Braidbar Nursery Blog

Marhaba!

It is lovely to see so many of you active on our Microsoft Team, recreating the warmth, friendliness, fun and individuality that makes our nursery so special.

Lots of you seem to be busy in the kitchen, cooking and baking, so that gives us today’s theme!

Here are today’s suggestions:

1. Listen and sing along. Can you make your own playdough buns and sing the song? What about starting from a number greater than five? 8 buns? 10 buns? 20 buns?! Can you still count back?

 

2. One of the main ingredients you need for baking is flour. It has been tricky to find in the shops recently as so many children and families are baking! Watch this video to find out about how flour is made. Did you learn any new words or facts? What is wheat? Where is the flour made? What is a sieve? How does the flour travel to the bakery or shops?

3. Flour is a kind of powder. Did you know you can turn it into ‘glue’ by mixing a little with water? Make your flour glue then get a piece of paper or card and place some glue where you want things to stick. Use dried lentils, peas, pasta or seeds to make a picture by pressing them into the ‘glue’.

4. Why not explore other powders in the kitchen to make more pictures? Mixing spices or cocoa powder with a little water will allow you to create your own paints. How many colours can you create? Please be careful not to stain clothes! Look at these ideas from Adventures with Alice.

5. Do you know the story of the Little Red Hen? What do you think about the choices the different animals made? How would you describe them? How do you think the Little Red Hen felt when they wouldn’t help? What would you have done?

https://www.starfall.com/h/ir-folk/?sn=im-reading

6. Although baking can be quite precise, at your child’s stage of development it is good to let them follow their curiosity and experiment. You could do this by following a basic recipe together then allow them to choose and add the final flavours or topping such as chocolate chips, dried fruits, sweets or grated cheese. Another way to let them think and explore more deeply is for you to lay out small quantities of varied, edible ingredients that we might normally put together such as flour, milk, sugar, butter etc and let your child, choose, measure and mix. You will find they create something that you could bake in the oven or fry in a pan and enjoy together!

7. We are sure you have many favourite recipes at home so please share on Teams if you can. Here are a few simple ‘baking’ ideas for now.

• Mash a banana or two, mix with an egg, add a little S.R flour, fry in a pan for banana pancakes. Add blueberries to make them special.
• Melt some chocolate with a knob of butter and some golden syrup then mix in your favourite breakfast cereal. Spoon into cupcake cases and leave to cool. Add mini marshmallows to make them extra sticky.
• Make some flatbreads by mixing flour, a pinch of salt and some greek yoghurt. Knead briefly to form a soft dough. Shape into mini flatbreads then pop under the grill or on a griddle pan. Brush with a little olive oil before eating.
• Here is a recipe from the local Dandelion Cafe:

Hello!

Yesterday we had the first rainfall for sometime, followed by some sunshine. Did you spot a rainbow?

From Teams it looks like some of you tried yesterday’s suggested activities. Why don’t you take a look and have a go at some of them if you haven’t already done so?

Here are today’s suggestions:

1. Watch, listen and sing along to Hey, Diddle Diddle

2. Can you find this is in a book of nursery rhymes? What is the same/different about the pictures in the book and on the screen? What other rhymes can you find in the book and say or sing with your adult? Could you try to learn a new one each week?

3. Draw your own picture to match the rhyme. Try to add as many details as you can. Think carefully. For example… How many legs does a cow have? What shape is a spoon?

4. Ignite your curiosity by going on a spoon hunt! Can you create a spoon collection using any toys you have and different spoons from the kitchen? Explore and talk about their properties – long, short, big, cold, metal…. I wonder how many different types you found!

5. Choose one/some of the spoons and try to think of a character who would use it. Perhaps the Three Bears… or a witch stirring her cauldron…or a hungry dinosaur… Can you tell a story about them and ask your adult to write/type/film it for you? Can you draw some pictures from your story?

6. In the nursery rhyme the cow jumps over the moon. Do you think this could really happen? Can you build something that a cow could travel in to allow them to ‘jump’ over the moon?

7. Watch and listen for some facts about cows. Did anything surprise you? Make you laugh?

8. We learned that much of the milk we drink (and cheese and yoghurt etc that we eat) comes from cows. If you can, why don’t you make a milkshake today? Or make a yoghurt fancy by cutting up and adding some colourful fruit or crunchy cereal?

