Please find information on the HENRY programme starting soon in Busby Parish Church.
Colourful Mondays in the studio 
Today in the studio some of the children enjoyed a mark making
sensory activity involving lots of cling film and colourful paint.
The older children took pleasure in writing their names and drawing shapes in the squishy paint they also realised by mixing the colours together they could make secondary ones. The younger children made patterns with their fingers and delighted in feeling the squishiness of the paint beneath their hands. Some of the children thought that next time they would like to use their feet to see how that felt.
Later on a few of the children took part in some alphabet printing and searching for the first letter of their name. We also did a letter hunt in some play foam. G found a v for her Mums name .
What a lovely busy day we all had today at Cart Mill . I can’t wait to see what exciting activities we get up to over the rest of the week .
X marks the Spots
This week in the creative area we have been exploring patterns. We have been using different utensils to create these patterns. Today we used different circular resources from our junk modelling area. We used tubes, corks and lids dipped in paint to make our spotty prints.
We noticed the paper was in the shape of an X. “X marks the spots.”
Meanwhile In our Junk modelling area we were gifted a large box.
We didn’t know what we could do with it. Could we fit inside?
Yes we could it was so big! If X marks the spot maybe we could make a pirate ship! We soon got to work. We used our technology skills to look for ideas for our ship on the iPad.
We decided we needed a pirate flag. We worked together to problem solve how to attach it to our ship.
Once we had secured it with tape and ribbon, we got to work making the windows and shape of the boat.
We used our safety skills to cut the box with scissors.
We needed to paint it next. It was such a huge box it took lots of us to paint it.
One of our children spotted that we can’t have a pirate ship without a steering wheel!
We used paper straws to make “the jaggy bits the pirate captain holds to drive the boat.” We tried lots of different ways to attach the wheel so we could still turn it. Luckily we tried pipe cleaners and it worked!
It was time to set sail on the seas to hunt for pirate treasure! At the writing table, we had the fantastic idea of creating a telescope for our adventures!
At group time today we found a book in the story area about pirates and decided tomorrow we will make a treasure map to give us directions to the treasure.
Our learning experience and ideas went on a journey and crossed all over the nursery today using different areas to add to our initial idea.
We can’t wait to see how our treasure maps turnout and if x really did mark the spot!
Christmas at the tinker table….
This month we have introduced a new tool. We talked about the safety rules and the best way to use our saw. This can be a tricky tool to master but with lots of practise we were able to start sawing different materials. This will help strengthen hand and arm muscles and also develop hand and eye coordination skills.
As we have wooden craft sticks at the tinker table some of the children wanted to make a Christmas tree 
. The children discussed the best way of making the shape and decided to draw it out first then using glue they followed the line they had made and pressed the sticks on. “ it does look like a tree”. The girls and boys were able to then self select their own materials to decorate the tree.
We also had some coloured craft sticks which we were able to stick together ,decorate and hang on our tree . “Beautiful “.
We had a very frosty week and the boys and girls were excited to see the ice 
. “Maybe it will snow and we can make snow men”. Our clever children talked about what they could use to make a snow man at the tinker table. We had white card board tubes but they were quite long “so we can cut them” a very good idea to get some sawing practise !. We decorated our snowmen and used our fine motor skills to thread through our pipe cleaner arms.
The craft sticks were brought back out this week. We made some different shapes with them and then the girls and boys decided the favourite was a Christmas star 
and a snow flake. They stuck the craft sticks together with wood glue and the have used very “sparkly “ resources to make them shine bight. The children have hung them on our Christmas tree and they look great and they might “ twinkle”
when it gets
dark.
Here is a collection of the childrens great work . You maybe able to spot all the boys and girls hard work for Christmas in all our rooms when you are visiting the nursery.
Article 13 .. we have the right to play and explore.
Christmas Lunch at Cart Mill Cafe
The festive season is in full swing at Cart Mill, and today we celebrated with our annual Christmas lunch! Preparations began this morning, with the children using their mark-making skills to create beautiful baubles to decorate our dining room, adding a personal touch to the festivities. Using a selecting of Christmas craft materials, they explored their creative skills and made some fantastic Christmas decorations. We even has some amazing name writing!
