Theme of the Week: African Adventures Through Music, Movement & Sensory Play
This week, our babies have been busy exploring African culture through stories, songs, textures, and outdoor discovery. From animal tales and music to jungle sand hunts and pretend ice cream, each activity encouraged language, sensory learning, and lots of giggles!
Curious about how we combine culture, confidence, and creativity in the early years?
Our storytime featured That’s Not My Lion, a sensory book the babies loved! They touched fluffy manes and bumpy paws while roaring and giggling along. In our “What’s in the Bag?” game, babies guessed and named soft toy animals, copying sounds like “roar” and “baa.”
We also introduced Makaton signs for “big” and “small” using animal toys—supporting communication and understanding.
The babies explored African culture by listening to traditional drumming and exploring vibrant fabrics. They had fun shaking instruments, clapping to the beat, and bouncing to the rhythms.
We also created a pretend African dish, Nhopi, using safe ingredients like mashed pumpkin and peanut butter scents. Babies stirred, smelled, and explored textures—learning about food from other parts of the world through sensory play.
We took a trip to the Sand Park, turning the sandy play area into a jungle animal hunt! Babies dug up hidden lions and elephants using their hands and tools.
The climbing frame became an adventure course helping babies crawl, climb, and explore with confidence.
It was a great opportunity for outdoor learning, physical development, and social play.
To celebrate Summer Fun Week, we created a beach-themed sensory tray with brown sand, starfish, and blue cornflour water. Babies scooped, patted, and explored the textures—developing fine motor skills and exploring early science through messy play.
Our summer-themed sensory tray featured pretend ice cream made from cornflour and colourful paint. Babies loved squishing and scooping the mixture like real ice cream!
We also explored different types of sand—mixing soft play sand with gritty builder’s sand to discover new textures. These hands-on experiences build curiosity, hand strength, and early science skills.
Mindful Molly brought midweek calm with parachute play, calming music, and colourful lights. Babies giggled under the parachute and tapped along with instruments—practicing focus and body awareness. Lucy Sparkles brought Friday joy with puppets, music, and movement. The babies sang, bounced, and clapped along—boosting early language and listening skills.
Thank you for your continued support. We love seeing the babies thrive through play, music, movement, and meaningful discovery.
This week, the Blue Dragons have been diving into a colourful world of phonics, Mandarin, messy science fun, and outdoor learning! From mixing paints to tracing letters, and meeting bees in the park to colour sorting with tweezers, our little explorers have been busy learning through every sense.
The children learned Mandarin colour words, including 红色 (red), 蓝色 (blue), and 黄色 (yellow), and practiced saying them while pointing at objects and artwork.
In phonics, we focused on the letter Tt – T is for Tiger! Children traced T in sand using soft brushes—helping build early writing skills through sensory exploration.
Our ABC songs brought extra smiles and reinforced letter recognition in a playful, musical way.
We explored numbers with wooden ring matching games, using fingers to count and match numerals. The highlight was our "Numicon & Water Gloves" activity—where the children matched tactile water-filled gloves to Numicon shapes, boosting number awareness through sight and touch.
In science, we explored colour mixing by painting with both hands and watching colours blend discovering red + yellow = orange! We also made our own playdough with colourful paints and food flavourings, kneading and shaping their creations while enjoying the textures and scents.
For water fun, we measured and poured water while giving toy animals a bubbly bath a fun way to explore volume and care.
The Blue Dragons enjoyed a trip to the Nature Park, where they spotted bumblebees buzzing from flower to flower and talked about pollination.
We also visited Pimlico Library, exploring books and enjoying quiet storytime a lovely way to develop focus and a love for reading.
Children practiced colour recognition by using tweezers to sort gummy bears into matching coloured bowls. This playful activity helped develop their hand-eye coordination and fine motor strength while reinforcing colour learning.
In Mini Sports, children played Red Light, Green Light and had a fun cone-flipping challenge learning to follow instructions and build agility. With Mindful Molly, they explored sound using wooden rhythm sticks—tapping out high/low, loud/quiet, and fast/slow beats, supporting listening and musical awareness.
This week, the Dragon Flights children celebrated their progress with activities that encouraged creativity, cultural learning, and joyful expression. From African drumming to phonics, LEGO maths, and mindful mandala at each moment helped build their confidence and curiosity.
In phonics, we reviewed the sounds p, i, n and introduced e for elephant connecting to our African exploration. Children practiced letter sounds through mark-making and Jolly Phonics songs.
In Chinese, we focused on the character 子 (zǐ) and the symbol for "moon." Children engaged in tracing and hands-on learning to explore Chinese writing structure.
During Music Club, the children played African drums, moving to lively jazz rhythms with colourful scarves. It was a vibrant celebration of African music and movement.
We explored Africa through maps, animal pictures, and stories. Children matched animals to habitats in the jungle, farm, ocean, and desert—in a fun tuff tray activity.
Our craft project featured portraits of African children, using pasta for curly hair and designing patterned clothing. These hands-on tasks supported cultural appreciation and creativity.
In maths, the children built a LEGO town—each piece unlocked by a number code. This imaginative activity helped reinforce number recognition while sparking collaborative play and spatial awareness.
During circle time, we practiced number recognition (0–10) and explored 2D shapes, discussing how different shapes are used in everyday life, including fashion!
Mindful Molly guided the children through mandala-making a calming creative experience that nurtured focus and emotional wellbeing. With Coach William, the children practiced friendly games and activities in preparation for Sports Day, building teamwork and confidence ahead of the big event.
Graduation Celebration
We celebrated the achievements of our graduating students on Friday, 18th July. We are so proud of your journey. You've grown into confident, curious learners, and we can’t wait to see what you’ll do next!
Thank you for your ongoing support. It’s a joy to witness the children’s development each week, and we’re excited for more discovery and creativity ahead!
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
our update last week regarding important changes—including the new fee structure starting 1st September 2025—we kindly ask you to review the details.
Please take a moment to catch up and see how this may affect your family. Read the Nursery Fee Update →
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