November and December were super-busy at Bangers & Smash with Christmas plays, concerts and events to prepare for and projects to bring to a close!
It was brilliant to see Santa’s reindeer at the Mother Goose Greendale Winter Fair!
Kitty continued to run music sessions at regular Bangers & Smash nurseries, Under the Willow, School Outdoors Dulwich, Crystal Nurseries and Mother Goose Greendale, as well as presenting songs from her preschool series, Daisy Digs It, at the Oval Montessori Nursery in Vauxhall and Carols in the Wildlife Garden – with Bangers & Smash co-founder, Sarah Allen – at the Mother Goose Wildlife Garden in Camberwell.
Under the Willow and School Outdoors Dulwich
Under the Willow and School Outdoors Dulwich brought their termly projects to a close with Project Celebrations for parents and carers on Friday 25 November.
Staff and children presented poems, songs and activities based on the theme of Me, Myself & I.
Me, Myself & I
We looked at The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler and David Lee Csicsko and thought about what makes us different and what makes us the same.
Children made their own self-portraits and sang and danced to:
Ko Le Le (a hello song in the Kikongo language)
Roly Poly (a hand rhyme)
Bangers & Smash original, Two Eyes
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in English, Igbo, Yoruba and Japanese
Onye Ga Agba Egwu (which means Who Will Dance? in the Igbo language)
Namaste, How Are You? (a song for Diwali)
Bangers & Smash original, In My Happy Family
Me, Myself & I by De La Soul
Staff also shared their favourite songs, including:
Brown Girl In The Ring
Banana Boat Song by Harry Belafonte
The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh) from The Lion King
Both nurseries celebrated Christmas with performances for parents and carers, including festive songs at Under the Willow and a fairytale treasure hunt at School Outdoors Dulwich.
All set for our Christmas celebration at School Outdoors Dulwich!
Crystal Nurseries and Mother Goose Greendale
Nurseries began rehearsals for their Christmas concerts in November, ready to perform them for parents and carers in December.
Crystal Nurseries hosted performances of Kitty’s musical play, Christmas At The Toyshop, in all three nurseries. Staff and children dressed up as toy soldiers, dancing dolls, puffer trains, monsters, elves and teddy bears and sang songs celebrating the Nativity.
Meanwhile, at Mother Goose Greendale, babies and toddlers made Christmas videos for parents and carers while preschoolers performed festive songs in the Wildlife Garden.
Kitty Pidduck presents…
Daisy Digs It at the Oval Montessori Nursery
And finally, Kitty presented songs from her preschool series, Daisy Digs It, at the Oval Montessori Nursery in Vauxhall on Monday 7 November.
Staff and children learned about Daisy and her dog, Badger, and sang and danced to songs about nature, gardening and wildlife.
Big thanks to Louise and all the staff & children at Oval Montessori!
Carols in the Wildlife Garden
Kitty and Sarah also hosted their annual Carols in the Wildlife Garden event on Saturday 10 December.
Over 50 people turned up to sing festive songs, make Christmas wreaths with artists, Hannah Littlejones and Berengere Ducoms, and share mulled drinks & mince pies in the Mother Goose Wildlife Garden in Camberwell.
Happy New Year from Bangers & Smash!
We’d like to wish you all a very Happy New Year from Bangers & Smash – we look forward to seeing you in 2023!