On the menu was a mouthwatering traditional turkey dinner, complete with all the trimmings. It was a real treat for everyone! Let’s not forget the delicious ice cream for our pudding!
In early years, sharing meals together is so much more than just eating. It’s a valuable opportunity for children to develop their social skills, engage in meaningful conversations, and build connections with their peers and adults. Moments like these create lasting memories and help foster a strong sense of community.
Take a look at some of the photos and comments from today 
”The carrots are my favourite”
”We have Christmas dinner at our house but it’s different”
”I like the turkey”
”It’s chocolate ice cream, that’s my favourite!”
The children were all smiles and clearly enjoyed every bite of their Christmas lunch, and let’s not forget a big thank you to our Louise our fantastic Cart Mill Chef!
Wishing everyone a joyful and festive season!
Article 1
Everyone under 18 has all these rights
Article 27
You have the right to a good enough standard of living.This means you should have food, clothes and a place to live
Ship Ahoy!!
Last week in the Discovery Room the children were fascinated with Aeroplanes! This stemmed from one child talking about his Daddy being an engineer for an Airline! The children watched clips of planes landing and then designed and built their own aeroplane using the blocks!
Following on from this, we had a discussion about different modes of transport and today the children decided to design and build their own boat! We looked at clips of different types of boats on the screen and got to work creating our masterpiece!
“This boat needs big sides!”
“Don’t forget a steering wheel!”
Once the Cartmill Cruise Ship was complete the children wasted no time jumping on board and playing in it!
“There’s too many people, it might sink!”
The children used their imaginations and went on holiday to many places from Glasgow to as far away as Canada!
”My Gran goes on a cruise ship!”
When we were in bed sleeping the sea got a bit choppy which the children thought was scary!
”Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
The children then used the iPad to scan the QR code for our five little boats song which they enjoyed singing along to!
Once we had travelled the world in our boat the children decided they wanted to make their own little boats to race in the water tray! It was agreed that tinfoil would create the best boats.
“Tinfoil is light, because it’s light it stays on top of the water!”
“The sides are going up to stop the water going in!”
”Mine is a big boat with a little boat inside!”
The children had great fun racing their boats, they also decided to use empty butter tubs which they discovered also floated and they covered the lids in tinfoil to make a life raft!
“Ah, mine has sunk, my floating bits have come off!”
”Oh no, I have a leak, it’s sprung a leak!”
”There’s been a Tsunami which caused a whirlpool!”
We explained to the children their boats had capsized! They had not heard this expression before so we looked it up on the iPad to show them images of what it meant!
A lot of fun was had by the children starting with them being so imaginative in the block area. Block play encourages the children’s creativity whilst learning to take turns and share materials. They are learning to cooperate whilst playing and communicating with their friends!
Well done to the Cartmill designers and builders!
Article 31 – Children have the right to play.
Cart Mill goes Christmas Crazy 
We are officially in the festive mood now!
The Christmas trees came out of storage and the children were very excited to help decorate them. We popped on some Christmas tunes and got to work. The children shared lots of lovely stories about putting up their own trees at the weekend too.
The Christmas vibe took over other areas of the nursery as well..
Then we enjoyed a wee boogie to the Christmas music. Some of the children were even break dancing or doing ‘The worm’!
23 days to go!!
Family Learning Event
A huge thank you to our families who attended our Family Learning event. Within East Renfrewshire schools and nurseries, there is a campaign to encourage more family learning in both early years centres and primary schools. Many parents engage in their child’s education through stay and play sessions or meet the teacher, but we want to encourage you to join in their learning with us.
- family learning helps extend teaching outside of the nursery and can improve educational outcomes for children
- It is an effective way for parents to engage with their child’s nursery and can improve communication between practitioners and parents
- it can also open new communication between parents and children and make learning fun for both
Our staff follow Curriculum For Excellence which is the curriculum for children from the age of 3-18. All staff are qualified to deliver this and our event was a great opportunity to share the fantastic work they do. Our teacher Helen helps staff to plan learning activities in each area, which is then shared on our planning wall in the playroom, along with ideas of how you can continue this learning at home.
