Tag Archives: #finemotorskills

Getting busy in the Mud Kitchen

You might be wondering how playing in a mud kitchen can be educational. Well, let’s find out:

During mud kitchen play, kids explore various soil types, textures, and material transformations. They observe how mud changes with water and experiment with different natural elements. This activity also introduces early math concepts like measurements and proportions as they scoop, pour, and mix mud. Teamwork, cooperation, and sharing blossom in the mud kitchen, enhancing social skills. The kitchen’s open canvas sparks imagination, letting children be chefs, scientists, or nature artists, opening doors to endless creativity.

So let’s see what happened in the Cart Mill Mud Kitchen today.

First we foraged the garden and collected lots of different plants to use during our play. They will make fantastic ingredients for the items on the menu today. We found pea pods, pea shoots, dock leaves, clovers and mint in the garden.

The children decided that on todays menu was “Beans and pea pie”

Next our little chefs set out to start cooking in the mud kitchen.  Exploring their imagination they worked together to chop the leaves on the chopping boards.  They scooped water using ladles, spoons and cups and mixed the mud and sand together in pots, pans and bowls.

“We need to turn the gas on to cook them”

”Chopping them all up so it’s small”

”Pour the water in the kettle”

”Mixing it all together”

One of the children opened some of the pea pods we found in the garden and explored what he found inside. “They are green beans”

The finished result! Look at the fantastic creation ready to be served.

Article 6- I should be supported to live and grow

Article 28 – I have the right to an education

What can we create with clay?

Today in the clay area, the children enjoyed taking part in various model making, exploring different techniques to mould and design and also being kind and sharing with one another.

At cart mill we value the opportunities we have to make friends and be part of group experiences sharing our ideas and thoughts with one another.


We have been sharing and co operating with our peers and recognising how we can communicate with others in different situations.

The children then demonstrated how to use different techniques for moulding and creating in the clay area.


The children were able to create and develop using a variety of techniques in making things by hammering, rolling and cutting using different tools and materials.

The children then created their own models by using their curiosity and imagination to select different loose parts such as pebbles and sea shells.

”I made snails”

”My shells look like unicorns horns”

New and improved wormery

Following on from our last up-cycling project, we can now say we have finished fixing our broken wormery.

The children have worked so hard over the past couple of weeks using the tools and their problem solving skills to put it back together. They worked as a team to decide what they would use and what tools would work best.

“This small bit is too small”

“ We could use this long piece of wood on the side”

“we need a little nail and a hammer to put it on we don’t want to break the wood in half”

“What does this do? it has a bubble in it”

We learned that the spirit level indicates whether a surface is ‘Level’ or ‘plumb’.

“What does plumb mean?” We researched it and found out that ”Plumb means that the surface is sitting straight, it is vertical” This meant that we could check the sides were running straight up and down. We also used the spirit level to check the wormery was level across the top and bottom. We found out this is horizontal!

Every tinker table experience is different, even if it seems the same. We learn new vocabulary every day and learn skills that we can transfer into our everyday life, especially as we get older.

Using a wormery for compost is an easy and environmentally-friendly way of turning food waste in to nutritious compost to feed your garden.

Now we just need find some worms to come and live in it and make up its bedding! 🐛

Muffin Mania 🧁😋😁


Today the children decided that the rhubarb looked in the garden looked ready to eat. “Look it’s grown so big , “We could make yummy muffins with it” “first we need to pull it out of the ground” “ It’s so hard to pull out “ “let’s wash the dirt off before we cook it”

”chop,chop”

We cooked the rhubarb in the microwave till it was soft. “ It smells lovely”

“ We need to put in two scoops of flour and measure out 100 milligrams of soya milk”” Don’t forget the sugar, just one scoop” “To much sugar isn’t good for your teeth”” If your mixture is to wet you need to add more flour”

“We need to cook our muffins in the oven, set the timer for 11 minutes .  “ Let’s write our names on labels so we know what muffins are ours” “ I’m excited to eat mine, I wonder if I will be able to taste the rhubarb, “I haven’t had rhubarb before”

Well done children,  Maybe we could make something tasty with our strawberry’s next time.

 

 

 

Creative painting 🎨🖌

This week in the studio we have been exploring different  paint techniques. We have been using the wire racks to create our pictures. As we explored painting thought the wire racks we noticed the strips and squares in our paintings and some of the children begin to explore some simple pattern in their painting


“I’m using yellow”

“I’m doing long strips”

”There is lots of squares”

“A face”

“My pattern is red blue red blue”

While painting their master pieces the children have been developing their fine motor skill, specially awareness, mathematical language and exploring the different process and outcome as they explore the paint.

