Creative movement, Creativity, Expressive Arts, Imaginative thinking

Paint -Let’s Explore !!

Leave a comment

Today we decided to explore and have some fun with the paint through colour mixing and sensory experiences. We had a look at the colour charts and chose our colours and filled our pots.

We began to mix our colours together and were excited to see them change right before our eyes. “ Look you made pink”.  The children created peach, lime green, sky blue , yucky brown!

The children always enjoy some hand painting. Engaging with different colours, textures and materials stimulates the child’s senses, promoting integration and cognitive development.

We can even paint our nails and blow them dry like mummy does!

Some of the older children began to try different ways to use the cotton buds  “Look I can roll mine and it makes a bigger mark and it feels nice in my fingers “.  This helps develop the fine motor skills and enhancing hand eye coordination.

Producing their own artwork gives all our children a sense of accomplishment and pride, boosting their confidence and self-esteem. Plus it was just great fun!!

Article – 13  You have the right to play and learn through new experiences.

Outdoor Learning

Who lives in our Forest?

Leave a comment

We can’t believe it’s week 3 of our forest school experience already!  Each week we have grown in confidence leading us to be independent and lead our own learning!

Today was a wet and damp day in our forest. As we came together to do our sticky toes, we immediately noticed a number of “friends” had joined us!   Can you guess who they might be?

“Look what I found, it’s a baby snail”

”Look at that one up there. It’s massive”. “How did it get up there?”

There were lots of snails,  we counted at least 20 of all different sizes.  Using our magnifying glasses we spotted some tiny baby snails hiding on a leaf and some bigger more adventurous snails higher up in the tree! This sparked much discussion of where snails live, how they move around and how they managed to climb up trees!

It was lots of fun exploring our forest floor to see who else might live there!  Looking carefully under logs and gently moving leaves we discovered a “family” of woodlouse, “a wee black beetle” and a spider who was making a web “just like Spider-Man”.   Just like last week we could  also hear “birdies singing in the trees”.  We have been learning how to look after our forest and the wildlife who live there.  With this in mind, we decided to carefully return our friends to their homes and be super careful “not to stand on them and squash them”.

Before we left there was just enough time to squeeze in a wee turn of our rope swing where we demonstrated we could assess our own risk by deciding where to place our swing, identify the rock nearby was a hazard and warn our friends to “stand back so you don’t get hurt”.

It was another action packed, fun filled forest school where we demonstrated we truly are responsible citizens!

Article 29 – the right to an education which develops my personality, respects each other’s rights and the environment

Creative movement, Creativity, Expressive Arts, Imaginative thinking, Literacy

Pikachu clay models

Leave a comment

The children wanted to make something different with the clay, but they were unsure of what. So last week we sat down together and discussed some ideas, I asked the children questions to get them to really think about their interests and how we could incorporate these in to our clay area.

Pokémon seemed to be a common theme so we used the iPad to search the internet for some Pokémon ideas. We came across a clay Pokémon figure, it was perfect! The children helped pick out some other clay model pictures including unicorns, garden gnomes, and even Elsa from Frozen . I printed these out and laminated them, leaving them on the table to inspire some ideas.

The children began to make their own models, squeezing, rolling, and manipulating the clay to their desired shape. They soon realised looking at the pictures that our clay was grey and the pictures used coloured clay, how would they make their own models colourful? They worked together using their problem solving skills to come up with some ideas. “I know, we could get paint!” “and paintbrushes and paint them and that’s how they will be colours”.


Once their models were finished we left them to dry out over the weekend, ready for painting this morning.

There was lots of great ideas.


“A bowl of soup with spoon”

“Pikachu”

“I made a snail”


They put their finished models on the shelf to let the paint dry, we can’t wait to see the end result.

 

Snack

Homemade Cart Mill Crumble!

Leave a comment

In the bustling kitchen of Cart Mill, our young chefs have been busy making their very own apple crumble from scratch.  Working together they have transformed simple ingredients into a mouth watering dessert. Let’s dive into what they did today.

Ingredients:

  • Fresh, crisp apples
  • Gluten-free flour
  • Butter (Homemade of course)

Cooking Steps:

Peeling and Chopping Apples: With careful guidance and a trusty peeler, the children skilfully removed the apple skins supported by an adult to ensure every apple was perfectly peeled. Once peeled the apples were diced into tiny pieces ready to be cooked till nice and soft.

Making Homemade Butter: The kitchen was full of excitement as the children embarked on a butter-making adventure. Filling a container with double cream, and a few marbles they were ready to begin.  Woking together they shook the contents for a very very long time, but their persistence paid off. When we opened the container what did we find….BUTTER!

