Category Archives: Expressive Arts

Expressive Arts, Outdoor Learning

Pretty Pinecones

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Today  the children were interested exploring the pine cones, sticks and wooden trees. We had a discussion about what we could do with them and decided we could give them some colour by weaving and twirling using ribbon, pipe cleaners, wool and felt.

It was lovely watching the children explore different weaving options and discover different methods and techniques. The children loved mixing up the wool, pipe cleaners and felt to weave and twirl round their chosen object.

“mine is like a rainbow”

“Look it’s pretty now”

“I love pink”

”I am making one for all my family”

The children used  both their hands to grasp the pine cone and using pincer grip to weave the material. They manipulated the different materials in lots of different ways building their muscle strength and dexterity  and developing their hand and eye co-ordination.

There was lots of patience and concentration and the children shared their ideas throughout and spoke about what they were doing.

Expressive Arts, Maths Week Scotland

Kandinsky Corner – Maths week in the Studio

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It was all about maths in the Studio Room as we celebrated Maths week Scotland. Which fitted in perfectly with our learning provocation area.


We have been learning about different artists and what their famous art work is. This month it’s Kandinsky.
Kandinsky is famous for his wonderful abstract work that have various shapes in them.
We have been trying our hand at creating our version of some of his paintings, using circles.
First we used paint to create a large scale painting. We used each of our primary paint colours and using our colour mixing skills creating bright and different colours just like the one’s Kandinsky uses.  We used our shape recognition skills to create huge and tiny circles inside one another.

Next we used our scissor skills to cut circles out of felt, gum paper, foam and shiny paper. We experimented with different textures for this abstract art picture.

We used our counting skills as we counted how many circles we used for our pictures.
We also tried ink prints using ink pads and corks to print circles onto paper to create a different type of abstract art. We used our 3D shape recognition skills to learn the shape of the cork.

The children enjoyed using the provocation area themselves to recreate Kandinskys work in their own ways. They used chalks,

Using digital technology on our paint app, on the smart board,

Paint dabbers,

and our pencils.

We were very proud of the work we created.
to finish off our week of Kandinsky circles art we used different circle shaped resources to draw around. We tried records, cups, pots  and mirrors.

It was a wonderful creation.
Maths can be a big part of art and is found in each area in our art room, it could be shape recognition with the different sizes of boxes in the junk model area. Counting how many pumps of the paint  we need to mix colours. Making patterns with the collage materials or clay and many more opportunities to learn our Maths skills with the joy of Art.
I wonder what artist we will learn about next?
Here is a wee look at some of our other maths experiences we have took part in through the week within our Studio Room. That have challenged and develop our children from 2-5 year olds with their maths skills.

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts

Discovering Maths

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This week the children have been learning about maths and having fun trying out all the different ways this can be done.

The construction block area is always in good use and after we had read a story about 10 little monsters  the children decided to build their own spooky castle 🏰  we have been working out sizes long ones  for this wall and we need shorter ones over here !

We have been counting  12345 as we have posted the counters through the block . We have discovered that some items are too big to fit through the hole.

At the tinker table we have been practising our measuring skills looking at the numbers on the ruler or tape and placing the items in order of size. This one is the” biggest “. We even had a look round the nursery to compare sizes of different resources.
Our loose parts area was full of resources and inspiration . We had a look at a book called Hannah’s Collection and this gave us great ideas. We then made our own designs using loose parts “ I will use the round buttons and make lollipops” and I can use sticks to make a shop.  We had some lovely creations.

As the children also enjoy technology they had turns following the instruction cards to make our “bee bots” move in different directions.  Press this button one time to move forward or this button to go backwards. There is four buttons on mine “look it can go this way “  we learnt that this means it’s moving to the right or to the left.

We have all enjoyed our day in the discovery room. Let’s look out for shapes and sizes on our way home !

Expressive Arts

Sandy-dough!

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Today the children had lots of sensory fun in the playdough area. We added a special ingredient to experience some new textures with our hands; Sand playdough!

First we added our normal ingredients and did lots of mixing…


Next we added our special ingredient.

The children really engaged their imaginations, and created lots of different role playing scenarios in the playdough.

“It smells like the beach. I’m going to make a sandcastle!”

”it’s very soft. And crunchy”

“Im going to make a sand cake!”

”my baby”

Some children loved being expressive with the playdough, and enjoyed making some funny faces.

“I want to make a playdough face. Like this, look!”

