Tag Archives: problem solving

Will the glove fitđŸ§€đŸȘĄđŸ§”

In the studio this week one of our children drew around her hands onto paper, then she cut them out and decorated them. This sparked an idea “I want to make some gloves”

Using her problem solving skills she decided the paper would just rip if we tried to put it on her hands but she could use her paper hands to draw around and use some material. All of a sudden, she had a template!

“I want to sew my gloves for school, will I have a enough time before I go?

Once she selected and measured her material she had to make sure it was big enough for the size of her hand.
Mastering fine motor skills and the hand grip required to hold  and thread the needle, she got to work sewing. Well done!

We found a pair of gloves to help us problem solve how we were going to create our gloves. We discovered that the hands that we drew around didn’t match. They have to be symmetrical to be able to make the glove. We began sewing the glove onto the other material to cut around it after.

With a a little of help holding the fabric our super glove designer was able to sew all the way around the fingers. After a lot of hard work and concentration we tried the glove on to see if the glove fits.
The glove fits đŸ€© Amazing Work!

“I need to make another glove because 2 gloves make a pair”

Sewing helps children understand the creative process, develop fine motor skills, improve their concentration, and learn how to work with their hands. This can help them become more independent and self-motivated.

Article 29 – You have the right to education which tries to develop your personality and abilities as much as possible and encourages you to respect other peoples rights and values and to respect the environment.

Summer fun🎈Afternoon Tea at Cart Mill 🍓


The children led this blog and narrated as they went – enjoy their own words!
On a nature walk the children noticed that the bushes across from the nursery have raspberries on them.  “ Can we pick some and make something with them” “ I love raspberries “ “ The strawberries in the garden are ready to we could make some jam and put it onto scones “

“These strawberries aren’t very big” “ Bet they still taste good though” “We need to wash our strawberries and raspberries “

” We need to mash the fruit up, I think a fork would be best for mashing “ “ The strawberries and raspberries smell really good” “ I’m going to mash up 5 strawberries and 3 raspberries because I like strawberries the best”


“ Lets carefully measure out the ingredients so our scones are tasty” “Don’t put to much baking powder in or it will taste horrible, I think half a teaspoon is fine “

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“let’s cut our scones out,we need the special scone cutter and we need to use the rolling pin , to make it flat”” mine is a bit sticky” 

”I think 11 minutes will be enough “ ” I don’t want mine to burn”

” Mmmm my scone tastes yummy “ “ I’m only putting a little jam on mine”  “ we better wash our dishes”

Great team work the scones tasted amazing and you even washed the dishes. đŸ€©

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

What can you SEE👀?

It’s STEM  week! (Science, Technology,Engineering, Mathematics)

Following on from learning about the sense of hearing in the science area we have been talking about how many senses there are and what they all are. We found out there are 5 senses. Today we discussed which of our senses we would like to focus on, we chose sight.

The children looked through the microscope to SEE the different specimens on the micro slides.

“I can see it, it looks like a little bit of grass from the garden”

“It’s tiny stones”  “Now it is BIG”

Next we did an experiment to SEE if the items we chose would Sink or Float. We discussed each item before it went in the water. We predicted whether each individual item  would float or sink, developing our critical thinking skills.

“The golf ball will sink”

“Why do you think it will sink?”

“Because it’s heavy”

“The pom pom will float”

“i know, it’s not heavy, it’s light”

”I can see it sinking all the way to the bottom”

We used our mark making skills to record our findings. The children made tally marks for each item and recorded them on a table.

“3 floated and 2 sinked”

For our final experiment, the children used pipettes (developing their fine motor skills and hand- eye co-ordination) to add different coloured food colouring to individual glases and then filled them up with water.

In each glass they added a paper towel so that half was in one glass and half in the one beside.

We watched as the coloured water transferred from one glass to another causing some of the colours to mix creating different colours in the empty glass.

“Look i can SEE it moving, the blue and yellow have turned green”

“They mix together”

The children have had lots of fun exploring their sight while being mini scientists.

Even junk can look beautiful with a little creativity 😁

In the junk modelling area today, we were making bottle sculptures. First, we got some inspiration from a video to help spark our imagination.  We then chose our bottle and thought about what our inspiration was.

