Week commencing 2nd October 2017 - Lindfield.

What an amazing week we have had at The Acorns.

On Monday we found a big slug crawling up the window. It left a slimy and shiny trail on the glass. We watched it for a while and noticed how it stretched out and we saw it's antennae.

Some children went out for an adventure walk with Mrs Booth and Miss Whale.

Each year we are invited to visit a garden in the village that has a giant horse chestnut tree.

When the conkers start to fall, the man gives us a call and invites us to visit. He isn’t at home during the day so we let ourselves into his garden and collect as many as we can carry back. We have been visiting his garden for many years and have probably collected thousands of conkers. There are so many things we can do with them and we are very grateful to him for sharing with us.

Mrs Booth brought a basket and we almost filled it to the top with shiny, smooth, silky conkers.

On the walk they met a Postman. He was very kind and stopped to chat for a while. He told the children all about his special post trolley and even let them have a peek inside at the letters. He told them that he walks ten miles a day. That’s really really really far! He has to get up very early and even has to deliver letters when it’s snowing and raining.

When they children got back from their walk they kept talking about Mr Postman. We decided to make our very own Post Office. Miss Nagy helped us to paint a box to use as a post box and we made a little office with envelopes and paper. The children have been posting cards and letters to their loved ones.

The children who stayed at The Acorns had fun in the garden. They rode on bikes and sailed to a far away land on the pirate ship.

Freddie helped Miss Whale to make some play dough, he chose to make it a chocolate brown colour. We added some conkers into the dough box and the children have enjoyed using them together.

In the afternoon we made Conker Spiders to add to our autumn display. The children used cocktail sticks and googly eyes. They look fabulous!

On Tuesday we had a pottery session with Jane. She had collected and dried some leaves and we used them to make prints in the clay before painting our models with lovely autumn colours.

We can’t wait to see what they look like when Jane brings them back. She takes them home to put them in a special oven called a kiln. It is very hot and it dries out the clay. Our models will be hard and shiny when they come back in a few weeks.

We played in the garden and enjoyed time in the mud kitchen and play house.

On Wednesday we made some little people out of conkers. We have made a whole family! “This can be the brother, he has got a big head.”

We have so many conkers in our basket that we are going to do something new with them every day until they run out. Can you think of a conker craft we could try?

We sorted the conkers, counted the conkers, painted the conkers, rolled the conkers and filled up pots and tubs.

Here is a photo of the children using a counting and sorting tool. Each tin has a number on it and the children have to put the right number of conkers into each tin. They worked hard as a team.

On Thursday the children found a big cardboard box. It was very heavy and they didn’t know what was inside. When they opened it up they found a fabulous surprise. Giant Octo Play! They spent lots of time working out how to use it and exploring ways of building and stacking the pieces.

The children spent time in the garden searching for mini beasts and balancing on the wall. Climbing on the pirate ship and making mud cakes in the mud kitchen.

On Friday the children asked to play with the giant Octo again, the models were huge!

The blocks are textured - they feel bobbly and the colours are autumnal and natural.

“It’s a bit bumpy.” “It’s big like a T.rex.” “Can we make a rainbow and crawl through?”

The children enjoyed free drawing and mark making at the table, practising pencil grip and control.

They made junk models – including some home-made musical instruments.

The children painted their models and experimented with colour mixing.

It has been a wonderful week, packed full with fun activities and experiences.

We wonder what next week will bring?

Have a great weekend everyone, we look forward to hearing about your adventures next week.