Eilidh, our STEM Ambassador, shared some of the fantastic experiments she helps our children create. Snowstorm in a jar and monster in a cup are amongst our favourites!
Helen helps support our children to develop their literacy and numeracy skills by creating fabulous learning activities. She has created some really useful information on phonological awareness which is the foundation for helping our children develop their early reading skills and showcased some examples of how this could be reinforced at home.
Fiona recently attended the Hanen ABC and beyond training which supports children to develop and build their language, reading and writing skills. She shared the wonderful work Iona has done with our children to develop their knowledge of environmental print such as familiar logos on packaging, signs and creating their own posters and helping with labelling their playroom.
Angela and Val were on hand to answer any questions, share information on transitions to Primary 1 or for families who may wish to defer their entry.
Our event was a wonderful opportunity to share information with families and to ask for ideas of how we can work together to help you join in your child’s learning. Your thoughts and opinions are so important to us and we would love your feedback on times that would suit you best for us to hold future events and whether you would be interested in learning bags, information leaflets or any ideas you have.
Superworm at Book Week Scotland 2024
Last week in our playdough area we were celebrating Book Week Scotland by reading “Superworm”.
Engaging with our favourite stories and finding joy in reading helps to strengthen our children’s literacy skills and comprehension abilities whilst having fun. Reading books with our children also helps them to enhance their cognitive abilities such as memory retention, critical thinking and problem solving.
Today we had the curiosity cube in our playdough area and who was inside? Our very own Superworm!
We made pink playdough and had a go at creating our very own Superworm. We used some of our dough disco moves we have been practicing to help us roll the playdough into a sausage to make our Superworm .
We found some googly eyes and some sticky stickers to add to our Playdough just like the real Superworm .
We enjoyed making our Superworm and some of our children even wanted to make lots of friends for Superworm.
We counted them as we made them, promoting our numeracy learning through our play experiences.
Our older children wanted to make different characters from the story. Some children chose their favourite baby toad to create.
We decided to retell the story of Superworm using our playdough creations. Some of us decided to change the story and create their own.
We had Super worm with his friends, Superworm saving the princess in the castle, Superworm with the zoo animals and Superworm the flying worm.
We shared our ideas with our friends and discussed different characters and events in our story. Storytelling provokes conversations between our children of different ages and stages of development.
Here is a look at some of our own Superworms.
We read the story of Superworm and used Superworm and one of our playdough toads to help retell the story.
“Superworm is super long.”
”Superworm is super strong.”
“watch him wiggle.”
”see him squirm.”
”Hip hip hooray for Superworm.”
I wonder what characters from our favourite stories will be in our curiosity cube tomorrow? Don’t forget to help yourself to a book at our front door to share with your children at home as part of our Book week Scotland.
Creative Cars and Crafts
This week in the junk modelling the children have continued to use their imagination to create their own creations. They have been using a variety of materials and glue and cellotape to connect the different resources together. The children have helped each other and shared resources and ideas with each other.
” I am making a car”
”oh I want to make a car”
” we can make a car we both can go in”
” cellotape is stronger”
” glue is easier , but sometimes doesn’t stay on”
some of the children were making boxes for jewellery, making trains & decorating their boxes with lots of different colours.. they were able to use the glue and pick their own resources
A few of the other children had so much fun creating their own cars. They talked to each other on what they would need for the cars and got to work. A few of the children added great detail to their cars.
“ 4 wheels”
” steering wheel”
” I need a coffee cup & cup holder”
” oh I want a coffee cup too”
I am putting a horn on my wheel”
” I need lights on mine”
Th children then had lots of fun in the cars, some then turned into choo choo trains.
“ we are going a shopping & taking the baby”
“ I am going to the beach”
” I am going to the park”
The children continued their play in the or cars and shared them with their friends so everyone could have a turn.
