Weekly Focus

Rocket Zone

Babies: Explore stars, moons, lights and dark through sensory play, painting, sticking, stories and songs.

Toddlers: Crawl into a cardboard rocket and shake shakers for blast-off.

Preschool: Count down from 5 to 1 and role-play astronauts.

Diwali Lights

Babies: Explore lights, colours, patterns and music through safe sensory and creative activities.

Toddlers: Watch fairy lights and sparkle bottles glow.

Preschool: Make rangoli patterns and paint diya lamps.

Firework Dance

Babies: Use scarves, paint, music and movement to explore colours and firework patterns.

Toddlers: Wave streamers and scarves to loud and quiet music.

Preschool: Make splatter-paint fireworks and talk about colours and patterns.

Shadow Den

Babies: Explore light and shadows using torches and simple objects. Create calm spaces with blankets, stories, lullabies and soft sensory experiences.

Toddlers: Snuggle in a blanket den with a torch and lullabies.

Preschool: Make shadow puppets and guess whose shadow is whose.

Area

Learning & Development

Curriculum Links

Commucation & Language

Babies: Develops listening and communication through songs, stories and conversations about lights, stars, sounds and celebrations.

Key words: Moon, star, dark, light, sleep & torch.

Makaton signs: Star & Sleep

Listens carefully and learns words like bright, dark, loud and quiet. Joins in with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer, and talks about the pictures in Look Inside Space.

Turns towards familiar sounds and enjoys songs and rhymes.

1. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star- Look up at the stars; wiggle fingers to twinkle and reach gently up to the sky.

2. Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer- Count fingers together, pretend to fly and enjoy the countdown.

3. Firework action rhyme  (tune of Twinkle Twinkle)

“Pop, pop, pop, pop up in the sky, //Colourful fireworks flashing high.

Red and yellow, green and blue, //Sparkling lights for me and you!

Enjoys listening to Look Inside Space and The Man Made of Stars and can remember much of what happens. Uses new words such as rocket, planet, shadow and glow.

Personal, Social & Emotional Development

Babies: Builds confidence through shared sensory experiences and develops awareness of familiar routines and celebrations.

Feels calm and confident in shared experiences and uses cosy spaces to relax. Sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star softly in the shadow den.

Engages with others through gestures, gaze and talk.

Story: Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear? Author: Martin Waddell •  Illustrator: Barbara Firth

Theme links: darkness, night-time, light, reassurance and cosy bedtime routines. Try a cosy story corner with blankets, teddy bears and a safe, dimmable light.

Finds ways to calm themselves through being calmed and comforted by their key person. Shares The Man Made of Stars in a cosy den.

Physical Development

Babies: Develops coordination through light exploration, scarves, dancing, reaching and movement.

Waves streamers and scarves to strengthen arms and coordination; paints and sticks. Moves like astronauts while singing Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer.

Enjoys moving outdoors and inside.

Uses large-muscle movements to wave flags and streamers, paint and make marks. Moves with control by crawling, jumping and floating.

 Literacy

Enjoys star and space stories, sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and makes marks with chalk and glitter. Looks at Look Inside Space and The Man Made of Stars and talks about the pictures.

Spots and suggests rhymes, such as star, car and far. Enjoys sharing Look Inside Space with an adult, turning pages and lifting flaps.

Mathematics

Counts down for blast-off and spots patterns and shapes such as stars and circles. Counts the little men in Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer.

Talks about and identifies the patterns around them. Counts down from 5 to 1 and spots stars and circles in Look Inside Space.

Understanding the world

Explores light, dark and shadows and learns how families celebrate Diwali. Looks at the planets, stars and Moon in Look Inside Space.

Explore how things work. Notices day and night, and how a torch makes shadows.

Expressive Arts & Design

Paints patterns, dances with scarves and listens to lullabies and sounds. Dances and sings along to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer

Listens with increasing attention to sounds. Joins in with songs and moves in time to the music.

Special days

Bonfire Night (November 5^th)

Diwali (November 8^th)

Remembrance Day (November 11^th)