Category Archives: Creativity

Creativity, Expressive Arts, Imaginative thinking

Colourful Creative Coos

Leave a comment

In the art area outdoors we have been learning about a Scottish artist called Steven Brown. We have explored some of his Mccoo pictures and a couple of his Mczoo animals.  We talked about how beautiful and colourful they were and that he uses lots of colours.
A few of the children were familiar with the Mccoo and had recognised it.

“ my granny has that in her house”

”I have seen that before”

Today we decided we would design our own Mccoo and work as  a team to make a big, huge one. We gathered our resources and had a discussion on how we were going to begin. Firstly we drew a big circle for its head and then some horns.

We had a variety of resources to choose from including pallet knifes which Steven Brown used for various of his  own pictures. The children used their fine motor skills to create different marks and shapes on the cow, we even managed to mix some of our colours together creating even more beautiful vibrant colours. The children took turns and shared the colours and utensils


“whats it going to be called.”

”can I think of a name”

The children then began rhyming off all there friends names.

Finally it was dry and we could cut our cow out and add some other details  to our own cow.

We were  then back to thinking  about a name .

Then we heard at the National Museum of Rural Life in East Kilbride there had been two calves born. We looked this up and we decided we would call our highland cow Ishbel.

Creative movement, Creativity, Expressive Arts, Imaginative thinking

Paint -Let’s Explore !!

Leave a comment

Today we decided to explore and have some fun with the paint through colour mixing and sensory experiences. We had a look at the colour charts and chose our colours and filled our pots.

We began to mix our colours together and were excited to see them change right before our eyes. “ Look you made pink”.  The children created peach, lime green, sky blue , yucky brown!

The children always enjoy some hand painting. Engaging with different colours, textures and materials stimulates the child’s senses, promoting integration and cognitive development.

We can even paint our nails and blow them dry like mummy does!

Some of the older children began to try different ways to use the cotton buds  “Look I can roll mine and it makes a bigger mark and it feels nice in my fingers “.  This helps develop the fine motor skills and enhancing hand eye coordination.

Producing their own artwork gives all our children a sense of accomplishment and pride, boosting their confidence and self-esteem. Plus it was just great fun!!

Article – 13  You have the right to play and learn through new experiences.

Creative movement, Creativity, Expressive Arts, Imaginative thinking, Literacy

Pikachu clay models

Leave a comment

The children wanted to make something different with the clay, but they were unsure of what. So last week we sat down together and discussed some ideas, I asked the children questions to get them to really think about their interests and how we could incorporate these in to our clay area.

Pokémon seemed to be a common theme so we used the iPad to search the internet for some Pokémon ideas. We came across a clay Pokémon figure, it was perfect! The children helped pick out some other clay model pictures including unicorns, garden gnomes, and even Elsa from Frozen . I printed these out and laminated them, leaving them on the table to inspire some ideas.

The children began to make their own models, squeezing, rolling, and manipulating the clay to their desired shape. They soon realised looking at the pictures that our clay was grey and the pictures used coloured clay, how would they make their own models colourful? They worked together using their problem solving skills to come up with some ideas. “I know, we could get paint!” “and paintbrushes and paint them and that’s how they will be colours”.


Once their models were finished we left them to dry out over the weekend, ready for painting this morning.

There was lots of great ideas.


“A bowl of soup with spoon”

“Pikachu”

“I made a snail”


They put their finished models on the shelf to let the paint dry, we can’t wait to see the end result.

 

Creativity, Froebel, Imaginative thinking, Mindful moments

When Harry Potter came to Forest School!

Leave a comment

It was a dull and wet start to forest school today, but in true Cart Mill style we didn’t let that dampen our enthusiasm! We popped on our waterproofs and off we set!  As we are such experienced explorers, we were able to navigate our way there, remembering the busy roads we had to cross and to look our for “the white house with the rainbow flower in the garden we saw last week!” so that we knew where to turn to find our forest.   Being our usual inquisitive self’s, we spotted some signs along the way.  At Field Grove we were able to spot “that’s an L for my mummy’s name.” “My mummy has an L too, and my brother has a r”.

