Category Archives: Creative Arts

Creative Arts, Eco Learning, Fine motor skills, Fun, Gardening, Imaginary Play, Life Skills, Literacy, Numeracy & Mathematics, Outdoor Learning, Technology & Construction

September Learning Adventures

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Interactive Storytelling
Inviting children to take part in a story increases their engagement and stimulates their imaginations. It also leads to retellings, which further increases understanding and language development.

The Tiger who came to Tea: Here the children participated in the Tiger’s tea party as the story was read to them. They were excited to make their own props and recreate the story themselves.

Through Commotion in the Ocean, the children were inspired to draw many ocean scenes and to create their own puppets, which they then used to take on roles in the storytelling.

Different Ways to Sort
In Numeracy we have been focusing on sorting and matching. Here are a few different ways the children have tried sorting, matching and categorising:

Sorting by length

Sorting superheroes & Matching 3D shapes to their outlines

 Matching dots to written numerals

Sorting by colour & Matching pieces
At home you could now try asking your child to sort out the cutlery or their sock drawer…
Technology
The children have been cool with tools and concentrating hard, as they learn how to  use a hammer and nails safely, and create wooden hedgehogs and other creatures.

 

From Little Acorns…
We’ve been looking at autumn treasures in a Treasure Box and talking about the changes that happen outside in Autumn.
The children have identified acorns, conkers and pine cones and have been learning how trees shed their seeds at this time of year. They know that “Squirrels eat acorns”, but we also thought about what would happen to the acorns that squirrel forgot.. We looked at a tiny plant grown from an acorn, and together we planted this tiny oak tree in the Eco Garden and watered it.


Maybe one day it will grow into a Great Oak…

Creative Arts, Fine motor skills, Fun, Literacy, Mark Making, Outdoor Learning

Imagination Stations

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Great creativity and imagination have been flourishing in Busby Nursery, in artwork, literacy and small world play.
After reading “The Very Hungry Worry Monsters” by Greening Rosie, several of the children were inspired to depict Worry Monsters in their own way. Some chose to use the whiteboard, others chose pens and paper, and others independently constructed models using tissue paper and tape.


Outdoor Art on a big canvas has also been a very popular choice, with the children using their gross motor skills to paint.

Later on, some recycled old packaging provided a great canvas for the children to paint on. They mixed up their own powder paints, then used brushes on sticks to create their giant floor painting.

Creative with Clay: the children experimented with clay, water and different tools. They showed great concentration to mould, shape, and decorate. They also mixed some impromptu clay paint and used it to make handprints…


“I made a little pot with shells on it.”
“I’m making a dinosaur!”
“It feels squelchy…”

Sensory World in a Tuff Tray

“The giant lives in the sunflower. We can put this stone here for a door.”
“I’m making snow with this chalk.”
“This is the bog and the hippo’s eating the mud.”
“It feels all squelchy. It’s like chocolate.”
“This feels so soft.”

Adventures in a Tepee



Den building, design, problem-solving and imaginative play:
“We can make a garden for it. We can use this for a fence.”
“I can put the pegs back on. It goes here.”

Chilling and making sweet music together…

Creative Arts, Fine motor skills, Group Pink, Group Yellow, Literacy, Science

Fishy Letters

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The children have been loving fishing for letters using magnetic rods, and were delighted to find letters they know.
“Look I found a M for my Mum.”
“I found a T for my name.”
“That’s a S for snake.”
“Look , it picked up this coin too!”

They also wanted to make more rods and design their own fish using painting, printing and collage, adding their initial letter on the back and a paper clip to attract the magnet.

Creative Arts, Fine motor skills, Fun, Group Pink, Group Yellow, Imaginary Play, Literacy, Natural World, Outdoor Learning, Science, Social Subjects

Where did we come from…?

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Some of the children were talking about the extinction of the dinosaurs and asking when the Ice Age and humans came. One of our children also wrote a fantastic story called “Dinosaur Skeleton Bones.” So we have been studying a bit about Evolution, using The Story of Life book in the Story Box, along with lots of props and books to explore.

“These are chimpanzees. They turned into cavemen.”
“Dinosaurs evolved into alligators.”
“We came from that…” (pointing at small furry mammals in book)
“Some creatures came out of the water… This one flies.”

Re-enacting the moment when a meteorite hit Planet Earth.

We also tried making bones, fossils, skulls and footprints using clay with tools, toy dinosaurs and some fossil moulds:
“That one’s an ammonite. What is this one called?”


We buried them in sand and pretended to be Archaelogists and Paleontologists, digging with brushes and other tools.

“I found a bone!”      “Look! A T-Rex footprint!”

To dig up this Ice Age man and Sabre-toothed Cat, the children worked out the quickest way to melt the ice. They tried warm water, salt, chisels and saws… They were then fascinated to study and name all the different body parts, take them apart, and put them together.


“Is this his heart?” “That’s a brain!” “More salt- that’s working.”





Painting our clay volcano and fossils
“I made a  handprint fossil and a shell one.”

Later we tried an outdoor science experiment – we built a volcano using sand and water and then created a volcanic  eruption by mixing vinegar with bicarbonate of soda.

Watch our eruption!

Creative Arts, Eco Learning, Fine motor skills, Fun, Gardening, Group Green, Group Red, Health & Wellbeing, Imaginary Play, Natural World, Outdoor Learning, Science, Technology & Construction

Creative Creatures

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The Busby Bug Hotel is Open for Business!


The Red and Green groups have been busy packing our bug hotel with leaves, damp wood and straw to attract some new guests. They also planted marigolds around it. So far some wood lice and a spider have visited!

Studying the spider and role playing with “Worm World.”

