Understanding the world is so much fun! The Tiny Tigers are experiencing the changes that the new season has brought upon them. The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming so it is time to experiment outside. It sounds like they are having a blast exploring and learning about the world around them! Planting their pansy must have been such a rewarding experience and it is great that they are also learning about responsible water usage. Experimenting with ice and understanding its different forms is a fun and hands-on way to learn about scientific concepts like states of matter. It is fantastic to hear that they are also improving their cognitive skills through activities like building sculptures and solving puzzles related to ‘Understanding the World’ topics. Encouraging curiosity and exploration at a young age sets a wonderful foundation for lifelong learning.

Gross motor skills engage the large muscles (the arms, legs, and torso) and govern one’s general mobility (walking, running, and jumping). These skills impact a child’s capacity to engage in sports activities (throwing, lifting, catching, kicking), tend to self-care needs (dressing, hygiene), and endure any physical activity for a reasonable length of time. In this lesson, the Tiny Tigers worked to strengthen their gross motor control by creatively experimenting with different movements through play. In the process, they also work on the associated skills of balance and coordination, strength and endurance, focused attention, and body and spatial awareness.

As spring approached the Tiny Tigers painted the blossoming trees using their fingers. Some children used one colour to paint their tree branches whereas others mixed the colours. It was a great sensory experience for them.

Amazing news! The Tigers had their very first visit to Margaret Island’s tiny zoo. The children had fun looking at the animals and listening to the sounds of nature while walking. They also had the opportunity to play games such as “Duck, duck, goose”, “Imitate the animals” and tag in the enormous Rose Park. Furthermore, they have been busy preparing for Easter and learning about the butterfly’s life cycle by reading the story of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. After discussing the story, the children had the chance to feed the caterpillar. This was a very nice opportunity for them to refresh their memory about what the caterpillar ate day by day.

Rolling is a locomotor movement that comes from the torso rather than the legs or arms. It is unique in the way it allows the Tiny Tigers to experience the sensation of seeing the world from the stomach and back, all in one continuous motion. Rolling also stimulates the vestibular system, which helps enhance the Tiny Tigers’ sense of balance and orientation in space. We know all this from the developmental experts, but the real experts (children) think the rolling in ‘Walk Along, Rover’ is just plain fun!

The Tiny Tigers explored the changing weather and made colourful sun catchers using paper and feathers.

The Tiny Tigers celebrated the World Wildlife Day. They familiarised themselves with wild animals and their natural habitats with a sorting game activity. Then, they participated in a fun ‘Imitate the Animal’ game. Lastly, they were offered the opportunity of receiving wild animal face painting (…well, some of them had different preferences like unicorns, witches or Batman). Furthermore, a fascinating event is approaching in the upcoming week. The Tiny Tigers will go on their first-ever field trip to meet some new animal friends. They cannot wait to share wonderful moments with these animals and compare how the farm and wild animals live.

Children need at least 60 minutes of active physical play a day. Activities which invite the Tiny Tigers to get up and move like a rabbit or any other animal they dream up, help build strong, healthy muscles and bones.

The Tiny Tigers explored different shapes in art. During one of the art lessons, the children used different circle-shaped objects to create their paintings, which was a delightful experience for the children.

The Tiny Tigers prepared beautiful scrape painting hearts in one of their art lessons to prepare for Valentine’s day. The children enjoyed the process of mixing different colours through a new painting technique.

The Tiny Tigers had a fascinating time at Happy Kids. Firstly, they learnt about the traffic signs and had the chance to exercise their knowledge on the bike track. Riding bicycles, motorbikes and scooters are lots of fun. Furthermore, the Tigers threw a big Carnival Party while dressing in their best costumes. They had the privilege of meeting animals at Happy Kids with the wonderful TuráZoo feature. Lastly, an excitingly anticipated special event has occurred in the Tiny Tigers classroom. The World Read Aloud Day allowed parents to bring their own stories to the kindergarten and read them in their native language to the Tigers. The reading session was followed with a discussion of the story in English and the children could also look at the illustrations and talk about their favourite characters.

In ‘Walk and Stop’, the Tiny Tigers experience tempo changes through sound, movement, and even sight, when they see others move. One of the benefits of playing with tempo is preparing our ears to listen for the variety of tempi that naturally occur in speech.

Today, the Tiny Tigers went on an adventurous journey to the Land of Shapes. They created a Shape Map using the football pitch and some colourful chalk. Ms Petra showed the Shape Chart and reviewed it with the Tiny Tigers. Later, they had the chance to play the “Find Your Shape” game in which children did certain actions around the shapes (jumping, skipping, running etc.). When Ms Petra clapped, she named a shape and the tigers needed to stand around the shape. After this game, Ms Petra introduced items previously collected in the classroom and the tigers had to categorise the shapes while comparing the items to the Shape Map. This was an Outdoor Learning Time filled with fun and laughter. The Tiny Tigers love learning outdoors. They are always very excited when they have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with new knowledge. What shall they learn about next?

