Category Archives: Block building

Block building, Literacy

Mega Measuring!

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This week the children have been making the most of the sunshine out in the garden. Some of our children were having great fun exploring measurement through their play!  They decided to use the decking boards to measure their friends. They wanted to find out who was taller than the different sized boards!

“Yip! You are taller than the wood so you can go on our rollercoaster!”

”Sorry, you are not tall enough for the rollercoaster!”

We decided to develop the children’s interest in measurement in the block area. The children helped to attach a large tape measure to the wall! They then used different sized blocks to build their own tower and measure how tall it was. They used a pen to mark on a piece of tape how tall they could actually build their towers!

“My tower is the biggest, it’s away up here!”

Some of the children wanted to estimate and point to where they thought they could build their tower to before it fell down!

“Yay look I got it that big, to that number!”

Next the children decided to measure each other and mark on the tape to see who was the tallest!

“You are tallest but let’s  see with your hair sticking up if you can be tallest!”

”If I put on my high heels on  I’ll be tallest! Try with your high heels!
(Tip Toes of course!!)

Other children were building towers with sticky bricks and decided to come over and measure their designs!

“I added more bricks and it’s in the higher numbers!”

”This tower is even taller than me!!”          “Wow, that’s big!”

What great fun we had with measurement this week and what great imaginations our children have!

 

Article 31 ~ The right to play

 

 

 

 

 

Block building, Creative movement, Creativity, Imaginative thinking

All aboard the Cart Mill train!

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“All aboard the Cart Mill train”, has been the cry throughout another fun filled week!  Holidays have been a hot topic of conversation, with much discussion over where we are going on holiday and how we are going to get there! This has led to a natural progression of our interest in forces through using personal experiences to explore different ways of travelling from one place to another!

In our garden “the floor is lava!”.  Using our problem solving skills we worked together to design our own obstacle course so that we could travel across the “lava without getting on fire” by climbing, balancing and jumping! It was lots of fun to explore balance further through using our “wobble” board to move from sided to side and up and down! Using our knowledge of forces, we explored different ways to transport water to “put out the lava” using hoses, pipes and funnels!

In our discovery room and studio we have demonstrated wonderful creativity through designing our own mode of transport on our interactive board and constructing  planes, trains, cars and boats using junk modelling and a fabulous kit donated by one of our families.

“It’s a boat.  I’m going on holiday to Ireland on a boat with my family”. “I maked a train. I love trains. I go’d on a train”.

Trains have been a firm favourite and we have been so busy in our block area constructing our own “Cart Mill station”  and “trains”which have been picking up passengers and dropping them at exciting destinations! “The train leaving platform 3 is for Spain”.


“I maked a bridge for the trains to go under”.  “My train is East Kilbride”.

Role play is another favourite activity! This week we have made our very own “bus” which took us on a journey full of fun, laughter and much excitement “to school”.

“I drived the bus. To school”. “I readed  a book”. “Beep beep”.

Of course one of our favourite ways to travel around Cart Mill is by bike! Lots of us have bikes and scooters at home. Gail very kindly brought us some bikes in and we had so much fun investigating how they work and using real tools to take them apart and using our problem skills to try and put them back together again!

Of course we had to bring out our Cart Mill bikes so that we could race each other round our garden!  What a fun filled, action packed week! We can’t wait for more adventures next week.

Article 13 – Freedom of expression

Artice 28 – Right to an education

Article 31 – Leisure, play and culture

 

Block building, Creativity

Building Bridges

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This week we decided we would use small blocks and loose parts to build our bridges.

The children began exploring the different materials provided  and using their fine motor skill and hand and eye coordination  to connect the pieces together.

“ this is too heavy, it’s going to fall.”

“This is really hard”

“Mine is a bit wobbly”

The children used problem solving skills while exploring a variety of ways to ensure the creations did not fall apart. The children shared their thoughts and ideas with each other.

“ I think the clips are too big and they bend”

“ glue would be good”

”mine are staying together”

”I like the pegs the best”

While building the children were discussing what they were creating and continued to share their thoughts and ideas.  They used mathematical language to describe their creations and had great concentration skills.

“Mine is strong and long”

“I am building a bridge which  is going going to be so long”

“I am going to build a big one for cars”

”mine is for cars too”

We then decided we would check how strong our bridges were. and chose a car or person to put on it.


“ I have 3 cars on”

”I have 3 people”

”I have 3 cars and 8 people”

The children were delighted at how strong their bridges were and that they were able to hold cars, figures or both.

Block building, Creativity

Creative Cement Constructions

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Today we had a discussion how we could ensure our towers did not fall down.

“Don’t move from it”

”cellotape”

“Glue”

What do you think builders use to keep bricks together.

“Cement”

We deceived to make our own cement so  we got a bowl and added our two ingredients sand and shaving foam. We used our gross motor skills to stir and combine them together.

”it looks crunchy”

”it looks sticky”

”it looks like real cement”

We then began making our creations using a variety of tools to spread the cement on the blocks. The children used their fine motor skills and hand and eye coordinating  to help secure the blocks together. The children had great  imaginations and communication skills sharing their thoughts, ideas and creations.The children used mathematical language.while building their structures

“Mine is so high”

“ it have lots of bricks

“mine is big an getting bigger and bigger”

”mine is going to be very tall”

” I have made a castle”

“Look at my bridge, the troll lives under it”

” I have made a big tower”

” I have made a big house”

Block building, Creativity, Literacy

Safety First at Cart Mill construction site!

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Today in our construction area we had a discussion on Health and Safety and why we wear protective clothing along with some important signs we may see in our local environment.

The children took turns within the conversations with their peers and  listened to each others ideas. Then they took turns trying on the protective clothing. Good sharing everyone!

Why do we wear helmets?