“It takes a very very long time”

“look its butter”

“Butter comes from cows”

“You make butter with milk”

Creating the Crumbly Crumble: With homemade butter in hand and flour at the ready, the children blended the two ingredients together. Displaying excellent fine motor skills they rubbed until a crumbly concoction emerged. It will be a perfect topping!

Layering and Topping: As the final step, the children layered the cooked apples into a dish. Adding  generous sprinkles of the crumble mixture on top they were complete and smelling delicious!

Now, with their apple crumbles assembled they are ready to take home for baking until golden and bubbling. We wrote our names on the lid so we could identify them at home time.  Well done team!

At Cart Mill, cooking is all about fun and teamwork! Making apple crumble together not only filled their tummies but also explored new skills.  Cheers to their cooking adventure!

………………………………………………………………………………

Article 1
Everyone under 18 has all these rights

Article 28
You have the right to education

Article 29
You have the right to education which tries to
develop your personality and abilities as much as
possible and encourages you to respect other
people’s rights and values and to respect the
environment

Literacy, Makaton

Dear Zoo with makaton

Leave a comment

The story of Dear Zoo is an absolutely favourite within Cart Mill. The younger children in particular enjoy this story.  To add more challenge for the older children, today we learned the Makaton signs for all the animals while reading the story.

The boys and girls were great at copying the signs! The monkey and the lion were definitely the favourites!

Due to the simple language and repetition, children of all age and stage can join in and it gives them the confidence to be the ‘reader’ too. Many children with minimal language due to their age or having English as an additional language will know the names of animals and/or can join in with the repeating line of ‘I sent him back.’ This is great for developing their social skills and allowing them to be part of a group.

We read the story three times altogether then one of the girls asked if she could read it to her friends. The other children happily joined in with the actions and putting the animal puppets back in the zoo.


The boys and girls then took turns of reading the book and continued to play with the puppets to create their own stories.

If you would like to learn how to read Dear Zoo using makaton you can follow this link and join in with Singing Hands.

Froebel, Imaginative thinking, Outdoor Learning

Forest fun

Leave a comment

It’s been a fun filled couple of weeks for our Wednesday forest schoolers!

As we are so experienced and have demonstrated we can play safely in our forest, we decided we would like to build our own rope swing! Luckily Val was on hand to find a nice strong tree and put our swing up for us. We had so much fun taking turns to see how far we could swing!

“look at me I’m going so high!”

Climbing trees has been our favourite thing to do.  After a wee bit of help and some practice, we are now able to assess our own risk and climb to a safe height by ourselves!

“Look at me, I’m swinging like a monkey”

”I’m split man because I can do the splits!”

Our imaginative thinking has shone through in our forest.  With sticks as our inspiration we have built campfires to go camping, been doctors helping look after our friends, been old people using a walking stick, and have created our own X marks the spot and an equals sign!

Our Forest truly is a magical place! We wished “we could live here” “can we go camping”.  We can’t wait to come back next week!

Article 12 – (respect for the views of the child)

Article 28 – (right to education)

Article 29 – (goals of education)

Article 31 – (leisure, play and culture)

 

 

Outdoor Learning

The Cart Mill Campsite!

Leave a comment

This week at Cart Mill, some of the children have enjoyed building dens, sparking discussions about camping. To further explore this interest, we decided to embark on a fun learning experience by pitching a tent and creating the Cart Mill Campsite!

First, we worked together to set up the tent, following the instructions and learning about its different parts along the way. Through this activity, the children not only learned practical skills but also developed important social skills such as effective communication, sharing responsibilities, and supporting each other.

We began by carefully laying out the tent, taking our time to select the perfect spot and ensuring that it would fit just right. With teamwork in full swing, we joined the tent poles together and skilfully threaded them through the fabric, gradually bringing the tent to life

We focused on securing the tent to the ground by hammering the pegs firmly into place. Working together, we used our strength to make sure each peg was secure.  One of our group stressed the importance of this, saying “It will keep it from blowing away in the wind”

 

One child suggested making a campfire, remembering how they had learned it at forest school by rubbing sticks together. Excited, some of the children got busy gathering sticks from the garden and creating the pretend campfire to cook on and keep warm.

The tent became a provocation for imaginative play, allowing the children to explore role play camping adventures, fostering creativity, storytelling, and role-playing skills. We even gathered around for some campfire songs, with “10 Fat Sausages Sizzling in a Pan” being a firm favourite, helping the children practice counting backwards from 10 to 0.

