Category Archives: Creative movement

Creative movement, Creativity, Social Studies

Looking after the babies

Leave a comment

Over the past week the children have enjoyed playing with the babies In the home corner.

They decided that the babies needed a bath because they were all dirty so we looked out the little baby bath.

“My baby brother has a tiny bath like that, but it isn’t purple”

“I’m going to be a big brother soon”

We added warm water to the bath with a sponge for cleaning the babies and discussed how to keep the babies safe when in the bath.

“The water can’t be too hot or it will be burny”

“you need to hold the babies head so it doesn’t fall”

The children carefully lifted the baby out the bath when they were all clean and lay them on a towel to dry before getting ready.

“My baby even has hair, I need to brush it”


They picked out clothes for the babies and dressed them ready for the day.

“First we need to put the babies nappy on”

“The baby won’t keep her socks on”

I asked the children what they think babies eat.

“They drink milk”

“and when they get big they eat mushy food, my mum uses a blender for making my baby’s dinner”

They fed the babies and then put them down for a nap.

“My babies eaten too much, it wants to go to the cot now”

Creative movement, Creativity, Outdoor Learning

Gross motor fun

Leave a comment

This week in the garden we have revisited the balance and coordination skills we have been practicing but also now introducing games to develop our hand/feet/eye coordination.

The children set up their own obstacle course using tyres and crates after talking about the football class they attended at the weekend.

“I was at football and made an obstacle course like nursery but we kicked a ball”

“Let’s get a ball and add X marks the spot”

They made a starting point by adding ‘X’ and drew a trail round the obstacles with chalk. They began by rolling the ball round with their hands. “It’s tricky to kick”

Then when they felt confident they began practicing kicking the ball round the objects developing their concentration as they tried to stick to the line keeping the ball under control.

“Dont go too fast or the ball will go far away”

They marked another ‘X’ at the end of the course so they knew where to stop and added a tyre “ 3 Large steps away “I’m going to throw the ball in to the tyre”.

The younger children enjoyed kicking the ball about the garden “football” so set up their goals and practiced kicking the ball.

Today we had to Improvise because of the change in weather so the children suggested we make an obstacle course inside. We practiced our balance and coordination on the balance beam, Hand/feet eye coordination by dribbling the ball and a throwing the ball in the baskets and using our large muscles to jump over obstacles.

“That was so easy, we need to make it harder next time”. The children are setting their own challenges and making new goals and targets for their learning. The next job is to sit together and make a plan on how we will make it more challenging.

Creative movement, Digital Technology, Expressive Arts, music, Special Event

Christmas Music and Dancing 💃

Leave a comment

As this is the last week before the Christmas holidays the children are full of excitement and energy. To help with the energy levels we decided to do some Christmas 🎄 dancing.

The children requested “Danny Go” as he has a lot of great Christmas moves

We enjoyed a dance with the Gingerbread man and the children were able to listen and follow the actions. This helps the children understand how their bodies can move and that  exercise is a good way to help keep their bodies healthy.

Our next dance was a penguin March we stood up tall and were able to waddle like penguins 🐧 making sure we could keep our balance when hopping on one leg.

After all the dancing it was time to help our bodies relax . We all enjoyed some rainbow relaxation.
The children followed the instructions to make a rainbow using their arms. Some of the children could name the colours and even knew that the rainbow 🌈 has indigo and violet .

We hope you all enjoy celebrating Christmas with us on Wednesday and you have happy and healthy holiday .

 

Article 29   You have the right to learn new things to the best of your abilities.

 

Go back

Your message has been sent

Creative movement, Literacy, Outdoor Learning

Puddle Play!

Leave a comment

For most children puddles have a magnetic effect! Today in the garden the children were delighted to find so many big puddles had appeared after all the rain. They were desperate to get their wellies on and start jumping! We wanted to see who could splash the most water out of the puddles!

We used one of the crates to jump off to see if that created a bigger splash! The children very cleverly observed that the higher they jumped from, the bigger the splash!

”Wow, that was big, I got more wet!”

After all their jumping, the children decided to roll the tyres through the puddles to see if they made big splashes.

“1, 2, 3 Push!!!”

I asked the children if they could see anything else in the garden that could make a splash in the puddles! They found the football and had great fun kicking it and throwing it to make big splashes!

The children found a puddle in our big tray and decided to throw the ball to each other across the tray! This created big splashes which caused great hilarity when they got their faces splashed!

“Ah, it’s very cold on my face!”

“When  life gives you a rainy day, play in the puddles!”

Article 31 ~ You have the right to play

Creative movement, Creativity, Expressive Arts, Outdoor Learning, Social Studies, Special Event

Diwali Celebrations!

Leave a comment

Diwali is a Hindu festival celebrated with much excitement and light. It usually involves the lighting of lamps or diyas, symbolizing the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. People also exchange gifts, clean and decorate their homes, and participate in various cultural and religious activities during this festival.

Take a look at some of the activities we have been doing as we learn about Diwali.

Today in the garden we used power paint to create our own rangoli patterns. It was a great gross motor art activity that got our bodies moving.  Using bright colours the children selected their painting tools and got busy. Rangoli patterns are traditional Indian art created on the ground usually during festivals and special occasions. Rangoli involves using coloured powders, rice, flour, or flower petals to make intricate and vibrant designs. Rangoli is believed to bring good luck and positive energy to the surroundings.

 

On Friday we had a camp fire in the garden with Val. We helped to make some pakora and cooked them on the fire.  Outdoor cooking with a fire is great fun and our children at Cart Mill love to take part. The crackling flames create an exciting setting as the children prepare simple recipes connecting them with nature and basic cooking methods. Whether it’s toasting marshmallows, baking bread on sticks, or cooking pakora the open fire becomes an engaging tool for learning teamwork, patience, safety and an appreciation for the environment.

UNCRC

ARTICLE 2 – Non- discrimination.

ARTICLE 31 – Leisure, play and culture

 

Creative movement, emotional literacy, Expressive Arts

Creative movement

Leave a comment

Creative movement is a fabulous way  for children to express their feelings, thoughts and ideas.  Touch and movement are the earliest senses we develop.  Children explore the world around them through these senses and they may provide rich learning experiences that can influence our health and well-being (Reynolds. S. 2023).

Energetic play is an excellent way which supports children to progress their movement in different forms.  Creating their own obstacle course provided a wealth of opportunities to climb, balance, jump or crawl!

Taking turns, our children created the movement they would like to perform, and their friends took great delight in copying! Whether it be running, side stepping, rolling (which was a definite favourite), rotating or frog jumps, each movement provided the opportunity to travel through our space, develop our co-ordination and strengthen our gross motor skills.

Children enact repeated patterns of behaviour in play, known as Schemas, allowing them the freedom to explore their thoughts and ideas, which is an important part of their brain development.   Performing action songs with simple patterns such as head, shoulders, knees and toes and Grand old duke of York during Bookbug is the ideal opportunity to connect with our bodies and each other by creating tunnels, and improve our flexibility!


What better way to express our creative movements than to clear some space, pop on  favourite songs and dance our hearts out! This provides the opportunity to move freely, perform spontaneous movements and have lots of fun!

Article 29 – your education should help you use and develop you talents and abilities.