Category Archives: Special Event

Big Garden Birdwatch

This week we have been preparing for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. We discussed why birds might come into the garden. “It’s for seeds, we have some in my garden”. We then decided to to make our own bird feeders and hang them up on a branch.

The birds might need a drink as it’s been very cold and all the puddles are icy, so we made the birds their own drinking bowl “Let’s put sticks near it so they can stand on them”.

We then did some research by looking at some of the information sent to us by the RSPB which showed us lots of pictures of the birds that might visit our garden.  “ I have seen some of these birds, that’s a magpie”.

It was very exciting watching for the birds. Some were far away so we used our binoculars. Then we could see some birds sitting in the trees and on top of the houses. We then thought about where else we could see the birds so we went for a bird watch walk.

We collected our bird watch recording sheet and set off.  I will hide in the trees like a bird watcher and see if the birds come near me we have to be very quiet 🤫. Look I saw a blackbird let’s mark it on the sheet .

We managed to spot magpies, blackbirds, crows and blue tits. We all had a turn of recording the bird we had seen on our RSPB sheet, it was great fun!

The children are continuing to watch for birds in our garden and are independently recording them in our nature corner.
If you would like to join in this weekend the RSPB ask that you record the birds that visit your garden within 1 hour and then you can upload your results at rspb.org.uk/Birdwatch using the code BH35.

Everyone has worked very hard recording the information and have had great fun developing their skills of mark making, data collection, fine motor skills, health and well being and lots more. Happy bird watching everyone!

Chinese Dragons!

With the start of Chinese New Year being yesterday the children wanted to make dragon masks. The dragon is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology. The dragon is a symbol of power, strength and good luck! The children watched some clips of the dragons dancing in the streets and were very impressed with the size and how colourful they are. We had a chat about why the dragon is significant in China.

We had a look at a colourful dragon and got started making our own dragon masks. The children wanted to use lots of coloured tissue paper to look like the ‘dragons hair’. First we had to cut the paper into strips!

We used paper plates for our masks. We added lots of colour using pens. Some children wanted to draw faces and some just drew patterns.

We used glue to stick on lots of coloured paper.  Some children thought it would be good to add coloured feathers to their dragons!

”Mine has a fluffy beard!”

”My dragon has spiky hair with lots of colours in it!”

“I’m making a rainbow dragon!”

”My dragon is loud and dancing!”

Once the children had designed their amazing dragons we stuck lollipop sticks on the back to make masks.

We had great fun dancing around the studio and listening to music pretending to be Chinese Dragons!  I think you will agree the children at Cartmill have been very creative today and enjoyed learning about Chinese culture.

Cart Mill Christmas Concert

We had a very busy day today, hosting two fabulous Christmas concerts. Both started off with a welcoming hot chocolate, complete with cream and marshmallows and what else, but a mince pie 🥧.

This gave parents the chance to chat and catch up with each other before our first indoor concert since 2019.

It was so nice to have such a busy centre, filled with the chat of families.

The children have been practising their songs all month and the hard work and rehearsals paid off as they were magnificent.

The staff have worked so hard with everyone and our families were treated to the Christmas favourites, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and of course Jingle Bells, as well as a few other songs.

Once the children had finished, we decided it was so good, we would sing it all again but this time we decided the grown ups should join in too!
Thank you all for joining us for our concerts today, we loved having you back in the centre and hope you agree with us that our Cart Mill children are super talented!
For anyone who finished up with us today, please have a wonderful break with the people you love and we will see you next year.

Santa visits Cart Mill!

Today at Cart Mill we got to wear our pyjamas to nursery! All the children loved showing off their cosy warm pyjamas.

We watched a short video of Santa outside Cart Mill which got the children very excited! Some of the children heard bells ringing and spotted Santa in our garden! He had arrived at nursery to see us all!

The children went in groups to see Santa and they all got a gift and their photo taken! Santa was so happy to meet such lovely, polite children!

After the excitement of seeing Santa we had some chilled time and got comfy with cushions and blankets on the rug and watched some Christmas Mickey Mouse!

