A Typical Day

A typical day at Active Learning for a 3 month – 2 year old (illustrative – actual day/activity depends on current nursery themes)

7:30 Home room greeting and breakfast
8:30 Home room free play, socialisation and catch-up
9:00 Home room registration and group time, songs, discussion of the day
9:15 Active Studios: children will work on themes/focus activities covered in all the studios and rooms, wherever the children are physically located, in an age-appropriate fashion.

Children of all ages will interact, although the activities are designed based on the age, interest and ability of each child. Some activities conducted in studios, home rooms and outdoors as appropriate.

Studio Time !!!

  • Active Babies Baby massage, colours, listening and communicating, storytime, music and movement, rhythms and clapping
  • Active Toddlers Personal care and hygiene, yoga, communications – talking and listening, counting and clapping, storytime
  • Active Senses (for under 2s) Experience the planets (music by Gustav Holst, effects by planetarium), bubble galaxies
  • Active Art (for under 2s) Creative sensory experiences (finger painting, etc.) in and outdoors, Picasso and face recognition in mirrors
  • Active Technology (for under 2s) Design technology (blocks, stacking, dough)

For Over 2s

  • Active Music / Drama Mozart and the Magic Flute story, dance of the animals, clapping to John Lee Hooker, improvising
  • Active Art Bubble painting and vegetable printing, Albrecht Dürer and woodcuts, making and printing images
  • Active Science and discovery Lifecycle of a butterfly, animals of the forest
  • Active Technology Computer skills, counting, letter recognition

10:00 Age-appropriate Home room mid morning munchies, story and song
10:30 Active Studios continuation from above and outdoor/indoor Active Sports and Movement sessions (weather permitting): ball skills, team building, spatial awareness, running, jumping.
12:00 Home room lunch, followed by sleep time
1:30 Home room registration and group time, welcome afternoon children, discussion of the day
1:45 Active Studios and outdoor activities

Studio Time!!!

  • Active Babies Baby massage, shapes and textures, repeated sounds, storytime, nappy changing
  • Active Toddlers Personal care and hygiene, yoga, communications – talking and listening, counting and clapping, storytime
  • Active Senses (for under 2s) Aquarium adventure (music by Saint Sains, Handel, Hot Butter’s Popcorn, Schubert)
  • Active Art (for under 2s) Collage: images of mothers and children (Madonnas etc.) in art
  • Active Music / Dance (for under 2s) Watching performance of older children in Active Dance
  • Active Technology (for under 2s) Water flows, waterfalls, rivers, oceans, volumes in cups

For Over 2s

  • Active Music / Drama Numbers in the Magic Flute, counting songs, marching in time, different musical beats, pitch and using the body as an instrument
  • Active Art Triangles and pyramids, Egyptian art, Mondrian collages, squares and rectangles
    Active Science and discovery Lifecycle of a frog, tadpoles, growth and change, water habitats
  • Active Technology Building, stacking, interlocking following designs

4:00 Home room High Tea
5:00 Home room group time, story, song, performance or show and tell, Active Performance: Whole school performance of the dance of the animals from the Magic Flute, choir singing
5:30 Free play, Active Sports and Movement lessons as above
6:30 Home time – collection from the nursery

A typical day at Active Learning for a 3 – 5 year old (illustrative – actual day/activity depends on current nursery themes)

7:30 Home room greeting, breakfast in the Organic Café
8:30 Home room free play, socialisation and catch-up
9:00 Home room Registration and group time, songs, discussion of the day
9:15 Active Studios: children will work on themes/focus activities covered in all the studios and rooms, wherever the children are physically located, in an age-appropriate fashion. Children of all ages will interact, although the activities are designed based on the age, interest and ability of each child. Some activities conducted in studios, home rooms and outdoors as appropriate.

Active Music/Drama/Dance
Active Art
Active Science and Discovery
Active Technology

Activity 1
Music: pitch and singing (Solfa/Kodály), Dalcroze Eurhythmics, improvisation Chagall and Mozart’s Magic Flute: painting animals, colours and textures, Karl Friedrich Schinkel and the Queen of the Night: painting stars and planets Fire and Water: volcano eruptions, flows and volumes, water, rivers and lakes Computer skills. Interactive maths, numbers, counting, addition, subtraction

Activity 2
Learning and performing songs from the Magic Flute. Movement and Dance – March of the Priests, Overture, playing along with instruments Self portraits and self-awareness: Rembrant, Van Gogh, Dürer, my self portrait Bugs and minibeasts! Worms, ladybirds, beetles – lifecyclesForest animals Internet searching, research, finding information

10:00 Mid morning munchies in the Organic Café
10:30 Active Studios continuation from above and outdoor/indoor Active Sports and Movement sessions (weather permitting

Active Studios Active Sports and Movement
Continuation of activities above Activities chosen from bat and ball skills, tennis, cricket, soccer, team building, spatial awareness, running, jumping. aerobics, rounders, and of course bicycle riding around our ‘race track’

12:30 Lunch in the Organic Café
1:30 Home room registration and group time, welcome afternoon children, discussion of the day
1:45 Active Studios and outdoor activities

Active Music/Drama/Dance
Active Art
Active Science and Discovery
Active Technology

Activity 1
Music: tempos, meters, counting beats, ¾ time, 4/4 time, 6/8. Expression of feelings in music, minor, major keys Costumes and masks: making costumes for the Magic Flute (animals, birdcatcher, princes and princesses, wicked Queen, Wise Priest, Knights) Changing shapes/properties volumes: solids, liquids, gasses (water) Computer skills: interactive stories, memory, puzzles, quizes

Activity 2
Ballet or modern dance, moving to rhythms (jazz, blues) Drawing and observation, colours, shapes, perspective, size comparisons Cookery: making Magic Flute biscuits Document management: making and saving drawings, text and other documents Active Learning

4:00 High Tea in the Organic Café
5:00 Home room group time, discussions, Active Performance: Whole school performance of the dance of the animals from the Magic Flute, choir singing
5:30 Free play, Active Sports and Movement lessons as above
6:30 Home time – collection from the nursery