Tag Archives: planting

life cycles, nature, Outdoor Learning

Mondays garden fun including Releasing our beautiful butterflies🐛🩋

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Today the children decided it was time to release our butterflies. The species we have are called Painted Ladies. We made sure the weather conditions were suitable for example the temperature was above 12 degrees and it wasn’t to windy. The children measured out a nectar solution of one teaspoon sugar to 100mls of water  cut up some tangerines and mashed a small slice of banana to put outside in case the butterflies needed energy to look for flowers.  I explained that the butterflies mouth functions like a straw to sip up the nutritious liquids and that they should live two to five weeks. Then the children unzipped the habitat and patiently waited for the butterflies to fly away.

 

The children were delighted to see the butterflies so close up. “ It’s got a very furry body” “It’s tickling my nose” “I think butterflies have a nice pattern on them, I like the colours on them”


In the garden today we also did a little weeding  and planted some herbs to make our mud kitchen concoctions a bit more interesting. The children planted parsley coriander and basil they thought the basil had the nicest  scent.


The children were very gentle while planting their herbs and knew that they would need sunshine and water to grow. It has been such a busy day, planting and releasing our butterflies. Maybe you could have a look and see what other species of butterflies you have in your garden or in the local community when you are out and about. We would love to see any pictures!

Article 28 Every Child has the right to an education.

 

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Let’s get baking đŸ„§

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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 đŸ«ą. 


“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!!

Outdoor Learning

đŸŒ»SunflowersđŸŒ»

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Now the sun has appeared, it time to get planting our sunflower seeds

“what do we need to grow a sunflowers?”

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“soil is like food”

“water helps it grow”

“seeds”

“sunshine”

First we filled our pots with compost

“This is flower food”

“how long will it take to grow?

The children poked a small hole for the sunflower seed. Once the seed was in we covered it with a little soil.

“mine is going to be so tall. Can I take it home”

Now our seeds need a drink of water to help them grow.

“can I help water them”

Literacy, Outdoor Learning

Gardening fun in the Greenhouse!

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The children at Cart Mill are very excited that we have entered the Pocket Garden Design Competition. They have been busy last week planting seeds and learning how to look after them. The children have remembered that, for the seeds to grow, they need watered regularly, especially after the weekend!

”The seeds are getting a drink of water!”

We were so delighted to see that some of our seeds had started to sprout already. “Look! I can see some green leaves!”

After watering our seeds we talked about the life cycle of plants again and I was super impressed with how much the children remembered. We also looked at a chart showing us some of the seeds and bulbs that will flower in Spring!

The children decided they wanted to plant more seeds which will hopefully grow in our nursery greenhouse. They looked at the chart and chose to plant some dwarf daffodil bulbs instead of seeds.

”I like them because they are pretty and yellow!”

As we opened the packet, we guessed what we thought they would look like!

”I think they will be rectangle!”

“I think they are soft and a circle shape!”

The children knew exactly what to do and set about planting the bulbs. First they filled the tray with some compost. Some of the children liked to use a trowel but some preferred to get stuck in with their hands!

One child remembered that we use our finger to make a hole in the soil to put the bulb in! They showed the rest how to do it! Then the bulbs got covered with compost and patted down with our hands!

We collected some water in our watering cans to give our new bulbs a drink.


We then put our new tray on the shelf in the greenhouse, beside all our other planters.

Finally we had to write on a lollipop stick so we could remember what bulbs we had planted in our tray!

We stuck the lollipop stick in and covered the new tray of buLbs!

”The cover will keep them warm at night!”

We are excited to keep watering all our seeds and bulbs and can’t wait to see them grow. Once they have grown enough we will be planting them in our own pocket garden, designed by the children.

Article 28
You have the right to education

Outdoor Learning, Special Event

Keep Scotland Beautiful

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At Cart Mill we have entered into the Keep Scotland Beautiful Pocket Garden competition. So, today the children got busy planting a variety of different seeds, bulbs and cuttings.

We started by gathering our tools, pots, seed trays, compost and watering  can.

Before we opened the seed packet we had a guess at the size, shape and colour of the seeds, with some great guesses” I think they are small” “ I think they are pink”  “ I think they are round” and I think that some of the boys and girls have done this before.


After making a hole with our finger we planted the “tiny” seeds and we filled the watering can because we know that plants need the “sun and water” to grow.

Next we went on to plant some daffodil bulbs, this time we used a bigger pot and had a go at lining them up from smallest to biggest.

