All posts by Miss Keith

Making our own wasps and their nests….

After exploring our real wasps nest last week we have now created our own nests. We made our very own paper mache nests.

We blew up our ballon’s and used glue and old newspapers to stick all around the balloon. We got quite sticky !


We had to let them dry overnight and then did it all again to make them really hard. The boys and girls then gave them a coat of yellow or black paint. “ Mine looks like a wasp”.

The children were able to self select their own resources to  add to their nest after painting them. My nest is going to be very yellow. We also found some textured paper which looks like the little holes that the wasps climb in and out of. The nests are looking really great now. Well done.

Everyone had so much fun making their own flying wasps. We had to measure , fold , colour and cut the paper then add a paper clip to help it fly . The children worked out that if you stood a bit higher up the wasps would fly better , but we had to be careful so we didn’t wobble and fall off !.

After all that hard work we had a try at directing our bee bot 🐝 wasp. We went forwards, backwards we had a practice with right and left . Some of our 🐝 wasps even manage to go down a ramp. Who knew that wasps could be so much fun .

Article 13-  You have the right to find out things and share what you think with others.

Wasps came into our garden !

The children have noticed that there has been wasps around our lovely sun flowers that they have grown in the nursery garden.  We thought that it would be good to learn a bit about them. Where do they live ?

We we’re lucky enough to have a real wasps nest to look at. There are lots of little holes were the babies wasps lives until they are big enough to be worker wasps. These wasps only live between 12 -22 days but the queen wasp can live up to one year.

The wasps nest is made from the wasps chewing bark in their mouths mixing this with their saliva  and when it becomes dry it forms a paper type material.  We learnt that wasps like sugary sweet foods and this is why they can fly around our food !

We watched a short film on how wasps make their nests. Wasps nest are usually found in sheltered warm places. “ I have a wasps nest in my garden on the tree . We should never touch the nests or the wasps .

If a wasp 🐝 comes near you we must stay still as a wasp will sting you if they think they are in danger. Only female wasps will sting you.  If a wasp should land on you you can flick it off gently with a piece of paper. We all had a practise but fortunately there were no wasps actually on us.

We have enjoyed finding out all our wasp information. We might even build our own wasp nest using paper mache.

Article 33 -I can be protected from danger.

Safety checks with the children.

Within our Cart Mill Hospital, we have been talking about how to keep ourselves safe.  The boys and girls are able to identify and describe people who can help us in an emergency. We decide to have a look round the nursery to identify things that keep us safe as well as simple ways of avoiding accidents.

When we arrive at nursery our parents and carers ring the buzzer, Janet will let us in and mark on the register that we are in the building.

We sometimes have a fire alarm practice where we have to leave the building. We spotted the exit signs, the fire extinguishers, which can only be used by adults or fire agents and a special trolley to put small children in or children who need help with mobility to safely move them out the nursery.

When the alarm goes off we follow the adults who are wearing safety vests so we can see them clearly. We go through the gate and away from the nursery to keep safe.

There are other ways to stay safe in Cart Mill. At lunch time we wash our hands, front and back, to clean away the germs. In the kitchen we have a safety gate which we cannot go through as the hot ovens are on the other side. We have a fire blanket which our catering staff can use if there is a very small fire 🔥. If we put out our yellow wet floor sign it means we need to be very careful as the floor maybe slippy.

At the front entrance we have sun cream for everyone to use on our sunny days to stop our skin being damaged by the sun. We also have helpful leaflets about how to keep safe. In each of our playrooms we have a first aid box which we sometimes need when we fall or have a bump. We use sterile wipes and plasters and sometimes need a cool pack from the fridge to put on any bumps.

The children also spotted “Santa’s camera” in a lot of the rooms 🤤 or maybe they could be the alarm sensors!
At the end of our nursery day when we leave the nursery we must let the staff or parents press the exit button as we would not like any of our lovely children to get out by accident.

Keep safe and remember to let us know if you see any safety signs when you are out and about.

Article 11 -You have the right to be protected.

Caring for others at the Cartmill Hospital

In the home room we have been talking about people who help us . “A nurse and a doctor work in a hospital”. We chatted about making our own hospital and what we would need.  “It’s a emergency number it’s 999”

 

We then had a look at some instruments that the doctors and nurses might use. We learnt some new words “stethoscope “ that’s for listening to my heart. This instrument has a light on it then the doctor can see in my ears . We also have bandages in case I hurt my leg.

”You need a x ray to check if you have a broken bone “ . We will get a screen because you get privacy at the hospital”

On arriving at our hospital we would like you to check in and let the nurse know how you are feeling and tell her what is sore. Our doctors and nurses will decide the best treatment for you.

Some of our patients who came to the hospital had bad accidents. “ I went to the zoo and a tiger scratched my leg”. We worked well together, turn taking,co-operating and responding to each other. We discussed how you can only take medicine if the doctor has given it to you. “Mummy gives me the medicine at home”

We have had a  busy hospital today and the doctors and nurses have decided  that some of our patients will need to stay overnight.  Let’s see who comes to our hospital tomorrow “we might need more medicine and bandages”.

Busy May time in the Garden

This month we have been super busy in the garden. We have been watching our seeds grow and decided we would need to replant them to help them grow bigger. We discovered some of our plants have lots of roots “it’s like spaghetti “. Our plants and vegetables need to have lots of water to help them grow big.

When we have been digging in the garden we have found lots of insects and bugs. We became explorers using books to identify them and having a closer look with our magnifying pots.

This month was also World  Bee day on the 20th of May. We watched a short film about how bees 🐝 grow and why we need them. We made our own bee hive and added it into our bug hotel. We planted bee friendly flowers for the garden. Then made our own bees to hang on the tree using pine cones.