9. In the rhyme it says that the cat plays a fiddle – do you know what this is? Fiddle usually refers to a violin. Watch this animation to see a violin being constructed and to hear it. Maybe your adult can help you search for more fiddle music online. Can you find some to dance to?

10. Listen to this tune. Can you try to stomp or clap the beat? Do you hear it? Now – dance!

11. Now that your listening ears are warmed up I want you to think about starting sounds. Think about the words from the rhyme, identify the starting sound then try to find three other things at home that begin with that sound. For example: cow – cat, kitchen, cars. Try to do the same for dog, cat, moon, spoon, fiddle, dish.

 

Buenos dias!

We hope you had a restful weekend and continued to play safely outdoors. Did anyone take part in the City Nature Challenge? I wonder what creatures you found…

Here are today’s suggestions:

 

1. Do you have any toy cars and other vehicles like trucks and diggers at home? Can you collect them and find out how many you have altogether? How could you sort them into groups? By size/colour/number of wheels???
2. Make a pictogram with all your cars –  just like Lewis did last week – and take a photo. Which type of car do you have the most/least of? Are you surprised?
3. Do any of your cars need cleaned or repaired? Could you build a garage to fix them? Or a car wash in the garden? If you don’t have lots of cars perhaps you could create a repair shop for other toys.
4. Attach a mark maker to the back of a car, go for a drive on a big piece of paper and see what happens! You could also try this with chalk outside.

5. Use Lego, recycling junk or other materials to build a car or other vehicle. What is it called? How fast can it travel? Does it need petrol, batteries or other fuel? What special features does it have? I think I would build a car that could wash itself.

 

6. Find a book about cars or other vehicles and read it together.

7. In the Disney films the Cars are all different and come to life. Can you draw your favourite character from the movie? Even better, can you create your own character, choosing what they look like and a name for them?

8. Listen to and join in with this song then talk to your family. Which vehicle did you like best? Why? Which ones have you seen/travelled on before? Who would use each of the different vehicles?

9. Create interesting roads for your cars!

10. When you are out walking look at all the different cars and describe what you see –  shape, length, height, colour, maker’s badge. Which colour was the most popular? Rare? How many very dirty cars did you see? How many sparkly shiny ones?

11. Help your adult to clean and tidy the inside of your car or to wash the outside. How will you reach the very top?!

12. Ask an adult to show you all the hidden part of the car under the bonnet. What do they all do?

13. Join Jaime and Diggory the Dumptruck for yoga

14. Every week you will see and hear the rubbish being collected. Some of the vehicles will take items to be recycled. Do you know what this means? Help your adult to tidy and sort items for recycling, talking about the different materials.

Good morning!

At the end of our first week following the holidays it is Mrs Mills who inspires today’s post. Today is her last day at work for a while as she begins maternity leave in anticipation of welcoming her new baby. We are sure you will join us in sending our best wishes to her family.

Mrs Mills has been moved by the hopeful message of the rainbows many of you have created so that is today’s theme!

1. Begin by looking at these rainbows. What do you think of them? Can you describe them, using some of your five senses?

2. Make a rainbow picture by drawing, painting, sticking or using chalk outdoors.

3. Find items around the house and sort them by colour. How many do you have of each? Which group is the largest/smallest? Can you lay them out on a table or the floor to make a rainbow? Can you use a phone or tablet to take a photo of your rainbow? Maybe your adult could share it with the other children on Teams.

4. You can make fun but simple rainbow food. Why don’t you make a fruit/vegetable kebab or plate using as many different coloured foods as you can? Did you know that the different colours mean that there are different kinds of vitamins and minerals to keep you healthy? That is why some people say we should ‘eat a rainbow’. Can you try to eat at least three colours of the rainbow every day? Maybe you could make a picture or chart to record the healthy things you are eating.

https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/fruity-frozen-yogurt-bites.html

You can make easy rainbow toast by mixing a little food colouring in some milk. ‘Paint’ the coloured milk onto a slice of bread in any way you like then gently toast. Bon appetit!