”they might fall”

”too keep there head good”

“something might fall on your head”

”you might bash into a pole”

“we also wear helmets on our bicycle”

Why do we wear high vis jackets?

”So everyone can see you”

“It’s bright”

”Keeps you safe”

”We wear them when we go out walks at nursery”

Why do we wear goggles?

”It stops something going in your eye”

”It looks after your eyes”

”Something might fly in it”

We then looked at a few signs and the children were very good at identifying each of them and talking about what they mean.

They were then keen to create their own poster to put up in our construction area to make sure all our friends know how to be safe.

We talked about what safety rules we could have in our Cart Mill construction site. These will keep us safe when building with the blocks.

”Share with your friends”

”Not too high”

”Carry them carefully”

”Help my friends”

Article 28 – I have the right to an education 

Article 32 – I should not be made to do dangerous work

 

 

Block building

Ready…Steady…Go

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The children have shown lots of interest in cars and have started exploring how they move on the car mat and in the garage. They have all used their imagination to create a variety of scenarios. Some of the children then decided to created their own garage, bridges and roads using the wooden blocks. It was like the Cart Mill city!


Afterwards, we decided to make ramps which we angled so that we could measure how far each of our cars could go. The children waited patiently for their turn and made predictions of how far they though their car would go. We experimented with different ways to measure. We used a variety of different tools such as a measuring tapes and pine cones to measure how far our cars went.


We had lots of fun taking turns racing each other to see which car went the furthest. We had a group discussion of whose was the furthest, developing our awareness of distance as well as some negotiation techniques!


“mine went the furthest”

” I won”

” look how far mine went”
” mine was super speedy”

We were also able to recognise some familiar numbers on the measuring tape and use these numbers to determine whose car ACTUALLY went the furthest.

We were able to use our mathematical language in discussions about distance such as length, distance and measure. “My car went to the 2 and the 3”

“7 pine cones”                                                                   2 and 3

This was a fun measuring experience for all children, regardless of age, which developed an awareness of measurement using non – standards of measurement as well as introducing standard measurement during play.

Block building, Creativity, Digital Technology, emotional literacy, Outdoor Learning

Welcome back everyone 🥰

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It’s lovely to see everyone and get settled well back into our nursery routine. Today we have enjoyed a variety of interesting learning experiences. We have made play dough, following an adult’s instructions to measure, mix, knead and roll. We then used it to make 3D shapes and discuss the properties of the different shapes. We got straight back to building wonderful creations including big towers so we could count how many bricks we had added. We investigated technologies and used our fine motor skills to make different drawings.

We also spent time problem solving to complete a pirate jigsaw and to build a new garage, which allowed us lots of imaginative play for our toy cars.

With everything being frozen, we decided it was a perfect time to role play with the artic animals.

And this is just the start of our first full week! Who knows what else we will do in Cart Mill this January?

Block building, Creativity, Expressive Arts, Literacy, Social Studies

“Let’s make the biggest train track in the world”

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We have been reading lots of stories this week and this has sparked some great ideas for the block area.

“I want to make a big office like that, I will need lots of blocks. My  mum goes to the office”

The children decided to choose their favourite book first and then make something from the book. We made a chart where each child ticked the side of their favourite book.

Fergus’s Scary night was the favourite! They decided on making a dogs bed for ‘Fergus’ to hide when he is scared.

“It’s triangle and square beds, Fergus not scared in here”. The children worked well together to build the dogs beds.


“We are building the biggest train track like Thomas, and a bridge look we can go under too”

Finally, the children built some of the buildings and structures from the story ‘All through the night’. “I’m building  the digger with a snow shovel that can lift snow and rocks, it has a train track under it”.

“This ones mummy’s office”

The children have loved creating things from their favour stories this week, using their imagination and problem solving to fit the pieces together.

Baking, Block building, Creativity, Expressive Arts, Snack, Special Event

Happy Halloween 🎃

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It’s a Hallowe’en fangtastic day here at Cart Mill. We have taken part in a variety of autumn learning experiences across each of our play rooms and garden.

We made spooky mud pie potions in our mud kitchen.

We also turned our water tray into a witches and wizards’ caldron using food colouring, shaving foam and different sized containers to create more potions.

We had opportunities to create Hallowe’en coloured crafts in our gross motor art area

In our Home Room we sang Hallowe’en songs and made Frankenstein’s green and purple sparkle playdough. We used our fine motor skills and imagination to mould our playdough into different shapes.

In the baking area we made witches fingers for snack (breadsticks with pumpkin seeds) it sounds like a yummy spooky snack.

In our Discovery Room we made a spooky block castle, using our creative and problem solving skills.

We also had our pumpkin potion experiment in our science area using our investigation and discovery skills.

And finally, in our Studio Room we were making Halloween houses, painting with our hands and creating wonderful pictures.

Some of our children came to nursery dressed up, here is a showcase of some of our many spooktacular costumes…..

Happy Halloween to all our families. 👻🎃👻🎃

Block building

Block Play & Lose Parts exploration!

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This week in the block area, the children have been investigating various different ways to create models & use their problem solving skills, self expression and imagination to create their own models.

The most popular creation this week has been building bridges of various shapes, sizes, length and height. The children have been developing their social and emotional skills by learning to take turns and share materials with their peers.

Block play helps children to become more confident in social situations and create friendships through communication and taking turns. Some of our children used the blocks and included some of our lose parts to create a ”tea party” where they made ”chicken nuggets” for their friends and shared them out one at a time. Very imaginative!

In the lose parts area, some of the children have showed that they are able to confidently match and sort objects using their own criteria such as colour or shape. The children were able to collect specified groups of objects and are beginning to organise objects.

”All the circles together”

”Orange”

Article 28: You have the right to education

Article 31: You have the right to play