March is already coming to a close and what a busy month it has been! Spring in definitely in the air and we have made the most of the warner weather by taking all our indoor activities outdoors. We are so lucky here in Andover to have such a wonderful outside space and our resident gardener Mel has been busy with the members digging, weeding, cultivating and planting all sorts of plants from bay trees to veggies including pak choi, radishes and kale. The members have absolutely loved learning about the process of growing their own produce and have definitely got their hands dirty in the process.
This month we have introduced weekly fitness sessions which includes dance, yoga and circuits. The members have really enjoyed pushing themselves and developing strength, co-ordination and general fitness and the member chosen playlists have added a real party vibe!
Phoebe has also introduced some wonderful sensory sessions
which have provided a perfect moment of calm and focus for lots of our members.
They have been exploring different textures,
colours and scents and this has been a great chance for the members to learn through hands-on tactile play whilst engaging their senses.
This week we enjoyed learning dances and songs from the musicals chosen by the members which included Mama Mia, Grease and West Side Story. It was wonderful to see them use their creativity and grow in confidence. We explored the Lewis Carroll classic Alice in Wonderland, creating our own Mad Hatter Hats and pocket watches. The members also enjoyed creating popcorn bags and playing ‘Grease’ Bingo.
This week we also celebrated Pancake Day and World Book Day. Some of the members went to Winchester to support the Pancake Race and the others made stacks of delicious pancakes that they enjoyed for their pudding. We all enjoyed marking World Book Day, designing our own book covers and bookmarks as well as sharing our favourite stories.
JP Andover was transformed into a hub of experiments with our budding scientists creating bubble wands, Lava Lamps and ‘sink or float’ activities. Everyone enjoyed making predictions and seeing the outcomes. We were lucky enough to join our friends from JP Basingstoke on an exciting trip to The Lookout in Bracknell, where we explored, investigated and had fun with science, technology, engineering, art and maths.
This week we explored everything from sustainability, to the outdoors to things that are green in colour! We designed, created and stitched green turtle plushies, completed some litter picking and made green machine smoothies.
Mel took the members out on trip to the garden centre to buy plants for the garden and taught them all about composting.
We learnt about the importance of recycling and how to live greener. We used lots of materials and upcycled them to save them from landfill, creating a beautiful bird feeder, vases and pen pots.
This week the members talked about all things kindness; what it means to them, why its important to be kind and how we can share kindness with others. They used their creativity to make friendship bracelets and created a wonderful kindness board where everyone shared what kindness meant to them. This week we also celebrated Epilepsy Awareness Day where the members planted Mini Hyacinths’ which represented the Purple theme of the day. We also enjoyed creating gorgeous Mothers Day Cards to take home to celebrate the important women in their lives.
Phoebe and Casey and the team organised a fantastic cake sale in order to raise money which would then be used to buy Easter Eggs to donate to Andover based charity Fighting Freedom. A wonderful act of kindness supported by all our wonderful members and parents/carers. A huge well done and thank you to all involved in this event!
We have been lucky enough to have our friends from JP Basingstoke and Eastleigh come and join us and share dance and music sessions, been for lovely country walks and not forgetting a good old trip to the pub! So, as the month draws to a close we reflect on what a busy time we have had and how much our members have enjoyed learning new and developing existing skills. We are excited to see what April brings and look forward to spending more time out in the sunshine!