Monthly Archives: March 2022

Outdoor Learning

Frozen gardens

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It’s science week at Cart Mill and we have been discussing the properties of water and the effect of the cold. We found out during our visit from Williamwood that water is a liquid and that it can move about in a container.

We gathered some containers and used scissors to cut up some foliage to add before we poured the water in, then off to the freezer we went.

The next day we were surprised by the appearance of the water “it’s gone hard” “it’s cold” The water had changed from a liquid – something that can move about in the container, to a solid – something that doesn’t move in the container. When the temperature of the water becomes very cold (below freezing) it turns to ice.

The children decided to add colour to the water, so, very carefully we used droppers to add some dye “it’s getting  darker”

 

The children wondered what would happen if we added more water to our ice. We added another layer of foliage and coloured water on top of our ice. The water sat like a different layer on top of the ice, it was very strange, the water moved but the ice didn’t! We all wondered what would happen if we put the container back in the freezer so off to the kitchen we went with our containers. What will happen? Watch this space…

Technologies

Science is Magical

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As it is Science Week, we decided to get some help from the experts! We invited Miss Mortimer and Deanna over from the Science department at Williamwood High School. They brought lots of equipment with them so that we could become scientists for the day!

We heard that sometimes scientists had to wear white coats and goggles to protect themselves when doing experiments but we were not going to be using any dangerous equipment so we didn’t need to.

The first experiment we were shown was how to make marbling on water. Miss Mortimer explained that sometimes materials were ‘attracted’ to each other and sometimes they were not and they ‘repelled’. We had found this out when we had been looking at magnets and how they worked so the children said they knew that magnets liked things that were metal but didn’t like plastic cars!
We each picked a piece of black card, and Deanna put a basin of water in front of us. She then got a ‘pipette’ which Miss Mortimer explained was what scientists use to get small droplets of liquid. Deanna used the pipette to suck up some clear nail varnish and drop it on the water.

The nail varnish didn’t mix into the water, instead it sat on the top and made a sheen on the surface of the water! The children all got a turn to place their black card onto the nail varnish sheen and gently press the card into the water. When we lifted the card out, it was all shiny. We enjoyed doing this and all said we wanted to do it again using different colours of nail varnish.

The second experiment was AMAZING! Miss Mortimer explained that liquids moved about and that they fitted the shape of a container but she said that a solid didn’t, she told us our table was a solid. She then said there are things called gases and sometimes we have gas in our tummy that needs to escape!
Miss Mortimer and Deanna got a beaker of water and added food colouring. We chose blue. Then, we added some oil to the beaker. The oil did not mix into the water, instead it rose up to the top of the beaker and sat on top of the water.

Deanna then added a magic tablet (alka seltzer!) and we started to see some bubbles, the bubbles were the gases trying to escape! We could see the blue water bubbling up through the oil just like magic. We all took a turn of squeezing the pipette into the liquid to make our own bubbles. It was great fun.

We had the best morning being scientists. We loved our visit from Williamwood High School and can’t wait for them to come again. Why don’t you try creating these fun experiments at home, and if you know of any others then please let us know!

Digital Technology, Outdoor Learning

Hot and Cold “what happens ?”

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What happens to water when it’s freezing cold?
Freezing happens when molecules of liquid get so cold that they slow down enough to hook onto each other to form a solid crystal. We watched this happen in slow motion on our iPads.  It thought it looked like crocodiles, birds or leaves. We then made our own ice cubes, we poured the water into the trays and placed it in the freezer.

The ice cubes are sticky and cold. I see patterns inside them . They melt in my hand but they are still cold ..

That was something cold but what about hot things? What happens when you add heat to popcorn?

Popcorn pops because each kernel has a tiny bit of water inside it. When the kernels are heated up to the point where it exerts enough pressure, the kernel bursts open. The soft material inside puffs up as it explodes. This then cools and forms the odd shapes we know and love to eat.

