Festive Activities At Jelly Beans Nursery🎄

At Jelly Beans Day Nursery in Stapleford the little ones have been super busy diving into sensory filled learning festive activities. Which contribute a great deal to their overall development.

The benefits of sensory play:

Cognitive skills – Helps little brains build strong nerve connections boosting their memory, focus, and curiosity setting them up for trickier tasks as they grow! 💡

Language – Opens the door to new words, helping little ones describe textures, sounds, and feelings. Giving them a great way to communicate their needs and emotions through play. 💬

Motor skills (fine & gross) – Great for growing strong, coordinated little bodies! Helping build the muscles needed for writing and getting dressed. While bigger movements support overall body coordination. Also boosting hand-eye coordination, making every moment of play a mini fun workout. 💪

Emotional regulation – Brings a lovely sense of calm, giving children a safe space to explore big feelings and stay grounded. It lets their imaginations run wild, inspiring creativity and independent thinking. And when they play alongside others, it naturally encourages sharing, turn-taking, and all those wonderful social skills. ✨

Scented Christmas Pudding, Moon Dough! 🧸

The littles ones had so much fun creating their very own scented Christmas pudding to take home for the festive season. Moon dough is a fun homemade sensory play-dough (also known as cloud dough).

How to make it at home🧑‍🍳:

Festive Activities : Scented Christmas Pudding, Moon Dough!

1. Firstly, Scoop your flour or cornstarch into a bowl, then sprinkle in a little cocoa powder or paprika for colour.

2. Use your fingers to create a cosy well right in the middle.

3. Add a splash of baby oil or conditioner into the well. This is what will make the dough super smooth and squishy.

4. Drop in a few drops of your favourite essential oil. We love Christmas scents like orange, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

5. Mix it all together and knead until you’ve got a soft, bendy dough perfect for little hands.

Jingle bell balancing activity 🔔

Another exciting festive activity the children loved was balancing the jingle bell. They giggled and focused intently as they tried to keep the tiny bell steady. It was heart-warming to see the little ones cheering each other on with every successful wobble-free step.

Each child was given a jingle bell along with a variety of tools — spoons, cups, tweezers, and even small festive trays to experiment with balancing.

This sensory-rich activity was more than just fun and the challenge quickly evolved into a fun test of patience and collaboration.

We also encouraged the children to practice confidence and communication by guessing which tools would be easiest or hardest to balance and to talk about what helped them succeed. Their curiosity shone through as they tried different ideas and shared tips with friends.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland, a small world play ☃️

Our Winter Wonderland small world play invited the children to explore a magical snowy scene.

They moved the little figures through frosty pathways, built tiny snow setups, and created their own wintry stories.

This imaginative play encouraged the children to express themselves and build winter stories together as they brought the scene to life.

Sensory play has been at the heart of our festive activities, giving the children so many chances to explore, learn, and grow through hands-on experiences. It supports their development in such a natural and fun way.

We have plenty more festive learning coming this season. Stay tuned for more updates from our nursery. ✨