sciences – Page 2 – Hecklegirth Nursery

Alfie’s Pizza

It was lovely to hear from Alfie’s family that, just like Kyla, they too are out on painted rock hunts. We love these super photos that Alfie sent us and his Mum explained what they had been doing.

“After a walk hunting for painted rocks this one gave Alfie the idea for dinner. We made our own pizza dough & sauce then Alfie decorated his pizza with lots of vegetables to look like himself. “

I wonder who left that painted stone that inspired you? Your pizza looks absolutely delicious Alfie and it looks just like you. What great skills you are learning to be making your own dough too. Very well done and thank you so much for telling us all about your adventures. It’s great to hear from you.

Growing Caterpillars

Last week Mrs. Mackay shared photos of the little caterpillars that had come to stay at her house. She would like to show you how much they have grown in such a short space of time and it certainly seems amazing how big they have now become.
Mrs. Mackay has also discovered that one pot of caterpillars seemed to be bigger than the other and that they started moving around sooner than the smaller ones so we will have to wait and see if they start forming their cocoons sooner.
Mrs. Mackay and her family are keeping a close on their new little visitors and we will keep us up-to-date with any news.

Mrs. Mackay’s Visitors

Mrs. Mackay has recently welcomed some new arrivals to her house. A parcel arrived containing two little pots which she sent us a photo of. Can you see what is inside her pots? They are tiny (and very hungry) little caterpillars.

Mrs. Mackay and her family are going to look after their caterpillars at home and she will let us know if there are any changes to them. We are looking forward to hearing about Mrs. Mackay’s new little visitors over the next few weeks. I wonder if any of you can guess what might happen?

We know that so many children love the story of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” so click on the link below to hear the author, Eric Carle, reading it. Maybe that will help you think about what is going to happen to these little caterpillars?

Refresh our page to hear the story again.

What A Busy Girl!

Lola has been very busy while at home during lockdown. Baking has been a big hit and she has been practising her weighing and measuring skills. Lola has been planting some seeds and made her own flower bed. She has been watering her flowers to make sure they grow and stay healthy. Lola has been making pictures to celebrate our wonderful NHS and key workers to display in her window.
As well as being so busy, Lola made a home spa for her and her family to enjoy. “The cucumber was very cooling on my eyes and I loved relaxing”. Lola can’t wait to get back to nursery to see her friends.
I think we are all missing each other Lola. It will be lovely for your friends to see all your hard work here though.
Thank you so much for sending these super photos of all your activities. We love to see what you are all doing at home.

Magic Science

Here is a little group of super scientists carrying out an experiment last term. With red paint in one beaker and green in the other, they put a length of kitchen roll between them to see what would happen. The children showed great perseverance and concentration to observe the paint diffusing up the paper and eventually they saw a colour change when the colours met at the top.
As you can imagine, this was like magic to the children and they simply had to try it again with different colours to compare what would happen. What super scientists using prediction and showing good observational skills to develop their learning.

Science Is Cool

Here are some cool scientists trying out an experiment at home. This looks like great fun! Apologies to our little scientists that your video ends up on the side. We can’t seem to change this but this think that everyone will enjoy seeing your super science.

Isaac’s Tadpoles

In a post yesterday it was mentioned that one of our families plans to care for tadpoles in the next few weeks. You may be interested to see this bowl of tadpoles which Isaac W is caring for as part of his little tadpole project at home. We hope that you send us a photo of their development in the future so that we can all see how they are progressing.

Floating And Sinking

We would like to share an activity to try at home which involves the fun of water play alongside some science learning.

• Collect a selection of toys and other suitable objects which will not be damaged by being put in water. Put some water in a basin, a bucket or a sink.
• Encourage your child initially to make predictions about whether the objects will float or sink then get them to test their theories.
• Discuss where the toys sit in the water – are at the top or the bottom of the basin? Discuss with them why they think the objects floated or sunk.
• Use the terms ‘float’ and sink’ to help the children use the correct vocabulary.
• Fruit like apples and oranges can give surprising results. If you have an orange, try testing it with the peel on then peel it and try it again.
• The children can then sort the objects into a group that floats and a group that sinks. Help them to count how many are in each group and discuss which group has more.

We hope that you can have fun with a little floating and sinking. We would love to hear how you get on with this activity.

Developing Skills

Here’s a great little gallery of some super home learning. It’s certainly hard work helping to make bread but it looks like you made a great job of it. If only we could smell that bread as it looks delicious. Of course, you needed a tea break after all that hard work then it was on to plant potatoes with Daddy. Goodness, you have been very busy.
Thank you so much for sharing your developing skills at home. We would love to hear from other families about what they have been doing.

Senses Hunt

We hope that everyone is enjoying spending time together as a family. To help the children think about their senses of sight, touch, sound, smell and taste, they could perhaps go on a senses hunt around the house as well as the garden if you have one?

Ask the children to help you write a list of what they are looking for before they set off and then see what they can find. Suggestions might be:

something red
something that makes a noise
something rough/smooth
something that has a smell
something you can eat
something long
something soft

The children will no doubt come up with much more interesting and creative suggestions and it would be great to use their ideas, provided they are achievable of course. We would love to hear from you if anyone does this with their child.