The children wanted to share what they love most about Cart Mill.
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Project Picasso 
After the success of learning about the art styles of Jackson Pollock we looked at another artist who uses “ faces” as part of their art work. We discovered “Picasso”. He used different shapes and designs to create his art work.
We learned about Picasso, first by looking at how he used vibrant colours to design each part of the face. The faces were a bit funny everything was in different places! But we learned this was called “abstract art”.
Next we tried to see if we could make a “Picasso face” using faces we cut up from magazines. To se if we could create an abstract face.
It was fun selecting different parts of the face to piece together and seeing how it looked at the end. Very Picasso inspired.
To challenge the thinking of some of our older children we added pictures of other types of objects to see if they could make a Picasso face with things that aren’t facial features. Some of our children thought using pictures of pens as hair was a great idea!
The next step on our Project Picasso learning journey was to see if we could draw our very own “Picasso face” using coloured pencils.
We used some Picasso prints as inspiration and let our creative minds design our own interpretation of Picassos work.
The last stop of our Project Picasso was painting (the best part) we used our colour mixing skills to create our very own abstract face in the style of Picasso using our creative design skills.
We have been such successful learners in our art area, leaning about the art styles of famous artists. We might have the future “Picasso” here at Cart Mill.
As Picasso used lots of vibrant colours we found another artist who used vibrant colours and grids to create his art…. “Piet Mondrian”. This is the next artist we will be leaving about in our art areas both inside and sharing our learning out into the large outdoor art area. I am very excited to see how it turns out.
Cart Mill Pancake Party
Today at Cart Mill we have been celebration Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday. We have been busy baking and tasting pancakes as part of our daily snack.
In the morning, a small group of children worked together to follow a simple gluten and dairy free pancake recipe. Using their numeracy skills, they carefully measured the dry ingredients with scales and poured the wet ingredients into a jug, developing hand eye coordination, number recognition and teamwork skills.
Once everything was ready, Izumi kindly cooked the pancakes to perfection for everyone to enjoy.
Snack time was extra special as we got to taste our homemade pancakes alongside some fresh, tasty fruit. The children shared their thoughts — take a look at some of their comments:
“It’s Pancake Tuesday today!”
“We are having pancakes because it’s Pancake Day.”
“The pancakes are delicious!”
“I’m going to try them and see if I like it.”
“It tastes good!”
“I love pancakes.”
“I love pancakes with honey.”
What a wonderful way to celebrate the day while building life skills and trying new foods!
Why not have at home using our simple recipe
Ingredients (Makes 12 pancakes)
- 200 g gluten-free self-raising flour
- 1.5 tsp gluten-free baking powder
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 300 ml milk (dairy free if necessary)
- 2 large eggs
- vegetable oil for frying
Article 1 – All children under 18 have rights
Article 7 – The right to have a name an nationality
Article 28 – The right to an education
Fun with Gross Motor Art!
Recently in the garden we have been enjoying ourselves at the gross motor art area. We have been experimenting with ways in which we can create pictures using many different resources.
One of our favourite activities was dipping balloons in paint to create a very colourful picture! We tied string to the balloons and had great fun bouncing them in the paint and then on to the paper.
“Ha, it bounced on my nose, I have a red rudolf nose!”
”The balloons are all the colours now!”
We then got the big brushes out and used them on the shower curtain to further develop our gross motor skills.
“Look, I’ve made a pretty rainbow!”
The rain made all the colours run together, we had fun brushing the puddles and guessing what colours it would make!
”Its pink now!”
The children always enjoy when the spray bottles come out! This time we filled them with watery paint. We hung the shower curtain up and used the spray bottles to design a picture!
“It looks so pretty now!”
The children also really enjoy the large rollers we have for painting in the garden. They love rolling them in the paint and seeing what patterns they can create when rolled on the paper.
“Wow, it looks like a train track!”
Finally today in the garden we tied paper cups to sting and hung them from a stick. The cups had holes in the bottom to allow paint to come out when the children were swinging them. This proved to be messy but super fun!
