Category Archives: Outdoor Learning

We’re Going on a Book Hunt

July 7, 2023 Mrs Miles Leave a comment

Today we took a trip to the library to return some books and also to choose new ones. We are focusing on rhyming in the story corner this month so we chose a book full of nursery rhymes and also a story which rhymes. While at the library, Peter read us a story about a cat and we had to help choose the cat’s name by giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down. He ended up being called Tricky because he was tricky to name!

We also learned how to use the special machine to check in and check out books.

On the way back to nursery we decided to go through the forest to collect sticks for throwing over the bridge. We spotted a huge hole in the ground and thought maybe a bear would live in there! 🐻

We have decided to find books about bears on our next visit to the library.

Check out the website for your local library as they are running lots of family and special events during the school holidays.

Outdoor Learning, Snack

🔍🔍🔍 What can we spy in the garden today???

July 3, 2023 Mrs Johnston Leave a comment

Today we went into the garden with torches and magnifying glasses to see what we could find 🤔

We searched down at the bottom of the garden…..I wonder what we might find???

We found a pea plant and Isla told us “the bigger the pod the bigger the pea, the smaller the pod the smaller the pea!”

We collected them all in a bowl.

We shelled our peas comparing the different sizes of the peas

We were very pleased with the amount of peas we found 😀

We had to be very careful and check if any of our children were allergic to green peas

Article 13 You have the right to find out things

Outdoor Learning, Trips and Outings

Wild walks

June 29, 2023 Mrs Miles Leave a comment

Today we decided to go for a walk and one of the children suggested we go to see if the river has been flooded by the rain. As soon as we crossed over to the wooded area we noticed how much the plants had grown and we had to walk like penguins with our hands by our sides to avoid touching the jaggy nettles and thistles. We found lots of secret paths but some of them were too overgrown to get through. One of the children found a secret path to the river but we decided it would not be a good idea to follow it in case we slipped into the water!

Once we found a safe way to access the river we had a great time watching it flow over the rocks, pretending to be pirates and jumping in muddy puddles.

On the way back to nursery the children noticed an area where some one had set a fire and the ground had hardened. They told me that there is lava and magma under the ground and we decided to make some volcanoes when we got back to nursery.

We had lots of fun watching the fizzing of the baking soda and vinegar reacting!

Article 13- You have the right to find out things and share what you think with others.

Outdoor Learning

Delicious summer salads harvested fresh from our garden 😁🍓

June 19, 2023 Miss Mitchell Leave a comment

Today some of the children noticed that our chard had grown “I wonder what else has grown that we could pick”

“Look the peas have grown big, Let’s pick some, I bet they taste good” “ I know we could make a salad, let’s see what else we could put in it”

“ Look there’s a big red strawberry it looks ready let’s pick it, but there’s only one ready” “ we could cut it into four, and have a piece each”

“Look I think the cauliflower looks ready, it’s to hard to pull it out myself can you help me ? “ Yeah sure” 1,2,3, pull.”

“yeah we did it”

” We could have carrots in our salad” “ My Mum has a sauce on her salad it makes it taste better” “I’m going to make a dressing “ “ I’m using lemon juice and oil”

“Mix,mix,mix”

“I’m cutting up the carrots small for our salad” “they are a bit dirty, I need to wash them”

“I think the dressing tastes lovely “ “My favourite is the cauliflower, I could just eat it all day” “ Peas, peas are my favourite they are sooooo sweet”

Well done children great team work glad you enjoyed your home grown salad🤩 I wonder what we could plant next?

Expressive Arts, Outdoor Learning

How do we make paint move?

June 14, 2023 Mrs Miles Leave a comment

Today we have been combining gross motor art with science to learn how to make paint move without using a brush.

“We can pour it.” “It needs to be high up.”

The children had some great ideas so got straight to work! We mixed up the paint and found some pipes to roll it down. One of the children noticed his pipe was sitting further out so he was sure his paint would go further.

The blue paint went further than the yellow! On examination we found the yellow paint was thicker than the blue so we then tried adding more water to the paint. It went much further than the first attempt!

The next pair decided to experiment with altering the height of the pipes to see if that would make the paint travel further.

“I’m putting it on the highest one!”

We found that the paint travelled faster down the pipe when it was higher and it did make it go further.

The next challenge was to direct the paint on to the paper to create a long distance artwork. We had to use all of the prior learning to make sure we mixed the paint to the right consistency, we had to make sure the pipes were at the right height and we had to aim in the right direction. Very tricky!

The children all enjoyed predicting what would happen each time we changed a variable and then testing the theory. A beautiful crossover of science and art!

Article 29- you have the right to education which tries to develop your personality and abilities as much as possible.

Outdoor Learning

Butterflies!

June 12, 2023 Mrs Barnes Leave a comment

The children have really loved following the journey of our nursery butterflies. They have now hatched and will soon be ready to be released. Today in the garden we were looking again at the life cycle of the butterfly.

