This Spring, we’ve been thinking about growing and changing at Bangers & Smash!
Kitty ran growing-themed sessions at regular Bangers & Smash nurseries, Under the Willow, School Outdoors Dulwich, The Oval Montessori, Purple Jay and Crystal Nurseries.
She also presented Project Celebrations for parents and carers at Under the Willow and School Outdoors Dulwich as well as a special session featuring Bangers & Smash co-founder, Sarah Allen, in celebration of The Oval Montessori’s Music Week.
Regular Bangers & Smash nurseries
Each week, regular Bangers & Smash nurseries explored songs and activities on the theme of growing and changing.
Children and staff enjoyed:
performing hand rhymes, which allowed them to work on their dexterity and spatial awareness by clenching and stretching their hands, making shapes with their fingers and exploring body percussion:
Winter Warmer
This Is The Way We Clap Our Hands
Open, Shut Them
Fingers All
learning about how the earth orbits the sun and singing a circle song, January’s Here, to welcome the New Year
using colourful scarves to perform poems and songs about seeds and flowers:
A Little Seed
One Little Flower
looking at a picture of a wildflower meadow and listening to Kitty’s song, Wildflowers In The Grass, while growing into wildflowers:
This quiet ballad ends with a gentle melody played on flute, during which the children inhale while stretching their arms up high then exhale while spreading them out like petals
playing handbells and chime bars softly at the end
singing Roots, Trunks, Branches, Leaves and growing into tall trees
playing claves and singing If You’re Ever In The Forest
pretending to be trees while acting out a story about a child walking through a forest who meets… something. The children came up with loads of brilliant ideas but the top three were a wolf, a lion and a ghost!
thinking about the weather while:
waving coloured scarves and singing I Can Sing A Rainbow
playing bells and singing You Are My Sunshine
singing Everything Grows by Canadian children’s songwriter, Raffi
Celebrating Easter
Towards the end of term, Kitty introduced songs and activities in celebration of Easter.
Children and staff enjoyed:
looking at a book, Noisy Farm, and making the sounds of the animals
learning Who Fed The Chickens? – a call-and-response song by American children’s songwriter, Ella Jenkins
playing egg shakers and singing Chick, Chick, Chicken and Hey, Little Hen
singing and moving to Hop, Little Bunnies, Little Peter Rabbit and The Easter Bunny
Check out Crystal Nurseries’ Easter Bonnet Parade below!
Music Week at The Oval Montessori
Meanwhile, Kitty and Bangers & Smash co-founder, Sarah Allen, joined staff and children at The Oval Montessori on Friday 6 March in celebration of Music Week.
Staff and children enjoyed:
learning about Sarah’s flutes and accordion
listening to Sarah play along on her alto flute to her song, The Bunting Fund (from her band, Flook‘s album, Ancora)
performing Kitty’s song, Wildflowers In The Grass, with flute and handbells
learning a new song, Someone’s In The Kitchen With Dinah, and suggesting instruments for Dinah to listen to
dancing to Captain Pugwash played on guitar and accordion
Kitty’s song, Wildflowers In The Grass, was a firm favourite
Under the Willow and School Outdoors Dulwich
And finally, on Wednesday 1 April, Under the Willow and School Outdoors Dulwich brought their termly projects to a close with Project Celebrations for parents and carers.
Staff and children presented songs and activities on the theme of Everything Grows.
School Outdoors Dulwich performed in their log circle as one big group while Under the Willow split into three smaller groups – babies, toddlers and preschoolers.
Each performance was special but highlights included children using colourful scarves to make flowers during A Little Seed and playing foraged sticks during If You’re Ever In The Forest.
Getting ready to toast marshmallows after the performance
Happy Holidays from Bangers & Smash!
We’d like to wish you all a very Happy Easter from Bangers & Smash – we look forward to seeing you in the Summer term!
