Category Archives: nature

Baking, Creative movement, Creativity, Expressive Arts, Froebel, Imaginative thinking, Literacy, music, nature, Outdoor Learning, Snack, Social Studies

What have we been doing at Cart Mill this week?

July 5, 2024 Miss Campbell Leave a comment

This week at Cart Mill we have been taking part in a wide variety of learning experiences across each of our playrooms and our garden.
In our Discovery room we have continued along our Jack and the Beanstalk learning journey by investigating “forces” and “travel”. Our mission was to find a way for Jack to get to and from the castle without the giant seeing! To do this we decided to fill the balloon with air and let it go to see how far it would travel towards the castle. It’s been so much fun seeing how much air we need to make the balloon go fast or slow.

In our Studio we have shown an interest in diggers and have been using the water tray as our construction site. We used dried rice to represent the dirt and had great fun using the construction toys to fill, empty and transport the rice. We used our technology skills to look at videos of real construction vehicles on our smart board. This experience had such a great level of engagement from all our children, especially our younger ones. We even found a Danny go video called “digging in the dirt” to all join in with, incorporating our health, well-being and movements skills.

In our Home room we have continued to develop our baking skills by researching recipes, measuring ingredients and making yummy vegan treats for our afternoon snack! The best part was taste testing our baking!
In our playdough area we have been experimenting by adding different scents to our playdough. We’ve tried peppermint, lemon and orange extracts. We even tried chocolate powder to make chocolate playdough. It smelt so good and looked just like chocolate. This week we decided to wander out to the the planting area to choose herbs and flowers to introduce some different scents. We picked basil, thyme, garlic and some flowers. As we grow in confidence, we are able to make our playdough independently using our self serve playdough station. It has been lots of fun choosing loose parts to add to our playdough and creating wonderful models.
Between the smells of playdough and daily home baking our home room smells delightful.

And finally our garden! The weather has been a little varied this week with showers of rain in between the sunshine. As usual, we didn’t let that stop our fun! We have used the gross motor rollers to mark make, played role play games using the play house and even took part in music and movement games such as head shoulders knees and toes. We extended our muddy movers skills by playing catch with the sticky ball and catching mitts. It was lots of fun taking turns with catching and throwing.

We all love learning through our play at Cart Mill! I wonder what we will do next week during our summer adventures?

UNCRC article 28- we have the right to play.

life cycles, nature

Magic beans at Cartmill 🌱

June 28, 2024 Mrs MacRae Leave a comment

It the science area we have been learning how to record our findings in different ways.

To do this we have planted some magic beans (broad beans) in a jar to watch how it begins to grow. We noticed that after only a few days our beans started to sprout and change daily.

“Mine starting to pop out”

Using a Calendar we marked on the date of when we planted the beans and have been marking it everyday to show how long it takes to grow our beanstalk.

“why does it have that tooth?”

The children are super excited to grow a gigantic beanstalk. This got us talking more about how long it would take to grow the beanstalk.

Here are some of the predictions we marked on the Calendar

“30days”

“45days”

“48days”

“60days”

As the children observed the beans growing daily we have been talking about which part of the plant they can see?, what helps the plant stand up? and what do we think the roots do to help the plant.?

“it’s growing”

”what is the white bit?”

“It’s going to be gigantic “

Article 13 – I have the right to find out and share information

Article 28 – I have the right to an education

life cycles, nature, Outdoor Learning

Mondays garden fun including Releasing our beautiful butterflies🐛🦋

June 4, 2024 Miss Mitchell Leave a comment

Today the children decided it was time to release our butterflies. The species we have are called Painted Ladies. We made sure the weather conditions were suitable for example the temperature was above 12 degrees and it wasn’t to windy. The children measured out a nectar solution of one teaspoon sugar to 100mls of water cut up some tangerines and mashed a small slice of banana to put outside in case the butterflies needed energy to look for flowers. I explained that the butterflies mouth functions like a straw to sip up the nutritious liquids and that they should live two to five weeks. Then the children unzipped the habitat and patiently waited for the butterflies to fly away.

The children were delighted to see the butterflies so close up. “ It’s got a very furry body” “It’s tickling my nose” “I think butterflies have a nice pattern on them, I like the colours on them”

In the garden today we also did a little weeding and planted some herbs to make our mud kitchen concoctions a bit more interesting. The children planted parsley coriander and basil they thought the basil had the nicest scent.

