Celebrating What Makes Us Unique in Nursery

This week we have continued our Ourselves topic and have enjoyed lots of opportunities to learn about what makes each of us unique. We completed self-portraits using mirrors to carefully observe our skin colour, eye colour and facial features before selecting appropriate paint colours. These are now displayed proudly in our classroom. We also shared the story Elmer, discussing how Elmer is unique and celebrating the fact that everyone is special in their own way. This helped the children think about similarities and differences between themselves and others. To extend this learning, the children used the interactive whiteboard to create colourful Elmer elephant pictures, learning how to use the fill tool to add colour to different sections. In our investigation area, the children explored eye colour using mirrors, photographs and colour charts, comparing their own features with those of their friends. They also used the computer to play an emotion-matching game, helping them recognise and talk about different feelings.

This week, we transformed our role play area into a beauty salon. It has been incredibly popular and has provided many opportunities for imaginative play, communication and language development. The children have enjoyed making appointments using a pretend telephone, recording bookings in an appointment diary, choosing colours from a nail varnish chart, washing hair, creating highlights using foils and styling hair using their fingers as pretend scissors.

During Outdoor Friday, we introduced our new children to the top field and wider school grounds on a signs of autumn walk. The children discovered beautifully coloured leaves, noticed that our sunflowers are growing late and were excited to find that four have now flowered. We also visited our apple tree, where Miss Clough shook the branches and the children enjoyed tasting freshly fallen apples as part of their snack. The children enjoyed spotting seasonal changes and becoming more familiar with their school environment while developing their understanding of the world around them.

How you can help at home: Talk about what makes your child unique, encourage them to recognise and name different emotions, look for signs of autumn on family walks, and discuss seasonal changes you notice together. You could also encourage role play by acting out real-life experiences such as visiting a hairdresser or beauty salon and practising turn-taking conversations.