“Ahhh, the paint nearly got me!”
There are so many ways to enjoy outdoor art whilst developing the children’s gross motor skills. This is enhancing their coordination, balance and body control. These activities encourage the children to use larger muscle groups and helps with their physical development.
Article 31 – you have the right to play.
Slime recipe
I’m sure you are all aware that the children have been making slime. We have been learning the recipe and would love to share it with you so maybe you could try it at home.
In the mornings the children have been disagreeing about what to make at our malleable area. Some want to make play dough and others want to make slime. So we came up with a way to vote to make it fair for everyone. Everyone who wants to will vote by putting a tally mark in the box using the pictures to help. The box with the majority wins for the day.
“4 people want to make slime already”
“Only 1 choose playdough”
“Slime won”
They start by independently collecting all the equipment and ingredients needed.
~ First step is to fill the jug with water
~ Add one cup of Pva glue to the bowl
~ Add equal parts water to the bowl
~Add 1 level tsp of Bicarbonate of soda
~Food colouring of your choice (optional)
~Add small amounts of contact lense solution (Asda one seems to work best) at a time.
~Mix until all ingredients combine and start to pull away from the bowl
~Knead until it not sticky. (This part is messy, the best way to get it off your hands is to roll the palm of your hand on a flat surface, it will gather and become stretchy like rubber rather than sticky.
The children learn so much from such a simple experience. Their fine motor skills are developing as they use their hand muscles to squeeze, roll and stretch the slime in different ways.
They are expanding their vocabulary as they describe the slime, what colour it is, what it feels like etc.
They are following instructions/recipes, measuring ingredients, colours, shapes…
…The list goes on.
“This is the best day ever”
Mini Master Chefs Soup Edition 
Following on from our Mini Master Chef classes, the children have been making their own healthy soup for snack using the soup maker that Beth gifted to us.
We have been continuing to develop the different skills and techniques learned to cut and peel vegetables as well as learning new words to add to our expanding vocabulary and how to keep safe while in the kitchen.
“I’m using the claw shape to cut the carrots”
“We need to cut the potatoes in to small cubes, it’s called dice”
They put all the vegetables into the soup maker before adding the stock and of course having a little taste of some carrot.
“ The stock adds flavour”
“Will we make ‘Smooth’ or ‘Chunky’ soup?”
“SMOOOOTH!!”
We have changed the recipe slightly each time we have made soup to let the children taste a variety of different flavours, they explore the different vegetables using their senses.
“It’s very heavy and bumpy”
“Ewww the onion stinks”
“ The carrot looks like a snowman’s nose”
“This soup is Delicious”
Crazy Hair Fun
In the Studio Room we have been learning about the art style of Jackson Pollock.
We have been busy making our own abstract splat, drip and splash art using a variety of materials to create the splash such as droppers and spoons.
We noticed today there were some faces on the floor but something was missing “no hair”
We decided to use our learning of Jackson Pollocks splash painting to create the crazy hair using brushes to splat the paint.
This was so much fun that we thought why not recreate this outdoors in a larger area.
Outdoors we used chalk to draw the faces on the ground then explored different techniques and materials to create the wild and crazy hair, using a variety of mops, spray bottles, squeezing bottles and turkey basters, as well as large and small paint brushes.
This helped us to develop our gross motor skills as we used our bodies to make massive splashes.
We spoke about the different types of splashes each of our different resources made. We had great fun having more space to make the splashes go further.
We enjoyed expanding our learning across different learning environments to develop a range of skills for our 2-5 year old children.
I wonder what Jackson Pollock inspired art we will create tomorrow.
Coordination at Cart Mill
Since the start of term, we have been working on our coordination skills in the garden. Developing coordination helps to improve gross motor skills such as running, jumping, hopping and kicking. Children must repeat movements hundreds of times to gain muscle memory and the children at Cart Mill have certainly enjoyed taking part in this obstacle course many, many times.
We have been developing our eye- foot coordination by stepping up and over obstacles, keeping our eyes focused and being aware of giving others space to complete their movements.
