Category Archives: Expressive Arts

Expressive Arts

Blocks Rock!

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We have been very busy in our block area today!

Using our excellent problem solving skills, we explored measurement and balance.  We were able to identify which blocks were “lighter” and “heavier” and discovered we needed to put some of the heavier blocks on the bottom of our towers so that they didn’t topple over!!

It was so much fun adding in our small world figures. We worked together to build stairs for them to climb into their houses and we even constructed a lego train which had a bed to sleep in!

Next we decided to use our larger blocks to build “somewhere to give money out”.  We decided we needed steps and a seat “so we can give the money out to people”.  Using our measuring skills, we were able to compare the size of each block and identify which were “bigger” and smaller” and discussed where we should place them so that it “would be safe to climb on”.  Placing the blocks together we discovered that 2 of our smaller “square” blocks were the same size as “the rectangle one”.


“this one is bigger”

Collecting lots of loose parts gave us lots of “money” and we took turns being “the person who gives the money to people”.  Everyone demonstrated excellent turn taking, counting and negotiating skills!

Block play enables us to explore logical and abstract thinking, use our imaginative and creative skills and develop our communication and negotiating skills, while having lots of fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expressive Arts, Literacy

Scribble while you wiggle.

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Today in the Studio Room we were scribbling while we wiggle. There is lots of activities we can do to help us on our journey to writing. The first step is ensuring  we have the gross and fine motor skills ready to hold our pencils.
We used material and scarfs and chose our song to wiggle to.

First we copied Emma’s actions moving the scarfs round and round, twisting and twirling. Then we listened to the rhythm of the music, and then we all used our own movements to control the scarfs.

Another activity we can scribble while you wiggle to is painting to music. We chose music from an orchestra and listened to the sound each instrument made and painted what we thought the sound would look like.


Was it a splash or bang, would the sound make us paint long strokes or short.

We used paint brushed but one of our children decided to use her hands to represent the sounds she heard.

Another scribble while you wiggle activity our children enjoy is using large paper and a wide range of mark making resources to mark make and use scribble streams. We chose the instrumental Encanto songs. This music was fast with an upbeat tempo and we used different movements with our pens/pencils to this music.

We enjoyed  working together and showing each other what we had created and what we each thought the music sounded like. We even used our turn taking and sharing skills. This is a great activity enjoyed by all our children from 2-5years old.

Why don’t you have a go at scribble while you wiggle at home? What do you think sound looks like?

Expressive Arts, Literacy

Animal themed songs 🐮🐔🐸🐻‍❄️

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Today the children were enjoying some songs with movement, puppets, rhymes help the children to join in and retain their interest. We all got to choose the songs we wanted to sing and used props if we could to make it even more fun.

Old Macdonald had a farm 🐷


Little bunnies see them sleeping, see them hopping 🐰

Incey wincey spider

The children were having a great time singing, dancing, rhyming and this can be done at home sharing songs and having a lovely time together 😀

Expressive Arts, Social Studies

Ready Steady Sew

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Today the children in the home room have been exploring the sewing area. We had a discussion about threading a needle and how it can be really difficult to do but once it is done we are able to create stitches on the sewing table. Together the children shared their thoughts and ideas on what to do next, as a group we decided they would like to try sewing something onto the hessian.


The children searched the sewing area and found a variety of different materials in different shapes, sizes, colours and patterns and they were able to choose what they would like to use.
Firstly they drew patterns on the material that they chose to sew on and, with a little support with they cut out shapes using the large scissors. We then used the hole punch to cut out holes in our material to make it easier to thread the two bits together, this needed a lot of concentration. The children used their hand and eye co- ordination while completing this task. At the end they talked to each other about their own creations.

“can we cut out love hearts?”

”I can thread my needle?”
We decided using the Hessain table was easier than an individual piece.


”I liked doing both”
“I cut mine all by myself”
“mine is stuck together”

The younger children have enjoyed threading the large buttons, they spend a lot of time doing this so we added some pine cones, sticks, pipe cleaners, ribbon and wool for them. The children needed a little guidance of what to do and before we knew it they were confidently picking materials to wrap, weave and twirl, all the time developing their fine motor skills and concentration.

Expressive Arts, Literacy

Let’s Make a Nursery Rhyme Basket

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Today in the noisy and quiet room the children decided to make a nursery rhyme basket. First, we went on a prop hunt and filled our basket up with all the nursery rhymes props we could find. We found quite a lot of small toys that we could use which related to nursery rhymes. We had lots of fun looking for, and putting together our nursery rhyme basket.

“ I found a bus”

“I found a fish and a star”                      “ Look I found a mouse”

” I found a spider”

It was a great way to get everyone involved and we had lots of fun on our rhyme hunt. Well done every one good job ! 👍

We then sat down to explore our basket whilst singing our song “ what’s inside our basket, our basket, will ( name of child) like to have a look.”
The children took it in turns picking out their favourite nursery  rhyme props  whilst singing the rhyme and doing the actions within the group.


