This week in Green and Green 2 at The Limes Nursery, children have been exploring our core book, Handa’s Surprise. We planned a range of learning opportunities around the story, helping children to become deeply familiar with the characters, events and language as the week unfolded.
Stories with repetition and recurring events are especially valuable for young children. As we reread the story together, children began to anticipate what might happen next, joining in with familiar phrases and developing confidence in retelling the story in their own words. This supported their understanding of story structure, as well as building vocabulary and listening skills.
We also brought the book to life through practical experiences. Children had the opportunity to taste some of the fruits featured in the story and to practise preparing their own fruit. Using child-friendly tools supported the development of fine motor skills and independence, while also encouraging conversations about healthy food and where fruit comes from.
Mathematical learning was naturally woven into our play and routines. Children counted how many fruits Handa was carrying, then rechecked and counted again as one fruit was taken away. This helped children to build confidence with the counting sequence, understand quantity and notice how numbers change.
It has been lovely to see how a well-loved story can spark curiosity, conversation and meaningful learning across the day.