The children were very gentle while planting their herbs and knew that they would need sunshine and water to grow. It has been such a busy day, planting and releasing our butterflies. Maybe you could have a look and see what other species of butterflies you have in your garden or in the local community when you are out and about. We would love to see any pictures!

Article 28 Every Child has the right to an education.

life cycles, nature

Life cycle of plants 🌱🪴🌷🌼

May 30, 2024 Mrs MacRae Leave a comment

In the science area we have been learning all about the life cycle of plants.

We have been noticing lots of dandelions growing in our gardens, so we decided to take a closer look at the dandelion and discover more about the plant.

First we observed the different stages of the plant in our glass box. Some of us were keen to share what we already knew about dandelions.

“I’ve got dandelions in my garden”

“We can make a wish”

“They grow in the ground”

“They have yellow flowers”

After further discussion, some of us were able to name different parts of the plant. To develop our knowledge further, we then looked at the petals and seeds up close under the microscope and through the magnifying glass.

“ They are hairy!”

As mini scientists, we have been busy carrying out some different experiments to discover more about the plant.

Experiment 1

We wanted to see if we could change the colour of the dandelions?

We place a few dandelions in different coloured water to see if they would change.
The dandelions remained bright yellow but maybe there are other flowers we could try?

Experiment 2

Are the fluffy dandelions seeds water resistant?

To investigate, we dipped the dandelions seed heads into the water and watched as the seeds repelled the water and puffed back into a ball when gently taken back out the water.
This must help to protect the seeds when it rains.

Experiment 3

Extracting the yellow colour from the petals to make yellow playdough.

We picked a big bunch of dandelion flowers from the garden then picked off the yellow petals and placed them into the pestle and mortar. We ground them a little before placing in a jar with nail varnish remover. After a few shakes of the jar the liquid became yellow. We later added this to our playdough.

“I’ve got tulips in my house”

Experiment 4

We wanted to see if we could change the colour of some white tulips.

We placed a few cut tulips in different coloured water to see if their petals would change. We watched in amazement as the petals in the blue water started to turn blue. As we observed the tulips more we discussed how the flower is having a big drink and absorbs the coloured water, the water travels up the stem and starts to change the colour of the petal.

“They drank the water.”

“Only mine has turned blue.”

Today we have been having a closer look at the tulips. We picked a petal off the flower and trapped it between a piece of plastic to make a slide for the microscope. The colour dye has shown up all the veins in the petals really well. Using the microscope we were able to see the finer details in the petals.

“It’s got lots of lines”

“ I like the blue one it’s so blue”

We then dissected the flower to discover more. Inside the flower we found the stigma and anther with its pollen. These are all new words for the children. We talked about how the bee collects the pollen to feed their young and help to pollinate the flowers. We cut up the stems of the flowers that were in coloured water and found that the red and blue colour was all the way up the stem.

”I’m cutting off the stem.”

“It’s sticky and gooey.”

“This looks like blood”

As we chatted away it got the children thinking and asking more questions.

The flowers in the green water did not change colour I wonder why? “Maybe it only drank a little water” or “ maybe because the stem is already green.”

Why did the one in the water not change? “Because it was just in white water”.

“Where are the bee’s?”

The children have really enjoy taking part in the various experiences in our science area. I wonder were their new found knowledge and interests will lead us to next.

Article 13 – I have the right to find out and share information

Article 28 – I have the right to an education

Froebel, nature, Outdoor Learning

Farewell to our forest!

May 22, 2024 Mrs Hannah Leave a comment

We can’t quite believe that our forest school sessions have come to an end for this term!

Here’s a wee summary of our fun filled 4 weeks!
Week 1: we were introduced to our forest site where we explored how to keep ourselves safe through setting boundaries and learning how to identify hazards and assess risks. It was super muddy so we squelched in the mud and even lost our wellies! It was lots of fun to look for trees we might want to climb and to learn about plants that grow in our forest.

Week 2: As we were now experienced explorers, we recognised familiar landmarks to navigate our way to our forest and were able to remind each other of our rules and boundaries. Our bug hunt helped us discover insects and animals that might live in our forest and we learned more about what they need to survive. And who could forget that this was the week Harry Potter came to the forest with us!

