Tag Archives: #problemsolving

Creative builders in the block area 🧱👷🏽‍♀️👷🏾‍♂️

Over the last week in the block area the children have been using their imagination and problem solving skills to represent their ideas in imaginative ways. We have been making ice cream shops, which has been very popular with the children and the staff!

“I need the small ones for the ice cream”

“The big blocks can be for the walls”

The children have been enhancing their Problem solving skills, mathematic skills and communication skills by working alongside their friends to create their ice cream shops. The children were able to discuss bug and small blocks and give reasons for using different ones.

“my house has a pillow for the bed, I sleep up here”

”we’re saving our house from the big bad wolf!”

The children have also shown an interest in creating and designing their own houses both individually and working together with our friends. In block play, children are able to free flow their own ideas and building their constructions brings a feeling of success and allows children to build their self-esteem.

Article 15: I have the right to meet with friends

Article 31: I have the right to play

 

Refreshing the rules

Today in the discovery room the children were keen to open up the tinker table and use the tools, but before we could do that we had to do something very important.

The children gathered round and noticed the safety goggles under the bench. They tried them on and even collected hard hats from the block area . We discussed the rules of the tinker table and the purpose of our PPE for our new children and remind our returning children.

“ We need to wear safety goggles to stop things going in our eyes”

“ The helmet stops our head getting hurt”


Next we explored the tools. I asked if the children knew what their names were and if they knew what their job was.

“I have a hammer, i can use the hammer to make something with the wood”

We had a look at the different shapes and sizes of all the tools.

“That one is pointy and that one is small”

“what’s this called?” “ I know that one is pliers”

The children had a great discussion on all the tools and told each other the names and what they do. We had a look at the plan book that other children had made, they drew what they planned to make and then selected the correct materials to make it.

This inspired the children to think of their own ideas of things they would like  to make.

Our memories are now refreshed of the rules and are ready to start being creative. When we are finished at the tinker table we put our closed sign ( that the children made) up so that they know that the area is closed.

Budding architects and construction engineers!

It’s been a brilliant few weeks in our busy block area! A number of our 4&5 year olds have become expert architects and construction engineers! They are able to describe what they are going to build before they start, draw their own plan, demonstrate excellent problem solving skills when creating their fabulous models and then use our iPads to capture images to create a fabulous display of their work.

”I used lots of blocks. I did it like symmetry, the same on each side. We found a picture that looks like it on the iPad”.

”We made a high chair for the teddy to sit in to eat his lunch, and a bed for the dolly cos she was tired”.

”I builded my house. These are the walls. I made a table and chairs and bunk beds to sleep in”.

Our 2 & 3 year olds have had lots of fun exploring stacking, demonstrating excellent problem solving skills by investigating how the blocks turn, fit on top of each other and different sizes, shapes and weights.

It was so much fun to see how many we could put on top of each other before they fell over!

Through observing and learning from our more experienced children, our 2&3 year olds are at the early stages of creating their own bridges.  Although they much prefer using their friends creations for their cars and trucks!


To add further challenge and depth to their learning, our children were set a challenge to see if they could build a bridge to help our small world people cross the river safely!   This sparked some wonderful conversation, problem solving, creativity and teamwork! Our children designed their own village with a school, park, shops and lots of houses and constructed some wonderful bridges to allow our people to cross the river safely to “go to the shops and the park”.


“I builded a bridge. There’s crocodiles in the water!”
“Look the people can cross the river to get to the park and the shop”.

”This bit doesn’t fit. We need a longer bit. Why don’t we try this bit?”

It has been so much fun watching our children develop their design and creativity talents, we can’t wait to share our future creations with you!

Articles 28 & 29 – children have the right to an education, children have the right to an education which tries to develop your talents and abilities.

 

What can we create with clay?

Today in the clay area, the children enjoyed taking part in various model making, exploring different techniques to mould and design and also being kind and sharing with one another.

At cart mill we value the opportunities we have to make friends and be part of group experiences sharing our ideas and thoughts with one another.


We have been sharing and co operating with our peers and recognising how we can communicate with others in different situations.

The children then demonstrated how to use different techniques for moulding and creating in the clay area.


The children were able to create and develop using a variety of techniques in making things by hammering, rolling and cutting using different tools and materials.

The children then created their own models by using their curiosity and imagination to select different loose parts such as pebbles and sea shells.

”I made snails”

”My shells look like unicorns horns”

New and improved wormery

Following on from our last up-cycling project, we can now say we have finished fixing our broken wormery.

The children have worked so hard over the past couple of weeks using the tools and their problem solving skills to put it back together. They worked as a team to decide what they would use and what tools would work best.

“This small bit is too small”

“ We could use this long piece of wood on the side”

“we need a little nail and a hammer to put it on we don’t want to break the wood in half”

“What does this do? it has a bubble in it”

We learned that the spirit level indicates whether a surface is ‘Level’ or ‘plumb’.

“What does plumb mean?” We researched it and found out that ”Plumb means that the surface is sitting straight, it is vertical” This meant that we could check the sides were running straight up and down. We also used the spirit level to check the wormery was level across the top and bottom. We found out this is horizontal!

Every tinker table experience is different, even if it seems the same. We learn new vocabulary every day and learn skills that we can transfer into our everyday life, especially as we get older.