Bees make honey I like honey . After all our hard work we had a taste of the honey. We worked well together slicing the bread and sharing the “sticky honey”.

There have been so many jobs to do in the garden and the girls and boys have thoroughly embraced each task. They have worked well together, sharing tools taking turns, spotting insects ,looking after the plants in the green house we look forward to June as they begin to flower and we can harvest some of our vegetables 🥕.

Article 31 – I have the right to have fun in the ways I want to.

Life feels better with colour !

In the studio we are continuing to study artists from around the world. We have chosen to look at the colourful art work of Scotlands Steven Brown. “ McCoo” being his most famous piece of art . The children used their knowledge gained to select material to begin our painting.

We had the most fun using our hands and feet to create some bright colours and lots of shapes.  The children also chose some rollers and bottle tops to enhance their work . It was slippy standing in the paint and we had to be very careful.

The girls and boys enjoyed the sensory feeling of the paint on their hands and feet. “My feet look like a rainbow”

The girls and boys waited till the paint was dry and then we were able to create more animals within our painting using a black pen . We now have a caterpillar 🐛, a tiger 🐅, rabbit 🐰, elephant 🐘,ladybird and whale 🐳.
We enjoyed working together to produce our own colourful painting and will be continuing on with this trying out different resources and media. As we do everyday we had to help tidy up . Well done .

Article 30: You have the right to play and relax by doing things like art.

Nail Designs and Patterns

As the children enjoy hammering in nails we had a think about what we could do with the nails when they were in the wood.  The children  thought about shapes and patterns they could make with the nails and then use wool to weave round them . Firstly they made their pattern or character on the wood providing them a opportunity to develop their mark making skills.

When the pattern was ready we then got the hammer and nails out. We have learnt that if we use the pliers to hold the nail it helps protect our fingers. We then placed the nails round the edge of our design and carefully hammered them in.

When the nails were in place we started to wind our wool round the nails . This part was quite tricky and definitely helped develop our hand-eye co-ordination skills, increasing our manipulative skills and dexterity. All the children made a great effort with this part of the task.

The children began to notice shapes within their designs “ look there is a triangle in my cherry pie”. “ I have a circle in my unicorn”.

Other children made the choice to use different colours of wool to wind round their designs. Look mine is a Easter bunny. This looks very pretty. The children worked very hard on their designs. Well done this was fun !

Creative thinking at the tinker table !

Today we have been looking at some of the loose parts around the tinker table and what we could create with them. We placed our favourite pieces into a tray and decided we would use the hammer, nails and wood glue.

Tinkering is a playful way to explore or solve problems through the direct experience, experimentation and discovery with materials and tools.

The children decided what they would like to make “I am going to make a couch”  “mine will be a windmill”.  As with every activity, children’s ability and engagement can vary. Some of the children are confident to use the hammer and nails . We were also able to use the wood glue to add on some of the smaller loose parts.

The children were very engaged and worked well together discussing their ideas and sharing the tools and resources.
The children were very happy and proud of their creations. We look forward to adding in more loose parts and resources to expand our knowledge and building skills.

Article 12 – You have the right to be listened to and taken seriously.

Fun Fruits

Today we have been looking at different fruits. At snack time we have discovered how juicy some of our fruits can be. We chose the fruits we thought would be the juiciest; strawberries, lemons, limes and oranges.


We then cut our fruit in half this gives us two pieces . The orange was a bit difficult to cut and we had to use the knife in a sawing motion. “ Look I did it “

The next job was to use all our muscles and push the fruit onto the squeezer and when we twisted it round and round the juice started to fall into the container. We enjoyed watching all the colours drip into our glasses . “ I like the red one “ “ orange is my favourite “ .

We discovered that some of the bigger fruits produced more liquid than the smaller ones. The children were able to look at the glasses we had filled and put them in order. “ The strawberry one is the littlest “ and the “orange is the biggest”

After all the juice was squeezed we practiced our pouring skills and filled our own glasses with juice so that we could enjoy some tasting.

We did have some funny faces when we tried the lemon and lime but the juices were all finished and enjoyed. We will look forward to some more exciting times with our fun fruits .

Big Garden Birdwatch

This week we have been preparing for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. We discussed why birds might come into the garden. “It’s for seeds, we have some in my garden”. We then decided to to make our own bird feeders and hang them up on a branch.

The birds might need a drink as it’s been very cold and all the puddles are icy, so we made the birds their own drinking bowl “Let’s put sticks near it so they can stand on them”.

We then did some research by looking at some of the information sent to us by the RSPB which showed us lots of pictures of the birds that might visit our garden.  “ I have seen some of these birds, that’s a magpie”.

It was very exciting watching for the birds. Some were far away so we used our binoculars. Then we could see some birds sitting in the trees and on top of the houses. We then thought about where else we could see the birds so we went for a bird watch walk.

We collected our bird watch recording sheet and set off.  I will hide in the trees like a bird watcher and see if the birds come near me we have to be very quiet 🤫. Look I saw a blackbird let’s mark it on the sheet .

We managed to spot magpies, blackbirds, crows and blue tits. We all had a turn of recording the bird we had seen on our RSPB sheet, it was great fun!

The children are continuing to watch for birds in our garden and are independently recording them in our nature corner.
If you would like to join in this weekend the RSPB ask that you record the birds that visit your garden within 1 hour and then you can upload your results at rspb.org.uk/Birdwatch using the code BH35.

Everyone has worked very hard recording the information and have had great fun developing their skills of mark making, data collection, fine motor skills, health and well being and lots more. Happy bird watching everyone!