We then had plenty of energy for some Christmas dancing! We copied the elves on the board and made up our own unique dance moves!

What a great fun day we all had, getting in the festive spirit. We are all so excited to share our wonderful singing with you at our concert tomorrow.

Bookbug around the Christmas tree 🎄🎄🎄

Today Bookbug joined us around the Christmas tree for some festive songs and stories.

We passed Bookbug and toy Santa round the circle so all our friends could have a hug and a squeeze 👍


We bounced Bookbug and Santa as high as we could and that made us all giggle!

We had a special request for the story ‘Twas the night before Christmas’ which made us all very excited 😁

We wished all our friends a ‘Merry Christmas’ which may or may not have been a practice for next week 🤫

When it comes I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in 2023 🥰

Winter Crafts

It was lovely to have our families visit the centre to take part in our family winter craft sessions.


The children really enjoyed taking part in the winter themed activities alongside the special people in their lives. There were lots of different crafts to make, each with a different theme. We won’t tell you what they all are as we would love you to come and see for yourself!

Remember that the crafts are running all week and we have 3 sessions a day. So, please sign up via the sheets in reception and come in out of the cold and join us for a coffee and some wintery fun with your wee one!

Scotland Stories – Book week Scotland 2022

Today is the start of Book Week Scotland 2022. This year the theme is Scotland Stories – traditional Scottish tales and legends.
We introduced Book week Scotland in our Noisy/Quiet room by sharing traditional and Scottish books with our children.

We picked which story we liked best and settled down, nice and comfy, to read them together.

One of the Scottish stories the children picked to read was about bagpipes. Some of the children were keen to find out more about Bagpipes. Luckily Gail was on hand to show us videos of her family members who had visited Cart Mill previously to play the bagpipes for us.

It was a fantastic learning experience for the children to relate the story book to a real life event.
After we brushed our teeth, we read another story. This one was about the Lock Ness monster. Some of our children had the opportunity to paint their very own Loch Ness monster after reading the story in the Studio Room.

Book Bug came to visit the Noisy/Quiet room and shared a Scottish story about a girl named Katie Morag. Emma told the children that she used to read this story when she was at school a very long time ago.


We even had a wee cuddle of Bookbug as we shared the story.

We have enjoyed listening to the Scottish stories both as part of a group and on our own.

Reading stories are so much fun and are a fantastic way to promote the early literacy skills our our children. Books hold vast learning opportunities. Reading books promotes vocabulary expansion, introducing new words. Books also helps to increase imagination and creativity. Reading stories together also helps to Improve concentration and memory skills. And many more skills all from reading stories.
I wonder what other learning opportunities we will have through the week as we celebrate Book Week Scotland across each of our playrooms/gardens within Cart Mill.

Firework Splat Painting!

Today In the garden we created some firework pictures in preparation for bonfire night this weekend.

The children selected some paint and resources that they could spray and splat. We picked a selection of different spray bottles and pipettes to spray at the large plastic sheet and create our firework picture.

The spray bottles and pipettes helped us to develop our fine motor skills. We demonstrated good skill when filling them up and spaying them.

We then used the paint and sponges to throw the paint at the ground to make splats that resembled fireworks. This was a good way to get our bodies moving and develop our gross motor skills while being creative.


While we were painting we talking about fireworks and how we can stay safe.  These are some of the children’s comments.
😊

“You don’t touch the fire”

“Fireworks and very hot so you need to stay away”

“They go in the sky”

“Only adults do the fireworks”

Diwali Festival of Light

Today in the noisy quiet room we had a chat about Diwali and learned about the festival of lights. We watched some videos of traditional dancing and decided to give it a go ourselves since we love to dance.

We used a selection of materials and musical instruments to take part in the Diwali celebrations.

First we selected some brightly coloured material to make our own outfits ready to dance.

Then we put on some traditional music and enjoyed some dancing with our friends.

Happy Diwali celebrations to you and your family

Kandinsky Corner – Maths week in the Studio

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.