Autumn 2 Learning

What Can I Celebrate?

In Autumn 2 we learn about celebrations, like Halloween, Diwali and Bonfire night and talk about how we celebrate in different ways. 

For this topic we learn about different celebrations and the different ways we can celebrate. We learn about similarities and differences between ourselves and other family's celebrations and traditions.

We think about the different festivals and celebrations we have in our own families and communities. 

For example, we learn about the special clothes people wear to celebrate Diwali and listen to the story of Diwali.

Some of us have sparklers for Diwali because Diwali is the Festival of Lights and some of us have sparklers for Bonfire Night too. We compare the different festivals and have lots of fun making firework pictures in different ways with different media.                         

We talk about birthday celebrations. Our friend, Sophie (a puppet), comes to Nursery and tells us about her birthday. She is sad because she wanted to have a party. We think of ways to make her feel better and plan a birthday celebration for her at Nursery instead.

We work together to write a list of all the ways people celebrate birthdays and the things we would need to prepare for Sophie's party. We practice singing 'Happy Birthday' using instruments and plan to come to Nursery in our own special party clothes!

 We learn that people often celebrate with special food. We talk about the different party food we like and plan and make a birthday cake for Sophie. It is lots of fun to mix all of the ingredients together and look at the changes that happen to the mixture once it comes out of the oven. We decorate the cakes. 

On party day we write birthday cards for Sophie and present her with her cards and cakes. We also give Sophie a birthday present.  

We plan the party games to play and enjoy playing musical statues and pass the parcel. 

 At the end of the party we check we have done everything by looking at our planning list. It is such a good day and a wonderful memory of Nursery.

We also think about other celebrations such as Christmas, Anniversaries, Weddings and Christenings. We notice that celebrations have decorations, special clothes, special food and cards and presents.

By the end of this theme all the children can talk about celebration and compare similarities and differences.