Category Archives: Creativity

Block building, Creativity, Imaginative thinking, life cycles, Mindful moments, nature, Outdoor Learning

Working with Nature in the Cartmill Garden 🪴

Leave a comment

The last few weeks in the garden have been so busy and very exciting. We had the pleasure of a visit from Carolside Primary 7 pupils who brought some bird houses to paint with our children. They also spent time playing with our boys and girls and were shown round our lovely new garden.

The girls and boys were also busy building a bug 🐛 hotel using their construction and problem solving skills. The best part is looking everyday to see who may have checked in.

Another visitor to the nursery was a teacher from Williamwood High School . She spoke to the children about the bees 🐝 that they keep and spoke about different types of bees , how they gather pollen and make honey. She kindly brought a bee suit and smoker for us to see and we even got to try on a bee suit which keeps you safe when working with the bees 🐝.

In the garden we have been  we have been working with our willow sticks. We had some help to cut up the branches then used them for the bug hotel, painting and weaving  sticks to hang on our “fairy tree”.

When  playing in the garden we are alway looking out for signs of nature.  Very exciting was a wasps nest being built in one of our bird house we had a careful look then removed it to a safe space.

Finally we are continuing to care for our plants 🌱 and vegetables 🥕 and watching them grow.

The girls and boys have really enjoyed the last few weeks in the garden and we are looking forward to celebrating National Bee Day on the 20th May.

Article -Children have a right to be outdoors and explore.

Creativity, Expressive Arts, Imaginative thinking, nature

Earth Day 2026

Leave a comment

Wednesday marked Earth Day 2026 so within the STEAM room we have spent this week learning more about our planet. We started by making the planet in a variety of creative ways- playdough, gloop and collage.

We also created the earth by colouring in the sea on a paper plate then planting cress seeds on the cotton wool to represent the countries. We had lots of chat about the different countries everyone has visited on their holidays.

Then we made something to help look after our planet. We cut the paper from the recycling bin and soaked it in green and blue water for two days before draining the water away. We took a small amount of paper and created a well to place some wild flower seeds inside then we squeezed any excess water away and rolled it into a ball so it looked just like Earth. The boys and girls are very excited to plant the seed bombs in their gardens or plant pots at home.

UNCRC Article 13- You have the right to find out things and say what you think through making art, speaking and writing.

Creative movement, Creativity

Creative Children at Cart Mill

Leave a comment

We have had lots of fun this week at nursery. We have been talking part in creative play.
We have also been exploring gross motor skill challenges in our garden this week. We have been walking like a dinosaur. We used a variety of dinosaur footprints to see the difference in size and shape.  Some of our creative children tried to match our toy dinosaurs with the footprints.

Our children used their creative skills to create a pirate ship to set sail on an adventure. We used our building skills to make the ship and find loose parts to add to the inside. We used tyres as the steering wheel and tubes for our telescope.


Our children wanted to draw the sea and lava sharks surrounding the ship.

We loved our ship and used it as a cosy place to read stories together.

We enjoyed our pirate adventure so much we made our own pirate treasure imagination adventure. We made a map and had to follow all the directions, using our magic backpack along the way to help us at each stage of our journey.

One of our children made their own treasure map. Well done I wonder what treasure you will find.

To round off our creative week we had a drawing class. We put a you tube drawing tutorial and got our pens and paper ready to follow along.

We made stitch and Spider-Man aswell as some other favourite characters.

We used our concentration and were very impressed with our drawing.

 

Block building, Creativity, Expressive Arts, Imaginative thinking, Mindful moments

Marching through the month

Leave a comment

In the STEAM room this month we have been very busy.

In the block area we have been planning, building, problem solving which has resulted in some great ideas. We have had dens, castles and even a bowling alley.

At the sensory table the favourite activity has been slime . This is great for developing strength in our hands and finger muscles while promoting language “this is stretchy” or cold ,soft,  “ look how long it is”.  We also had fun with corn starch and water !

As March was world book day the children chose to recreate the Hungry Caterpillar Story. They painted ,glued , decorated and did some mark making which gave us a beautiful wall display.

