The children wanted to share what they love most about Cart Mill.
Welcome to the Cart Mill garden
At Cart Mill, our children spend so much time outdoors!
Gardening and outdoor play in the early years can develop a wide range of skills such as physical development, hand-eye co-ordination, cognitive development, social skills and problem solving.
The children were digging and harvesting the carrots and the potatoes that we have been growing in the garden. The children are developing their awareness of the world around them, recognising different vegetables and using their senses whilst exploring different textures, smells and colours.
The children have then been exploring the different foods in the mud kitchen and learning how to be safe with kitchen tools.
The children have also been developing their gross motor skills in these art experiences outdoors. The children are strengthening their arm muscles by creating big movements with the large paint rollers developing co-ordination and body movements.
What skills will we be learning and developing next week?
Article 29: I have the right to an education
Staying safe in the STEAM room
This week in the Steam room we have been exploring all the different areas, getting creative and learning how to use the tools and resources safely.
“We hold the scissors like this so we don’t get hurt”
The children’s imaginative play began in our block area, where they worked together to create a bed using the blocks, working out which shapes fit together and adding cushions and blankets to make it “cosy”. Their ideas then developed as they moved into our junk modelling area, creating their own camping space using materials such as cardboard boxes and pens and jewels to decorate.
It was lovely to see how one idea developed naturally into another, with the children confidently leading their own learning through play.
To round up the week our mini scientists have been exploring colours through water play, developing early skills such as colour mixing/recognition , measuring, capacity and developing their fine motor skills.
What will we be learning next week?!
Article 36: I have the right to be kept safe
Busy in June
The month of June has been very busy and super fun. We have celebrated our pre schoolers graduation and they put on a brilliant concert for their special people.
The boys and girls watched as our caterpillars grew , formed themselves into chrysalis and the burst out into beautiful butterflies 🦋 . The children named all the butterflies and celebrated as they let them fly free into our garden.
We had our first crop of radishes picked from the garden which the children shared at snack time.
The children have enjoyed the football fever and we have had our own football matches as a warm up for sports day.
Sports Day was great fun the children coped very well with the challenges in extreme weather conditions. Thank you to all the supporters that came along to watch and join in.
Finally we have enjoyed sometime paddling in our pool to cool down.
Well done to everyone for taking part in all our fun activities this month.
A very big good luck to all our super star ⭐️ children who are leaving us to begin a new journey at school. We shall miss you. Happy holidays to everyone and if you are continuing on at nursery we are looking forward to a great summer “term”.
Article – Children have the right to play and rest.
Home Room Learning
There has been lots of activity in the home room this week.
We have been baking flap jacks and scones.
The children have been sampling a variety of snacks, including overnight oats, yoghurt and a range of fruit and bread sticks, all freshly prepared by the children.
We have had lots of learning opportunities at the literacy table using a variety of writing material.
The children have been choosing lots of board games to enhance their numeracy and literacy knowledge. These games also help with language skills and turn taking.
The home corner has been busy with imaginative play, dressing up, picnics and story telling.
The children have enhanced their learning through play, making fun memories at Cart Mill Centre!
UNCRC Children have the right to play.
What a buuuuzzzzzzyyyyy week 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
What a wonderful learning journey we’ve been on, learning all about bees on World Bee Day. Where they live, what they eat and what they do….
We learned about the different types of bees, the queen bee, the worker bees and the drone bees. We had lots of opportunities to make our own bees…
Bees visit the flowers (can be up to 100 flowers per flight!!!) the pollen sticks to their hairy legs and bodies and this is then transferred when the bees visit different flowers. Bees then carry that back to their hives where the worker bees produce honey and it tastes delicious!!!!!!
Bookbug week
Filled with songs, rhymes and wonderful stories about nature and all the wonderful creatures we live alongside ….. AND if your lucky to see a bumble bee don’t squash it or scare them, give them a little sugared water and help them on their way 🐝🐝🐝
Article 28 You have the right to education
Ready steady balance
The children have been very enthusiastic building their own obstacle course outdoors. The children have been working together as a team discussing where each piece Is going, sharing ideas and problem solving.
The children were then eager to trial their course and all took turns using their gross motor skill and balancing skills. The majority of the children found this very easy and could quickly move around their course. They were still excited and decided and all followed each other round waiting patiently for others and helping one another.
