As autumn begins to arrive, we will be encouraging the children to notice the changes happening all around us. The environment will soon begin to look very different, and there are lots of interesting things for the children to discover. We will be spending time outdoors looking at the trees and plants, noticing the leaves changing colour and watching as they begin to fall to the ground.

We will talk with the children about what they can see and encourage them to think about why the leaves change and eventually fall from the trees. We will introduce these ideas in a simple and age-appropriate way, helping the children begin to understand that the changing seasons bring changes to the natural world around us.

Our colour focus this week will be orange and brown, linking closely with the beautiful colours we see during autumn. We will encourage the children to look for these colours both inside and outside the nursery and to spot them in leaves, trees and other things around us.

We will also be developing the children’s early pattern-making skills through threading activities. The children will have opportunities to thread different colours and objects and begin to create simple sequences and patterns. For some children, this may simply be exploring the materials and noticing the colours, while others may begin to understand that a pattern can follow a particular order.

Our garden will provide lots of inspiration for our creative activities this week. We will collect and look closely at some of the different leaves we find, noticing their colours, shapes and sizes. The children will then use the leaves in artwork and collages, giving them the opportunity to explore natural materials and create something of their own.

We hope the children enjoy discovering all the little signs of autumn around them. We will be making the most of our outdoor environment and encouraging them to slow down, look closely and notice how the world around them changes as the season moves on.