Teacups and China

Now that lock down is over, we are so excited to return to nursery to see all of the children’s smiling faces. What’s even more exciting is returning to our nursery’s development plan and gradually implementing the exciting changes we have planned.

In addition to making our rooms free flow allowing the children more autonomy in their play, we have now introduced lots of authentic resources into the environment in the form of real pots and pans and china plates, teapots and teacups. We have removed the few remaining plastic toys as using real resources teaches the children to respect what they are using and the concept of cause and consequence. E.g) if you drop a plastic cup, nothing happens however if you drop a china cup, it will break providing the child with a valuable learning experience. Children enjoy being trusted to use real objects resulting in improved self- esteem and confidence too.

To introduce the china set we passed it around the circle and talked about respecting our belongings and that we must be gentle with delicate things. We looked at the patterns on the China. We felt the texture of the china and how it was thin yet cold to touch compared to the plastic toys we were used to. We then made a cup of cold tea using water and tea bags. The children poured the water from the teapot into their cups and stirred the tea watching the water change colour as the tea and water merged together. The engagement in this activity was incredible and we can not wait to continue adding more bits and bobs to our environments.