Category Archives: Health and Wellbeing

Health and Wellbeing

Fun Friends

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Going to school is a big transition and children feel that. From May as children’s awareness of their move to school increases we see slight changes in the children. We often hear individuals saying to their friends or adults “I’m going to miss you when I go to school”. Some of our younger children protest “I’m going to school too”. We see some children become a little more anxious and look for more reassurance, or return to play they had previously moved on from.

At this time children also begin to explore their identity through their friendships and sometimes excluding others and we often hear disagreements about who is allowed to join in or who is in a friendship group. Recently some children made this sign:

As adults we seek to encourage children to be aware of how it feels to be excluded; and challenge children to think how and why we should include others. Parents this is a time when children will soak up the way you interact with others and your values both conscious and unconscious ones.


At Glenwood we use the Fun Friends approach with all children. You may already be familiar with this but I am putting links to previous blogs and a sways to provide more fun ideas to support wellbeing.

 

F is for Feelings

We talk to children about their own feelings and others “I can see that you thought that was funny and it made you laugh but look, your friends not laughing he got a fright. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/05/21/remote-learning-fun-friends-have-feelings/

 

R is for Relaxing and Self-Regulation

Learning calm ourselves when we are scared, angry or in a disagreement is an important skill and it involves stopping a moment and breathing slowly.  https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/05/28/remote-learning-relax/

 

I is for ‘I can do it.’

We teach children to think positively “I can’t do it yet, but I can try hard. We call positive thoughts green as they help us go and negative thoughts red as they make us stop. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/06/04/remote-learning-fun-friends-i-can-do-it/

 

E is for Encourage

We celebrate success and encourage on the journey “you are concentrating really hard” or “I can see you are doing your very best” https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/06/11/remote-learning-fun-friends-encourage/

 

N is for Nurture

We are wired for positive connection. Love can be ‘all we need’. https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/2020/06/18/remote-learning-fun-friends-nurture/

 

D is for don’t forget to be Brave. 

Facing new experiences and people requires bravery. Children can practice being confident in new situations or saying they don’t like something.  https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/Glenwood/?s=Fun+friends

 

S stay happy and stay safe

Children learn best when they are happy and safe. They love having Fun. Also they can learn safety messages when presented in fun ways.

 

 

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and English, Numeracy and Mathematics, Sciences

Playdough and loose parts play

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The orchard bubble have been busy! 

The orchard bubble has shown a great interest in making playdough over the last few weeks. The children have taken responsibility for their own learning by coming up with different ideas of how they want to create their playdough from colours and texture.  “I want blue.”

       

 

 

“I want pink.”

 

 

 

The children had shown an interest in loose parts and wanted to include this in their playdough experience. By incorporating loose parts with playdough the children are developing their fine motor skills. They use a variety of movements such as pressing, rolling and stretching. This will help to strengthen the muscles in their hand which in turn will help them with their writing skills.

 

“I want to use leaves.”       

 

 “Oooohhh feathers.”

 

 

The children showed ownership over their creations and seemed to enjoy the fact that they could start again when one model was finished. They did show interest in taking them home so our next steps will be trying to create models with loose parts and clay. 
 

 

“Can we take them home?”

- Pupils, Health and Wellbeing

Children’s Voice

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Listening to children’s voices.

At the end of April, after every bubble had spent three weeks in each playroom every child was invited to share their thoughts. We used photographs of the playrooms to help us to talk about our likes and dislikes.

The children said they enjoyed moving around all the rooms and shared their ideas to make each room better. Some children felt that the garden in Playzone 2 was too small. 

“I don’t like the garden”

“I didn’t like this because it wasn’t too big.”

  

We were able to begin using the side garden from Playzone 1 and expand the outdoor area for Playzone 2.

Some children missed the tyre swing from the old building so we added one to Playzone 1.

“I miss the tyre swing.”

“We should put some swings in the back yard.”

 

 

 

In Playzone 3 we added dolls to the home corner.

“Can we have babies in this room?”

“I would like to play with babies here.”

 

 

To help us look at some of the areas more closely we used Tuff Cams to share our thoughts.

  

“This art area is not so good. We need more things for sticky pictures.” 

“People need to put things away in the right place, we need signs to tell them”.

The children suggested new resources and helped to organise and label them.

This has led to lots of new opportunities for leading their own learning.