We planted two pots of daffodils and decided to try an experiment by placing one pot in the greenhouse and the other outside. We want to see if there will be any differences, maybe one will grow bigger than the other!

Finally we potted the cuttings we were kindly given by Ben’s Mum and gave them to Derek to brighten up the studio.

A lovely addition to our Family Centre, thank you!

Here is a link to the competition if you would like to find out more about what we are doing in the garden- https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/media/1570993/opp-pocket-garden-comp-guide-2023-final-211222.pdf

 

Outdoor Learning, Social Studies, Trips and Outings

Local walk to Bonnyton House

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We have been growing some lovely Rhubarb in our nursery garden over the last couple of months, and they were now ready to be harvested.

Yesterday we picked our fresh, home grown Rhubarb. We wondered what we could do with it?

   

We had to use both hands to pull out the Rhubarb as the roots had grown deep into the soil.

    

”Look, this one has a really big leaf”

We decided that we would go for a walk to the local Residential Care Home and drop some off to them as a nice Friday treat. Working with the local community is something we love to do here at Cart Mill and starting back our Intergenerational work is what we are looking to do now that Covid-19 restrictions have eased.

The children were super excited to take a walk over…

 

Intergenerational learning has many benefits and is where people of all ages can learn together and from each other. Intergenerational care is all about providing opportunities for senior adults and young children to come together in the same space and work together to gain new skills and knowledge.

   

 

 

 

 

Outdoor Learning

Sunflower seeds

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Here at Cart Mill we were very lucky to have received our good to grow package from Morrison’s, thank you to all the parents who supported us with this.

After having a look at the seeds the children asked to plant  the sunflower seeds.

We read about  the life cycle of a sunflower then  gathered together our plant pots, soil, trowels and seeds then set to work.

“we need to leave room for the seed”

”the seed got stripes”

After carefully planting our seeds we filled our watering can to give the seeds a drink before we very carefully carried them to the greenhouse.

“seeds need water and  sun to grow”

We are so lucky to have received a donation of sunflower seeds from Barrhead Garden Tidy team.  The team worked hard to harvest seeds from their own sunflowers which they have carefully packaged with sowing instructions on them.

We have used our excellent mark making skills to create some planting instructions and a lovely Sunflower display at our front door.  Please feel free to take a packet of seeds.


We would love you to share your photos of your sunflowers growing with us.  Why not ask the children to measure them and we can have  a competition to see who’s sunflower grows the tallest!

 

Outdoor Learning

Planting and growing đŸŒ±

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Today in our lovely sunny garden we were super busy planting our potatoes. We had previously left our potatoes in our greenhouse in the sun to chit, so we looked to see if our potatoes were ready to be planted, they were so we got started. The children used their gross motor skills for digging, carrying and lifting the soil over to where we are growing our potatoes, they then placed them into the black bag and covered them in soil again.

The children will be taking responsibility for the care of our vegetables in Cart Mill’s garden and that we will need to make sure we are watering them regularly, especially when the weather is sunny. We discussed what things we needed to do to look after our vegetables and also that we will need to be patient while waiting for them to grow.

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Magic Beanstalk

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Today in our garden we had lots of fun making our very own magic bean stalk!

After reading the story indoors, the children were super excited and wanted to make their own beanstalk. So we did some research to find all the materials that we needed.

We placed a handful of cotton balls into our individual jars, sprayed them with water to dampen them and then, just like Jack we threw our magic beans into the jars. Now we all have to be patient and wait and watch, checking on them every day to see if they start to grow. Do you think they will grow to the sky?


“It’s going to grow so big”

“It’s going to be just like Jack’s beanstalk”

“I can take this home to show mum”

This exciting experience allows the children to observe the changes in plant growth over time and helps them develop knowledge of seasons and life cycles.

Outdoor Learning

We are gardeners!

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Today in our garden a group of children have been super busy taking care of our lovely planting area. Firstly we had to weed our planters using gardening tools then we used our gross motor skills for digging, carrying and lifting. As we were digging we came across some insects that live in the soil and mud, so we made sure that we were extra careful.


After we weeded our planter we went into the greenhouse to have a look at what we could plant, the children decided they would like to sow beetroot seeds. We had a chat about when is best to grow certain ones and the affects the different seasons and weather have on the plants and all the different fruits, vegetables and flowers.


The children will be a big part of taking responsibility and care of our vegetables and flowers.  We had a chat with the children about being patient when waiting for our vegetables and flowers to grow and that we will need to keep good care of them by watering regularly for them to flourish.Â