We have also been learning to jump from two feet and land on two feet safely, keeping knees bent and landing softly.
Our younger children have enjoyed developing their skills and confidence on the obstacle course too. They have learned to use their hands to help steady themselves and to ask for help if they need it.
This morning we developed our hand-eye coordination by playing a ring toss game. This type of game helps to improve children’s spatial awareness and their fine motor skills.
Mini Master Chefs
This week, we were very lucky to have Beth visit us from East Renfrewshire Council. Beth is rolling out a fantastic new program called Mini Master Chefs, which encourages children to get involved in preparing healthy snacks at nursery using a variety of vegetables. It’s a wonderful initiative to help little ones enjoy an extra portion of veggies in a fun and interactive way!
Take a look at what we’ve been up to so far:
Morning Session
A small group of children had the chance to take part in a sensory “touch and taste” session, exploring a range of different vegetables. The children were introduced to some new veggies they hadn’t seen before, like cauliflower. We discussed their textures, smells, and how they grow.
Next, the children had the opportunity to chop the vegetables. Beth taught us how to use knives safely, showing us two new cutting techniques: the bridge hold and the claw hold.
Taking turns to use our new knife skills Everyone took a turn to chop the vegetables. Once they were chopped, it was time for a taste test! One child said, “I like the mushrooms.” Another shared, “I love tomatoes,” while someone else commented, “The onion is spicy.”
Afternoon Session
In the afternoon, we made some delicious carrot flapjacks. Beth guided us through the preparation, and the children had another sensory experience, exploring the carrot peelings and oats. We discussed how they smelled and felt as part of the activity.
One child remarked, “The carrots are like worms,” while another said, “It tickles my fingers.”
Once the flapjacks were ready, the children got to enjoy them as part of their afternoon snack.
It has been such a fantastic experience for the children, and we can’t wait to try out more activities with our Mini Master Chefs later in the week.
article 24 (health and health services)
article 3 (best interests of the child)
article 28 (right to education)
Introducing helicopter stories 
Helicopter stories allows children to become familiar with the role of being an author, illustrator, actor, character, audience and performing.
The start of the process is to use their imagination to think of their story and support can be given to scribe, introducing the concept of being an author and ‘writing’ their own story.
Next follows the role of becoming the ‘illustrator’ creating a picture to go along with their story….developing their mark making skills.
Next we have to move the furniture and create our stage for the children to perform, introducing the concept of a stage and where the audience should sit to support and watch their friends perform.
As the children perform, we can introduce the concept of characters and their friends are there as the audience, if they need any help and support telling their story.
This is a story about ‘A crabby crab’
This is a performance about a ‘turtle’
Children are excited to create their stories and gain confidence in performing for their friends. We can change the process slightly for our younger children. We are developing our literacy skills and using our imaginations to create wonderful stories 
Article 28 You have the right to an education
Clay Play
The children have been exploring the great benefits of clay since returning to nursery after the holidays.
Clay modelling helps to spark the brain’s creativity and problem solving skills. The children have been expressing their thoughts and emotions through the clay modelling, boosting their imagination and creativity.
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”The mermaids are stuck in the mud”
Some of the younger children begin by exploring the texture of the clay and quickly realised the imaginative aspects of clay play.
“Ice Cream”
The children squeeze and pinch the clay with their hands, helping to develop their fine motor skills.
“I’m making a snowman.”
The clay provides lots of play based learning, as the children count and sort materials when decorating their clay.
“1,2,3,4……..”
The children use a variety of tools when using clay such as rolling pins and wooden and metal clay tools, ensuring that they keep themselves and others safe when using the tools.
The tools allow the children to roll, cut and make patterns in the clay.
As the children develop their clay skills, they can roll clay into balls to make clay lollipops.
The clay provides a great opportunity for children to express detail in their artwork.
“This is my dog”.
We even created our own Cart Mill Forest!
The clay is a fantastic social activity as the children share ideas and learn from one another.
UNCRC Article 31 Every child has the right to relax and play.