The children are now very familiar with butterflies and wanted to make their own. We decided to use our loose parts for our creations.

We discussed the parts of a butterfly and decided to use the pipe cleaners as the bodies! The children then used all the different materials to design their own butterflies!.

“Both wings need to match!”

”I want my butterfly as a pet!”

”Mine has lots of colours,”

I think you will agree that our finished butterflies are fantastic!

It got so hot in the garden today that we came in to cool down and we watched ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ story with ice poles!! They were yummy in this heat!

Article 31 – you have the right to play and rest.

Outdoor Learning

Brilliant Balancing

June 1, 2023 Mrs Hannah Leave a comment

We have had lots of fun in our garden this week exploring body movement in creative and imaginative ways.

Using various loose parts, we created our own Muddy Movers obstacle course. This gave us the opportunity to demonstrate we could use apparatus safely, take turns, and share space and equipment safely. Through lots of discussion and problem solving, we decided to use the crates and a plank of wood to create a beam to walk along. To challenge ourselves further, we chose to add in some steps and a second longer beam. It was a wee bit tricky to hold our balance, but with practice and perseverance we did it!

“I can go really fast now”

”It’s a bit wobbly”

Some of us have been chatting about gymnastics classes we go to when we are not at Cart Mill. It was lots of fun to share our knowledge and expertise of different gymnastic movements and balances we have learned with our friends. We are able to create different shapes with our bodies, control our movements by holding our balances and teach new techniques to our friends!

“Look at me, I can put my leg up”

”I can balance on one hand “

Our very own Cart Mill gymnastics class was so much fun!

“This is called a table”

”Look I can do one arm and one leg”

”I can touch my head with my feet!”

”You put your hands on the ground and your leg in the air, like this”

At Cart Mill we love to take part in lots of different kind of energetic activities and challenge our friends to a competition! The egg and spoon race is a firm favourite. We found our spoons, but after much discussion, decided it might be best not to use real eggs as it might be a bit messy! Putting our thinking caps on, we decided to use some of our smaller balls instead. It was time to begin our race. Ready, steady, go!

It was a bit tricky to walk and balance our “eggs” at the same time! With encouragement from our friends, some of us were able to walk really fast, while some of us took it slow and steady.

Balancing has been so much fun. We’re sure you’ll agree we really are brilliant balancers!

Article 13 sharing thoughts freely

Article 31 right to play

Expressive Arts, Outdoor Learning

Staying safe in the sun☀️

May 30, 2023 Miss Brown Leave a comment

What a wonderful day it is☀️.The children have been out enjoying the sunshine, but learning how to stay safe when the temperature is high. I asked the children if they knew what we can do to stay safe in the sun. They gave some great answers.

”Sun cream, my mum put some on me before I came to nursery”
“Wear my sun hat”

We discussed staying hydrated by drinking lots of water and taking regular breaks from the sun in the shade.

This is some of their favourite shaded areas to play in.

“We like to have pretend picnics on the bench”

”and read stories in the den”

We have been developing our fine motor skills through this mark making experience in the shade. The children are exploring letters and writing/ drawing in the sand.

We added 4 golf balls and powder paint with a splash of water to the tuff tray. The children used their strong muscles to lift the tray up and worked as a team to move the golf balls around in the tray to mix the colours and create patterns.

As some of the children went to play somewhere else, they noticed that the tray got heavier and tipped to one side.

“uh oh it fell, how do we get it back up?”

The children used their problem solving skills to figure out how to balance the tray and keep the golf balls from rolling off.

Who said you can’t have fun in the shade, the kids have had great fun outside while staying safe.

While this hot weather is due to continue, please make sure the children stay safe in the sun by putting sun cream on before they come to nursery, wearing a sun hat or cap and ensuring we have sun cream for them in the centre. We want to enjoy it while is lasts!

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts, Literacy, Outdoor Learning

Busy May time in the Garden

May 25, 2023 Miss Keith Leave a comment

This month we have been super busy in the garden. We have been watching our seeds grow and decided we would need to replant them to help them grow bigger. We discovered some of our plants have lots of roots “it’s like spaghetti “. Our plants and vegetables need to have lots of water to help them grow big.

When we have been digging in the garden we have found lots of insects and bugs. We became explorers using books to identify them and having a closer look with our magnifying pots.

This month was also World Bee day on the 20th of May. We watched a short film about how bees 🐝 grow and why we need them. We made our own bee hive and added it into our bug hotel. We planted bee friendly flowers for the garden. Then made our own bees to hang on the tree using pine cones.

Bees make honey I like honey . After all our hard work we had a taste of the honey. We worked well together slicing the bread and sharing the “sticky honey”.

There have been so many jobs to do in the garden and the girls and boys have thoroughly embraced each task. They have worked well together, sharing tools taking turns, spotting insects ,looking after the plants in the green house we look forward to June as they begin to flower and we can harvest some of our vegetables 🥕.

Article 31 – I have the right to have fun in the ways I want to.

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