Category Archives: Creative Arts

Fishy Things going on… 🐠

Nature is  fascinating! In Arran Building, the Pink and Yellow group children have been showing great curiosity about sea creatures, so we’ve been learning more about Ocean Worlds in various ways :
“Can we read this big book about shells?”
“What is this fish called?”
We’ve been reading fishy stories & books of facts to discover about different types of fish, like lion fish & deep sea angler.
We made our own Sea World, then designed fish and fishing rods using magnets and paper clips. Watch us trying to catch them!

“We need to make some seaweed for it.”
“That’s a whale shark. It’s the biggest fish.”
“Look, I’ve caught two anchovies.”
”I caught a number 3.”

The children explored with their senses as they felt the scales of a real mackerel and described what they observed:
“It’s cold and slippery…”
“…green and blue, shiny, feels soft…”
”Tail helps it swim. That’s the bit that the eggs come out… that’s the fin.”

Rock Pool role play and nature investigations with bladderwrack seaweeds and shells. “It feels slimy” (seaweed)
“I’m being a whale shark… This is a baby stingray.”
“I can hear something in the shell….I found a limpet!”
Expressive Arts: 
The children have also been expanding their creative skills by trying out different art techniques including collage, printing, and paper marbling with inks and oil. They used mashers to print turtles and clay to model starfish and other creatures.

We practiced numeracy skills through some fishy games.

“I counted 8 shrimps!”
Sink or Float:
In Science experiments, we made jellyfish with balloons and string. When filled with air alone they floated too high. One of the children suggested it would sink more if we added water inside, so we did… We also tried adding a little oil and sand.

“I saw jellyfish floating in the water on my holiday.“
”They’re soft, yellow and red” “They have tentacles“ ”This one’s a baby”
“Look what it’s doing. It’s making a current….a whirlpool.”


More Science experiments: trying out salt to melt the frozen icebergs, and making ocean slime.

The Red Group Rev into Action! 🚘

The Red Group are currently based in the Lomond Room in Arran building. They have been eagerly exploring the characters in the exciting story of Supertato and have been role playing his adventures and daring rescues.

In Early Science experiments,  the children  tried different ways to free the peas from inside the frozen ice, adding salt, hot water and using various tools.

The Red Group have also been studying different vegetables and talking about how and where they grow. Then they made their own vegetable characters using different resources and re-enacted some of the key story scenes from Supertato.

“My favourite bit is when Supertato runs!”
“They put him in the jelly…”
“He wanted to kill the vegetable market…”

At group times the Red Group have been enjoying songs with actions, story-telling and talking about their feelings.

Outdoors they have been busy catching rain, puddle splashing and investigating forces with ropes (after reading the story of the Invisible String.)

Mixing powder paint with rain and experimenting with colour.


Using gloop to play and experiment with colour and shape.

Back in the Swing of it! ☀️🌋🦕

It has been wonderful to see all the smiling young faces back at Busby ELCC and to welcome all our new children into the ELCC family.
In these early weeks the children have settled in very well, enjoying one another’s company and trying out all that is on offer.

In Arran building the Pink and Yellow groups are currently based in the Katrine playroom. Here many of them have shown a strong interest in dinosaurs, so we have been reading lots of dinosaur books and facts, making fossils in moulds and salt dough bones, and creating a dinosaur landscape with a working volcano….

Making Fossils
Making Fossils


Painting our Dinosaur Landscape

Making an eruption (with vinegar and bicarbonate of soda)

If your child is one of our budding young paleontologists, they might have fun checking out this latest news story with you: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-53917742

The children have also been enjoying lots of sensory experiences with ice shapes, sand, shaving foam, herbs, petals and water.

Making play dough for the day

The children love their regular sessions outdoors and in the MUGA , developing and showing off their physical and creative skills.


Rainy days not a problem…


Exploring the Gruffalo story sack (Literacy) and experimenting with Shapes (our current Numeracy focus)

At Snack time we wash our hands, then choose our snack if we’d like one and chat with our friends.


At group times we have been playing Spin the Bottle and talking about our feelings using stories, character puppets from Inside Out, and by placing our names on our  Feelings Board.

COMING SOON….
News of the Red, Blue, Purple & Green groups coming soon –  so keep your eye on the blog!

 

 

Fairy Doors and Stone Painting

Are there any fairies living in woods near you?
Mrs MacLeod has noticed a few fairy doors in the woods near her house.
You could paint your own designs on stones or an old roof slate if you have any.
Mrs Hampton has been painting different insects and birds on stones at home too.

Who do you think lives behind these doors?


Here are  
Mrs Hampton’s lovely painted stones.  What birds and insects can you see and paint?

If you go down to the woods today… look out for bluebells as well as fairies. They are starting to grow…

Fun ideas from Mrs Reynolds!

Hello everyone,
Hope you are finding lots of ways to have fun at home and in this lovely sunshine! Mrs Reynolds has shared some photos of great ideas she has been using with Erin at home:
TRANSIENT ART
An old cutlery tray filled with interesting objects like stones and cones and an old picture frame can be used outside to create many different patterns and pictures.

Below are some examples of outdoor Transient Art by the British environmental artist Andy Goldworthy. You might get  some ideas from him…

DIFFERENT WAYS WITH A PADDLING POOL
1) Use it as a Wee Den to draw and read in

2) Erin’s Daddy’s birthday balloons were collected to make a place for dolls and teddies to have a party
3) RHYME FISHING:
Another idea is Rhyme Fishing in a paddling pool, an old baby bath or a washing up bowl. Fill it with water and throw in some rhyming objects (e.g. cork -fork; key-pea; petal-metal), then challenge your child to fish out the objects that rhyme using a ladle or other utensil. For an extra challenge you could work on a way to make your own fishing net…

 

Activity Ideas

Good morning everybody,

We hope you’ve had a lovely Easter holiday and found plenty to do at home.  We’ve missed seeing you in nursery, please keep sharing your photos with us on Twitter or comment on our blog posts.

Below are some more ideas for learning at home.

Literacy and English

  • In the garden, use a paint brush and a bowl of water to practise mark-making skills.  You could paint lines, shapes, pictures, numbers, letters or words.
  • Make up a silly story about a naughty spider.  What have they been getting upto?  You could tell your story, draw it or ask someone to write the words for you.
  • Keep practising writing your name.  Remember the first letter needs to be a capital letter and is bigger than the other letters.  Do you have a middle name? Try that too!

Numeracy and Mathematics

  • Sing ‘Five Little Ducks’ and use 5 toys to be the ducks.  Each time a duck swims away, take a toy away.  Notice how there are fewer ducks.
  • Talk to your grown up about the number 0.  What does this number mean and what number comes after it? Have a look for this number on phones, calculators and anywhere else you can find it. Practise writing this number. Do you recognise the number 10 or 100.  There are zeros in them!
  • From your bedroom window, count how many trees you can see.  Then try from your front door.  Which view has more?

Health and Wellbeing

  • Choose a song you love and make up a short dance. Teach it to your family and maybe share with us on Twitter!
  • On the Earthwatch Europe Facebook page, there are ten activity cards sharing ideas for exploring nature using toilet roll tubes.  An example is shared below:

We hope these ideas are helpful and that you have lots of fun learning at home.