    

As we continue to settle into our new building we can’t wait to hear more of the children’s ideas and suggestions to develop our learning environment.

 

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and English, Numeracy and Mathematics

Musicality benefits

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From a very young age children benefit in all areas of their development when taking part in musicality sessions.

Literacy

  1. Helps children understand the meaning and the sound of words.
  2. Helps develop their listening skills (loud, quiet)
  3. Rhyming
  4. Syllables (clapping out)
  5. Helps them predict
  6. Imagination
  7. Conversation
  8. Follow instruction

 

Maths

  1. Counting beats
  2. Number song
  3. Recognition of numbers
  4. Recognition of Shapes And their names
  5. Rhythm pattern

  

Gross and fine motor motor skills

  1. Jumping, hopping, skipping and dancing.
  2. Helps them develop and control their body movements.
  3. Better control at manipulating objects (instruments)
  4. Helps strengthen their muscles.
  5. Moving the instruments in all different directions(up downside to side, front back)

Social and emotional skills

  1. Interaction with other children.
  2. Introduction to different kinds of music and cultural differences awareness.
  3. Increasing confidence in performing
  4. Sharing resources.

  

 

 

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing

Ballet

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In Ballet the children are learning how to control their bodies through balance, good posture, listening skills, following instructions and rhythm, also finding their own space, cooperating with others and taking part in a performance.

We started of with the basic movements of dance and Ballet such as Feet Positions ——- first position (happy feet ) , parallel ——- (feet together ) and Second (feet apart).

  

Arm Positions ——- Bras Bas (first position of the arms ) Gateway (out in front ) Second(arms out wide ).

Moves within Ballet such as —- point lift, point close, springs in first, plies “which we called make a diamond,”

   

And at the end of every performance we learned who to do a bow and a courtesy.

We put it altogether and made a dance and chose music.

        

Ballet is an art form created by the movement of the human body. It is theatrical – performed on a stage to an audience utilising costumes, scenic design and lighting. It can tell a story or express a thought, concept or emotion. Ballet dance can be magical and exciting.

 

 

 

 

Health and Wellbeing

Risky Play

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What is Risky Play and Why is it Important?

 

Children need to be kept safe from potential harm and hazards at all times, but they also need to explore and take risks. Risky play is exciting, challenging, fun, it pushes limits and there is every chance of physical injury. We don’t want children’s lives to be in danger, or any serious injury to be likely. That’s why with any new piece of equipment we carry out a risk assessment. This allows us to assess whether the risk of a resource or activity outweighs the benefit. Is something guaranteed to be seriously dangerous? Well, then it’s probably not ok. But if there is a low chance of bumps, grazes, or cuts? Maybe that’s alright. 

The Experience of risky play is an important part of children’s learning. It develops the child’s self-confidence, resilience, promotes problem solving and trust in their own judgements as adults.  Children have the right to make decisions and take risks through their play. In having these opportunities, children will be able to maximise their enjoyment of the environment whilst removing obvious risk. The ‘United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’ states in article 31: ‘All Children have the right to relax and play and to join in a wide range of activities.’ 

In our Centre we encourage children to manage their own risk in everyday play situations both indoors and out.

 

  • Climbing a high tree


 

  • Rope swinging

   

  • Whittling wood

   

  • Balancing

 

   

  • Using tools at the woodwork bench, saws, hammer and drills
  • Playing in the stream to build a dam
  • Building fires
  • Running fast, chasing each other.

It’s easy to say things like: “Be Careful,” and if you listen to yourself on how many times a day you say it with your child you will be amazed. What we are actually doing is telling children to stop and it’s for our benefit because we don’t want our children to get hurt. If instead we ask: –

  •     Do you feel safe?
  •     Can you see anything that could hurt you or be in the way?
  •     What can I do to help you to be safe?
  •     Where can you put your hand next?

This helps the child to focus on the environment around them. With time and Space, the child will revisit this experience, remember what they did before and build on that knowledge.

 

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing

Wonderful Weaving!

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We’ve been having lots of fun being creative and exploring how to use different materials to learn how to weave.  The children enjoyed choosing from a variety of colours and textures of ribbon, paper, card and wool.  Weaving is a fantastic activity for young children to try and offers many benefits such as developing fine motor skills and hand eye coordination, as well as developing concentration and providing a physical experience of the spatial concepts of over and under. It is also an ideal experience to help strengthen the muscles in both hands as the dominant and non-dominant hands are used at the same time.  Here are some of the different types of weaving that we tried:

Fence Weaving

 

“I like all the different colours of the ribbon.”

