Expressive Arts

Cardboard Creations

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Today in the Studio Room we were perfecting our painting.
We enjoy painting on a variety of resources on the floor, on the easel, on paper and on boxes etc, the floor is our canvas. Today we incorporated all of these and used cardboard to make our own DIY easel.

First we used recycled boxes from our junk modelling area to create our easel and used tape to secure it to the floor.  We all love using the sellotape dispenser.

Next we put on our painting aprons, selected a paint pot and brush and selected which paint we wanted to start with. We are very independent in our art area and can pour our own paints.

  

Then it was time to start our painting masterclass. We each shared our ideas of what we were creating. We all shared and swapped the paints to ensure we had all the colours on the colour wheel to choose from.

   

We worked hard using our fine manipulative skills to control our paintbrush as it glided over our paper creating our works of art.

 

Some us were feeling inspired to try using sponges to add texture to their paintings.

 

What fun we had, inspiring our future artists. Maybe one day we will grow up and be like Picasso or Van Gogh with our paintings displayed in an art gallery.

Literacy, Trips and Outings

Visiting the library

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We enjoyed a lovely visit to Busby library this morning. While walking to the library, we discussed what type of stories we like and which books we might choose.
Once we arrived we chose a book each and settled down to read them. We discussed what we thought the story might be about by looking at the covers then started to explore the books.

We enjoyed reading a story called There’s a Shark in my Bath altogether. I asked the children what they would do if they found a shark in their bath and they responded
“I would run away.”
“I would give him into trouble.”
“I would put him on the naughty step because he’s not allowed in my bath.”

Then Peter from the library also read us a lovely story about a Penguin.

We even got to dance like a penguin 🐧

Expressive Arts

Exploring the tinker table

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Today the children were exploring the different tools and wood at the tinker table and planned out what they were going to make and what tools they would need to make it.

“ I want to make a boat”

We discussed the safety rules we need to follow when using the tools and what we need to wear to keep our hands and eyes safe.

”We need to wear safety gloves”  “and goggles”


The children collected the things that they needed and got to work.

”I need some wood and a hammer and nails” “and some glue”

The nails are all different sizes so they had to measure against the wood to make sure the nail didn’t stick out the other end.

“I need different shapes of wood for my boat like the round bit for the sail, I need to glue it though because it’s too long”

“I want to use the hammer” “ This ones a bit tricky though”

They explored the different woods, some were softer than others.

The children are developing their hand eye co-ordination as they hammer the nails in to the wood.

“I want to saw this bit of wood”

When using the saw we mark on the wood with a pen which bit we would like to cut on so that it’s clearer to see the cut. Sawing takes large muscle movements when moving it back and forwards and develops Gross motor skills. “That was hard work”.

 

Expressive Arts

Jewellery making skills

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Today the children were exploring in the sewing area and decided they would like to make bracelets, friendship bracelets and necklaces.

We  searched for a variety of materials which we could thread.   We found lots of exciting resources such as coloured beads, sequins, buttons, pasta and foam shapes to choose from to begin our creativity.

First we chose either pipe cleaners, ribbon or wool to use as our bracelet.  We took time to select our favourite items to personalise our own jewellery . The children demonstrated great concentration and were able to talk and share ideas with each other throughout, discussing what materials and colours they were using.

“I like this one”

‘“mine is sparkly”

” lots of colours”

“it’s hard to do”

During this time the children were exercising their fine motor skills. We  talked about how we found it a little tricky to thread through the wool,  and that the  pipe cleaners worked better. The sequins did not fit on the pipe cleaners, so a few of the children were keen to try it with the thread. This was difficult, but with lots of effort and perseverance, we were able to complete this.

“ My mum will love this”

“It’s so pretty”

The children were then excited to try on their jewellery  and show it off.

“Oh this is cool”

“Can I make another one”

“I have made one for mummy and my friend”

Expressive Arts

3D Sculpting in the Studio

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Today, we have been very busy showing off our creative skills in the Studio. We designed our own fabulous sculptures and combined clay and a variety of different art materials to create them.

We had lots of different materials to choose from such as foam shapes, colourful straws, feathers ,patterned buttons, ribbon and pasta shapes.

First we took some cold, squishy clay to make a base for our sculpture. We moulded it in our hands before carefully positioning and  setting our skewer to begin our creations.

We used good hand eye co-ordination while we were skilfully threading our chosen materials onto our sculptures. We demonstrated excellent fine motor skills, especially when it was a little bit tricky getting those buttons through the skewers!

”I like the feathers it makes it look pretty”

”I’m making mine all blue”

“I can put three bits of pasta together to make it taller”

”I think the buttons are a bit  tricky ”

We loved showing off our our final products and displayed them proudly in the studio.

