All posts by Mrs Barnes

Creativity, Literacy

Blasting off to Planet Mars!

Leave a comment

The children are still really focused on learning about space in the Discovery Room. This morning we revisited the solar system. The children counted confidently that there are eight planets. Looking at pictures we tried to remember the names of all these planets.

“I know that’s Mercury because it’s the grey one!”

”Mars is the big red dot!!!”

The children decided Mars looked like the most exciting planet and got busy making a spaceship that would take them there!

”We can all sit in this big box!”

The children used their cutting, gluing and sticking skills to prepare parts of their spaceship! They had great conversations with each other about what they needed to make a super fast spaceship.

”I’m cutting the buttons for the front!”

We decided to decorate the ship with bright colours so that it would be seen in the sky! The children choose to use pom poms, sparkles and coloured paper.

“The spaceship needs fire to make it fly!”

The children added red coloured paper cut like flames to the back so that the spaceship would blast off!

”It needs to fly super fast, wooooooooooosh!”

We added some finishing touches and then jumped in to set off on our journey!  3,2,1 blast off!!!!

”I can go from side to side!”

Some of the children decided they wanted to cut holes in the bottom of the spaceship so that they could actually move it around!

”Weeeeeeeeee look we can fly to Space! Let’s go to Mars!”

What a fantastic idea that was, how inventive and imaginative! What  great fun everyone had taking turns to steer the spaceship around Cartmill!

Article 28 – You have the right to Education

 

 

 

 

 

Creativity, Literacy

Blasting off to Space!

Leave a comment

The children at Cart Mill absolutely love junk modelling. The bigger the box the better! There has been a keen interest in aliens and space lately. Last week the children made their very own big alien robot and have also enjoyed making alien robot helmets for themselves.

Today we found a very tall, thin box which instantly reminded the children of a rocket blasting off into space so that is what we made! Junk modelling offers children great opportunities to develop their creativity as well as their fine and gross motor skills. They develop their imaginations, making their creations their own whilst  feeling a sense of freedom. We discussed what our rocket should look like and decided it definitely needed fire at the bottom for take off!

The children found some paper which looked like flames but as it was white they used a red pen to create the effect of fire!
“I need to make it red for the flames for the rocket to blast off high in the sky!”

The rocket needed a window so we used a clear plastic tub! The children stuck a box on the front which was the control panel to make the rocket go faster!  They showed fantastic teamwork with some children holding the rocket still for others to tape parts on.
“Look! It’s even bigger than me!”

Next we needed a door. Confidently using scissors, the children cut out a door! After realising that they could not fit into the rocket themselves they used their problem solving skills and decided to put some little figures inside to go on a space adventure!
“Get ready! 3, 2, 1 blast off! Whoooooooosh!!”

This amazing rocket inspired other children to create some space ships to travel with the rocket!

Junk modelling also helps to develop a child’s language and communication skills. They are always sharing their ideas with their peers and learning new vocabulary.
“Do you like my space ship? It has princess chairs and flies so fast!”

“Look mine has two bits, one for sleeping and one for flying, mine is the very fastest, zooooooom!”

Children make social connections through junk modelling. They have to work with others and learn turn taking, something we are very good at here at Cartmill. The children are great at sharing the resources and taking turns of the glue and cellotape!

What a fun time we had exploring space rockets and space ships. Who knows, we might just have the inventors and space engineers of the future here at Cartmill!

Article 13:  Freedom of Expression

Please keep sending in all your old boxes and recycling. It might seem like junk to you but to the children it can open up a whole new world!

Literacy

Fun with Force!

Leave a comment

The children have been continuing their learning through with the cars and trains at the moment. In the Science area we have been focusing our learning on ‘force’. The children decided they wanted to make their own cars! We looked out some cardboard tubes, sticks, bottle tops, straws and got to work.

We used glue, scissors and tape! We created some great cars to play with!

The children wanted to race their cars down the ramps. We have ramps with different surfaces to see if that affects the speed of the cars. We have bubble wrap, carpet and sponge on our ramps.  We set the ramps up and started sending our cars down them.

