Theme of the Week: Autumn Adventures & Middle Eastern Discoveries
This week, our Baby Dragons have been busy exploring the wonders of autumn while also taking a creative journey through the Middle East. From singing songs in Mandarin and baking banana bread to crafting mosaic art and enjoying outdoor play, the babies experienced a week filled with discovery, sensory fun, and joyful learning.
Curious about how we combine culture, confidence, and creativity in the early years?
We’ve been focusing on autumn through stories, songs, and sensory play. To support our many new babies, we introduced familiar Makaton signs such as milk and all done, helping them express their needs and feel secure in daily routines.
Storytime was a big hit with That’s Not My Squirrel by Fiona Watt, where the children enjoyed exploring textures and repeating phrases, and My First Animals by DK, which helped link words to pictures. During basket time, some babies chose animal toys and practised copying sounds — a lovely way to build early speech and sound-making skills.
In our Mandarin music session with Teacher Milly, we sang songs and learned new autumn words such as pumpkin (南瓜 nánguā) and leaves (树叶 shù yè). This playful mix of English and Mandarin supported early vocabulary, listening skills, and cultural awareness.
Our babies enjoyed a sensory introduction to the Middle East. With mosaic tile stamping, they used bold colours and shapes to create patterns inspired by traditional designs, supporting coordination and visual awareness.
In our desert tuff tray, babies explored sand and discovered desert animals like camels and lizards through touch and play. These activities encouraged sensory exploration, curiosity, and early communication skills.
This week’s Cookery Club was full of delicious fun as the babies helped make banana bread. They explored the ingredients through touch, smell, and taste before taking turns stirring the mixture. The smell of baking filled the room, and once cooled, everyone enjoyed a tasty piece. A perfect sensory and confidence-building experience!
Our little explorers got creative with autumn-themed sensory play. They made sensory bottles filled with leaves, pom-poms, glitter, rice, beads, and autumn scents like cinnamon and apple — engaging their visual, tactile, and auditory senses.
Outdoors, the children gathered real autumn leaves, which they then used to create a collaborative indoor autumn tree with a soft tissue paper trunk. This hands-on project encouraged creativity, fine motor skills, and an appreciation of nature’s seasonal changes.
The babies had plenty of outdoor adventures this week. They enjoyed a pretend picnic, sharing play food and stories together, as well as a calm storytime under the shade. With hula hoops, climbing, and slides, the playground was buzzing with laughter, movement, and imagination — all in a safe and familiar space.
It’s been a week full of sensory exploration, cultural learning, and outdoor fun. We are so proud of our Baby Dragons for their curiosity, creativity, and growing confidence!
This week, our Blue Dragons were busy exploring the magical world of numbers, shapes, and movement through hands-on activities, cooking, and music. From baking warm pita bread and singing in Mandarin to energetic sports fun, the children enjoyed a week filled with discovery, teamwork, and plenty of laughter.
Thinking about how we bring global culture and sensory-rich learning to life for toddlers?
We became number and shape explorers! Using colourful Play-Doh, the children squished, rolled, and shaped their very own numbers – with some even creating giant ones that almost came to life! We then went on an exciting shape hunt around the classroom, spotting squares, circles, and triangles hidden everywhere. The children loved discovering just how many shapes are all around us in everyday life.
Our little bakers had a wonderful time making pita bread this week. With flour on their hands and big smiles on their faces, the children mixed, kneaded, and shaped the dough before watching it puff up in the oven. Of course, the highlight was tasting the warm, fluffy bread with hummus — a delicious reward for their teamwork and effort!
In our Mandarin session, the children learned words for body parts such as head, shoulders, knees, and toes. They practised pointing to each part on themselves and their friends while repeating the words, then sang the well-loved “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” song in Mandarin. This activity combined movement, language, and music, making it a fun and memorable learning experience.
Sports time was full of energy and excitement! The children took on obstacle courses, practised their balance, and even played a game where they “fed” numbered animals by counting carefully. Running, climbing, and counting all at once made this an action-packed session that encouraged physical fitness, coordination, and early numeracy skills.
Our Blue Dragons had such a joyful week of learning and play exploring numbers, languages, food, and movement in creative and meaningful ways. We’re so proud of their curiosity and enthusiasm!
This week, our Dragon Flights embarked on a rich journey of culture, language, and learning. From exploring North Africa, Central Asia, and the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival to practising early phonics, maths, and storytelling, the children experienced a wonderful mix of creativity, curiosity, and discovery. Special teacher sessions, outdoor learning, and Mandarin added extra excitement and helped the children build skills in a playful, hands-on way.
Curious about how we combine culture, confidence, and creativity in the early years?
The children explored North African and Central Asian traditions through art, creating camels and desert-inspired designs. We also introduced the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节 Zhōngqiūjié), where the children learned about moon gazing, lanterns, and the story behind this beautiful celebration. These activities encouraged creativity while nurturing cultural awareness and empathy.
Using Jolly Phonics songs A–Z, the children practised Phase 1 sounds through music, rhythm, and actions. Singing, clapping, and moving to the sounds helped them strengthen listening skills, sound recognition, and memory — key foundations for reading and writing.
Maths was full of hands-on fun as the children explored numbers 1–10 and revisited 2D shapes. From spotting circles and triangles in their environment to sequencing and counting games, the children deepened their problem-solving and observational skills while growing more confident with early maths.
This week’s story captured the children’s imagination as they listened to the magical adventures of Pinocchio. They joined in with the storytelling, discussed characters, and reflected on values like honesty and kindness. Story time supported vocabulary growth, listening skills, and comprehension in a joyful way.
Coach Charles introduced a fun new game of darts! The children practised aiming, focusing, and taking turns as they tried to score points. This activity developed hand–eye coordination, patience, and perseverance — as well as plenty of teamwork and cheering for one another’s successes.
Our outdoor adventures took us to the nursery garden and the local park. The children spotted flowers, leaves, and even snails with great curiosity. Linking this to Mandarin, we introduced new words such as “snail” (蜗牛 wō niú) and “flower” (花 huā), alongside vocabulary for the Mid-Autumn Festival. By connecting language learning with real discoveries, the children made their new words meaningful and memorable.
We are so proud of our Dragon Flights for their creativity, curiosity, and enthusiasm as they continue exploring the world around them.
Hatching Dragons is proud to support our founder Cenn John, running the Cardiff Marathon this October to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital. Inspired by the loss of a sibling to congenital heart disease and Down’s syndrome, this fundraiser aims to help children facing life-threatening illnesses.
We would love for our Hatching Dragons community to join us in supporting this cause. Every donation, no matter how small, can help change a child's future
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