The children used the experience to enhance their language as they recited their favourite nursery rhymes, it was a great activity for children learning English as an additional language too. By using the props, it really bought the songs to life and helped develop further skills, such as recognising and naming objects and simple story sequencing. The children developed their social skills by demonstrating the need to take turns and shared their songs with others in the group. The children also developed their fine motor skills by moving their fingers and hands.

Why not make a nursery rhymes basket at home, see what you can find around your home that matches with nursery rhymes and let us know how you get on!😊

Expressive Arts, Literacy, Outdoor Learning

Finger gym

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The boys and girls have recently enjoyed developing their fine motor skills by picking up seeds with tweezers to plant their sunflowers so we have decided to create a finger gym area dedicated to outdoor fine motor play. These experiences help to develop the muscles required for handwriting and also helps to develop independence in things such as buttoning jackets.

We started by digging out our log peg boards. Some of these hadn’t been used in a while so we had to assess their safety. We found a few nails were a little wobbly so we very carefully tapped them back in to place. Then we realised we only had three boards and four children wanted to play so we walked around the garden to find another small log and asked our janitor, Michelle, if she had some nails we could use and created a fourth peg board. We used our pincer grip to hold the nail in place then used great hand-eye coordination when using the hammer to make sure we didn’t hit our fingers.

We then enjoyed using our fine motor skills to wrap elastic bands around the nails to create some lovely artworks. Just look at our wonderful designs…

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts, Technologies

Developing our fine motor skills

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Today the children have been developing their fine motor skills in a variety of ways.

Fine motor skills is the coordination of small muscles in movement with the eyes, hands and fingers.


We played a game called ‘Pickle Pop’ where the children had to use their hand muscles by moving the pickle with their finger to pop the bubbles.

“ I have to move it over there to catch the bubble”


We put shaving foam on the light board and used our hands and  fingers to draw shapes and make patterns. This provides children with the opportunity to strengthen their hand muscles and hand eye coordination.

“ The thread goes  up and down ”

“ I made a line through it”

 

We spent some time at the mark making table where the children drew pictures, copied and continued shape and number patterns.

Expressive Arts

Paper plate creations!

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Today in the Studio we explored our creativity skills.
We decided to use our imagination to transform paper plates into some wonderful colourful creations!

Our journey began when we thought of what we wanted to make- e.g  our favourite animal,  a tv character, a flower.

 

We had a great selection of different resources to choose from to make our creations such as types of paper, pens , pencils and lots of different colours.

We exercised our fine motor skills whilst strengthening our muscles as we cut paper carefully with scissors, used glue pots and glue sticks and stuck them down to our plates.

The children all had some fantastic individual ideas they brought to the Studio. We loved discussing what each other made their plate into and were able to describe and talk about what we did.

”I’m putting lots of spots on my ladybird”

“ I need a snorty nose on mine”

”Minions are my favourite , they are funny”

The children used good hand eye co ordination when using their cutting and sticking skills.

They  children worked  well together. They  understood and displayed good turn taking skills  and were able to demonstrate awareness of others needs.

“This is a bit tricky can you hold this for me ?”

”could someone pass me scissors?

Why not get creating at home – do you have any paper plates ? What ideas or wonderful creations can you make ? We’ d love you to share your creations with us.

 

 

Expressive Arts

Bookbug comes to visit Cart Mill!

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We are so lucky that Bookbug came to visit us at Cart Mill today! We welcomed him with our “Hallo” song.

Next, it was time to choose a puppet from our Bookbug basket! It was so exciting to take our turn and use the puppet we had chosen to guess which song we would sing next.

We waited very patiently until it was our turn to guess the song.

It was so much fun to bounce our puppets on the lycra to see how high they could jump!

Finally it was time to end our Bookbug with one of our favourite stories.  Our story had lots of rhyming words for us to practice!

We love when Bookbug comes to visit!

 

 

Expressive Arts

Sew Much Fun

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In the home room we have created a new sewing area which the children have shown a great interest in. Today we had a discussion on a variety of the resources available and explored these by touching, naming and there purpose. The children could confidently identify lots of things connected with sewing:

“Needles are jaggy”

“scissors can be sharp”

“Wool is nice and soft and squishy”

“thread is hard”

The children were keen to try and thread a needle so with great patience , concentration and hand and eye co-ordination each child had a go. During this time we talked about the whole in the needle is called an eye and when you thread you put a knot at end so the stitch stays in. The older children were able to complete this and were excited to try to do a stitch on the sewing table. They listened well to instructions and were able to follow this with little support. They helped each other when got a bit tangled and commented on each other’s stitches.

“Look at your big one”

“ you have done lots”

The younger children were able to thread the large shaped buttons using laces.

The children were unsure what the wheel, block and trees were for so I demonstrated weaving, encouraging them to take part. All the children enjoyed the weaving and had fun experimenting with the the different coloured wool and objects.

“ it looks like a rainbow”

” I like these trees”

Why not try exploring simple weaving techniques at home using ribbon or paper. This is a great activity for hand and eye co-ordination and a good way for building up fine motor skills.