The shapes got the children discussing some safety rules; “it is very hot”, “we wouldn’t touch it”. Then they started to chat about what shapes and textures had been produced. “Mine looks like a horse.”  “I found the seed, it is hard.” “My popcorn is crispy.”

As the popcorn comes from seeds we have decided to plant them and grow our own popcorn plant! We have put the seeds in the green house. Let’s see what happens next!

We have had a lot of fun today trying out our experiments for science week and learnt lots of new information. We have lots of different experiments to try out throughout the week and we cannot wait!

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts, Literacy, Technologies

Water Xylophone

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This week is Science Week and we will be exploring science themed experiences throughout all the different areas in each of the playrooms.

Today in our music area we made a water xylophone using some glass jars and food colouring.

We were developing our fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as we used a pipette to pour the food colouring in to the jar after which, we added some water.

Once the children had added the water, they lined up all the jars and noticed that each jar had a different volume of water.

”that one is filled right to the top”

”the red one has just a little bit”

We used a beater on the jars to listen to the sounds it made.

”The blue one sounds really low and the red one sounds really high”

I asked if the children knew what made the sounds but they were unsure.

After searching the internet we learned that when we use the beater to tap the jar it causes sound waves which are vibrations that travel through the water to make the sound. When there is less water the pitch is higher.

We listened to the different pitches as we played our own music, we are going to collect some more jars to add lots of different sounds.

Uncategorized

Creative pendulum painting 🖼

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Today some of the boys and girls decided they would like to try out a different way of painting. They decided that pendulum painting  might be fun.


“I want to make pink paint to swirl” “ I need lots of white and a little red to make pink”


Learning about gravity and the forces of motion and also developing our gross motor skills. We chose some suitable containers that had holes in the bottom to let the paint through. The boys and girls then self selected their own paint.

The children knew quite a lot about colour theory and understood that mixing colours would make different colours.
“I’m making orange paint it’s my favourite colour “ I know that red and yellow makes orange”

The children wanted two different surfaces to paint on a shiny one , We chose tinfoil and paper called news print. Then the fun began,  they poured the paint into the pendulum  and swung it backwards and forwards up and down fast and slow. “ It sounds like rain when it goes onto the tinfoil “ “look the colours are mixing the red and blue are changing green” “I’m making circles “

The children took turns swinging their paints and got very messy but they really enjoyed their learning experience. I think you will agree that their art work looks amazing. The boys and girls thought  that we could make our own pendulums next time using our studio room junk .  Well done everybody!!

Literacy

Fishing for numbers!

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Today in the discovery room we looked at some interesting books about under the sea and the fish we can find there. This led us to share some wonderful stories about fishing trips we have been on and how to catch a fish.  🎣

We thought it would be a fun idea to bring fishing into our nursery room. We decided to collect some items together such as paper to make our own fish, sticks for rods and after some problem solving, we found that using paper clips and magnets would be helpful for us to catch our fish!  🎣

To show how we can recognise numbers and can sort them into order, we numbered our fish 1 -10. This made it a little bit trickier for us to catch, especially when we had a fun fishing race to see who could catch all their fish first!

We demonstrated good hand eye co ordination and used our motor skills when guiding our magnets on our rods to catch our fish. We also had to be very patient!

Our ‘fishing trip’ gave us lots of opportunities to sing a popular rhyme….

🐟 🐟 🐟 🐟 🐟

1,2,3,4,5,

Once I caught a fish alive!

6,7,8,9,10,

Then I let it go again,

Why did you let it go?

Because it bit my finger so!

Which finger did it bite ?

This little finger on my right!

🐟 🐟 🐟 🐟 🐟

Why not try fishing for numbers at home?  You could try catching some different under the sea creatures! 🦑🐠🦀🐋🦞🐳🦐🦈🐡

Outdoor Learning

Imaginative play in the garden

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Today in the garden the children had great fun using our giant polydron pieces.