5. Find a book about rainbows or different colours and read it. Suggestions include… The Rainbow Fish, The Day the Crayons Quit, Elmer…

6. Watch/listen/read below to some of these :

https://www.starfall.com/h/ir-fnf/rainbow/?sn=ir-fnf–im-reading

 

 

 

7. Why don’t you try to make a rainbow?

 

Hello everyone!

The nursery team have really enjoyed seeing more of you on our Microsoft Team this week. It is wonderful to see you are well and enjoying lots of different indoor and outdoor activities with your families.

If you have any particular themes or interests you want to explore you can mention them on Teams and I can try to build some learning ideas around them here on the blog.

One outdoor idea you may wish to try this weekend is to take part in the  City Nature Challenge. You can find details here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/join-in-city-nature-challenge-2020/

Here are today’s other suggestions…

1. Read, listen to or watch the Three Billy Goats Gruff https://youtu.be/aiy3a1v9Q2E
2. Can you find anything in your house or garden that comes in a set of three? What about collections of two, four, five…?
3. The troll is described as having “eyes as big as melons and a nose as long as a carrot”. Could you use pieces of fruits and vegetables you like to make a picture of him on a plate? Can you find the biggest thing in your house? The biggest toy? Or piece of furniture? Or fruit in the fruit bowl? What about the longest thing in your house or garden?
4. Use blocks, Lego, sticks and stones in the garden to make a bridge. Can you make a tall bridge? A long one? A wide bridge? A strong one that other toys can travel on?
5. Use different toys to retell the story. Can you change your voice for the different characters?

6. The title of the story is The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Did you notice the last two words start with the same sound (alliteration)? Can you thing of other words that begin with the ‘g’ sound? …. Gran, good, green, go….

Watch the alphablocks g and friends here:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/alphablocks-dog

7. Now can you choose another sound, maybe the first sound in your name (not always the same as the first letter, adults e.g. the ‘E’ in Eve doesn’t make ‘e’ sound but ‘ee’). Now try to make a story title like the one in the book where the same sound repeats. For example Anna’s Amazing Apple or Jamie’s Gigantic Jellysaurus. Can you write a short story now with an adult’s help? Draw the characters? Maybe your family will act it out with you later?

8. The Troll said he wanted to gobble up the goats. Was this a kind thing to do? What could he have done instead? What would you have done if you were the goats?

9. What other ways could the goats have travelled across the water? Can you make a boat or raft for them? Does it float?

10. Melody listens to a piece of music which helps her to imagine a story. Do you imagine a similar story? Listen and watch here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories/melody-tip-toe-troll

10. What do you know about real goats? Watch below to find out more including some new words.

 

Bonjour!

It appears that yesterday’s post did not upload correctly; my apologies if you were disappointed not to see anything new. I do hope you had some fun in the sunny, windy weather. Did you notice lots of your neighbours had washing hanging in their gardens yesterday? Why would that be a good idea on a sunny and windy day?

Here are today’s suggestions…

1. Revisit Monday’s post and try out some of the activities that you find interesting. Retell the story together.
2. On Monday I encouraged you to think about trees. Can you try Isabella’s activity idea and find some different leaves, place them under a piece of paper, then rub over them with a crayon? What do you see? What if you place them under some tinfoil and rub? What happens?
3. Visit the Magic Treehouse in this calming story told by Jaime

4. Given the spell of fine weather you may wish to create images outside. Here are ideas for water painting and shadow drawing. Which will you try?

5. As your children may be spending a little more time using digital technologies you may wish to visit aspects of internet safety with them. This link leads you to age appropriate resources to help you have a discussion.

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/Support-tools/home-activity-worksheets/early-years/?utm_source=Thinkuknow&utm_campaign=03f521e658-TUK_ONLINE_SAFETY_AT_HOME_21_04_20&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0b54505554-03f521e658-64744881

6. You may not be joining your adults any more when they go shopping. When they do they are probably paying for items using a bank card but they may have some coins in their purse or wallet. Take a look at these coins or any you have collected on holiday. What is the same/different? Can you sort them in your own way? Maybe by size, colour, shape…. Can you line them up in a pictogram as Lewis did with his toy cars? Which do you have most/least of? How many in each group? Do any of the coins have pictures on them? Which one do you like best? Do they have letters or numbers? Can you recognise the numbers? What about putting them in order from smallest to largest? Can you make a toy shop or a snack shop at home? How much will things cost? Do you have a coin that matches?