We started giving the cars a little push, a small amount of force, to send them down the ramps. We talked about how far the cars went and what would happen if we added more force when we pushed them.  We guessed what would happen  and tried using more force to see if our predictions were correct! The children thought the cars would go faster and travel further using more force. We decided to check our predictions by measuring how far the cars travelled using different amounts of force! The children wanted to record their answers!

The children tried the nursery cars on the ramps to see if they travelled faster than their made cars! They made observations about what the same amount of force on bigger, heavier cars would result in!  We discovered the heavier cars needed a bigger push to go the same distance!

The children had great fun making the ramps higher using blocks which made them steeper! They had races to see whose car was the fastest! They had great fun learning about ‘force’ through playing with cars!

Article  28 / Every child has the right to an education.

Creative movement, Literacy, Outdoor Learning

Puddle Play!

Leave a comment

For most children puddles have a magnetic effect! Today in the garden the children were delighted to find so many big puddles had appeared after all the rain. They were desperate to get their wellies on and start jumping! We wanted to see who could splash the most water out of the puddles!

We used one of the crates to jump off to see if that created a bigger splash! The children very cleverly observed that the higher they jumped from, the bigger the splash!

”Wow, that was big, I got more wet!”

After all their jumping, the children decided to roll the tyres through the puddles to see if they made big splashes.

“1, 2, 3 Push!!!”

I asked the children if they could see anything else in the garden that could make a splash in the puddles! They found the football and had great fun kicking it and throwing it to make big splashes!

The children found a puddle in our big tray and decided to throw the ball to each other across the tray! This created big splashes which caused great hilarity when they got their faces splashed!

“Ah, it’s very cold on my face!”

“When  life gives you a rainy day, play in the puddles!”

Article 31 ~ You have the right to play

Literacy

Shapes in the clay!

Leave a comment

Following on from Maths Week Scotland last week the children have continued to show an interest in shapes! Today in the clay area we were identifying 2D and 3D shapes.

“That’s a square and that’s a triangle!”

The children were using the 3D shapes as stampers in the clay. They were developing their shape knowledge and understood that one side of a 3D shape made a 2D shape in the clay when they stamped it!

“I’ve made a square, tap, tap on the top!”

Some children chose to wrap their shapes in the clay which turned the clay into 3D shapes! They enjoyed getting their friends to unwrap the shapes to find out what was hiding in the clay!

Having already rolled out the clay, using the rolling pin handle as a stamper, some children noticed it made circles in the clay! Great shape detectives!

“Look, lots of little circles!”

Some of our younger children just really enjoyed building with the clay and the 3D shapes whilst developing their fine motor skills.

“It’s a castle for a Princess!”

The children really enjoyed learning about different shapes whilst having great fun with the clay!

Expressive Arts, Literacy

Getting messy with the clay!

Leave a comment

In the clay area the children have been discussing how the clay feels to them when they touch it. They used some great adjectives like soft, cold, hard and good! We wrote out our words and put them in the clay area for everyone to see.

The children enjoyed rolling the clay using the rolling pins to make it flat like pancakes!

”It’s hard to get it flat!”

We decided to add water to our clay to see what happened! At first we put a few sprinkles of water on which the children thought did not make a difference! They wanted to pour out more water! When they did this they were excited to see how squishy and soft the clay got! They found it much easier to shape on the boards.

“It’s like a big mud pie!”

”It’s all sticky to my hands,”

The clay was very easy to roll when wet but the children did notice it made more mess on the boards which they liked! They decided to make food with their clay!

“It’s a yummy pizza!”

Playing with clay has many benefits for children.  It is good for sensory development and expanding their imagination. Clay also promotes the development of children’s fine motor skills.

Literacy

Bubbly fun washing our babies!

Leave a comment

Today in the Home room the children were asking to wash their babies and their babies’ clothes! We got basins of water and added lots of bubbles to make it fun for our babies. We got some sponges and towels ready! First, we had to take off the clothes that the babies were wearing!

Then it was time for the fun part! Using the sponges, we gave our babies a lovely clean!