Banana and raisin muffins

This week our little chefs have been baking delicious muffins, following recipes from our ‘Tickle fingers, toddler cookbook’. We have been making Dairy and Gluten free Blueberry Yoghurt muffins but we ran out of blueberry yoghurt (Plant based Alpro- soya) and blueberries so had to improvise this morning.

We followed the same recipe but adapted the ingredients to suit what we had available.  We had a discussion on what ingredients we would use.  “We could use bananas” “and raisins”.

We washed our hands and put our aprons on ready to begin baking.

Working their larger arm muscles, the children began by using a potato masher to mash the banana until it was all mushy. They helped each other as it was so tough.

“It’s so tricky” “ I’m using my big muscles”

Next we added all the liquids to the banana mix including  oil, honey, soya milk and gave it a good mix using the whisk.


They added the raisins then used their measuring skills to weigh out the gluten free self raising flour using the scales, each child took turns to add a scoop to the bowl and watched as the measurements got higher.

”it’s got a 3 and 4”

“Now it’s got two 6’s that number is sixty six”

Next they added the flour to the mix and gave it a good mix till it was the right consistency for our muffins. We filled up our muffin cases and popped them in the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes. We discussed how to use the oven safely using oven gloves and letting an adult put them in.


The muffins turned out great and are now ready to go home.

”they smell like banana”

Staying safe in the sun☀️

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!

Here at Cart Mill FC we 😍🧵 here’s some of this week’s amazing designs😁

Our children love to sew, learning through real first hand experiences.

“I would like to make a purse, first I need to measure it out and draw straight lines”

“Now I’m cutting out my pattern, I love this material because I like to eat apples”

”I can easily thread the needle “

”the sewing is a bit tricky for me”

“I’m sewing buttons on, two I think that will help to close my purse”

”My purse looks great, I think I will sew some ribbon onto it to make it extra special”

”I’m sewing a bag to put my things in” “I chose this nice material because I like it the best”

“Im choosing blue ribbon for my bag so I can carry it”

“I’m putting the wool through the needle”

Some of our younger children enjoy practicing their sewing on the hessian table.

”up and down up and down “

Well done girls can’t wait to see what other ideas you will have for our sewing area.

Colour mixing fun🏳️‍🌈

The children have been exploring the colour wheel and discussing their favourite colours and designing their own wheel with various materials.

Today we explored the colour wheel and began to talk about the various colours and if anyone could identify the three primary colours. A couple of the children were able to name these

.”Blue, Red & yellow”

We listened to a story called Mouse Hunt which told us a story about the primary colours and what happens if we mixed certain colours together and what colours they become.  The colours that they are called secondary colours.

We talked about the story and I asked who could identify the primary colours now. Then as a group we took turns to mix the colours, we made predictions on which colour it would create.
“Blue”

”yellow mouse”

”Red mouse”

The children then gathered their own  resources  and began to explore and experiment with the  primary colours. They used  their fine motors skills to mix the primary colours of their choice  together and create the secondary colours. Some of the children chose to do this in their pallets and others chose to mix them on their paper.

Red and blue is purple

I am going to make orange, I need yellow and red

Blue and  yellow

The children continued to experiment with the colours and were able to paint a piece of art work using them.

” I made the mouse”

”mine is beautiful colours, I made”

“ I made this orange myself”

” looks Suzi it’s an eyeball”

” I made a Christmas tree with my colours”

”mine is light green”

Well done children your colour mixing was fab.

What new colours can you create at home ?

Let’s get baking 🥧

What an experience we had today making our very own vegan rhubarb scones from scratch with the rhubarb we’ve grown at nursery.

We went to our garden to see the rhubarb we previously planted that we have been taking care of by watering it regularly. It was now time to be picked and used.
“This one is very big.”

”I’m so strong, I can pull the rhubarb out.”

After picking the rhubarb we washed it and cut it into small pieces, adding some water and 2 teaspoons of sugar, the next step was to put it into the microwave which we discussed the safety rules for.


“I help my mum at home to cut up.”

“I’ll put one more little bit in.”

The children can independently select the ingredients needed as they follow our visual recipe. Firstly  we measured out the amounts required using mathematical language of more and less. Once we made our ingredients into a dough we rolled it out developing our fine motor skills and lastly we put the scones in the oven taking great care with the times as we don’t want the firemen to visit 🫢. 


“I’ll put all the butter in.”

”Its at number 10, we need more.”

“It smells like sweeties.”
“I’m going to roll it into a ball.”

The children take great pride in using the produce they have grown and are so proud to take these home and share with their families, why don’t you try this at home, discover the joy of watching your vegetables grow and create something you can all enjoy!!!😃

Here are the children’s delicious rhubarb vegan scones. Yum!!