City of London School Highlights- 30th May 2025

🐣 Hatchlings Newsletter – City of London Nursery

Explore Language, Culture, and Sensory Fun This Week!

This week at our City of London nursery, our little hatchlings have been busy discovering new languages, exploring cultures, and delighting in sensory adventures. Here’s what made our week so special:

👉 Looking for flexible holiday childcare? Check out our City of London holiday programmes here!
👉 Curious to see our nursery in action? Book a tour today!

🈶 Modern Languages: Cars and Tigers in Mandarin! 🚗🐅

Our curious hatchlings took an exciting journey during Mandarin time with Miss Sara. Using toy cars, they navigated mini roads and discovered new animals along the way.

They learned key Mandarin words:

Chē (车) – car

Mǎlù (馬路) – road

Lǎohǔ (老虎) – tiger

These language-rich activities not only build vocabulary but also boost early language development in a playful, meaningful way.

🌞 Amazing Excursions: St Paul’s Animal Adventure 🦍🦁

This week, the sunshine led us to St Paul’s Cathedral, where new animal statues sparked the children’s imaginations.

With wide eyes and big smiles, they brought the animals to life:

Beating chests like gorillas

Roaring like lions

These outdoor excursions make learning language and sound interactive, reinforcing their communication skills and imaginative play.

Regional Activities: Roti-Making & Bangladeshi Transport 

Our journey through the Indian subcontinent continued with a hands-on roti-making session. The hatchlings explored the soft, doughy texture, kneading and patting with eager hands. This activity supported:

Sensory exploration

Fine motor skill development

Cultural appreciation

Some older children practiced rolling the dough into round shapes, showing increased confidence and coordination.

Our learning didn’t stop there! We zoomed over to Bangladesh, where we explored the world of local transport. From the iconic rickshaw to the colourful Tuktuk, our hatchlings practiced saying their names and moved models around the room—imagining the lively streets of Dhaka.

☁️ Sensory Activities: Foam and Water Play 💦

A highlight of the week was our foam sensory adventure. Walking on soft, squidgy foam felt like stepping on clouds, sparking curiosity and laughter.

We extended the fun with water play, gently washing feet and enjoying the cool sensation. This experience encouraged babies to engage their senses, building confidence and joy in exploring their environment.

🎶 Specialist Teachers: Miss Molly’s Magical Moments 🚑🍼✨

On the final day of our “People Who Help Us” theme, Miss Molly joined us for another delightful session.

We sang:

Miss Polly Had a Dolly” – learning about doctors

The Wheels on the Bus” – exploring community helpers

We ended with a peaceful moment surrounded by glowing lights and our comforting owl friend—a perfect way to build emotional literacy and calmness.

At Hatching Dragons City of London, every day is filled with opportunities to explore, create, and learn. From language development to cultural celebrations and sensory exploration, our little hatchlings are building the foundations for a bright future.

🐉 Blue Dragons Newsletter – City of London

📅 29/05/2025

This week, our Blue Dragons embraced a world of culture, creativity, and active learning! From Indian Flag art to Mandarin colours and energetic sports, every day brought new discoveries and smiles.

👉 Explore our Specialist Education & Enrichment Programme
👉 Discover our International Early Years Curriculum

🇮🇳 Regional Education: Indian Flag Sensory Tray

This month, our Blue Dragon Room explored culture and creativity through a sensory tuff tray inspired by the Indian flag!

The tray was beautifully arranged with orange, white, and green sand, representing the vibrant colours of the Indian flag. We added miniature tigers and elephants to spark imaginative play and storytelling.

Children loved running their fingers through the sand, feeling different textures, and arranging animals—activities that supported:
✔️ Fine motor development
✔️ Sensory exploration
✔️ Curiosity about cultures, countries, and animals

It was a hands-on, engaging way to celebrate diversity and global learning, sparking meaningful conversations about symbols and traditions from around the world.

🈶 Modern Languages: Rangoli & Mandarin Colours

This week, the Blue Dragon Room continued our monthly focus on India and Southeast Asia with a vibrant Rangoli-themed activity!

Children discovered the beauty of Rangoli, a traditional Indian art form known for its colourful patterns often used during festivals. They were captivated by the variety of designs and eager to create their own.

