Tag Archives: News

Slime recipe

I’m sure you are all aware that the children have been making slime. We have been learning the recipe and would love to share it with you so maybe you could try it at home.


In the mornings the children have been disagreeing about what to make at our malleable area. Some want to make play dough and others want to make slime. So we came up with a  way to vote to make it fair for everyone.  Everyone who wants to will vote by putting a tally mark in the box using the pictures to help. The box with the majority wins for the day.

“4 people want to make slime already”

“Only 1 choose playdough”

“Slime won”


They start by independently collecting all the equipment and ingredients  needed.

~ First step is to fill the jug with water

~ Add one cup of Pva glue to the bowl

~ Add equal parts water to the bowl

~Add 1 level tsp of Bicarbonate of soda

~Food colouring of your choice (optional)

~Add small amounts of contact lense solution (Asda one seems to work best) at a time.

~Mix until all ingredients combine and start to pull away from the bowl

~Knead until it not sticky. (This part is messy, the best way to get it off your hands is to roll the palm of your hand on a flat surface, it will gather and become stretchy like rubber rather than sticky.
The children learn so much from such a simple experience. Their fine motor skills are developing as they use their hand muscles to squeeze, roll and stretch the slime in different ways.

They are expanding their vocabulary as they describe the slime, what colour it is, what it feels like etc.

They are following instructions/recipes, measuring ingredients, colours, shapes…

…The list goes on.

“This is the best day ever”

Crazy Hair Fun

In the Studio Room we have been learning about the art style of Jackson Pollock.

We have been busy making our own abstract splat, drip and splash art using a variety of materials to create the splash such as droppers and spoons.

We noticed today there were some faces on the floor but something was missing “no hair”

We decided to use our learning of Jackson Pollocks splash painting to create the crazy hair using brushes to splat the paint.

This was so much fun that we thought why not recreate this outdoors in a larger area.

Outdoors we used chalk to draw the faces on the ground then explored different techniques and materials to create the wild and crazy hair, using a variety of mops, spray bottles, squeezing bottles and turkey basters, as well as large and small paint brushes.

This helped us to develop our gross motor skills as we used our bodies to make massive splashes.

We spoke about the different types of splashes each of our different resources made. We had great fun having more space to make the splashes go further.

We enjoyed expanding our learning across different learning environments to develop a range of skills for our 2-5 year old children.

I wonder what Jackson Pollock inspired art we will create tomorrow.

Creative with paints!

The children have been exploring various different ways to express their creativity in the painting area this week. The children were very excited to discover special waterproof paper in the art area, which sparked lots of imaginative ideas!

Some children wanted to draw their pictures first using chalk, and copying it with paints

 

Others explored fun patterns using different resources…

  

The best part is, as the paper is waterproof, you can paint and clean as many paintings as you like!

“Taadaa!”

The children were keen to take their paintings home with them, so after some wonderful suggestions the children came up with a solution.

“Maybe if I put it on the big paper, it will stick?”

 

“It worked!”

“Great idea! I’m going to try it too”

The children worked so well as a team, helping their peers with fun suggestions and solutions. Keep up the great work everybody!

 

 

Block play

Since the beginning of the new term the boys and girls have been exploring the block area, so far we have added farm animals which we have created pens for then we were able to sort using different criteria for example how any have four legs? How many have feathers? During this play the children have been developing socially and emotionally, this form of play supports language development as children describe their processes and narrate their play, as well as developing emergent writing skills.

 

“We need a barn, cows live in a barn” so we went into the studio and set to work painting and decorating our barn.

“Can we have dinosaurs?” So out came the dinosaurs which have been a great success developing even more language and imagination, we are learning about the different types of dinosaurs and using the iPad to look up the names of the ones we don’t know we are learning that some are carnivores, some are herbivores and some are omnivores.

“My dinosaur is in the cage”

”Dinosaurs live in the forest “

The children used the blocks to make a “ramp to get into the cave” and a “dinosaur castle”.

I wonder what we will explore next week?