Week 3: This week saw us swinging through the trees on our very own rope swing! Our confidence has grown in leaps and bounds and we led our own learning by revisiting who lives in our forest through searching for bugs and reminding each other of how we should respect the environment and look after our forest.

Week 4: cook out week – a firm favourite! We listened very carefully to our safety instructions! It was very important that we stayed outside the “green square” to make sure we “stay away from the fire so we don’t burn ourselves”. In our fire safety kit Fiona had special gloves to protect her hands, a fire blanket and lots of water in case she needed to put the fire out very quickly. We also learned that only adults should light the fire in a safe place away from “trees and houses”. The potato scones Fiona toasted on the fire were so tasty! There was a pond at our site today and we discovered it had tadpoles in it! We were very careful around the pond to keep ourselves safe and to ensure we didn’t “frighten the tadpoles”.

There was lots of time left for us to have fun and play some games! Hide and seek was a firm favourite, along with a game of football, rolling the ball to our friends, pole climbing and of course a wee impromptu dance on the stage!

As always, our last sessions are a time to come together, have some fun, reflect on our favourite moments and most importantly, celebrate the new friendships we have made.

“I liked playing hide and seek”. “I liked snack the best”. “I climbed the tree”. “I was on the rope swing”. During our time in the forest we have grown in confidence and self esteem, become independent, are able to use our problem solving skills and have learned how to care for our environment, all while creating some wonderful memories!

Article 29 – the right to an education which develops my personality, respects each other’s rights and the environment.

life cycles, Literacy, nature

Cart Mill Caterpillar Centre 🐛🦋

May 20, 2024 Mrs Miles Leave a comment

Each year at Cart Mill we like to learn about the lifecycle of butterflies and what better way than a hands on experience. We ordered caterpillars and they arrived on the 10th of May, we have been recording their growth each day since. They can grow up to ten times their size before forming a chrysalis. Look at how they changed each day..

This morning we arrived at nursery to discover many of the caterpillars had formed their chrysalides over the weekend. One of them was forming theirs at the exact moment we checked on them, it was amazing to watch! So we thought we best start learning about the next stages of the lifecycle. We looked through the information handbook and we also read the story of The Hungry Caterpillar.

“A butterfly.”

“Butterflies come from caterpillars.”

We also watched the short video of The Hungry Caterpillar as a treat. Afterwards, I asked the children what they could tell me about caterpillars and butterflies..

”They live on trees and eat leaves.”

”They make a raccoon.”

”He turns green.”

”Butterflies need to flap their wings.”

The metamorphosis process takes 7-10 days so we could see some butterflies before the holiday weekend 🤞🦋

UNCRC Article 28- every child has the right to an education.

UNCRC Article 29- education must encourage the child’s respect for the environment.

life cycles, nature

Life cycle of frogs 🐸

May 2, 2024 Mrs MacRae Leave a comment

This week at Cart mill we have been reading the book “The teeny Weeny tadpole”. This got us discussing the life cycle of frogs.

The life cycle of frogs is a super interesting part of life. Our children have been so fascinated with the four different stages of the metamorphosis process.

We have been learning that the frog goes though four different stages of life. Starting with the female frog laying eggs. Once the egg hatches, the tadpole is born with a tail. As the tadpole increases in size it begins to grow legs and arms and soon becomes a froglet. The last stage is when the froglet grows into and adult frog and no longer has a tail.

“This tadpoles has legs”

“mine has arms and legs it’s a froglet”

Though the small world play in our water tray the children have been exploring the different stages of life and the environment frogs live in. We started off by making the frogspawn which we added to the water with plants, pebbles, logs, flowers, frogs, tadpoles, froglets and other insects we would find living in and about a pond. The children have been so engaged in their play, discovering the tadpoles and froglets in the water. They have enjoyed comparing the different stages, putting them into order, building a habitat in and out of the water, lining up the frogs, creating frog family’s, splashing them into the water and most of all sharing their new found knowledge about the frogs life cycle.

We have also been very lucky to have a friend with a pond who has brought in some of their tadpoles for us to get a up close look. The tadpoles are around 5 weeks old and have started growing legs.

The children have been very curious about the tadpoles and have been asking lot of different questions.

“Where did they come from?”

“Are they real tadpoles?”

“When will they be frogs?”