When we arrived at our site we remembered all the hazards we had chatted about last week and were able to carry out our own risk assessment and set our boundaries.

Bug hunting has been a real area of interest and we have been doing lots of research on bugs.  What better place to search for “real” bugs than in our forest!  Off we set with our magnifying glasses 🔍.  It was so much fun to search under logs, on trees and even in the mud to see what we could find!


We were amazed to find “sammy snail”,  “super slug”, “colin” who was a millipede and a whole family of woodlouse! Who knew we would find a baby worm that “looks like an angry eyeball”. Dr Doolittle had better watch out! 🐛

“It’s a C for my name”.

“Look it’s crawling on my arm!”

Of course as it was so wet we decided our bugs would need a bug house! After lots of discussion we collected our building materials. Working together we built a “super special” house for our bug family.

“This can be the roof.”

“This stone is big.  They can sit or sleep on it.”

“This can be the food. They might be hungry.  I’m hungry, when can we have snack?”

After a quick snack and a wee recharge we noticed the sun had appeared! Off we set to find some sticks! This sparked an impromptu game of forest “freeze” and “unfreeze” using our “Harry Potter wands” while “Harry Potter” himself flew above us on his “broomstick” along with “a flying car that goes invisible”.

“I’m Harry Potter flying on my broomstick”.

”I’m flying.  I’m in a flying car. I can spread my wings and fly over you”.

Before we left we had a wonderful mindful moment, sparked entirely by a cry of “stop talking and listen”. “I can hear the birds.  They’re making a woo hoo sound”.  “I can hear the wind blowing through the trees”.  We even spotted a pigeons nest high up in the trees.

Our tired legs got us back to Cart Mill safely, even spotting a number sign along the way.

“It says 20”.

This week we have been navigators, explorers, bug hunters, builders, flying cars and our favourite of all, Harry Potter! We truly do have fabulous forest schoolers at Cart Mill and we can’t wait for another amazing adventure next week!

Article 29 – I have the right to an education which develops my personality, respect for others’ rights and the environment.

 

 

 

 

Creativity, Imaginative thinking

Outer Space

Leave a comment

As you may remember the children had a great time creating their robot alien a few weeks ago.  To continue along that theme, we decided to  make our own spaceship! Luckily we had a huge box that was exactly what we needed.  After much discussion, it was decided how it should look, that it was to be painted red, and off to work we went displaying great teamwork.

It was great fun imagining where to go and we chatted about what planet would be the best.  This led us on to learning all about the planets in our solar system.  We learned a great way to remember the planets by saying this sentence My Very Excellent Mom Just Served Us Noodles

We decided that we would like to make some planets using balloons, newspaper and wallpaper paste. Everyone really enjoyed the texture of the paste and spreading the paper with their hands.  We are still in the process of painting them before we hang them up for all to admire.

“the paste feels slimy and cold”

“it’s very gooey”

”I like how it feels slimy”

“This is where we live on planet earth”

Who knows where our imagination will take us next!

Block building, Creativity

Building Bridges

Leave a comment

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.

Creativity, Expressive Arts, music

World Earth Day Painting

Leave a comment

In Cart Mill, the children enjoy painting and exploring the use of different textures and materials.

As part of World Earth Day the children  were creating their very own planet earth by painting on tin foil using cotton buds as a painting tool.  This activity helps to promote the childrens’ creativity, whilst enhancing their fine motor skills.

First, we covered the paper plates with tin foil to create our earth.

Next, the children chose colours that represented the earth.  Blue for the sea, green for the land and white for the clouds.

Water
They described what they were painting and how it looked and sounded.

Water!


“Shiny”

“Noisy”

“Ta da”

Some of the children also created amazing artwork using the tin foil as a printing tool.  This method produced a lovely textured painting.