 

All aboard the Cart Mill train!

“All aboard the Cart Mill train”, has been the cry throughout another fun filled week!  Holidays have been a hot topic of conversation, with much discussion over where we are going on holiday and how we are going to get there! This has led to a natural progression of our interest in forces through using personal experiences to explore different ways of travelling from one place to another!

In our garden “the floor is lava!”.  Using our problem solving skills we worked together to design our own obstacle course so that we could travel across the “lava without getting on fire” by climbing, balancing and jumping! It was lots of fun to explore balance further through using our “wobble” board to move from sided to side and up and down! Using our knowledge of forces, we explored different ways to transport water to “put out the lava” using hoses, pipes and funnels!

In our discovery room and studio we have demonstrated wonderful creativity through designing our own mode of transport on our interactive board and constructing  planes, trains, cars and boats using junk modelling and a fabulous kit donated by one of our families.

“It’s a boat.  I’m going on holiday to Ireland on a boat with my family”. “I maked a train. I love trains. I go’d on a train”.

Trains have been a firm favourite and we have been so busy in our block area constructing our own “Cart Mill station”  and “trains”which have been picking up passengers and dropping them at exciting destinations! “The train leaving platform 3 is for Spain”.


“I maked a bridge for the trains to go under”.  “My train is East Kilbride”.

Role play is another favourite activity! This week we have made our very own “bus” which took us on a journey full of fun, laughter and much excitement “to school”.

“I drived the bus. To school”. “I readed  a book”. “Beep beep”.

Of course one of our favourite ways to travel around Cart Mill is by bike! Lots of us have bikes and scooters at home. Gail very kindly brought us some bikes in and we had so much fun investigating how they work and using real tools to take them apart and using our problem skills to try and put them back together again!

Of course we had to bring out our Cart Mill bikes so that we could race each other round our garden!  What a fun filled, action packed week! We can’t wait for more adventures next week.

Article 13 – Freedom of expression

Artice 28 – Right to an education

Article 31 – Leisure, play and culture

 

Super Sports Day!

Today was Sports Day here at Cart Mill! Excitement has been building over the last couple of weeks and we have all been practicing our favourite races!

It was very exciting to arrive at our sports area and see all our races set up by Chris, our Active Schools Co-ordinator.  Off we set to our first race.  After a quick run down of what we needed to do it was time to ready, steady, GO!!!

We ran and jumped over the hurdles and then ran back to the start to see who could finish first! It was so much fun that our families wanted to join in too! (Well done mums!)

Next up was our obstacle course.  We had to run up to the hula hoop, hop or star jump and then see if we could walk balancing a beanbag on our heads! It was a wee bit tricky but we took our time and demonstrated some fabulous balancing skills!

It was time for our flat race next! Some of us were a wee bit excited and forgot to wait for the ready, steady Go.  With a bit of practice, we soon got the hang of it! Who do you think was fastest!

Our final race was the egg and spoon race.  We are very imaginative here at Cart Mill, so we decided to have our own version, the tangerine and spoon race!

Of course what better way to round up sports day than  our super duper water slide!

It was so much fun to take turns sliding super fast down our slide.  We discovered if Val gave us a wee helping hand, we went even faster! And more bubbles appeared the faster we went (there’s definitely a science experiment in there somewhere!).
After all the fun it was time to head back inside for a quick change, ice pole and to receive our certificates.  We truly are sporting super stars!

A huge thank you to staff, Chris from Active Schools and to our fabulous families and children for making it such a memorable event.

Article 31 – the right to engage in play and recreational activities.

Billy’s Bucket

Today we enjoyed the book Billy’s Bucket, a story about a boy who wanted a bucket for his birthday! Using his wonderful imagination, he described all the exciting events that happened and the sea creatures that came to visit. After reading our story we decided to  design our own buckets…

Then we thought about all the creatures we wanted in our own buckets….sharks, whales, sea lions!!

We thought our bucket was too little so we made an even bigger one in our water tray.  After lots of discussion, problem solving and decision making, we decided to make our water red!

