Baby Dragons Newsletter
This week’s theme: Exploring the World Through Stories, Senses & Adventures
This week, the Baby Dragons explored Australia, celebrated the Double Seventh Festival, enjoyed sensory STEAM play, met farm animals, and sang and moved with our specialist teachers. It was a wonderful mix of learning, culture, and fun!
Curious about how we combine culture, confidence, and creativity in the early years?
Modern Languages and Communication
The babies loved exploring That’s Not My Koala by Fiona Watt, feeling the fuzzy ears and bumpy noses on each page. We introduced the Makaton signs for “book” and “wash hands,” and some babies began copying them with growing confidence. During bucket time, we explored farm animals proudly naming them and making the cutest “moo” and “baa” sounds.
Regional Activities& International Festivals
We introduced the babies to a little piece of Australia by making First Australian keepsakes in soft natural colours. Our koala story tied in beautifully. We also celebrated the Double Seventh Festival, or Chinese Valentine’s Day, with music, movement, and handprint keepsakes sent home to share the tradition.
Amazing Excursions
We had a soft blanket picnic in our nursery garden with our bear monkey and pretend fruit practising turn-taking and pretend feeding. Babies also explored our mint plants, reacting with delight to their new scents.
With gentle support, the babies walked through the park, touched flowers, watched birds, and listened to the bubbling fountain—calm, confident steps into the wider world.
STEM
We had sensory science fun with minty-scented soapy water, pouring and emptying, and watching bubbles grow. Floating and sinking activities had the babies discovering which toys bobbed and which sank. Shadow play created magical moments as dancing shapes appeared on the wall.
Specialist Teacher
Mindful Molly brought a calm sensory session with lights, scarves, soft music, and bubbles, a dreamy playground for the babies to explore. Ella Sparkles filled the room with joyful music, encouraging clapping, swaying, and bouncing along.
Blue Dragons Newsletter
Theme of the Week: Holiday
This week’s adventures took us from real-life farm animals to creative classroom magic, with stories, art, and playful learning in every corner.
Amazing Excursion– Vauxhall City Farm
The Blue Dragons were thrilled to meet real animals up close on our farm outing. We saw pigs rooting in the mud, ducks waddling and quacking, playful goats, and soft, woolly sheep. Curious rabbits captured our attention, and a turkey showed off its big, feathery display. The children asked thoughtful questions and showed so much care for the animals many even wished they could stay all day!
Holiday Theme – Show & Tell
Our holiday theme brought exciting conversations to the classroom. Two friends proudly shared their adventures one from Japan and one from Réunion Island. Stories of new foods, airplane rides, and family fun filled the room. Together, we brainstormed holiday essentials, from sunglasses and toothbrushes to a favourite teddy bear.
Creative Art
This week’s art took painting to a whole new level! Using clear cling film stretched between table legs, the children painted with sponges and brushes, creating magical, floating artworks. The textures and colours made it a joyful, sensory-rich experience.
Regional Education
This week in Mandarin, we explored giraffes 长颈鹿 (cháng jǐng lù) and the idea of big 大 (dà) and small 小 (xiǎo). We read a sensory story together and sorted animals and objects into “big” and “small” groups. The highlight? Imitating a tall giraffe walking with a long neck—so funny and wobbly!
Phonics – Letters T & K
In phonics, we focused on T for turtle and K for kangaroo. Sand stamping returned as a favourite activity—children traced letters with glue, sprinkled sand, gave it a shake, and watched the letters magically appear.
Specialist Teachers
With Mindful Molly, we enjoyed a gentle teddy bear tea party, sang sweet songs, made wishes with magic wands, and practiced calming mindfulness. Lucy Sparkle filled the room with movement and laughter as the children shook the parachute and pretended to be wiggly fish swimming through the sea.
STEM
Counting came alive with a teddy bear and animal hunt around the room. The children called out numbers with excitement and even sorted animals by size and colour, sparking thoughtful discussions and discoveries.
Dragon Flights Newsletter
Theme of the Week: Exploring Courage, Culture, and Creativity
This week at Westminster Dragon Flight, our adventures spanned from brave helicopter rescues to the gentle art of planting seeds. Through stories, role play, creative arts, and outdoor exploration, the children built confidence, strengthened friendships, and expanded their understanding of the world.
Regional Learning
To mark the start of our new continent focus, the children explored the Australian flag through painting. They observed the flag’s stars and colours and then carefully recreated it using paints and brushes. This sparked curiosity about Australia’s geography, wildlife, and people. We discussed the meaning behind the flag’s design and where Australia is on the map.
The painting process supported fine motor skills, concentration, and creativity. It was a lovely way to introduce our new topic while building cultural awareness.
Creative Play and Storytelling
We soared into storytelling with our Helicopter Story: Defeating the Dragons, where children acted out daring rescues, built castles, and explored emotions like bravery and fear.
Our role play corner transformed into a bustling Fruit and Vegetable Market, giving children a chance to practise number skills, polite greetings, and healthy eating conversations.
During free play and painting, we introduced jazz music to inspire creativity. The smooth, upbeat rhythms created a relaxed yet playful atmosphere. The children moved with the music, painting swirls and shapes in response to what they heard. This activity supported sensory exploration, self-expression, and artistic confidence.
STEM
The children enjoyed a playful chicken grouping game, sorting toy chickens by colour, size, and number to build early counting and classifying skills. Working in pairs and small groups, they used words like “more,” “same,” and “different,” developing both numeracy and social skills through cooperation and shared ideas.
Self Awareness
The children also deepened their self-awareness by Matching Body Parts through an interactive book, building vocabulary and body confidence.
International Festival
We celebrated the Qixi Festival by sharing the Cowherd and Weaver Girl legend, followed by crafting colourful Chinese Valentine’s Day cards to express love and friendship.
Specialist Teachers
Physical wellbeing was nurtured with energetic Sports Mini Sessions and calming Yoga with Miss Molly, helping children balance movement and mindfulness. Jazz music inspired free-flow painting, blending rhythm with artistic expression, while our Seed Planting activity connected them to nature, responsibility, and growth.
Plant the seeds
The children planted a variety of flower seeds, exploring their sizes, origins, and what they might grow into. Each child dug, planted, and watered their own seed—choosing from flowers like sunflowers and poppies—while learning about nature, life cycles, and environmental care. Their excitement grew as they checked daily for signs of sprouting.
Thank you for your continued support in making these experiences so rich and memorable for our children.
Supporting a Cause Close to Our Hearts
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
In case you missed!
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 →
Extended Learning: Holiday Clubs
Our Holiday Clubs offer STEAM fun, language learning, and field trips for school-aged children.
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