 

 

 

 

Table Top Weaving

 

“You need to go over and under and over and under all the way to the end.”

 

 

“I’m lifting the wool up so the ribbon can go under”

 

 

 

Paper Weaving

     

“This is quite tricky.”

Large Needle Weaving

“

“I need to push this through and catch it at the other side.”

Individual Loom Weaving

 

“I like the gold ribbon best.  It’s so shiny.”

Small Needle Weaving

 

“I’m getting good at this now.  I’m just going to pull the needle.”    

Health and Wellbeing

Obstacle Courses

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The children in the Orchard Bubble have been having a great time in the nursery with our obstacle course equipment. We have been learning to work together as a team and use everyone’s ideas to create the courses. We have also been learning about how to risk assess for ourselves.

The children decided to add to the obstacle course and make one where they have to use their gross motor skills to hop and jump.

We need to jump over the ropes.
We could hop at the end.

Then the children wanted to use the big blocks inside to create a big obstacle course together.

Together we are strong.
Look how high I can jump!
We could use this as a slide.

When we create and use obstacle courses we are not just developing our gross motor skills but also learning to share, take turns and cooperate with each other.

Health and Wellbeing, Numeracy and Mathematics, Uncategorized

Remote Learning: Pancakes

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Healthy Henry

Healthy Henry likes to eat healthy food but he says it’s OK to have a treat sometimes.

As it’s Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, Miss Pearson would like to share her pancake recipe with you.

Miss Pearson’s Pancakes

First of all you will have to wash your hands with soap and water to make sure they are clean and dry them well. If you have an apron you can wear this as well to keep your clothes clean .

You will need:

  • mixing bowl 
  • wooden spoon 
  • tablespoon
  • mug 
  • frying pan
  • spatula 

 

Ingredients: 

  • 1 level mug of  self raising flour 
  • 1 level tablespoon of caster sugar 
  • 1 egg 
  • 1 cup of milk for mixing 
  • Oil for your pan 

Method: 

1. Put the flour and sugar into the bowl.
2. Add the egg and mix well.
3. Then gradually add the milk to make a runny consistency – you might not use all the milk.
  1. Mix until smooth.

Now we can start making our pancakes. 

First of all you will need to ask an adult to help you with this part as we are going to use the cooker and we have to be very careful  so we don’t get burnt . 

We need the frying pan to be hot. 

So put a little drop of oil in the pan and wait until it is hot.

Put a spoonful of your mixture into the pan and wait for the bubbles and then turn and cook the other side.

Turn the pancakes over when you see the bubbles.

I made 12 pancakes out of my mixture you could make big pancakes or small pancakes it is up to you.

Here are some ideas for toppings:

  • Jam 
  • Banana 
  • Butter 
  • Chocolate spread  (but just a little) 

 

Miss Pearson hopes you have as much fun making them as she did.

What toppings will you choose?

Cooking together provides us with lots of opportunities to practise our maths skills – measuring out our ingredients, talking about colours, shapes and sizes, using a timer – as well as helping develop fine motor skills – chopping, mixing, spreading – and literacy skills as we read a recipe.

Here are some other ideas for simple cooking activities:

  • sandwiches
  • fruit salad or fruit kebabs
  • pitta bread pizzas
  • vegetable soup

Let us know what you like to cook together and show us your pancakes on Twitter @GlenwoodFC  #Glenwoodlearningathome 

Health and Wellbeing

Remote Learning: Active Aamir

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Active Aamir is here to give you some activities to help you stay active indoors.  

 

Star Jumps 

See how many star jumps you can do in 30 seconds. Remember to count!

Limbo

Tie a piece of string between 2 objects (or ask someone to hold it) and every time you make it under the string move it lower, how low can you go?

Book balance 

Place a book on your head and walk from one side of the room to another, see how many times you can do this without the book falling off. Remember not to touch the book with your hands. 

Washing basket 

Count how many pairs of socks you can throw into your washing basket. Move the basket further away to make it more difficult. 