Some of the children gathered inside the tent for a story. The children chose a book that sparked a discussion about what jobs we could so when we grow up.  Take a look below at some of the suggestions.

“I want to a builder”

“I want to be a king”

“I want to be a dragon”

“I want to a teacher”

“I want to be a builder like dad”

“I want to be a princess doctor like the story”

” I want to be a vet and look after dragons”

It was a fantastic experience that combined learning and fun, fostering a love for camping and outdoor exploration in our little Cart Mill campers. 🏕️🔥🎶

(Article 12) (respect for the views of the child)

(Article 28) (right to education)

Article 29 (goals of education)

Article 31 (leisure, play and culture)

life cycles, nature

Life cycle of frogs 🐸

Leave a comment

This week at Cart mill we have been reading the book “The teeny Weeny tadpole”. This got us discussing the life cycle of frogs.

The life cycle of frogs is a super interesting part of life. Our children have been so fascinated with the four different stages of the metamorphosis process.

We have been learning that the frog goes though four different stages of life. Starting with the female frog laying eggs. Once the egg hatches, the tadpole is born with a tail.  As the tadpole increases in size it begins to grow legs and arms and soon becomes a froglet. The last stage is when the froglet grows into and adult frog and no longer has a tail.

“This tadpoles has legs”

“mine has arms and legs it’s a froglet”

Though the small world play in our water tray the children have been exploring the different stages of life and the environment frogs live in. We started off by making the frogspawn which we added to the water with plants, pebbles, logs, flowers, frogs, tadpoles, froglets and other insects we would find living in and about a pond. The children have been so engaged in their play, discovering the tadpoles and froglets in the water. They have enjoyed comparing the different stages, putting them into order, building a habitat in and out of the water, lining up the frogs, creating frog family’s, splashing them into the water and most of all sharing their new found knowledge about the frogs life cycle.

We have also been very lucky to have a friend with a pond who has brought in some of their tadpoles for us to get a up close look. The tadpoles are around 5 weeks old and have started growing legs.

The children have been very curious about the tadpoles and have been asking lot of different questions.

“Where did they come from?”

“Are they real tadpoles?”

“When will they be frogs?”

Some of the children have also been busy coming up with some names.  So far we have Stormy, Bob, Keekey, Tommy, Boo-boo, Tingy, and Lady.

We hope the tadpoles come and visit again so so that we can see the change in them.🐸

Creative movement, Expressive Arts, Froebel, Imaginative thinking, Literacy, Outdoor Learning, Social Studies

Dandelion tea in our mud kitchen cafe

Leave a comment

We have really been enjoying our mud kitchen area in our nursery garden. The children have particularly enjoyed the role play aspect of our mud kitchen.


We have been using the mud, water and utensils to create lots of wonderful muddy meals.  The children have turned our mud kitchen into the “mud kitchen cafe”. The children have been taking it in turns to  see who will be the cook and who will be the customer.  This has been especially enjoyed by our 3-5 year old children.

This week in our mud kitchen cafe some of our children noticed there were some dandelions growing in our garden and wanted to use them as part of the ingredients for their muddy meals.

The cooks got to work mixing, whisking and cooking the delicious muddy meals and daffodil tea.

We were using so many skills during our role play, such as gross and fine motor skills, creative thinking, imaginative play, problem solving and learning new vocabulary.

Once the food was cooked at the kitchen it was time to take it to the table to serve the customer

and pour the dandelion tea.

We also used our early writing and mark making skills to create our menu board to tell the customers what they could buy and how much it was going to cost them.

Our older children have been great role models for our younger children helping them to develop new skills and guiding them how to play.

Within our mud kitchen we have noticed the enjoyment the 2-3 year old children have gained from pouring and filling using the mud kitchen utensils. We set up a pouring and filling station on our tough tray in the mud kitchen to engage our younger children and follow their interests.

The children had so much fun using the water to fill up the different sized utensils and containers pouring them from one to the other or down the plastic gutter.

Our younger children were using their pouring and filling skills while developing their curiosity.

We had so much fun mixing and whisking the water just as if we were cooking in the mud kitchen cafe as well.

We loved pouring and filling the water so much we even made a puddle to splash in.

If our hands got too muddy and we didn’t like it we used our water jugs to wash away all the mud from our hands if we wanted to continue to play before going inside to wash our hands with soap.

I wonder what we will be serving in our mud kitchen cafe tomorrow?

Article 31 – I have the right to relax and play. 

Report a Glow concern
Cookie policy  Privacy policy