Good morning and welcome back following the break.

We do hope you found ways to be active, kind and to do some different-but-special holiday things.

May I start by encouraging you to check for an email sent from the schoolmail account on Friday 3rd April which details how to access our Microsoft Team, providing a means for you and your child to connect with other nursery families.

The daily blog posts will continue to provide suggestions to keep your child engaged, active and to help them develop a range of skills. As stated before, there is no expectation for you to follow this as a programme as they are merely recommendations to support you in these unusual and challenging times. Indeed, we would recommend that you follow your child’s lead, their interests and ideas.

Saying that, we do recommend certain things that your child does daily, as circumstances allow:

• Read at least one story
• Engage in some physical activity
• Get outdoors (at a safe distance from others)
• Prepare simple food/set the table
• Tidy up their toys!
• Join in with songs, nursery rhymes or music
• Engage in everyday maths – counting cutlery for dinner; matching socks from the laundry pile; measuring through baking; keeping track of the days of the week
• Talk about their day and their feelings. Plan something for the following day.
• Do something silly!
• Create something new – a picture, model or other invention

Here are today’s suggestions:

1. Read, watch or listen to Little Red Riding Hood      https://youtu.be/0W86K1jBJFI
2. Use some material and a clothes peg or other items to make a cape for yourself. Act out the story as Little Red Riding Hood or why not become another caped character? A superhero perhaps?
3. Draw a map to Grandma’s house or make models of the two houses, the forest and the journey in between.
4. If you were visiting Grandmother what treats would you want to take to her? How would you make them? Can you find a recipe in a book, online or make your own recipe?
5. Make some treats for Granny, either real ones or using playdough.
6. Go on a hunt for red items in the house and garden. Collect them altogether. How many do you have altogether? Does this number surprise you? Can you place the items in order of size or weight? How else could you organise and sort what you have found? Can you use all of the items to make a big model or picture then take a photo? What materials are the objects made of (wood, plastic, metal)? Can you describe them (soft, crinkly, rough, smooth)?

7. Think about your own granny, grandpa, cousin, friend or another person that is special to you. Can you make something to give them the next time you see each other? Can you make a video or photo that you could send to them now? Why don’t you call them and talk about something nice?

8. I the story there are lots of trees in the same place. This is called a forest. The next time you go for a walk, look at the different trees along the way. Are they all the same or different? How tall are they? Do they have leaves? Buds? What shape and colour are they? What is the bark like? Do you have one you like the best? Do you know the names of any of the trees? Where could you find out more?

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/tree-id-app/

9. Make a blossom tree https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/make-a-colourful-blossom-tree-for-holi-festival

10. Follow the link to make a ‘feelings tree’. Or maybe use the basic model and turn it into a ‘family tree’ or a ‘happy tree’ instead.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/makes/feeling-better-feelings-tree

11. Can you make a snack that looks like a tree?

12. Be creative!

13. Relax

We hope you you are finding ways to enjoy the holiday and that you were able to do some special things together if your family celebrates Easter.

From next Monday (2oth April) we will return to daily blog posts but here are a few things to consider until then.

From ELC Shetland:

Wee Inspirations from Starcatchers:

Some springtime animations to get you looking, thinking, predicting, talking and to make you laugh!

Good morning!

We hope you are enjoying the holidays and finding new ways to spend time together as a family. It has been wonderful to see some of your photos on our Microsoft Team.

Here are a few ideas for some simple spring makes that you may wish to try.

Here is a recipe for chocolate nest treats. You can use another cereal if you don’t have shredded wheat. You can also leave out the golden syrup if you don’t have any at home.

 

If you are celebrating Easter, you might want to make some special biscuits.

 

Good morning!

This week and next there will be fewer blog posts as this is our holiday when it is important to focus on family. You can of course look back in the blog and try some of the suggested activities.

If you wish to keep in touch with friends then do please continue to use or sign up to our Microsoft Team (please check for e-mail sent from schoolmail on Friday 3rd April).

For now here are a few photos from February and March in nursery.

Stay at home, play well x