Reading a story has helped us develop our literacy skills, fuels our imagination and creativity and allows us to share ideas with our friends.  We have demonstrated we can make decisions, problem solve, work together and lead our own learning.   😁

Article 28 You have the right to an education

 

 

Sinking and floating, wind and waves 🤔

Today we started with a scavenger hunt looking for items around the nursery that sunk or floated. We looked in all the rooms to see what we could find….



We tested the chosen items to check what category they fell into…

and recorded the results.

When we knew what items floated, we introduced some straws to create some wind and waves to see who’s item floated to the other side the quickest. We also had lots of fun making bubbles in the water and investigating cause and effect.

Article 28 You have the right to education.

The Cart Mill Campsite!

This week at Cart Mill, some of the children have enjoyed building dens, sparking discussions about camping. To further explore this interest, we decided to embark on a fun learning experience by pitching a tent and creating the Cart Mill Campsite!

First, we worked together to set up the tent, following the instructions and learning about its different parts along the way. Through this activity, the children not only learned practical skills but also developed important social skills such as effective communication, sharing responsibilities, and supporting each other.

We began by carefully laying out the tent, taking our time to select the perfect spot and ensuring that it would fit just right. With teamwork in full swing, we joined the tent poles together and skilfully threaded them through the fabric, gradually bringing the tent to life

We focused on securing the tent to the ground by hammering the pegs firmly into place. Working together, we used our strength to make sure each peg was secure.  One of our group stressed the importance of this, saying “It will keep it from blowing away in the wind”

 

One child suggested making a campfire, remembering how they had learned it at forest school by rubbing sticks together. Excited, some of the children got busy gathering sticks from the garden and creating the pretend campfire to cook on and keep warm.

The tent became a provocation for imaginative play, allowing the children to explore role play camping adventures, fostering creativity, storytelling, and role-playing skills. We even gathered around for some campfire songs, with “10 Fat Sausages Sizzling in a Pan” being a firm favourite, helping the children practice counting backwards from 10 to 0.

Some of the children gathered inside the tent for a story. The children chose a book that sparked a discussion about what jobs we could so when we grow up.  Take a look below at some of the suggestions.

“I want to a builder”

“I want to be a king”

“I want to be a dragon”

“I want to a teacher”

“I want to be a builder like dad”

“I want to be a princess doctor like the story”

” I want to be a vet and look after dragons”

It was a fantastic experience that combined learning and fun, fostering a love for camping and outdoor exploration in our little Cart Mill campers. 🏕️🔥🎶

(Article 12) (respect for the views of the child)

(Article 28) (right to education)

Article 29 (goals of education)

Article 31 (leisure, play and culture)

Sensory Fun

We have been trying out some fun sensory experiences this week.  We tried mixing custard powder with water which gave us a really smooth surface and was  hard to press into but when we lifted it up it became all runny “wow its like magic“. Did you know this is called a non Newtonian fluid?

The children enjoyed watching the mixture do its magic.

The girls and boys were able to use some great descriptive words when playing with the magic potion.  “ My potion is very sticky and cold” and it’s like a bath bomb my mummy uses.

We were able to talk about the visual elements how thick or thin, rough and smooth as well as shape, colour and patterns. What a lot of things to learn!

Our next sensory experience we decided should be crazy soap as this is always a favourite

The girls and boys enjoy moulding this foam and squeezing it through their fingers . It feels very tickly  in my hands.

This week we have made up some sensory bags. We made jelly to put in one of them although we had to use our muscles to try and break the jelly into pieces, this helps develop our fine motor skills.

Everyday we had something different in our bags and we had great fun guessing what might be in the bags, what colours they were and what the would smell like.

It was decided that the jelly bag was the best it smelled so good and was nice and “squishy”. The beans went all yucky and were cold so not as good. The tomatoes were good as you could make patterns in them with your fingers. We also had lentils one day, they felt really different.
Sensory experiences help us use all our senses while we explore them.

Article 13 – You have the right to play and learn through new experiences.