Can you create some 3D sculptures at home ? You could try sculpting some creative art using junk from any recycling materials you may have.

 

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No Monday blues for us, We made fantastic fairy cakes🧁

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Today in Cart Mill we decided we would like to make fairy cakes. We looked on the internet for a recipe and decided on vegan fairy cakes. Then, we collected all of our ingredients.

“We definitely need flour, oat milk and sugar”.

We were able to use the scales to weigh out all the ingredients.

“ I need 200ml of milk” “It’s only at 150ml, I need some more”.

“ I think it needs more flour it’s to sticky”.

We used our fabulous fine motor skills to stir and then transfer the cake mixture into paper cases.

“It’s very messy and slimy”.

We put our cakes in the oven for 10 minutes.

“I can do the timer for ten minutes”.

We were delighted when we took the cakes out of the oven and they were golden brown. Next, it was time to make the icing!  We discussed what colours we would like to use.

“ I want mine red because that’s my favourite colour “.

“ I want mine blue, like the sky”.

We finished off with some  lovely rainbow sprinkles . We are looking forward to tasting our cakes at home. Yummy 😋

Expressive Arts, Technologies

Cart Mill Engineers

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Today the children have been very busy in the Construction area.

They used their team working skills to discuss and create a plan to build a new bridge and roads.

They spoke about the different shapes and sizes of the blocks and how they would join together so that the road didn’t have ‘bumps’ on it .

“You need big muscles to be able to carry the big blocks”

“This block is wider than that one”

“We can make a ramp so the cars can go up and down,  the car can’t jump up”

They added in ‘funny shaped blocks’ to create  roundabouts for the cars to go round.

Once all the pieces were joined together for the road, they looked for bigger blocks for the bridge.

“This big one can be the start of the bridge and then we’ll add 4 bigger ones it will be so tall”

The children used their problem solving skills as they worked together to make the roads and bridge safe for the cars to drive on. They carried out a test run and a final check, then the bridge was complete.

Expressive Arts

Creative Clay Creations

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Today in the Studio we continued our experiment with clay. We have been learning about the difference in textures between clay and playdough, as well as the difference between wet and dry clay. So, today we took our learning one step further to investigate what we can make, by adding loose parts to our clay station.

We added some buttons, wooden sticks, paper straws, corks and our clay tools and markers as a invitation to spark the creative minds of our early learners.

We used our gross motor skills to roll out the clay, using the large rolling pins. We even tried using the other end of the rolling pin to make marks and indents into the clay.

Some of us used the clay hammers to create marks or flatten the clay to make it more malleable.

We each selected the loose parts we wanted and got to work creating our model, and look what we created! A hedgehog using the wooden sticks.

Others used the wooden sticks to make candles for a birthday cake.

We also created a robot, adding detail with paper straws.

We used the corks and wooden letters to make clay people.

We worked together to share our ideas and inspire each other.

We used our fine manipulative skills to select and place buttons onto our clay as part of our design process.

We even used the clay tools and loose parts to extend our mark making skills.
We learn best when we are having fun through play.
I wonder what will be at our clay station tomorrow?

Expressive Arts, Literacy

Loose Parts Play

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This week in the Discovery room we have had lots of fun exploring loose parts.

We have collected lots of different items to create our loose part trays. Using our excellent fine motor skills, we sorted our loose parts into groups of similar items.

Filling and emptying lots of different sized containers using tweezers and tongs helped us develop our fine motor skills, and develop our understanding of volume and measurement.

“This one has lots of big and small pieces”.

”It’s full. I’m emptying it out”.

It was lots of fun choosing which loose parts we would use to create our transient artwork. We have such wonderful imaginations!

“It’s a volcano with lava coming out”.

”I made a caterpillar with pom poms”.

”I made a maze. The board is the way in. That one is the way out”.

Some of us decided to choose our own loose parts to create the letters of our name.  We each drew our letter then carefully placed our loose parts along the lines.  Don’t they look fabulous!

To challenge ourselves further, we decided to make our names from our favourite loose parts.  We decided we like the pom poms, colourful matchsticks and gems the best!

There are so many fabulous things activities we can do with loose parts that help us develop a wide range of skills, our imaginations and creativity.
Loose parts can be anything from cardboard boxes, yoghurt pots, cotton reels and shells or sticks we can collect on holiday!
Why not have some fun with loose parts at home and see what you can create!

 

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Dancing in the rain 🥳

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The rain doesn’t stop the fun at Cart Mill!!

Out comes the ribbons 🎀

Out come the maracas!!

On goes our music 🎵

And off we go……..

Dancing, having fun with our friends, enjoying a variety of different music and dance, developing our gross motor skills by keeping fit making our hearts stronger and enjoying all the weather Scotland offers 🥰

 

 

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