Splendid Sunflowers
The children have also been excitedly watching the sunflower seeds they planted starting to grow, as well as measuring them.


Later they tried some Transient Art to create beautiful sunflower pictures.

The children have also been showing off their creative talents in their Block Play, in the sand pits and in  junk modelling. They are building increasingly complex structures as they work imaginatively and cooperatively in teams. They have recently constructed walkways, animal homes and a giant robot costume! WOW!



 

 

Creative Arts, Eco Learning, Fine motor skills, Gardening, Group Pink, Group Yellow, Imaginary Play, Literacy, Natural World, Numeracy & Mathematics, Outdoor Learning, Science, Sensory Play, Technology & Construction

Science Adventures: Space and Planting

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The Wonders of Space

The children in Pink and Yellow groups have recently showed an interest in learning about Space, so they have been designing rockets and reading the story of Little Moon in the Story Box to find out more about planets and black holes…


Exploring the Story Box and experimenting with different sphere shapes


Rocket Number Games and Play Dough Aliens


Creating Rocket Designs and Junk Modelling

We also tried making some paper mâché planets by mixing up a paste of water and flour, dipping in newspaper strips and tissue paper, then wrapping them around balloons.

“I think that one looks like our planet – Earth.”
“This one looks like Mars and that one is the sun.”
“Rover is on Mars.”
“Craters are on the moon.”
Earth has “more water” than land.
“That’s a gas giant!”

The children also began some other experiments with balloons and discovered static electricity when they found they could rub the balloons and make them stick to the walls.

Planting and Growing

Mrs McInnes has been showing the children how to plant grass seeds to make Grass Heads, and they have been learning what a plant needs to grow.

We have been carefully watering the plants for 2 weeks and look how quickly the grassy hair grew!


Time for a hair cut!

Some other outdoor fun in the sun!


 

Creative Arts, Culture & Traditions, Eco Learning, Fine motor skills, Group Pink, Group Yellow, Imaginary Play, Mark Making, Natural World, Science, Sensory Play, Technology & Construction

Exploring Eggs and Nests 🐣

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Plenty of eggs exploration has been going on this week…
The children have been learning about how birds are making nests at this time of year and will soon be laying eggs. They have been creating their own clay eggs and various Easter designs.

Eggs Role Play and Exploring  Properties & Materials
“This is Bird World!”
“This egg is light and this one’s very heavy.”
“It’s made of stone.” “This one’s made of rock.”
“This one rattles.” “That’s metal.”
“That’s a rooster. Don’t put him in the pond – roosters can’t swim, but ducks can swim ‘cos they’re waterproof.”

“These are the baby birds saying “We’re hungry!”“


Birds & Block Play:
“Look, we’ve built this for them. This is the tree bird (green), this is the water bird (blue) and this is the lava bird (orange).”

Later we made birds’ nests using twigs, ivy, moss, fern, leaves and feathers. Great snipping and fine motor skills!

“I like the smell of that” (ferns)
“Maybe we should go outside and put these out for the birds. It should be up a tree so we need a ladder. We need feathers as well…”

Making Eggs with Clay Modelling

Painting the Clay Eggs

Printing Marbled Eggs
The children squeezed shaving foam, then added marbling inks to create a marbled pattern on egg shapes.


Designing individual Easter Cards


Eggs exploration and squidgy colour gel beads in the water tray


 More Nest-making and an Egg matching game. 

Have a very Happy Easter and Spring Break, everyone!

 

 

Creative Arts, Culture & Traditions, Fine motor skills, Food & Cookery, Fun, Learning at home, Literacy, Numeracy & Mathematics, Videos with ELCC Staff

Warm Pancakes and Warm Hands… 🥞🧤

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There’s still lots going on for you in Google Classrooms.
This week Miss Lawson has posted a second Virtual Nursery, where you can choose from a variety of fun learning experiences, including stories and cutting out newspaper letters.

In addition there are some recipes and demonstrations from your Key Workers on making pancakes this Shrove Tuesday:

And for more fun making things, if you want to keep your fingers toasty in cold weather, in Google Classrooms you can also watch Mrs Toman‘s Skills Academy video on how to create Hand Warmers using  some old socks and rice,

 

Creative Arts, Eco Learning, Fine motor skills, Learning at home, Natural World, Sensory Play, Social Subjects, Videos with ELCC Staff

Let’s Get Crafty!

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Here are a few ideas of fun ways to get creative, using some household objects you may have lying around:

PASTA ART with Miss Hampton
“Today I felt creative, so I thought I’d share my idea to see if any of you wanted to be a creative designer. All you need is pasta! I have attached some of my creations, plus a masterpiece I found online, to inspire your creative juices. There are lots of ways you can be creative with your pasta. I used a glue and some colouring pens to make a flower, but don’t worry if you don’t have these things because the great thing about not using glue is that you can make something different every time by rearranging the pasta into different patterns or shapes.”


Make a flower, a boat, a face… whatever you can think of!

PRINTING with STRING and FOIL with Mrs MacLeod
☀️ 🌤 🌦 🌧 🌨 ❄️ ☃️
“We’ve  had all sorts of weather recently – rain, snow, ice, frost, sleet, sunshine and rain. Today I tried printing some weather pictures with different objects. Perhaps you would like to try printing patterns too. These are some items you could use to print with: corks, fruit or vegetables cut in half (ask an adult to help cut), string, old cardboard, tin foil, cotton buds – plus some paint.

Watch these quick videos if you’d like to see how to try foil printing and string printing.

You can use the same technique, wrapping string around a square of card then painting  it blue to print rain next to your sunshine. You might also use a cork, dipped in white paint, or cotton wool balls or buds to print snow falling.

Have fun getting crafty!