We have been really enjoying our animal visits this month. So far we have met Yvette and Saul's dogs and 'Bear', their miniature pony, Eleni's guinea pig came to visit us, Alison brought in Emma the Labrador and Bo brought in Indie her Border Collie. Next week we will have a special visit from a tortoise and a gecko. We will also be visiting the farm across the road on Tuesday. The children are really enjoying learning about different animals, what they eat, how to care for them, where they are from and have also been drawing and painting pictures of their favourite animals.

We will be exploring the movement of creatures that live under the sea with Mini Movers from Go Dance on Wednesday 25th May. We are asking for a small donation of £2 if you would like your child to participate in this session.

Summer Gala
Planning is certainly under way! Eva's mummy is designing some leaflets (thank you!), Sorrel's mummy and Bo are organising the Nearly New Stall (see notice below if you are interested in selling your unwanted items). There will be a bouncy castle, the Luxury Ice Cream Company will be here with their Ice Cream van, a cake stall, bar, BBQ, games, activity tables, tombola and more. Small local businesses are also invited to set up a stall. There will be Nappy Cakes by Cosy Bedding, a book stall and a beauty table. If you would like to take part simply get in touch with Holly at the nursery.

Growing Healthy
You have probably seen that Pete has been busy in the garden recently! Mr Sail has designed an amazing sensory walk way for the children including a maze and raised stage for the children. As we benefit from two garden areas the children are still enjoying plenty of fresh air and outdoor play time in the paved garden.

As well as redesigning the play areas we will begin our growing after the last frost this month, which Mr Sail assures us is May 21st! Carrots, parsnips, strawberries, potatoes, herbs and more will be grown and cared for by the children. Thank you for donating these plants and seeds to the nursery. This is an exciting time as the children become really involved in caring for their plants. When they are ready the children will pick the fruit and vegetables and wash them ready to be eaten for snacks or used in the cooking of our main meals. With the support of William's daddy we will be learning more about how to grow produce for the nursery all year round.

We are transferring our milk suppliers to Scott's Dairies. Scott's dairies will provide us with organic whole and semi skimmed milk for the children. The cows that provide milk are based in Robert Wiseman farms. Wiseman farms do not inject their cows to increase their milk supply making the process more natural. They also refrain from using any fertilisers in the fields thus preventing the cows from consuming any chemicals. The farms and their processes are audited regularly and are highly approved. The farms also save the carbon foot print by blowing their own milk bottles on their sites thus reducing the need for Lorries delivering loads of plastic bottles. We will be moving to organic milk from 1st June.

Charity
We had a great time on our sponsored walk and it was great to have some parents waddling with us! Thank you for your generous donations; you helped us raise nearly £200 for this worthy cause.

Mr Sail has decided that 5% of the nursery's profits will be put towards the national charity Water Aid. Nearly 4000 children die every day around the world as a result of dirty and contaminated water. Water aid provides clean, safe water sources to areas in need. This is the first step in helping some communities step out of poverty. Children can go to school instead of walking miles each day to collect water for their families. For more information on the amazing work done by Water Aid visit http://www.wateraid.org/uk/

National Sandwich Week
We are celebrating National Sandwich Week all next week! As part of this we will be creating some different, interesting and fun sandwiches. Parents are invited to take part by submitting your best sandwich idea to Holly. There will be a prize from Mr Sail on Friday 20th May for the best suggestion. We will also celebrate this fun week with a teddy bear's picnic at lunch time on Friday. To get you started Holly's sandwich creation is a breakfast sandwich comprising of sausages, baked beans and a slice of bacon! We are looking forward to hearing your ideas. The top 3 sandwiches will be tasted at the Teddy Bear's Picnic on Friday with the winner also being announced!