjoyed Christmas lunch and tea with all the trimmings. It is the most beautiful time of the year at the nursery!
November 2020
Diwali Celebrations
We at CMN celebrated the famous Indian Festival of Lights, “Diwali”. We started our day with a special Diwali Circle time with some gorgeous traditional Indian treasures on display. There were colourful clothes with bangles and bindis for children to try on, all through the day. Ms. M talked about the Diwali story and the children came dressed in their traditional Indian clothes. They also enjoyed colouring their own rangoli patterns. Of course we made “Coconut Laddoos” and they were scrumptious! We even tried Hanna tattoos on our hands. The day ended with lighting some Indian Candles (Divas) and some sparklers.
November 2020
October 2020
Halloween Party
October marked a wonderful PUMPKIN feel to it. Even though our children were not able to go “Trick or Treat” this year, we ensured that they had all the fun in the safe environment of the nursery. All through the month children participated in fun and exciting activities such as making jack-O-laterns, pumpkin masks and going for a pumpkin hunt.
The highlight of the month was the Halloween costume party with dance / disco and face painting. The children also completed a cooking and tasting session where they enjoyed tasting pumpkin soup and pumpkin curry with all the aromatic autumn spices! Moreover, the children helped in making the delightful Pumpkin Cake that was enjoyed by teachers and children alike.
September 2020
Andy Warhol Popart
Wow! Look at the work of our little artists as we explored Andy Warhol’s art this month. In particular, we looked at his pop art collection in bright colours. The children loved the symmetry and process of repeating the images over and over again. We used everyday objects (fruits) and repeated the prints in different colours. Try it at home and you are sure to have loads of fun with your child! For best results use a black background.
September 2020
August 2020
Sports Day
Our children and teachers had a hearty breakfast today in preparation of our Annual Sports Day. The outdoor garden was prepared for the Sports Party with balloons, displays of famous sports personalities from around the world and of course the games. While pre-schoolers enjoyed the potato sac race and three-legged race; our toddlers showed their coordination at egg and spoon race and swimming ring race. Our babies also participated in the sports day with parachute games, crawling in and out of the tunnel and popping the bubbles! No party is over without music and dance and face painting! Enjoy the pics
4th August 2020
July 2020
Our Art Exhibition
Enjoy the artwork of our young artists at CMN. Children had been preparing for this exhibition for past few weeks. They excitedly saved their drawings to be displayed at the exhibition. Our children went for the tour of the exhibition in small groups today and proudly talked about their artwork on display to their friends. The event has generated lot of interest and inspiration for our little children to express themselves through their drawings and paintings.
22nd July 2020
July 2020
Graduation Ceremony
Today was a very special day for our pre-schoolers as we celebrated their time, they have spent with us. We feel proud of the confident children they have grown into and looking forward to their new journey. We thank all parents for the trusting and allowing us to be part of your family during this time. It is time for our children to move on and guess what? It is us teachers who are having separation anxiety. Goodbyes are not the end; they simply mean we will miss you until we meet again.
22nd July 2020
June 2020
Welcome back to everyone!
We are happy to welcome some more of our children. It has been nearly two months for most of us, since we have been away from the nursery. With little support, reassurance and loads of love from their warm and caring teachers; children are settling well in the nursery routine. We are learning to keep ourselves safe from germs and have learnt to wash hands whilst counting till 20. Our older children already know about Coronavirus. Our clever children are more aware of the current situation than we think.
1st June 2020
May 2020
We are open now!
We open today to look after children of our key worker parents who are selflessly and bravely working on the forefront during these unprecedented times. We thank our dedicated staff for making this possible. Children are glad to be back though they miss their friends. A big “Hello” to all our children who are keeping safe at home. We will see you all soon!
4th May 2020