The children showed great enthusiasm when painting their planet earth and demonstrated excellent focus and poise.

Lovely work everyone.

We then learned some new World Earth Day songs to familiar rhymes that we already know.

Article 31 (leisure, play and culture).  Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities.

Creativity, Expressive Arts, Froebel, Literacy, Social Studies

Expressing our imaginations 👩🏼‍🎨

Leave a comment

Some of the children have been expressing themselves through imaginative play this week in our clay station, creating mini role playing scenarios.

“guess what Pokémon this is?”

“it’s an eel. And it turns into a rhino. I need to paint it so it blends in”

“I need to roll it so it’s longer. So his mouth fits on. Super big Supertayto!”

“lots of walls. So nobody can see”

“I’m making a surprise. Guess what’s inside?  Surprise! You’re at the beach!”

Other children were very observant noticing familiar letters they recognised, and sharing stories with each other through their play.

“This looks like a L. L is in my daddy’s name. How do I write Lorenzo?”

“L is in my sisters name too. It’s Lexie”

“Is your brother in my sisters class?”

Some even created their own letters using their manipulative skills to mould and shape their designs.

The children have shown such fabulous creativity in our clay area, learning lots of different skills while exploring their imaginations and having fun 🤩 keep up the great work, everybody 👍🤩👩🏼‍🎨

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

 

 

Creativity, Literacy

Blasting off to Planet Mars!

Leave a comment

The children are still really focused on learning about space in the Discovery Room. This morning we revisited the solar system. The children counted confidently that there are eight planets. Looking at pictures we tried to remember the names of all these planets.

“I know that’s Mercury because it’s the grey one!”

”Mars is the big red dot!!!”

The children decided Mars looked like the most exciting planet and got busy making a spaceship that would take them there!

”We can all sit in this big box!”

The children used their cutting, gluing and sticking skills to prepare parts of their spaceship! They had great conversations with each other about what they needed to make a super fast spaceship.

”I’m cutting the buttons for the front!”

We decided to decorate the ship with bright colours so that it would be seen in the sky! The children choose to use pom poms, sparkles and coloured paper.

“The spaceship needs fire to make it fly!”

The children added red coloured paper cut like flames to the back so that the spaceship would blast off!

”It needs to fly super fast, wooooooooooosh!”

We added some finishing touches and then jumped in to set off on our journey!  3,2,1 blast off!!!!

”I can go from side to side!”

Some of the children decided they wanted to cut holes in the bottom of the spaceship so that they could actually move it around!

”Weeeeeeeeee look we can fly to Space! Let’s go to Mars!”

What a fantastic idea that was, how inventive and imaginative! What  great fun everyone had taking turns to steer the spaceship around Cartmill!

Article 28 – You have the right to Education

 

 

 

 

 

Creativity, Expressive Arts, Literacy

Welcome to our hairdressers ✂️

Leave a comment

A conversation sparked between the children when some members of staff came to nursery last week after having their hair done in preparation for Derek’s Big Day.

“I went to the hairdressers last week”

” Can I do your hair?”

“My mum gets her hair cut in my kitchen, the hairdresser comes to my house”

“I go to the barbers with daddy”

The children used imaginary brushes and “honey spray” to do each others hair until it was “nice and soft”.  This morning I left a box of hair styling and barber tools in the home corner to see what the children did with them.

They tried out some of the tools, brought some chairs over and then went searching for new customers to get their hair done.

“My mum has one of these, she uses it before work In the morning”

“The baby doesn’t have lots of hair”

“Next! What number do you want, a 1 or a 2 or a 3?”

“Look at me, do you like my new hair?”

The children loved being hairdressers and barbers for the day, they were so excited to share and re-enact  their own experiences of hair cuts, at home, at the barbers or at the salon. They can’t wait to do it all again tomorrow.

“Can we do it again tomorrow?”