Over the week we decided we would add some extra bit to make it more challenging for some of the children. We added various .objects etc ladders, elevating the planks so they could balancing walking up and down the ramp. stepping over the briidge. Some of the children were also able to stand on one leg and balance while on the raised wooden plank.The children had to concentrate more and take their time to ensure the did not fall off and the crocodiles did not catch them.
This week some of our children went out into our local environment and met with St Joseph primary school to do litter picking to keep our local environment safe and clean. the children worked in pairs to hunt for rubbish using their litter pickers to pick gather all the rubbish. This was a great opportunity for some our children to be meet others from the school they will attend. We are so proud of the teamwork and our children helping to look after our environment.
Working with Nature in the Cartmill Garden 🪴
The last few weeks in the garden have been so busy and very exciting. We had the pleasure of a visit from Carolside Primary 7 pupils who brought some bird houses to paint with our children. They also spent time playing with our boys and girls and were shown round our lovely new garden.
The girls and boys were also busy building a bug 🐛 hotel using their construction and problem solving skills. The best part is looking everyday to see who may have checked in.
Another visitor to the nursery was a teacher from Williamwood High School . She spoke to the children about the bees 🐝 that they keep and spoke about different types of bees , how they gather pollen and make honey. She kindly brought a bee suit and smoker for us to see and we even got to try on a bee suit which keeps you safe when working with the bees 🐝.
In the garden we have been we have been working with our willow sticks. We had some help to cut up the branches then used them for the bug hotel, painting and weaving sticks to hang on our “fairy tree”.
When playing in the garden we are alway looking out for signs of nature. Very exciting was a wasps nest being built in one of our bird house we had a careful look then removed it to a safe space. 
Finally we are continuing to care for our plants 🌱 and vegetables 🥕 and watching them grow.
The girls and boys have really enjoyed the last few weeks in the garden and we are looking forward to celebrating National Bee Day on the 20th May.
Article -Children have a right to be outdoors and explore.
Spend a week with us in the STEAM room
Welcome to our STEAM room!
This week we have been being super creative in the block area, creating our own designs and then having a go at building them with the blocks. Block play nurtures problem-solving and critical thinking.
Children learn through trial and error—figuring out how to make structures stable, how to recreate designs, or how to adapt when something collapses. This process builds resilience and persistence. Socially, when children build together, they practice communication, collaboration, and negotiation, sharing ideas and working towards common goals.
Also, in the science area we have been exploring the magnets. Magnet play supports language development as children describe what they notice, ask questions, and explain their discoveries. Fine motor skills are strengthened as they manipulate objects, while problem-solving skills grow as they figure out how to move items, build with magnetic pieces, or complete challenges.
Article 31 – I have the right to play
Earth Day 2026
Wednesday marked Earth Day 2026 so within the STEAM room we have spent this week learning more about our planet. We started by making the planet in a variety of creative ways- playdough, gloop and collage.
We also created the earth by colouring in the sea on a paper plate then planting cress seeds on the cotton wool to represent the countries. We had lots of chat about the different countries everyone has visited on their holidays.
Then we made something to help look after our planet. We cut the paper from the recycling bin and soaked it in green and blue water for two days before draining the water away. We took a small amount of paper and created a well to place some wild flower seeds inside then we squeezed any excess water away and rolled it into a ball so it looked just like Earth. The boys and girls are very excited to plant the seed bombs in their gardens or plant pots at home.
UNCRC Article 13- You have the right to find out things and say what you think through making art, speaking and writing.
Creative Children at Cart Mill
We have had lots of fun this week at nursery. We have been talking part in creative play.
We have also been exploring gross motor skill challenges in our garden this week. We have been walking like a dinosaur. We used a variety of dinosaur footprints to see the difference in size and shape. Some of our creative children tried to match our toy dinosaurs with the footprints.
Our children used their creative skills to create a pirate ship to set sail on an adventure. We used our building skills to make the ship and find loose parts to add to the inside. We used tyres as the steering wheel and tubes for our telescope.
Our children wanted to draw the sea and lava sharks surrounding the ship.
We loved our ship and used it as a cosy place to read stories together.
We enjoyed our pirate adventure so much we made our own pirate treasure imagination adventure. We made a map and had to follow all the directions, using our magic backpack along the way to help us at each stage of our journey.
One of our children made their own treasure map. Well done I wonder what treasure you will find.
To round off our creative week we had a drawing class. We put a you tube drawing tutorial and got our pens and paper ready to follow along.
We made stitch and Spider-Man aswell as some other favourite characters.
We used our concentration and were very impressed with our drawing.