One of the fundamental aspects of music is tempo. We learn to move quickly when we are in a hurry or excited and slowly when we need to be careful or want to extend something we enjoy. The Tiny Tigers enjoy fast and slow music equally as they prefer one tempo to another. Experiencing a variety of tempi (and learning to distinguish among them) helps with many aspects of the life of the Tiny Tigers, including language, reading, music, and sports.

During a lesson, the Tiny Tigers worked together to create a carnival banner, in which they first learned about the symbols associated with the carnival and then used stamps, and balloons to make prints on the banner.

Making music is a social experience and we have a lively time playing our instruments together. We get to share ideas, smiles, and the steady pulse of the music. Positive social interactions like this help the Tiny Tigers feel good about themselves and give them the confidence to interact with others with stability and integrity.

The Tiny Tigers were very excited to create their snowmen. They had a great time painting the snowman and sticking the eyes, nose, buttons, scarf, and hat on their snowmen. They enjoyed every bit of the process.

Today, the very popular Activity Centre Swap happened at Happy Kids, which meant that the Tiny Tigers received new toys to play with. Their absolute favourite is the Costume Centre. They love dressing up and role-playing. Additionally, they gathered around the teacher on the carpet and showcased their fantastic knowledge of Jolly Phonics. They used the Jolly Phonics Fingers Book which helped them further develop their skills; they expanded their vocabulary related to the sounds and also traced the sounds in the books with their little fingers.

The Tiny Tigers children were filled with the Christmas spirit and decided to create their own beautiful Christmas trees. They had a great time sticking the cardboard pieces on the tree cutouts and painting them according to their preferences. Additionally, they adorned their trees with buttons and sequins to make them even more festive and unique.

Silliness can be your greatest ally in the day-to-day, hour-to-hour challenges of parenting. Humour can help you turn even the biggest power struggles into moments of joyful connection. A little silly fun is a great motivator that can encourage the behaviour you want to see.
The Tiny Tigers enjoy it so much when you join them in their silliness. So even if your inner jigging piggy is not comfortable making an appearance here in class, give it a try at home and show your child how delightful and freeing it can be to move your body in super silly ways. You will both get some good laughs and some good exercise, too

Snowflakes, snowflakes, little snowflakes, gently falling from the sky. The Tiny Tigers had the wonderful experience of this year’s first snow. The moment they saw the tiny snowflakes, they immediately were glued to the window and started to ask when they could go out and play. Of course, they could take advantage of this amazing opportunity, so with the changing of their daily schedule, right after morning snack, they took over the big garden. The sleighs offered by Happy Kids introduced them to a fun new adventure and they could not stop testing the snow, trying to pull each other and/or slide together. While singing Christmas songs, they also tried to build snowmen and play a snowball match or two. They even spotted a little squirrel who entered the garden to find some winter snack for itself. It was an unforgettable experience that to this day they keep on recalling. They are excitedly looking forward to having their next snow adventure singing winter songs to motivate Ms Weather for another big snowfall.

The Tiny Tigers children made Thanksgiving-themed pumpkin pies in one of their visual arts lessons. First, they discussed the meaning of Thanksgiving and identified things they are thankful for, such as family, friends, food, clean water, clean air, our homes, and many other things. Then, they looked at pumpkin pie pictures and identified the main ingredients needed for making a pumpkin pie. We pretended that orange paint was pumpkin puree, liquid glue was melted butter, silver glitter was sugar, and gold glitter was cinnamon. First, they mixed pumpkin puree (orange paint), melted butter (liquid glue), sugar (silver glitter), and flour (white paint). They covered our baking moulds (Art paper) with our pasta, and we put them in the oven to bake. Until our pie was in the imaginary oven, we built our pie crusts with brown paper pieces. Then, once our pie smelled nice and ready, they took it out from the imaginary oven and sprinkled sugar (silver glitter) and cinnamon (gold glitter) on the top. Of course, just like before serving, they put cream (cotton) in the middle of our pie.

The Tiny Tigers enjoy it so much when you join them in their silliness. Give it a try at home and show your child how delightful and freeing it can be to move your body in super silly ways. You will both get some good laughs and some good exercise, too.

Our Tiny Tigers celebrated International Science Day at Happy Kids. They created and executed some fun and colourful experiments. First, they did an Oil-Water Experiment followed by the “Make their hair stand on end” experiment where children could learn about electricity. They observed the explosion of the Glitter Volcano, as well. To make sure they had the full experience, all their senses were involved in the experiments; they had the opportunity to see, touch and smell (vinegar), and hear (sizzling of baking soda). They had a blast. Furthermore, they had the privilege of riding ponies in the big garden. They could not contain their adoration towards their new furry friends. After riding the ponies, they patted them and expressed their gratitude with nice words, learnt during centre time.

The Tiny Tigers children made Halloween-themed black cats in one of their visual arts lessons. First, they looked at some pictures of cats and identified their main physical characteristics, such as body parts. Then, they painted cat bodies on orange paper with black paint, and at last, they glued whiskers, noses, eyes, and ears on them according to their preferences. What funny and eerie cats they are!

