Tag Archives: problem solving

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”

 

Indoor bug hotel

This morning the children were exploring the mini beasts in the Discovery room.

They used magnifying glasses to inspect the bugs closer and commented on the different colours, shapes and sizes they could see and then they compared them to the pictures of the bugs.

” This bug is that one because its green and has 4 wings”

The children came up with the idea to build a bug hotel with small and large blocks from our block/construction area.  They worked together as a team to pass each block down the production line until the bug hotel was finished.

They tried to fit inside the bug hotel with the bugs but it was too small, so they decided to build a big house for them to fit in.

” this is a big house it fit us in”

 

Fun day Monday baking Scones 😃

The Children are learning how to make their own scones .  Firstly we talked about what kind of scones we would make.

“I want to make cherry scones because cherries are my favourite fruit” “ I don’t like cherries so I don’t want any in my scones” “ I just like plain scones”

We then discussed the ingredients we would need.
“ I think we need flour and sugar” “ lots of coconut milk to make the mixture wet” “Baking powder for the scones to rise”
Then we used lots of mathematical language to talk about the quantity’s of the ingredients.

“It’s four scoops of flour and one small scoop of sugar” “ We need to measure out the milk in the glass jug it’s 100 ml”  “It’s only one teaspoonful of vanilla essence and one teaspoonful of baking powder that makes the scones grow” “ mm coconut milk smells yummy”
Everyone loved rolling out their scone mix, it was a bit sticky and stretchy!


Then it was time to cut them out and count how many scones we had.


The children did great turn taking and knew that the scones went into the oven for 10 minutes. “ I’m excited to see what my scone tastes like” “ The cherries look tasty”

Well done children your scones look amazing 😁

 

Berrylicious Muffins😁

Today the children have been talking about the different  berries they know -the different delicious tastes they have , different shapes they have and different ones they have seen when they have been on walks or maybe out shopping.


We thought about how we can use berries in our baking so we decided to make some mixed berry muffins. Together we looked at the recipe and we then followed the instructions to make our muffins.

“We can use blackberries , strawberries and raspberries”


”I think raspberries will make them taste nice”

“ It  looks gooey and sticky”
We carefully took turns when measuring out the ingredients. We counted and  we showed we could problem solve  when we realised their muffin mixture wasn’t binding well. We had to add more coconut milk to make the mixture a bit more sticky.

Once our mixture was ready we spooned it into our cake cases. It was now ready for the oven! ,First we set the timer for ten minutes to check to see if they were cooking well.  After waiting patiently our muffins were soon ready!😋

When out the oven and being left to cool down the children noticed the colour of their muffins had changed.

“They look weird”   “ That’s funny they look different”  “ They smell so yummy”
They then realised that they had changed because of colour of the berries.
Baking is a great experience for developing hand eye coordination through mixing and spooning. Everybody felt a great sense of achievement from baking their own yummy muffins and were excited to taste them at snack time.
What yummy tasty treats can you make using different types of berries?

Wednesdays are for Wild Raspberry picking 😃

Today at Cart Mill family centre the children discovered wild raspberries on their nature walk. They talked about what other fruits grow wild in Scotland” I found strawberries when I was on holiday , they were really sweet” “ I like finding brambles on a walk they are big  purple and juicy ”  They collected the raspberries  and decided  to make them into yummy muffins.

The children looked up a muffin recipe in a baking book and decided what ingredients they would need. “We need flour sugar milk and baking powder to make them rise” “let’s wash our raspberries so they are clean ““We will need scales to weigh out our ingredients “ “ The children were able to name and weigh out their ingredients waiting patiently on their turn.

“ I need 150 grams of flour” It’s not sticky enough you need more milk” “ I need to put in two tablespoons of sugar “


The children used lots of descriptive language whilst making their muffins.  They are looking forward to tasting them at home , well done everyone.