Our Baby Dragons had a fantastic week, filled with fun activities that encouraged exploration, language development, and creativity. Come see how our Baby Dragons learn through language, sensory play, and exploration
This week, we introduced the Makaton signs for “Mum” and “Dad.” The babies enjoyed watching and mimicking the signs, especially during calm moments and daily routines. Using these simple signs supports early communication and helps the babies feel understood. We will continue to practice these signs each day to build communication skills.
During circle time, we explored the Big Five animals—lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard, and rhino. The babies loved naming each animal and imitating their sounds, which helped develop their listening skills and early word recognition while building confidence in a social setting.
This week, we gently introduced Africa through play and creativity. The babies created their own African nature necklaces using natural materials like softened leaves and bark. This art activity supported their fine motor skills while encouraging sensory exploration and creativity.
The babies also engaged in sensory play, making pretend pap (a traditional African dish) with play dough. As they rolled, patted, and cut the dough, they explored textures and shapes. The sensory experience was engaging, and many babies curiously smelled the dough, fully immersing themselves in the play.
Our outdoor adventures were full of imagination and discovery! We set up a mini African jungle in the playground, where the babies had fun going in and out of the jungle, naming animals, and imitating their sounds. This activity encouraged role play, language development, and physical movement, all while exploring the natural environment.
To kick off our African theme, we created a pretend Big Five Jungle play space indoors. The babies enjoyed exploring the sensory-rich environment, learning about animals, and engaging in imaginative play while developing communication skills and movement.
We had a magical sensory experience this week with ice painting. The babies watched as frozen blocks of colour slowly melted in water, mixing and changing. This activity encouraged scientific thinking, cause and effect, and colour mixing, all while enhancing fine motor skills and sensory exploration.
During water play, the babies had a wonderful time filling and emptying containers, while we modeled key words like “full,” “empty,” “all gone,” and “more.” This repetition helped build early vocabulary through meaningful, hands-on play.
This week, Mindful Molly visited with a special guest—Bumble Bee! The babies enjoyed holding Bumble Bee, feeling its textures, and joining in with buzzing sounds. It was a calm and mindful session that supported body awareness and focus.
We finished the week with a joyful Lucy Sparkles music session. The babies had a great time singing, dancing, and playing with musical instruments, enhancing their coordination and love of music.
From learning Makaton signs for “Mum” and “Dad” to exploring the sights, sounds, and textures of Africa, our Baby Dragons had a week filled with creativity, connection, and discovery.
This week, the children had a wild jungle adventure learning how to say the names of African animals in Mandarin, including elephant, lion, tiger, and zebra. We sang songs and practiced animal sounds to support language development and cultural awareness.
We introduced the letter “M” and practiced the “mmm” sound, connecting it to words like “Mommy.” The children used wooden letter M stamps to imprint M shapes into trays filled with sensory materials. This hands-on activity helped reinforce sound-symbol connection while making learning memorable and fun.
Our little mathematicians practiced counting with wooden rings and number cards. This activity helped develop number recognition, fine motor skills, and one-to-one correspondence—all through hands-on play and exploration.
This week’s science experiment involved exploring sound vibrations! The children shouted, spoke, and hummed near pipe cleaner “trees” and watched as droplets of water moved with the vibrations. It was a fantastic way to see sound in action and spark curiosity about the world around us.
In an exploration of emotions, the children used play dough, googly eyes, tissue paper, and pipe cleaners to create faces showing different feelings—happy, sad, angry, and surprised. This sensory activity led to meaningful conversations about expressing and understanding our emotions.
We kicked off our Africa theme with a pretend jungle safari! The children met African animals like elephants, lions, and zebras at the wooden playhouse, all while singing animal songs. They also designed colourful African necklaces, using drawings and vibrant patterns to express their creativity and learn about African culture.
Our nature outing to the park was a fantastic opportunity for the children to observe the world around them. They collected leaves, branches, and even spotted insects. It was a wonderful learning experience that fostered curiosity and appreciation for nature.
With the sunny weather, the children had a blast splashing, scooping, and pouring in the pool! Water play encouraged coordination, teamwork, and sensory exploration—all while keeping cool and having fun.
During our Mindful Molly session, we explored rhythms with wooden sticks—slow and fast, loud and quiet! This activity helped the children build listening skills, coordination, and an understanding of tempo and volume in music.
From learning Mandarin animal names to exploring the science of rain, our preschoolers had a fun-filled week of discovery, creativity, and growth.
Come see how our preschoolers thrive through language, play, and exploration
In Mandarin, we learned how to say the date and explored Arctic animal names like 北极熊 (polar bear), reinforcing new vocabulary through sensory play.
We introduced African animals using phonics—such as “cuh” for crocodile and “muh” for meerkat—and played phonics puzzles to spell out animal names, strengthening language skills and phonetic awareness.
We created “clouds in a jar” using shaving foam and coloured water to explore how rain forms, sparking lots of scientific curiosity. The children also enjoyed gluten-free playdough and had a fantastic time splashing and pouring during garden water play, which supported sensory exploration and basic scientific thinking.
Our focus this week was on the letters Aa and Ss, along with the “an” sound in words like “man” and “can.” At the writing table, the children practiced writing their names with growing confidence, showing great focus and pride in their efforts.
Children explored colour sorting by grouping toys and objects, supporting early categorization and reasoning skills. Later in the week, they built mini cities using number blocks, developing number recognition, counting, and spatial awareness through open-ended play.
The sensory trays were filled with “snow” and Arctic animal cards in Mandarin, encouraging the children to match, dig, and talk about what they found. They also made their own patterns using shapes in both English and Mandarin, boosting their creativity and shape recognition across both languages.
Outdoors, the children enjoyed lots of active play—running, balancing, and exploring the garden environment. Water play was a big hit, with plenty of pouring, splashing, and experimenting with containers, promoting coordination, teamwork, and sensory learning.
Children practiced throwing, catching, and balancing activities to strengthen coordination and body control.
Miss Molly led a yoga session using wooden sticks for guided movement to music, helping the children develop balance and body awareness.
On Friday, Ella Sparkles brought her joyful music session, full of singing, dancing, and rhythm games that had everyone moving and smiling.
Thank you for another week of laughter, learning, and fun—see you next time!
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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