Tag Archives: Health and Wellbeing

Beautiful banana and blueberry muffins independently 😁😁😁

April 24, 2024 Mrs Johnston Leave a comment

Today at Cart Mill we enjoyed some delicious banana and blueberry muffins. The children are familiar with this receipe but today it was carried out independently by a 4 year old with the only assistance given was with the oven.

He collected all the ingredients he needed.

He could recall the measurements and weighed out what he needed

He peeled his banana using his fine motor muscles in his strengthening hands.

We used coconut milk and he poured out just enough using a measuring jug, supporting his numeracy skills.

He mixed all the ingredients together very well

And divided the mixture evenly into the cupcake tray

When he had finished making the muffins he washed his dishes and put all his ingredients away….well done, what a great job today!!!

Ingredients :

3 scoops of gluten free flour

1 scoop of sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon xanthum gum

100 ml of coconut milk

some blueberries and a banana

Try to make these delicious muffins we can always guarantee lots of tasters if you need any. 😜

Article 24 A right to be healthy

Creativity, Outdoor Learning

Our Local Landmarks

April 9, 2024 Miss Simms Leave a comment

Last week the children were creating bridges and castles. We looked up the squinty bridge ( Clyde Arc) and Stirling Castle. Quite a few of the children recognised the bridge.

So this week we decided we would go and explore our own local environment.
We had a think about what we needed to do to keep us safe when we are out a walk.

“ we need to hold hand & listen”

”watch the roads”

” walk nice”

” have fun”
First of all we passed the spider park and continued towards the forest where we could hear the water so we went to explore and we found our very own bridge! “can we pick up sticks and watch them go under bridge?”

The children had fun playing Pooh sticks – throwing their sticks and running to the other side to watch for their stick coming. We then walked further along and found an even bigger bridge.

“ it’s so big I can’t see over”

“The cars go over this one”

“I can hear the train”

“My house is up there and there’s another bridge”

It was now getting close to lunch time and it was time to head back the children were using great listening skills and road safety and we spotted lsome more familiar landmarks Williamwood high school and Bonnyton House. They were also intrigued by the black and white cat.

Today the children have been busy using their gross motor skills and imaginations to build bridges similar to those they have seen in our local environment. The children shared their thoughts and ideas, and used mathematical language to describe how their towers were going to look. They had great concentration and problem solving skills to ensure they would stay up and connect.

children working together as a team

“We are making the one we were on yesterday, Lots of people can walk over it .”

”mine is going to be so long”

Some of the children chose to create their own bridge.

“I am going to make a bridge for cars”

”Look how high it is”

“I have 6 cars on mine”

”“I will make one for people”

” I am putting signs on my bridge”

Expressive Arts, Snack, Special Event

Today we were Celebrating Burns day at Cart Mill family centre 😁

January 25, 2024 Miss Mitchell Leave a comment

Here are some of our Burns day activities. We enjoyed Vegetarian haggis neeps and tatties for our snack and asked the children what they thought of it thumbs up or thumbs down I’m pleased to say the majority of the children liked it.

” The haggis is a bit spicy, but I like it”

“ can I have some more , it’s so good”

“I don’t like it, it’s to bitty”

” The turnip is my favourite it’s a nice yellow colour “

We also enjoyed painting using a big box and cars to move the paint around to look like tartan. The box was quite heavy and the children had to get it into the correct angle to move the cars. “ My car is super fast” “ Im making the green tartan”

After lunch the children decided they would like to try some highland dancing. They were twirling jumping and dancing in time to the Scottish music.

Special Event

Countdown to Christmas!

December 19, 2023 Mrs Hannah Leave a comment

It’s been another busy day as we continue our Cart Mill countdown to Christmas!

After a busy couple of weeks, it was lovely to relax in our cozy Christmas pyjamas and watch some of our favourite Christmas and winter cartoons with our friends. And of course you can’t have a movie day without snacks!

We had so much energy left after our movie, what better way to burn it off than a few games of musical statues and musical bumps! Of course in true Cart Mill style we included a wee impromptu singalong to our favourite Frozen songs! (A good wee warm up before our Christmas Concert tomorrow!).

All of a sudden we heard a sound! We thought it sounded like bells! It was a surprise visit from Santa!!

It was very exciting to meet Santa who had a big sack full of gifts! (Santa was very kind and left gifts for all our children not at nursery today).

What better way to round off our day than with a fabulous dance session with our friend Colette from Blizzard Dancing. We really are marvellous movers at Cart Mill.

Only 6 more sleeps to go!

Expressive Arts

Creative Art inspired by famous artists 🥰

September 11, 2023 Miss Mitchell 1 Comment

Today we studied some artists that use repetition and pattern in their art work. For example Gustav Klimt, The tree of life, Andy Warhol, and his Marilyn Monroe print. Yayoi Kusama is one of the most famous pattern artists of today she used semi circle brushstrokes to create lace like patterns to cover her canvas and imply an expansion into infinity. Looking and talking about these amazing artists inspired some of the children to create their very own works of art using pattern. The children self selected their own paint and resources we even tried acrylic paint which we found out can be very messy. 😂

“I know the names of all these shapes, Im going to put the colours and shapes into the pattern” ”Mine is like a lace pattern “ “ I think the colours on my painting are lovely “

“I’m going to make a shape pattern “ “ I’m choosing a star to start “ I’m going to paint with the pom-poms” “ They make circle marks”

Some of the children chose to stick their shapes down to make a pattern and then paint over the top others did free style patterns and prints.