Balloon volley 

All you need is a balloon and you! The aim is to use different parts of your body to keep the balloon in the air and off the ground.

Don’t worry if it goes on the ground, just pick it up and start again. See how long you can keep the balloon in the air…10 seconds, 25 seconds? Count and see.

Can you beat your own personal best? Invite your family to do it too. Who can keep the balloon in the air for the longest time?

Freeze dance

Choose some music you like, get some of your cuddly toys or even your family to join in.

Play the music and everyone has to dance to the music. When the music stops you have to freeze. Just like an icicle!

If you search ‘freeze dance’ on YouTube you will find music that stops automatically. Here is one to try!

A move jar

With some help write down the names of about 5 animals on a small piece of paper. Fold the paper and put them in a jar (or box).

Now pop your hand in and pull out a piece of paper. What does it say? Think about the animal you have chosen. How does this animal move its body?

Does it slither, wiggle, hop, stop, jump or crawl. You decide and try to move your body like this animal from one side of the room to the other.

Be creative and think big – pretend you are in the same environment as the animal you have chosen. It could be the jungle, a farm or the ocean.

Why not try a Sticky Kids Work out?

Here are some more ideas from NHS Change 4 Life Indoor Activities for Kids.

Show us how you are staying active on Google Classroom or Twitter @GlenwoodFC  #Glenwoodlearningathome

Health and Wellbeing

Remote Learning: Our New Nursery

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Respected Rhiya

Respected Rhiya encourages us to think and talk, and to share our ideas and views. 

Rhiya has got some sad news, happy news and she wants to give you a challenge.

The sad news is that we can’t all be at nursery together as we have to make sure everyone is safe from the virus. Also when we come back together, our nursery building might have disappeared. Big machines are going to knock it down.

How does that make you feel?

Some people think that will be exciting and they want to see it all smashed. Some people are worried it will be very noisy and messy. For lots of people the building and garden have lots of happy memories. The happy news that we are getting a new nursery with lots of lovely new toys inside. It is much bigger, with large playrooms, lots of windows and a little garden in the middle. Everything is new and clean and there will be lots of new things to try and we will see our friends there. 

What do you think?  Are you excited, worried or not sure?

The adults are getting things ready in the new nursery – here are a few photos for you to see what it looks like.

The cloakroom where you will hang your jacket.
These are some of the toilets.

 

The book corners are waiting for their rugs.
Look at the lovely new cooker and sink in the role play area.
One of our new art areas.
Some new vehicles to play with in the sand.

 

 

This room will be a gym hall and dining room.
What a smart mud kitchen!

 

The sandpit is underneath the white tarpaulin – isn’t it big?

Rhiya’s challenges are:

  • Can you tell us what you liked best about our old nursery?
  • What are you looking forward to at our new nursery?
  • Can you draw us a picture or make us a model or write us a story or make a game? 
  • What should our rules be for our nursery and what is important?

Rhiya hopes you like the challenges and that you will post into Google Classroom.

Completing the challenges will help you use lots of skills – you will be remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating. These are called higher order thinking skills.

 

Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and English, Numeracy and Mathematics, Technologies

Loose Parts

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Did you know, Loose Parts have no specific function or goal?

They can be moved, arranged, designed, taken apart and more!

Using loose parts the children explored patterns, building, and teamwork. By using the blocks, small cuts of wood, guttering and some cardboard boxes, they were able to build a house with a chimney and talk to each other about the placement of the resources!

There are a variety of resources lying around within your home that can be utilised as loose parts such as:

  • Pots and pans
  • Spoons, sieves and mashers
  • Tin foil
  • Sheets
  • Sticks, leaves
  • Plastic bottles, bottle tops

Check out the poster for more ideas!

When children interact with loose parts, they enter a world of “what if” that promotes the type of thinking that leads to problem solving and theoretical reasoning. Loose parts enhance children’s ability to think imaginatively and see solutions… the use of loose parts is open ended and limitless!

Health and Wellbeing

Remote Learning- The Great Outdoors

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Being outdoors has many benefits to children’s wellbeing and development. It has a positive impact on mental health as the body increases production of the feel-good hormone serotonin and reduces production of the stress hormone cortisol. Being outdoors provides lots of opportunities for physical activity, which increases muscle strength, stamina and bone density as well as reducing obesity. The NHS recommends that children under 5 years have at least 3 hours of physical activity daily. One final benefit is that spending time outdoors can lead to improved sleep.