As part of our language learning, we also explored Mandarin Chinese colour names:

🔴 Red – 红色 (hóng sè)

🟠 Orange – 橙色 (chéng sè)

🟡 Yellow – 黄色 (huáng sè)

🔵 Blue – 蓝色 (lán sè)

The children had fun identifying and using these colours to fill in their Rangoli patterns, blending cultural learning, language development, and artistic expression. We’re so proud of their enthusiasm, creativity, and global curiosity!

🎶 Specialist Teachers: Miss Molly’s Sensory Session

Miss Molly brought smiles and calm to the Blue Dragons during her lively Sensory Session!

We kicked off with the cheerful Hello Song, welcoming everyone with smiles and waves. Then the fun began with shakers—children explored rhythm, movement, and musical expression in an energetic dance session.

To wrap up, we practiced calm and stillness by lying quietly, watching twinkling ceiling lights. Little boats were placed on each child’s chest, and everyone tried to keep them still—a beautiful moment of mindfulness, focus, and relaxation.

A big well done to all the children for their participation—next week promises even more music, movement, and smiles!

⚽ Sporty Minis: Active Fun and Teamwork

This week’s Sporty Minis session was action-packed!

We started with a warm-up, shaking arms and feet with giggles and laughter. Then came the ladder hop challenge, where children practiced coordination, balance, and jumping skills with plenty of determination.

Finally, a cone race brought out teamwork and speed as the children dashed to collect cones, cheering each other on and sharing big smiles.

Every moment built physical confidence, cooperation, and healthy competition—our little athletes shone bright this week!

🐉 Preschool Newsletter – City of London

Weekly Highlights: Culture, Literacy, STEAM & Movement!

This week, our Preschoolers embraced a world of culture, language, mathematics, creativity, and movement—exploring everything from Indian art to Mandarin candles!

🌍 Regional Education: Exploring India

As part of our monthly cultural focus, the children dived into the rich traditions of India by creating vibrant Rangoli patterns.

Using colourful powders to fill intricate designs, they developed:
✔️ Fine motor skills
✔️ Creativity and concentration
✔️ Patience and attention to detail

This hands-on art activity deepened their cultural appreciation, sparking meaningful conversations about festivals and traditions from around the world.

🔤 Literacy: Letter Bingo Fun

To nurture early literacy skills, the children played an exciting game of Letter Bingo!

With bright eyes and eager smiles, they identified letters and matched them on their cards—cheering enthusiastically each time they completed a row.

This engaging game built:

Letter recognition

Listening skills

Turn-taking abilities

A perfect blend of fun and learning!

🔍 STEAM Learning: Hands-On Math Adventures

Our little mathematicians explored math in playful, creative ways:

🔢 Bead Threading:
Using numbered pipe cleaners, children matched and threaded beads—building counting skills, number recognition, and fine motor coordination.

🍦 Ice Cream Shop Role-Play:
Running their own imaginative ice cream shop, they practiced one-to-one correspondence and simple addition, adding scoops to cones and creating pretend orders for friends.

🔺 Geometric Shapes with Clay:
Using clay and cotton buds, they crafted shapes like triangles, squares, and rectangles—showcasing creativity and early geometry skills.

🤸 Specialist Sessions: Physical and Emotional Growth

🏃 Sporty Minis:
A lively potato sack race had everyone hopping, laughing, and working together. Children practiced coordination, teamwork, and turn-taking—with plenty of cheers along the way!

🎶 Miss Molly’s Session:
Through music, storytelling, and group discussions, the children explored their emotions, learning to recognise and express feelings. These activities build emotional literacy, empathy, and a supportive community.

🐉 Chinese Club: Mandarin and Candle Crafts

The Dragon Flights group participated in a creative Mandarin session focusing on candles and light.

They learned new vocabulary:

印度 (Yìn dù) – India

蜡烛 (là zhú) – Candle

火焰 (huǒ yàn) – Flame

光 (guāng) – Light

Through art and sensory play, children crafted their own paper plate candles using tissue paper, reinforcing their language learning through hands-on creativity.

At Hatching Dragons City of London, every day is an adventure filled with culture, creativity, and curiosity. We’re so proud of our preschoolers for embracing each new challenge with excitement and joy.

Warm wishes,
The Hatching Dragons Team – City of London