Spooky Scary Skeletons and Trick or Treat? The Tiny Tigers have been excitedly looking forward to celebrating Halloween at Happy Kids. Everyone wore their spookiest costumes for the party. The party consisted of different activities: a Halloween costume show, Halloween Noises Game, Halloween “Find My Match” memory game, Halloween Musical Pillows dancing, Jack-O-Lantern carving, Pumpkin Puzzle Game and last but not least; eating Halloween treats. At the end of the day, every Tiger became exhausted after the games and had their own Halloween dreams during sleeping time. When meeting mummy and daddy, they showed off their Halloween bat artworks and of course, their Halloween treats that they carefully packed into their backpacks after the fun festivities.

Pretend play strengthens learning by involving many areas of development at the same time: physical, social, emotional, math, music, language and literacy. Through pretend play with others the Tiny Tigers include creating mental images. Their literacy skills are developing, too, as they begin to use symbolic thinking and language to organize simple actions into more complicated sequences and pretend situations. This lesson highlights pretend play activities that engage many parts of the Tiny Tigers’ brains at the same time, offering opportunities for your child to learn and practice both concrete and abstract thinking skills.

In this lesson, Tiny Tigers could imitate different sounds with zig-zag blocks. It was also introduced to the important relationship between sounds and symbols. In many activities, the class heard sounds (from the audio or from their bodies, voices, or instruments) and also saw symbols that represented those sounds. The symbols showed the duration, quality, quantity, pacing, pattern, and intensity of the sounds. Decoding and interpreting symbols are pre-reading skills that are necessary in the areas of language (letters, words, sentences), math (numbers, shapes, patterns), and music (music notation).

The Tiny Tigers children made cute grape artwork in their visual arts lessons. First, they observed some pictures of grapes and then, they printed grapes with wine corks to the best of their abilities. They also painted their hands with green tempera paint and created handprints as grape leaves for their grape artwork. The Tiny Tigers’ grape yard is definitely ready to harvest.

The day of the Harvest Assembly has finally arrived. The Tigers have been diligently preparing for this event and got familiar with the season called autumn. They participated in the preparations of a huge scarecrow artwork to scare all the naughty and cheeky autumn spirits away or the crows and pigeons that try to eat the freshly planted seeds from the soil. They enjoyed their fantastic performance in the gym singing and dancing to ‘Rain Song’ and ‘Grey Squirrel’. After their performance, they started their wonderful picnic in the garden with the banana bread they baked and had the opportunity to participate in some autumn games at various stations. They had so much fun! To all the parents who visited our performance, the Tiny Tigers Class would like to send a big autumn hug to show their gratitude.

Colour-themed collection squares are on the way! The Tiny Tigers children focused on colours, such as red, yellow, and blue in their visual arts lessons and named as many objects from the art room as they could for each colour. ’Yellow apron, yellow wall, yellow bin, red chair, red trousers, blue bin, blue chairs, blue wall’ – they kept naming the objects with enthusiasm. Then, they painted small square-shaped carton pieces with each colour and glued lids, buttons, recycled colourful paper pieces, pompoms, and many other materials on their colour collections.

The Tiny Tigers have almost fully settled into the new environment. They are getting used to the daily schedule and they have already learned about our classroom rules. They show great enthusiasm during circle and centre time and joyfully follow the songs and the choreography with them. Lately, they have been actively participating in Jolly Phonics activities during centre time. Jolly Phonics is a comprehensive programme, based on the proven, fun and multi-sensory synthetic phonics method that gets children reading and writing from an early age. This means that we teach letter sounds as opposed to the alphabet. These 42 letter sounds are phonic building blocks that children, with the right tools, use to decode the English language. The Tigers have proudly finished their first big red book of Jolly Phonics and started the purple one. The newest sound they familiarised themselves with was /e/. They listened to the exciting story related to this sound and sang the /e/ song together. They also prepared wonderful elephant artworks to showcase their knowledge. Learning sounds is super fun!

Touching, listening to, and talking about musical instruments open up a new world for the Tiny Tigers. They are using multiple senses to discover, imagine, and invent possibilities for the instrument they are exploring. Talking with the Tiny Tigers about their experience supports their learning.

An instrument play-along provides many opportunities to practice social skills. We ask the Tiny Tigers to get instruments for themselves, they interact with their friends as they play, and at the end, they work with the group to put the instruments away and get ready for the next activity. These are all big steps in the development of cooperation, relationships, and empathy.

The Tigers were extremely excited to be back to school and to have their warm-up “Getting to Know You” week. They familiarised themselves with their surroundings and started to form new friendships. They prepared beautiful hot air balloons to symbolise reaching new heights of their knowledge. Introducing Tiny Tigers to the magical world of hot air balloon crafts is a fantastic way to spark their creativity, develop fine motor skills and ignite their imagination. Additionally, this activity is great as a sensory play activity too, as children are touching and moving around. Children loved this activity and were motivated to decorate their hot air balloons. They explained their experiences seeing these objects in real life and their favourite colours and art materials. When displayed on the bulletin board, they happily pointed out their wonderful artwork and proudly showed them off to their new classmates.