Growing Plants and Hatching Chicks

It’s been a fantastic week in EYFS, with the children fully immersing themselves in our topic of Growing. We have had lots of exciting opportunities for hands-on learning and discovery. Our caterpillars have now all formed their chrysalises, and we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of butterflies before the end of next week. Observing the changes so closely has been a wonderful way for the children to develop their understanding of the lifecycle of a butterfly, supporting the EYFS Understanding the World ELG as they explore and talk about the natural world around them.

Butterflies were not the only exciting visitors in our classroom this week! On Tuesday, we received a very special delivery of eggs in an incubator. After waiting patiently and checking them carefully throughout the week, the children arrived on Thursday morning to discover four fluffy chicks had hatched overnight. By Friday, two more chicks had joined us! The children were fascinated by the chicks and thoroughly enjoyed having gentle cuddles with them. These real-life experiences have inspired the children to continue exploring lifecycles through their play, conversation, and storytelling, while also supporting the Communication and Language and Understanding the World ELGs as they shared ideas, asked questions, and talked about what they had observed.

Below you can see the moment two chicks hatched from their eggs, blink and you'll miss it! 

/i/video/IMG_1092.mov

Chicks - EYFS

This week, the children have also been busy planting their own seeds. They carefully wrote labels for their plants and took responsibility for caring for them throughout the week by making sure they had plenty of sunlight and water. In our topic groups, we also planted tomato plants, which we hope to nurture and harvest later in the year. These activities have supported the children’s developing fine motor skills through planting and writing, linking to the Physical Development and Literacy ELGs, while encouraging responsibility, curiosity, and a deeper understanding of how living things grow and change.

EYFS - Growing