“ The string is tricky to get off” “ I’m cutting the ribbon to make stripes on my canvas” “I love my painting “

“ I’m wrapping string around mine to make it stripy” “ I’m putting lots of different sized circles on my canvas, like Kandinsky “
The children’s canvas paintings are beautiful well done everyone I think they are so good that we should display them in the studio.

Expressive Arts, Literacy, Outdoor Learning

Exploring the Cart Mill Garden

September 1, 2023 Mr Edwards Leave a comment

This week in the garden we have had lots of learning experiences to take part in. Take a look at what we have been up to.

Duplo Rockets

We used Duplo blocks to build our own space rocket. First we planned out our rocket on paper and got ready to build. Once we had built it we used different lengths of rulers to measure how tall our rockets were. We have been learning different mathematical language such as centimetres, tall, short, tallest and shortest. We were also practicing counting up to and back from 10 ready for blast off!!

Sunflower Harvest

The sunflowers that the children have grown this summer have come to an end. We decided to harvest the seeds and dry them out ready to plant next week. We looked at different parts of the plant and studied the head. The children used the tweezers developing their fine motor skills to pull out the seeds from each head. We will place them somewhere safe to try and store them for next years planting.

Chalk Mark Making

The children have been using the chalk to write and draw on the ground. They have created everything form spiders webs to beetles with 10 legs! We even drew round our friends and looked to see who was the biggest and who was the smallest. Some of our children have also practiced writing their letters.

Obstacle Course

The children have helped to build different layouts using our loose parts this week. The obstacle courses help to challenge our gross motor skills. We have also been learning to manage our risk and ask for help on the more difficult parts.

What another fabulous week in the Cart Mill garden. I wonder what we will get up to next week?

Article 12 – Respect for the views of the child

Article 31 – Leisure, play and culture

Article 29 – Goals of education

Literacy, Special Event

Celebrating world book day we went on a literacy adventure to Busby library

March 6, 2023 Miss Mitchell Leave a comment

Today at Cart Mill family centre, we took an exciting trip to Busby library. It was quite a long walk but the children really enjoyed talking about the sights we saw along the way. We noticed some signs of spring, snow drops and the beginnings of daffodils starting to poke through the soil. We also spotted a boat a cat and we waved at a lady who was sat at her window. When we got to the library, we met Peter the librarian who very kindly let us choose some interesting books to explore together. We also got to select some books to take back for our friends at nursery. Peter read us a special story called Oi Goat especially for world book day with lots of laugh out loud rhymes which we loved! We remembered that we have a sister book Oi Frog back at the nursery.

On the way home, we stopped on the bridge to look for the ducks but unfortunately they weren’t there this time . We got back to Cart Mill just in time for our lunch which was just as well as all that walking had made us extra hungry! Later, we handed the books from the library out to our friends to have a look at. What a busy fun day we had today at nursery. Maybe you could visit a different library over the weekend and let us know what it was like.

Expressive Arts, Outdoor Learning, Trips and Outings

Framing Winter

February 14, 2023 Miss Simms Leave a comment

As our weather is crisp and cold we have been looking and discovering more about winter in the world around us and how we keep ourself warm during this chilly time. We asked the children what they knew about winter weather and got some lovely responses;

“It’s Cold” “

“I wear snow boots”

“My fingers go red”

“Frost makes beautiful patterns”

We decided together that we would enjoy exploring our local environment to see what effect the colder weather had on our world around us.

First we dressed appropriately for our walk, we put our warm jackets, hats, boots and some of us had cosy gloves to keep us extra warm .

We looked at how the trees looked a bit sad and cold as their beautiful big leaves have left them bare, some of the leaves were lying on the ground.

During our walk we collected some of the leaves, some sticks, twigs and stones to take back to Cart Mill

“Leaves are wet”

“ I have found the biggest stick”

On our travels we also spotted a deer and its family through the bare trees. We walked a little further and saw lots of sheep.
“Are there any baby ones?”
We discussed that baby lambs can be seen in the spring and that’s the next season after winter, so not long to wait now.

When we arrived back at the nursery we decided to create our own winter pictures using the resources we found. The children were very creative designing their own trees and snowflakes. A lovely way for us to show our fun winter walk time.

Snack, Social Studies

Burns day at Cart Mill

January 25, 2023 Miss Mitchell Leave a comment

Happy Burns Day!

Today at Cart Mill we have been celebrating all things Scottish…

We have been making Scotland flags in the playdough area with Emma using blue and white playdough…

We have had so much fun helping Fiona to make Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, we helped to peel the potatoes 🥔 and then we got to taste it at snack time!

We also had a try at some Scottish dancing today in the discovery room… We listened to Scottish ceilidh music and practiced some traditional dance moves with the help of Gails expertise!

In the studio, we have used different coloured ribbons to create our own tartan pictures. The children were able to select their own colours and create their own patterns inspired by pictures of various tartan…

As you can see the children have had so much fun exploring a variety of experiences throughout the day at nursery! We have had a fabulous burns day 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