Kidzrus staff and children have celebrated Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee in style with a series of fun packed events. Here’s a snapshot of what we have been up to…
Across the Kidzrus Group we met with our children to decide what they wanted to do to celebrate our Queen’s landmark anniversary. We started by talking with the children about the Queen and that she was born on 21 April 1926 so that makes her 96 years old. She also celebrates her birthday on the second Saturday in June each year when she reviews her troops and waves to the crowds from the balcony ta Buckingham Palace where she lives.
We learned that The Queen was married to Prince Philip and discussed her family – she is a Great Granny to 12 children including Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. She is Granny to Princes William and Harry as well as 6 others and Mummy to Princes Charles, Andrew and Edward and Princess Anne.
We talked about the Queen’s homes at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, her pet corgi dogs and the soldiers that guard her. The staff and children discussed the many places she visits in Great Britain and The Commonwealth, other nations around the world as well as the people that she meets. We chatted about how she travels by aeroplane, train, boat and has a special car. Our children shared with us that they have also travelled to many different places on holiday or to see family members and made new friends whilst there.
Our children learned about the different ways to celebrate events and we agreed to have an afternoon tea party at each setting on Wednesday, 1 June. They were very excited and designed their own bunting to decorate inside and outside the nurseries.
They drew pictures of The Queen wearing her crown and used the internet to find photographs of The Queen and her family, her corgis, and the Crown Jewels. These lovely images were used to decorate the nursery ready for their afternoon tea parties, alongside patriotic red, white, and blue flags, bunting, banners, and balloons.
Our children talked about the different food that we eat at celebrations and decided that they wanted to have sandwiches, sausage rolls, crisps, scones, and fairy cakes. The staff set them a challenge with The Kidzrus Platinum Jubilee Bake Off – each setting had to design a celebratory cake. The children made their own designs then shopped locally for the ingredients. They helped our nursery cooks to weigh and measure the ingredients then mix, bake and decorate their cakes with very impressive results!
In Media City Reception there was a large photo of Her Majesty and the children, parents and visitors were able to have their photo taken with The Queen as a memento. The children made a great start by designing their own bunting and banners to decorate our nurseries. With help of our nursery cooks, we made special cup-cakes and delivered them to the residents at Pendleton Court Residential Care Home. They were scrumptious! The children learned all about The Queen and her special anniversary with many activities including a red, white and blue tuff trays and read Our Rainbow Queen by Sali Hughes; a great book that helped the children learn about The Queen’s life through the clothes that she wears for official events. Media City children had a special tea party and the children also had a Platinum Jubilee disco and played party games. Pre-School children were able to dress us as The Queen and a Guardsman and Willow brought one of The Queen’s corgis to meet the children.
Our children at The Lodge also had a great time learning about The Queen and her family by investigating senses in tough trays, reading history books and researching online. They took a great interest in the Royal homes and gardens as well as they many churches and cathedrals that they worship at, including Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral. They also talked about their own different faiths and the places that they worship at around the City of Salford. Pre-School children made a Platinum Jubilee tuff tray based around a typical English afternoon tea and were able to taste several different flavoured teas in China teacups. The children were fascinated by the different modes of transport and made their own green Land Rover driven by The Queen with her corgis as passengers. The Manager at The Lodge designed commemorative medals for the children and these were awarded at the party as a lovely keepsake of a historical event.
Irlam children also discussed transport and made their own London red bus. They also really enjoyed designing their party room and did lots of research looking at The Tower of London and The Crown Jewels and printed lots of images to decorate their cake stand and tables. They read books and talked about The Queen and her family and recognised that The Queen is a Granny. They were very hands on in preparing their special party cake – they made a list of ingredients and shopped for them then helped our nursery cook Tanya to mix them, bake and decorate their celebratory cake. Thanks to Sarah’s mum for baking our children and colleagues’ lovely cup-cakes.
Manchester Road Forest School and Nursery was buzzing with activities to celebrate The Queen’s special occasion. Babies and Toddlers explored and learned about the Jubilee through tuff trays filled with sensory items and key vocabulary. Our Tots were busy in the kitchen and made their own traditional Victoria Sponge cake, named after Her Majesty’s great-great Grandmother. They were very curious and talked about the Queen’s homes and compared them to where and who they live with. Our Pre-School children made great use of their own natural resources and made their own floral crowns to wear at their afternoon tea party. They even collected the chicken’s eggs and used them to make egg and cress sandwiches for their lovely buffet.
At Monton there was also lots of chatting about The Queen, her family, horses, dogs and guardsmen and they learned about Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace. They watched the ceremony online and talked about the guards’ uniforms and bear skin hats, their red tunics and shiny black boots. They also talked about the Union flag and how it incorporates the flags and colours of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Each base room then designed and made red, white and blue bunting and decorations as well as making their own unique crowns to wear at their celebratory tea party. The children made wonderful cakes in the shape of a crown and the Union Jack flag and each room helped to decorate them so that they were ready to eat on the big day. They did amazingly well. The Babies played with red, white and blue play dough – ideal sensory play whilst the Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers explored in patriotically coloured tuff trays with many sensory and malleable objects. The Toddlers then made a red London bus that had a special Monton to London route – they had a great time taking turns in driving it to meet The Queen in London.
The afternoon tea parties were a great success as our nursery cooks made a great selection of typical English food – sandwiches, sausage rolls, muffins and cakes before playing games, music and dancing the afternoon away. The parties all ended with our children singing The National Anthem. Yet again, they didn’t realise that they were learning and making memories with their friends – they thought they were having fun!
