Category Archives: Outdoor Learning

Outdoor Learning

Welcome to maths week!

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It’s Maths Week! Today in our garden we have been super busy taking part in lots of fun experiences.

Some of the children were working hard as a team to build their very own ‘castle’. They were using their problem solving skills to estimate and measure the blocks and materials  to see which one fits best.


“This one needs to go at the top”

”It’s taller than me”

The children also had lots of fun creating and following patterns in the sand

“This goes up and down”
“this one looks like M”

We went on a shape hunt in our garden which was filled with lots of different shapes.


“I’ve found a circle”

“I can see a square”

Welcome to our cafe,  the children made up a menu with a selection of prices and the served up some delicious ice cream.

”I’ll have the strawberry please”

”That will be 20p”

The children were creating and copying shapes, using loose parts.

”I made a circle”

 

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!

Outdoor Learning

Mud kitchen fun

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This morning in the mud kitchen the children explored their creative side engaging in pretend and messy play.

We started by writing “Cafe open “ and set to work making muffins and pizza developing our fine motor skills by cutting some flowers and leaves which we gathered from the garden, we even added some chives and mint from the garden.

“it smells like toothpaste”

Then we set to work mixing all the ingredients and popped it in the pizza oven to cook.

”I like pepperoni “

Once it was cooked we took turns to share and also make sure everyone had a cup of “juice”

One of the children then brought out a surprise dessert, a delicious mud jelly.

Yummy!!

Outdoor Learning

Super scientists👨‍🔬

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Today in our garden we have been super scientists! We decided to make our own chalk paint, so we gathered all the ingredients needed and got started. We used our problem solving and teamwork skills to follow the steps to create the paint. Firstly we added in the cornflour, water and then food colouring of choice.

The children then painted lonely designs on the floor.


“I’m painting my  mummy”

”Look at mines, it’s a funny face”

The children then decided they wanted to mix in different ingredients to see what happens, so we mixed in bicarbonate soda and vinegar and waited to see what happened.

“Wow it’s exploding”

“Mine looks like a volcano”

“It’s bubbling”

Outdoor Learning, Trips and Outings

Colours walk

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Today we have been learning about our senses and specifically talking about our sense of sight. We decided to go for a walk round the local area to discover what colours we could see. We started by creating a colours board we could take with us and made sure we could name each colour.

As soon as we left the nursery we noticed the green grass and there was a yellow buttercup too. Then we saw the yellow gate and the purple climbing frame at the park.

Continuing on our walk we noticed all the beautiful colours of the flowers.


“I see yellow flowers, they’re like sunflowers.”
“I can see purple! And there’s red inside them !”
“There’s lots of flowers in this garden! Look, different coloured tubs!”


But…. the best thing we noticed today was the big blue sky and the yellow sun ☀️

 

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 😁

Go back

Your message has been sent

 

Outdoor Learning, Social Studies, Trips and Outings

Local walk to Bonnyton House

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We have been growing some lovely Rhubarb in our nursery garden over the last couple of months, and they were now ready to be harvested.

Yesterday we picked our fresh, home grown Rhubarb. We wondered what we could do with it?

   

We had to use both hands to pull out the Rhubarb as the roots had grown deep into the soil.

    

”Look, this one has a really big leaf”

We decided that we would go for a walk to the local Residential Care Home and drop some off to them as a nice Friday treat. Working with the local community is something we love to do here at Cart Mill and starting back our Intergenerational work is what we are looking to do now that Covid-19 restrictions have eased.

The children were super excited to take a walk over…

 

Intergenerational learning has many benefits and is where people of all ages can learn together and from each other. Intergenerational care is all about providing opportunities for senior adults and young children to come together in the same space and work together to gain new skills and knowledge.

   

 

 

 

 

Expressive Arts, Outdoor Learning

Apple and Potato Printing!

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Today the children used some of the potatoes we had grown to make pictures printing with paint. They also used some old apples to make different patterns and shapes.
First we cut the apples in half using our safe knives. Even our younger children were very careful and sensible using the knives and displayed great cutting skills. This helps develop their fine motor  skills. Controlling the knife will help prepare them to master other skills like holding a pencil.

The children then used the chopped fruit and veg to create lovely pictures. They chose paint colours and got printing. Some children made different patterns using both shape and colour!

“I’ve made a colour rocket with apple and potato!”

“The apple print looks like a love heart! I love hearts!”

We had great fun in the garden with this activity and created lots of lovely art work too!

Outdoor Learning

Harvest Time

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This morning in the garden we harvested more of our potatoes. We had great fun digging them out using the forks, trowels and also using our hands.

“I found a red one!”

“I found a white one!”

”it feels cold”

After harvesting  “lots and lots” of potatoes we took them inside for a wash.

The potatoes were all different sizes so we decided to compare them to discover which was the biggest and which was the smallest. We were even able to line them up in order of size.

“I found a huge one.”

Then we decided to weigh the potatoes and experiment with different ways we could balance the scales, developing our mathematical language. 

“That’s too heavy.”

“That’s not balanced.”

All this hard work made us really hungry so we washed them and popped them in the microwave to cook. We had to wait for them to cool down but they were worth the wait!


“Yummy!”

“5 out of 5!”

Expressive Arts, Outdoor Learning

Snail trail

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This morning one of the boys brought in a snail from his garden to show all his friends. We built him a little home with grass, pine cones, shells, a log to climb on and also gave him some cucumber to eat.


“I give him shells.”

One of the boys decided to build him an extra home using the 3D modelling materials from the studio.

“There’s a space at the top for the big snails and a secret bit at the bottom for the baby snails.”

We investigated the snail’s shell and noticed there were lots of spirals on it.

We created our own spirals using loose parts and drawing on the mirrors.


“It goes round and round and round.”

Look out for snails in your garden and you could have some super slimy fun too!