At the science table we had magnets . The boys and girls discovered what could be lifted by a magnetic force and some items that you were not able to lift “Why”. We also had a look at “magic water” and how it made the pen ink expand we had some lovely rainbows 🌈.

Our art area is always a popular area and the children experience lots of fun learning skills . Fine motor,sensory, design, imagination they enjoy chatting to each other, sharing resources and producing great art works they are very proud of as are we.

Lets spring into April and see some more wonderful creations.

Article – We have the right to play and create our own ideas.

 

 

 

Baking, Creative movement, Creativity, Digital Technology

Home Room Highlights

Leave a comment

This week in the Home Room we’ve been very busy! The children enjoyed dancing and dressing up, using their imaginations and having lots of fun together. We also did some muffin making and practised our number skills through different activities. It’s been a wonderful week full of creativity, learning and smiles!

in our baking area, the children have been busy making muffins and developing lots of important skills along the way. They have been practising measuring, counting and carefully following a recipe. It has been lovely to see some of the children confidently taking on the role of the adult, helping to guide their friends and supporting them step by step as the work together to follow the recipe.

“Measuring the flour.”
“Just a little bit.”
“I think we need a little more.”

In our story corner, the children have been confidently using their technology skills to scan QR codes to listen to and watch some of our favourite stories. They have really enjoyed choosing stories independently and using the technology to bring the books to life. It’s been wonderful to see their confidence grow as they explore stories in this exciting way.

We enjoyed playing ‘Spin the Wheel’, where the children practised their subitising skills by quickly recognising how many spots they could see and matching the quantity to the correct number. The children had lots of fun taking turns and building their confidence with numbers through this game.

“Spin the Wheel!”
“I have that number.”
“What number is it going to be?”

The children also loved challenging themselves in our ‘Number Hunt’. They searched carefully to find the numbers before the timer ran out, showing great focus and determination. Some of the children even challenged themselves further by reducing the time with each attempt to see if they could beat their previous record!

“I can beat the timer!”
“I bet I can do it in one minute!”

Finally, the children have loved exploring the dressing up clothes in our home corner. They enjoyed creating imaginative scenarios, pretending to be different characters and showing off their dance moves in their wonderful outfits. It has been lovely to see their creativity and confidence shine as they play together.

Article 31 Children have the right  to relax and play

Creativity, Expressive Arts, Literacy, nature, Outdoor Learning

Outdoor Classroom Day

Leave a comment

Today we took part in Outdoor Classroom Day. Learning in an outdoor environment helps to ensure positive intellectual, emotional, and social development whilst building the foundations for a lifelong connection with nature and our planet.

We have developed our throwing, counting and turn taking skills while playing the bean bag toss…

We have developed our literacy, drama and cooperation skills while re-telling the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff…

We have learned about the seasons and that we need to help feed the animals during the cold months while making bird feeders…

And we have learned how to keep the bugs safe in our garden by making a bug hotel..

We even found our first guest for the hotel- a baby slug…

Article 31- we have the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of activities.

Creative movement, Creativity, Imaginative thinking, Outdoor Learning

Wild animals in action!

Leave a comment

All things wild and wonderful has been a continuing theme in our garden this week! We love small world play and are always keen to introduce our favourite animals, figures and vehicles! Small world play is a fantastic way to develop our imagination, creativity and problem solving skills.  We loved one of our friend t-shirts and this sparked the idea to explore wild animals! Delving into our resources we discovered elephants, tigers, gorillas, rhinos, tigers and lions “the king of the jungle!”

One of our favourite books is Rumble in the Jungle and we had so much fun retelling  the story using our animals, adding a “roar for the lion”, “oooh-oooh, aah-aah like the monkey”,  and our favourite actions for the elephant, chimpanzee and sssssssssnake!

We shared our experiences of visiting “Edinburgh zoo” “the safari park” and chatted about the animals we had seen and which were our favourites. Taking turns, we discussed our favourite animals and shared our fantastic knowledge about the features of each animal!
“the elephant has a trunk, it drinks the water and then spits it out all over its head, like a shower”. “The lion was sleeping and it did a big roar”, the giraffe has a big long neck. It doesn’t have any hands so it uses its big long tongue to eat leaves on the tree. It’s tongue is blue, like my top!”