“I think mine should look like a rocket with red fire” “I want mine to be sparkly like a fairy” “I’m making mine blue like the sky”

We then used a paper plate for the base and then secured the plate to the bottle with masking tape. “
The children then gathered the resources they needed to make their amazing creations. They explored the resources and problem solved which type of adhesives would work best. “I’m using this tape as it’s the best to stick the bottle onto the plate” “I will tie my sparkly blue ribbon around the bottle“. “I’m using the plasticine to stick the tissue paper on”.


The children used lots of descriptive language to describe what they were doing “I’m scrunching the tissue paper up small to fit on the top of my bottle“. “ I’m using the hole puncher the heart one to make my plate pretty”
When the children were finished making their creations, they wanted to display them in the studio. Good job everyone what beautiful sculptures you have made.

Loose parts fun đŸ€©

Today the children have enjoyed being creative in the loose parts area. We explored different patterns including numbers


Shapes


and some letters too…

“I want to do a S. That’s in my name”

“The pipe cleaners will work, because they’re straight lines.”

Some children even loved making something completely different all together, like the Scotland flag!

“the peg is for the wee stick on the flag. How can I do the triangles for the inside? I know, why don’t I squish the pipe cleaners?”

The children loved being creative with their patterns, and showed really great problem solving skills when choosing their materials. They were able to recognise patterns that included straight lines as well as more curved lines, and choose their loose parts to explore this. Great work everyone!
What can you make out of loose parts at home? We would love to see your ideas.

 

Today in the discovery room we were mostly building bridges😁

The children decided they would like to learn a little about all of the different types of bridges. We used the Promethean board to research them and printed some pictures of famous bridges to use as inspiration to build our own.
We worked well together to create our bridge. “Look this block is the same shape as the bridge” “We are building  London Bridge”  
đŸŽ¶ London bridge is falling down falling down falling down my fair lady đŸŽ¶
 

“ Let’s use this blue material for the water”

“ can we have some music to have a party on our bridge “

”My bridge is for monster trucks “

“ I need to use two smaller blocks to make up the size of the bigger ones because there are none left” Great problem solving!

”My bridge lights up when it’s dark” “ It even has handles to stop you falling over into the water”

“Pizza delivery for the party on the bridge “  
The children had lots of fun role playing on their bridges.

Today at Cart Mill family centre we are feeling happy😁


Today the children were feeling happy and wanted to bake smilie scones made with yummy strawberry dairy free yogurt.

”We need flour first” “I remember it’s four scoops”

“Three tablespoons of yogurt need to go in to make it extra strawberryish” “ I love strawberry yogurt””It smells so good”

We added some coconut milk “ we need to measure it in the jug”vanilla essence and baking powder. The children used their fine motor skills to measure and stir.

.“ I think we should make the face with cherries and raisins “ “We need to make the cherries smaller, we could cut them in half” “I need 8 cherries for the smile” “I only need one cherry for the nose” “I’m making a big nose out of 4 cherries, some people have a big nose” “They go into the oven for 12 minutes “The children used lots of mathematical language during their baking.

The children were very excited to see how well their scones turned out hopefully they are as tasty as they look. Well done everyone đŸ€©

 

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Building fun đŸ‘·đŸ»â€â™‚ïž

Today the children loved engaging their imaginations in the construction area. We had a variety of building materials for the children to use, and they enjoyed creating different types of role playing scenarios.

“I want to make a hotel for spider man”

“We’re making a tunnel for the train”

”eyes!”

The children worked great as part of a team, helping each other and using their problem solving skills to build their creations. Some children loved making rocket ships


Other children enjoyed making busses and dens


”beep beep!”

And we even had a Spider Man fire engine!

The children really loved showing off their creativity through role playing with the blocks, and sharing the fun with all their friends. Great work everybody đŸ‘đŸ€©

Welcome to maths week!

It’s Maths Week! Today in our garden we have been super busy taking part in lots of fun experiences.

Some of the children were working hard as a team to build their very own ‘castle’. They were using their problem solving skills to estimate and measure the blocks and materials  to see which one fits best.


“This one needs to go at the top”

”It’s taller than me”

The children also had lots of fun creating and following patterns in the sand

“This goes up and down”
“this one looks like M”

We went on a shape hunt in our garden which was filled with lots of different shapes.


“I’ve found a circle”

“I can see a square”

Welcome to our cafe,  the children made up a menu with a selection of prices and the served up some delicious ice cream.

”I’ll have the strawberry please”

”That will be 20p”

The children were creating and copying shapes, using loose parts.

”I made a circle”