They checked out some pictures for inspiration before drawing up their own plans.

The children worked really well as a team to create various designs, developing their problem solving skills and communicating their ideas.

“we made a train, all aboard “

“look at our house”

The possibilities are endless and through polydron activities it will help them to grow and develop to their full potential.

Outdoor Learning

Bowling fun in the Garden!

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One of our children was telling us about the amazing fun they had ten pin bowling with their family! They were so excited to have won the game and wanted to share their story! We decided to make our own bowling game for the garden which the children were very excited about! First we put some water in bottles to stop the bottles blowing over in the wind! The children chose different colours of food colouring to make the bottles brighter!

We gave the bottles a good shake to mix the colours!
”They are rainbow bottles!”

The children then set the bottles out like skittles in a bowling alley!

”They are in a triangle!”

We then had great fun throwing different sized balls at the bottles to see how many we could knock down! The children noticed that the bigger balls hit over more skittles!

“It’s a strike to hit them all, I play it on my Nintendo Wii!”
The children showed off their bowling knowledge! Some have been ten pin bowling and others have played it at home!

The children kept a record on the wall using chalk of the number of bottles they knocked over using tally marks. They had so much fun whilst developing their gross motor and numeracy skills! I think Cart Mill has some future bowlers amongst us!

Digital Technology, Literacy, Social Studies, Technologies

Local Landmarks

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Today in the discovery room we looked at some different landmarks in and around Glasgow. We used the tablet, lap top and promethean board to search and look at popular landmarks we may have visited.

We demonstrated good listening when we sat together and discussed what we knew about the places we looked at. We were able to share stories of places we had visited with our families. Two of the most recognisable were the Clyde Arc which a few children recognised as the Squinty Bridge and one child shared with the group his own name for it – ‘The Scotland Bridge’. The other one being Kelvingrove Art Museum -“that is where you see a big dinosaur, but it only has bones”.

We took our findings and landmarks to our block area where we showed great team work when we re-created Kelvin Grove Art Museum using a variety of blocks of different shapes and sizes.

The children were extremely creative with their design and creation of the Cart Mill Kelvingrove! Perhaps they can display some of their own works of art in it!

Expressive Arts

Magic backpack adventure

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Good morning adventurers, it’s time for another adventure. Let’s make our map and find out where our adventure will be today.

Today we will be going over the high, snowy mountains. Across the wavy river filled with sharks, snakes and grumpy fish. Into the Forest with tall trees and long grass, but watch out for those cheeky monkeys. Then finally we need to search for X marks the spot.

Our magic backpack will help us along the way. It will provide us with all the tools we need, but it’s not always what we ask for that we get. Let’s pop on our backpacks and get ready.

Off we go to find the mountains, we checked the map to make sure we were going the right direction. When we arrived we couldn’t climb the third mountain, it was too high. We reached inside our magic backpack saying the magic words “magic backpack, magic backpack have you got a ladder.” And it did. Up the ladder we climbed and on to the next spot on our map.

We asked the magic backpack for a boat to help us cross the river, but instead we got rope, wood and a hammer. So we got to work to build our own boat. We have to be quiet and not wake up those sharks as we sail past.

Time to check the map. Where to next, the forest. We had to ask magic backpack for help to climb the high trees and we got spiky shoes and binoculars. Once we got over the tree and into the long grass we had to crawl past to hide from the cheeky moneys.


We made it past, and finally it was time to hunt for the X marks the spot!
We are such great adventurers we found it, hidden in the garden. We went back to our backpack to ask for a spade to help us dig up our treasure.

Once we collected our treasure it was time to go back and tell each other what treasure we found.
“I found a chocolate sauce.” “I found golden coins.” “I found a monster biscuit.”
Time to hang up our magic backpack now, till the next adventure.  Maybe you can make your own map and take your magic back pack on an adventure at home.