Next we decided to move like our favourite animals! We agreed that the giraffe is “very tall so we have to reach up to the sky, on our tippy toes”, “the hippo rolls in the mud, like this”, “the crocodile snaps like this”, and the cheetah runs really fast”.


We demonstrated that we can hold balance in various shapes when moving, are aware of and can control our personal space and body parts when moving, perform basic movements such as jumping, hopping and running and move different parts of our bodies at different speeds.

The weather may have been wild but we have had a wonderful time and had so much fun, ROAR!

Article 29: I have the right to an education which develops my personality, traits and abilities.

Creative movement, Creativity, Expressive Arts, Imaginative thinking, Literacy, music, Social Studies

Fun in the pond

Leave a comment

Come and see some of the things we got up to today.

The children have been expressing themselves with the paint, using their large motor skills to create their ideas on the shiny tinfoil and seeing how the colours mix together to create new ones .


“My hands are orange”

We have been using our nursery rhymes to recognise colours, make choices and take turns. The children each chose a coloured disc which has a nursery rhyme on the back (eg. Red disc = The wheels on the bus) to sing together.

“My favourite is Twinkle Twinkle”

The  children mixed together all the ingredients to make play dough, learning to follow simple instructions and develop their gross motor skills as they stir. They added blue paint to add colour and explored the textures and feelings using their senses.

“It feels sticky”

Finally we played parachute games, using our large muscles to move the parachute up and down working together as team to make it move. We sang some songs and sat under the parachute before doing sleeping bunnies.

 

Creative movement, Creativity, Expressive Arts, Imaginative thinking, nature, Outdoor Learning

Our Exciting Garden 🪴

Leave a comment

Our garden has been very busy and we have especially enjoyed the better weather over the last few days. Playing outdoors allows children develop self-confidence, independence and self-esteem. Their physical health improves through exercise and vitamin D, enhanced mental well-being, better sleep quality and increased social interaction and development.
Of course we are just having lots of fun !!
We have enjoyed developing our obstacle course adding on extra challenges ….

”round and round gets me dizzy”

How many steps to get to the bridge ?

The boys and girls had great fun on be a Pirate day ….

We used our creativity and problem solving skills to build a pirate ship …..

Ooh arrrgh if the pirates caught you they would make you walk the plank into shark infested waters

In the water tray the water had turned red “my hands are red when they are under the water. We did lots of poring and filling to get rid of our Red Sea 🌊

Finally we have been enjoying some theatre shows on the Cartmill stage showing off our creativity, imagination and acting skills along with some great singing .

After such a busy few days we are all ready for our holiday weekend which we hope you all enjoy.

Article – Children have the right to play and explore their outdoor environment.

Baking, Creativity, nature, Outdoor Learning

Busy Bakers

Leave a comment

Welcome to our mud kitchen! We have had so much fun being busy bakers and creative chefs. We have introduced some new resources to enrich our play and the children have loved exploring everything!

We have added lots of things you would find in a kitchen including; mugs, bowls, plates, pots and baking tins as well as lots of kitchen utensils. The children had helped to choose the resources from the catalogue so they were very excited when they arrived.

Before we could open our cafe, we had to decide on a name. Everyone came up with ideas before we voted for Rainbow Cafe!

For our first masterchef experience in our cafe we used our senses to make various cakes, soup, spaghetti bolognaise and lots of other delicious recipes. We looked at our fruity ingredients and we felt them between our fingers, then we explored the different smells, such as lemon, lime and orange. The children talked about their favourite scent and said that lime was the most popular.

The children showed great imagination and, using their mark making skills, took orders to give through to the chefs who were busy creating the orders, squeezing the juices from the fruits and stirring the ingredients together.

Everybody is most welcome at the Rainbow Cafe, you can find us in Cart Mill garden, open 5 days a week! Bon appetit!