Using a wormery for compost is an easy and environmentally-friendly way of turning food waste in to nutritious compost to feed your garden.

Now we just need find some worms to come and live in it and make up its bedding! 🐛

Upcycling project

This week the children have been working very hard to start their up cycling project at the tinker table.

They began by  looking for something around the playroom that they could ‘Up cycle’. They found an old storage drawer that had missing handles on the boxes. They collected loose materials such as buttons, pipe cleaners, beads, bottle lids,  small wood chips and twigs to use as new handles for the boxes.


They used skills they had previously learned at the tinker table to join the new handles to the box.

“I can use the hammer and nails to put this wood on”

 

Once all the new handles were on the children noticed one of the drawers were missing. Using their problem solving skills one of the older children suggested making a sign to let everyone know that the new up cycled storage drawers belong to the tinker table.

The next job on the list is to up cycle our broken wormery, we are looking for longer pieces of wood if anyone has any lying about that they no longer need.

Banana and raisin muffins

This week our little chefs have been baking delicious muffins, following recipes from our ‘Tickle fingers, toddler cookbook’. We have been making Dairy and Gluten free Blueberry Yoghurt muffins but we ran out of blueberry yoghurt (Plant based Alpro- soya) and blueberries so had to improvise this morning.

We followed the same recipe but adapted the ingredients to suit what we had available.  We had a discussion on what ingredients we would use.  “We could use bananas” “and raisins”.

We washed our hands and put our aprons on ready to begin baking.

Working their larger arm muscles, the children began by using a potato masher to mash the banana until it was all mushy. They helped each other as it was so tough.

“It’s so tricky” “ I’m using my big muscles”

Next we added all the liquids to the banana mix including  oil, honey, soya milk and gave it a good mix using the whisk.


They added the raisins then used their measuring skills to weigh out the gluten free self raising flour using the scales, each child took turns to add a scoop to the bowl and watched as the measurements got higher.

”it’s got a 3 and 4”

“Now it’s got two 6’s that number is sixty six”

Next they added the flour to the mix and gave it a good mix till it was the right consistency for our muffins. We filled up our muffin cases and popped them in the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes. We discussed how to use the oven safely using oven gloves and letting an adult put them in.


The muffins turned out great and are now ready to go home.

”they smell like banana”

Delicious summer salads harvested fresh from our garden 😁🍓

Today some of the children noticed that our chard had grown “I wonder what else has grown that we could pick”

“Look the peas have grown big, Let’s pick some, I bet they taste good” “ I know we could make a salad, let’s see what else we could put in it”

“ Look there’s a big red strawberry it looks ready let’s pick it, but there’s only one ready” “ we could cut it into four, and have a piece each”

“Look I think the cauliflower looks ready, it’s to hard to pull it out myself can you help me ? “ Yeah sure” 1,2,3, pull.”


“yeah we did it”

” We could have carrots in our salad” “ My Mum has a sauce on her salad it makes it taste better” “I’m going to make a dressing “ “ I’m using lemon juice and oil”

“Mix,mix,mix”

“I’m cutting up the carrots small for our salad” “they are a bit dirty, I need to wash them”

“I think the dressing tastes lovely “ “My favourite is the cauliflower, I could just eat it all day” “ Peas, peas are my favourite they are sooooo sweet”

Well done children great team work glad you enjoyed your home grown salad🤩 I wonder what we could plant next?

 

 

 

I climbed aboard the Pirate Ship!

In the block area today, the children used their problem solving skills throughout imaginative play to build a model pirate ship. The children showed that they were able to think creatively whilst working together to build their ship.

The children discussed possible design criteria and shared ideas about where they think the different parts should go and what they could be.

”These big bits can be the floaty bit to stop the boat from sinking in the water”

”Everyone climb aboard! The ship is setting sail”

The children were able to work together as a team and cooperate within a small group to complete the pirate ship.

And we couldn’t forget the most important thing… our treasure map!

 

Article 31 – I have the right to play

Article 15- I have the right to meet with friends

Staying safe in the sun☀️

What a wonderful day it is☀️.The children have been out enjoying the sunshine, but learning how to stay safe when the temperature is high. I asked the children if they knew what we can do to stay safe in the sun. They gave some great answers.

”Sun cream, my mum put some on me before I came to nursery”
“Wear my sun hat”

We discussed staying hydrated by drinking lots of water and taking regular breaks from the sun in the shade.

This is some of their favourite shaded areas to play in.


“We like to have pretend picnics on the bench”

”and read stories in the den”


We have been developing our fine motor skills through this mark making experience in the shade. The children are exploring letters and writing/ drawing in the sand.

We added 4 golf balls and powder paint with a splash of water to the tuff tray. The children used their strong muscles to lift the tray up and worked as a team to move the golf balls around in the tray to mix the colours and create patterns.

As some of the children went to play somewhere else, they noticed that the tray got heavier and tipped to one side.

“uh oh it fell, how do we get it back up?”

The children used their problem solving skills to figure out how to balance the tray and keep the golf balls from rolling off.

Who said you can’t have fun in the shade, the kids have had great fun outside while staying safe.

While this hot weather is due to continue, please make sure the children stay safe in the sun by putting sun cream on before they come to nursery, wearing a sun hat or cap and ensuring we have sun cream for them in the centre. We want to enjoy it while is lasts!