At the moment children do not have the option of visiting their local playpark so here are just a few ideas of what you might do together outdoors…

Scavenger Hunts turn any walk into an adventure! Look for signs of spring, shapes, things that are one chosen colour, numbers (in order), make up your own list or download one from online….

 

 

 

 

 

Explore nature in the garden  Go on a minibeast hunt – look under stones, pots, logs, under plants for creepy crawlies. Use an old plastic container such as a yoghurt pot to put them in if you don’t have a bug box.

Some other ideas can be found on these websites.

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/looking-after-yourself-and-nature

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2020/03/kids-nature-activities-self-isolation/

Gardening Even if you have no seeds to plant, it’s great exercise to help tidy up the garden by weeding and digging over the soil. You might find some minibeasts to investigate as you work.

Don’t forget to plant the sunflower seeds from your Family Learning Bag. You might try growing new plants from fruit and vegetables that you have been eating – apples, potatoes and peppers are good ones to try.

Family Sports Day Everyone likes a bit of competition!

Try some novelty races – ‘egg’ and spoon, balancing a beanbag (or rolled up pair of socks) on your head, penguin waddle (hold a ball between your knees), crab walking, wheelbarrow race, dressing up, shoe box slide (put empty shoe boxes on your feet)…

Make you own assault course – go under, over, along, up, down. Use whatever you have available – garden chairs, tables, slides, planks of wood, old sheets, skipping ropes. Time how long it takes for each person to complete.

Target games – who can get closest to the target? You could use a bucket as a target or make one on the ground. Throw balls, rolled up socks, wellies… Just make sure there is nothing breakable in the way.

Or you could make some skittles using tin cans or plastic bottles.

 

 

 

We hope you are inspired to have fun in the outdoors and don’t forget to share with us on Twitter @GlenwoodFC #Glenwoodlearningathome

 

- Pupils, Health and Wellbeing, parents

Remote Learning- daily routines

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Although it may be tempting to forget about routines and structures at this time, it can help children to feel safe during periods of uncertainty when there is some structure and routine. Ideas for supporting this include-

  • set times for going to bed and getting up in the morning where possible
  • build in time for fresh air and exercise
  • create a variety of activities such as games, art activities, music, play, garden activities and reading
  • make a daily plan with your child and share this with them the night before
  • limit their time on electronic devices where possible (but don’t cut yourself up if you have to use them to allow you to get things done!) Electronics can be great motivators for some children so if you have a daily plan, put electronics after the thing you want done.
  • respect each others’ privacy and give space when you can
  • take time to review the daily activities to help your child get a sense of accomplishment

In nursery, we use visuals to support children with routines and making choices and these can easily be adapted for the home. Why not draw some different images onto small cards and use to create sequence charts, choice boards, daily schedules or a weekly activity plan. Doing this together with your child will help them to develop an understanding of the choices available and the plans you have in place.

2 or 3 (or more) part sequence boards can help your child understand routines and help them see when they will be doing something.

Choice cards can be used to help your child make decisions and give them control of what they can do. Forced choices are when you present options which you have selected but your child gets the final say. For example, an apple or some grapes….. but not a biscuit! Drawing, hearing a story or playing with lego…. but no option of electronics!

This school timetable can easily be adapted to create your own weekly schedule.

 

Health and Wellbeing

Remote Learning- Healthy minds and bodies

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Health and wellbeing is so important. This includes both physical health and mental wellbeing.

Why not start each day with some physical exercise, suitable for all the family.

https://www.thebodycoach.com/blog/pe-with-joe-1254.html

 

Alternatively, perhaps some Cosmic Yoga may be more for you… we know this is a real favourite with our children in nursery.

https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Gonoodle is another favourite.

https://www.gonoodle.com/

Children may benefit from this Social Story to help them understand the current situation regarding Covid19.

Child-Friendly-Explanation-of-Coronavirus

At a time when we are all experiencing uncertain times, positive mental health has never been so important.

East Renfrewshire Council has developed a guide, Healthier Minds, to promote the mental wellbeing of our children and young people. This resources aims to help you find the information you need to develop children and young people’s talents and abilities in a way that will support them to meet life’s common challenges, develop their resilience, and have healthier minds as a result.

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/healthierminds/