We tried very hard to keep the babies faces out of the water.

”I have lots of bubbles in my bath!”

”I have a baby sister!”

The children loved the feeling of the water and the bubbles running through their fingers. This can be very relaxing for some children.

”My baby is all cleaned and sparkly now!”

Once the babies were washed the children dried them with the towels.  They all took great care when doing this.

The children wanted to wash some of the babies clothes that looked dirty! They used soapy water and dipped the clothes in, they gave them a good squeeze at the end to get all the water out!

Some of the children wanted to put some clothes into the washing machine to get them clean!

”I have one of these in my kitchen!”

Now that we had a big pile of wet clothes the children hung them, on the washing line to dry! We enjoyed using our fine motor skills to squeeze the pegs!

“I help my Mummy with the pegs at home!”

The children left the washing to dry, put clean clothes on their babies and gave them lots of cuddles.

This is such a great activity which the children really enjoy doing.  The role play helps the children to make sense of the world around them by re-enacting what they see their parents doing. This also helps to develop their social, emotional and verbal skills whilst having great fun!

Outdoor Learning

Butterflies!

Leave a comment

The children have really loved following the journey of our nursery butterflies. They have now hatched and will soon be ready to be released. Today in the garden we were looking again at the life cycle of the butterfly.

The children are now very familiar with butterflies and wanted to make their own. We decided to use our loose parts for our creations.

We discussed the parts of a butterfly and decided to use the pipe cleaners as the bodies! The children then used all the different materials to design their own butterflies!.



“Both wings need to match!”

”I want my butterfly as a pet!”

”Mine has lots of colours,”

I think you will agree that our finished butterflies are fantastic!

It got so hot in the garden today that we came in to cool down and we watched ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ story with ice poles!! They were yummy in this heat!

Article 31 – you have the right to play and rest.

Expressive Arts, Literacy

Imagination Boxes!

Leave a comment

Today in the Studio the children were having great fun in the junk area. They were creating from imagination boxes! The children get a large empty box filled with smaller boxes and a variety of materials to use. This allows them to create without limitations.

The children quickly got to work and had some amazing ideas of what they wanted to make.

“I’m making a super rocket! This bit makes it blast off!”

”Mine is a racing car, whoooooooosh!”

The children used scissors, glue and cellotape confidently to attach parts to their models.

“I’m making a robot and he is making a robot dog!”

What a fantastic robot and dog. The children used tin foil, milk bottle tops and pipe cleaners for the legs! “Robots have little short legs!”

Some of the children worked together and made a house for their teddies! They decorated the top of the house beautifully and cut out a door for the toys to get in and out! They borrowed cuddly toys from the Home room to put in their house!

The children had great fun playing with the toys in the house and showing it to their friends!
”The teddy is hiding in there out the rain!”

What great fun we had with all the recycled junk! The children were left to explore and experiment allowing them, to make bold choices and try new ideas!

Article 31 ~ you have the right to play.

 

Literacy

Fun with Jack and the Beanstalk!

Leave a comment

Recently in the block area the children have been enjoying reading the big books and building from the stories. Today they chose to read Jack and the Beanstalk.

We had great fun talking about the story and predicting what would happen.  The children particularly liked how the beanstalk kept getting bigger and bigger! They thought the giant was funny and enjoyed shouting ‘Fe Fi Fo Fum’ just like him.

We then looked at the story cards and the children very cleverly put them in the correct order of the story.

The children then got busy with the blocks building the giants castle. Some chose to build their own beanstalks! They put a lot of thought into their designs.

“I put these two together and got a circle door handle!”

”The giant is big so my castle is big!”

We then had lots of fun playing with the Jack and the Beanstalk toys in the castle.

“Look, Jack climbing the beanstalk!”

”The giant is hiding in the castle!”

The children had great fun retelling the story to each other whilst using their imaginations to add their own twists! This helps to promote brain development and imagination whilst developing language and emotions.

Some children wanted to read the story again to their friends whilst they acted it out.

Article 28 ~ I have the right to an Education