outdoors – Page 10 – Hecklegirth Nursery

Building For Bugs

The children and staff in the Raindrop Room are continuing to develop their new environment and recently began work on a bug hotel. Some of the children remembered making the bug hotel earlier in the year in the Rainbow Room garden and were keen to make one for their new garden. We think that they must have made a good job of their hotel as we have seen so many ladybirds in their garden over the last week. Let’s hope that the ladybirds tell all their friends about this super hotel.
Here are a few quotes from the children and photos of them busy at work making their new bug hotel.
Anthony: I put water on the cardboard. It made it wet for the bugs. I don’t like spiders.
Finlay: we made houses for ladybugs. We used bricks and sticks.
Matthew: we made a home for all the bugs. We used sticks, bricks, straw and cardboard. The bricks have lots of holes in for the bugs to live in.
Alisha: we made a home for the bugs. I’m rolling the box up for the bugs to sleep in. I love bugs. Purple bugs are my favourite.
Emily B.: we made a home for the bugs. We put straw in it. It keeps them warm.
Archie: we made a bug hotel. Bugs like little holes to live in. I put damp cardboard in the holes so it was wet for the bugs.

A Chat And A Treat

You can’t beat a fire for a chat and a tasty treat on a chilly day and the Raindrop Room certainly seemed to enjoy their recent outdoor cooking experience. Marshmallows and toast were on offer and most children enjoyed cooking their own, showing good listening skills to stay safe.

Frosty Football

Regardless of weather, most children love outdoor play and a recent frosty morning provided a small group with the opportunity to play football on the school field to keep warm. When football lost their interest, some decided that it was frosty enough to try making snow angels. A fun morning was certainly had by those happy to brave the cold.

Garden Paint Work

We may still be in the depths of Winter but our thoughts have begun to turn to warmer weather and some of the children in the Rainbow Room have been having a little tidy of the garden area in preparation for Spring. Great work those who helped – your boxes look a lot better now.

Outdoor Fun

Just like the children in the Rainbow Room, those in the Raindrop Room enjoy outdoor play on a daily basis and take the opportunity to develop their skills and imagination in lots of different ways.

Imagination And Creativity

Outdoor play provides such great opportunities to develop so many skills in many areas of the curriculum and some children simply relish those opportunities every day. As you can see from this recent snapshot of one day in the Rainbow Room outdoor area, they show great imagination and creativity in the range of resources they discover in their play.

Safe And Warm

A small group of children enjoyed our first fire of 2019 last week as part of their outdoor play. As always, the children listened well to stay safe and certainly enjoyed the delicious warm marshmallows that they toasted. Those large marshmallows seemed particularly popular.

Science In Action

Carol Moyes, Dumfries and Galloway RAiSE teacher, has been looking at some of the recent posts which show our Science activities.

On our water cycle activity she commented, “What a great investigation. Books are a fantastic way to make links to science. Have you seen the STEAM-a-Story resources on our website? There are lots of STEM ideas linked to this year’s Scottish Book Trust books.”
We will have to have a look at those thank you.

Mrs. Moyes also liked the photos of bridge building in the rain: “Yet more amazing STEM in action from Hecklegirth Nursery! When I first saw the pictures I thought you had had snow; did you add washing up liquid to the puddles? “
We did add washing up liquid to our puddles. It will be interesting to see what the children decide to do when we do get snow.

Engineers Of The Future?

Whatever the weather, lots of our children always enjoy being outdoors and adapt their play to the environment they find. Recent heavy rain and big puddles provided the opportunity for some great teamwork and problem solving as the children worked together to build bridges. There was some super discussion about possible solutions to crossing the water and it was wonderful to hear the children listening to each other and following through their plans to make a path across the huge puddle. I wonder if we have some engineers of the future here?