The children enjoyed adding the different textures and how soft and malleable it made the playdough, making it easier to mould into different shapes and sizes. These are all experiences that help develop little fingers and little muscles, and of course our imaginations! Great work everybody  👍

 

Expressive Arts

Bubble, Bubble, Splat.

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In the Studio Room our children have enjoyed using the rollers to paint. Today we used bubble wrap to further develop their interests.

We started with the different shaped rollers. We picked the colour of paint we wanted then got to work rolling the paint rollers across the bubble wrap.


We enjoyed listening to the pop of the bubbles as the rollers glided over. We spoke about the patterns our rollers were making onto the bubble wrap. “Curvy” and “zigzag” ones are the favourites.

We like popping the bubbles with our hands and exploring the texture of the bubble wrap.

Our activity soon took a change and became much more fun and sensory based as we used our hands to paint.

Much more fun! We decided the the bubble wrap was “bumpy” and the paint was “cold” and  “smooth”.

We tried different ways to pop the bubbles, with our fingers and our whole hands.

We used our hands to mix the colours together to make new colours and spread the paint all over the bubble wrap making it look colourful and bold.


We even tried printing our hands and the bubble wrap with corks to experiment with the sounds and shapes it would make.

We had such fun with something so simple that inspired thought provoking questions from our children from 2-5 years. We enjoyed incorporating sensory experiences into our painting. We were learning about patterns and using new descriptive language.
But most important of all, we had the best fun getting messy.

Expressive Arts, Outdoor Learning

Getting busy in the garden!

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Today in the garden  we had great fun enjoying some September sunshine! We were very busy developing our gross motor skills in many different ways.

Some children got messy in the paint using big arm strokes to create an art masterpiece. They were using mops, brushes and roller cars to make different patterns.

We enjoyed water play and particularly had fun pouring water down the gutters  and catching it at the bottom.. Rolling the balls down with the water was great, the children realised that the more water they poured the quicker the balls travelled!
Jumping in the very large puddle in the garden was as always loved by the children! They enjoyed getting their suits on and making a big splash! The higher the jump the bigger the splash!

Let’s hope the sun keeps shining down on our garden!

Expressive Arts, Literacy, Outdoor Learning

Al fresco Bookbug 😁

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As the sun came out on this beautiful Friday, Bookbug came to visit us to share some songs stories….

We all said ‘Hallo’ to Bookbug with a great big hug followed by

The Wheels On The Bus, our wipers were swooshing

The children jumping up and down on the bus

Sticking out our tongues being a Little Green Frog

We all enjoyed our interactive touchy freely story about a teddy bear

Finishing off with Little Bunnies!!!

The children love when Bookbug comes to visit and if you fancy joining us he’ll visit once a month morning and afternoon and you can come and join in the fun 😁

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Expressive Arts, Literacy

Creativity and Imagination

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Today the children were presented with a tray of interesting resources to explore and design their own models.
With the natural feathers and pieces of wood the children decided to make some animals.  I will make a owl with feathers. The children chatted about owls they have seen at the animal park and what noise they make.

Some of the children chose to make people using pegs for the legs. This is my mummy she is at work.

Todays activity has involved developing fine motor skills such as using scissors and glue sticks also picking up smaller parts especially when they stick to your fingers !

Todays fun at the tinker table has let the children ask and answer questions, talk to each other sharing experiences and ideas. We have extended our knowledge and understanding of how to use a variety of materials.

We have some great animals and models to admire . Well done 👍

Expressive Arts, Literacy

Mark making masterpiece

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We have been developing our mark making skills in the Studio room.
Our children enjoy exploring their mark making skills in a variety of fun, unique ways. Some of the ways we have been extending our mark making skills been using pastels, water paints and we experimented with marbling inks.

Mark making is a very important skill for our children to learn, but what is mark making? Mark making is a term used for the creation of different pattens, lines, textures and shapes. This can be done on a piece of paper, floor, outside in the garden or on an object or surface.

Mark making is a sensory and physical experience which can be enjoyed by all ages and abilities.
Today in the Studio we extended our mark making skills by using cardboard and a selection of mark making tools to create pictures of our favourite things.

We made race cars, ice creams, our family and our toys.

We enjoyed showing each other what we made, discussing what our favourite things were.  We were proud of the work we created. We like to be responsible to the environment and reuse and recycle our cardboard.

Some of the children enjoyed using the easel to mark make using pens and chalks.

We have opportunities to mark make across each of the playrooms, through arts and crafts, shaving foam, mud kitchen, and playdough to name just a few. What mark making do you like to do at home?