Category Archives: Fine motor skills

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…

Fine motor skills, Imaginary Play, Outdoor Learning, Science, Sensory Play, Technology & Construction

Construction and Ice Creations

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Creative Skills in Construction Corner
The children have been spending lots of time in Construction Corner, trying out different types of material, like bricks, wood, bamboo and crates, to design and build their own structures.

Science Investigations: Making Ice Eggs
At the water table one day, the children were role playing together and inventing pretend ice. So later they were invited to try making some real ice to play with. They carefully filled up balloons with water and took them to the freezer. They were very excited to handle and describe their giant ice eggs.



“It’s so shiny…”   “It looks like a diamond inside.”  “It’s going to hatch!”
Indoors the ice balls were taking a long time to melt, so the children eagerly tried taking them outdoors into the sunshine and then tested out pouring on warm water to speed up the process.


“It’s melting now…”

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…

Eco Learning, Fine motor skills, Food & Cookery, Fun, Literacy, Natural World, Outdoor Learning, Science

Where things Grow…

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After digging up the potatoes from our nursery garden recently, the children were interested to touch, smell and dissect other kinds of vegetables and fruit, and we talked about where they grow and what they are used for.

“It’s a potato!”
“That’s a sweet potato… It’s orange inside.”
“They grow on a plant…”
“Under the ground.”
“Apples on a tree.”
We also spotted some ripe plums growing on a tree in our new nursery garden.

The children suggested shaking the tree to get the plums at the very top…. and it worked!

We then dissected the fruit and veg to investigate inside, and smelt the lemons, oranges and onions. The plums tasted great!
“That’s a seed inside.”
“It has a stone (plum)”.

Later some children made fantastic fruit/veg people and creatures, using old fruit, potatoes, cocktail sticks, pens, buttons, felt, pipe cleaners and wool. They showed great concentration and fine motor skills whilst creating their own characters, and gave them names.

“He’s called Stumpy. Can I take him home? I put eyes and a face on.”
”Look, I’ve made a spider.”
“This is Lemon Shark!”

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.

Eco Learning, Fine motor skills, Fun, Gardening, Group Green, Group Pink, Group Red, Group Yellow, Natural World, Numeracy & Mathematics, Outdoor Learning, Science

Green Fingers

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The children have been busy working  with staff doing all kinds of Planting and Growing. We have created a Herb Garden and an outdoor and indoor Vegetable Garden, which are all thriving.
Take a look at this poster in our front window to find out more!

The children have grown Grassheads (“We cut their hair with scissors ‘cos it was growing too long”), and have planted rosemary, basil, radishes, carrots, courgettes, peas, tomatoes, spring onions, potatoes and runner beans, plus marigolds and bluebells for butterflies. They have been excited to watch the plants grow and have been watering and measuring them.
“We need sun, water and soil.”
“Butterflies like marigolds.”
“We looked after them.”





See how they’ve grown…

 

 

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!



 

 

Fine motor skills, Group Pink, Group Yellow, Health & Wellbeing, Imaginary Play, Literacy, Mark Making, Outdoor Learning, Science, Technology & Construction

May Days and Creative Ways

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The children have been using all kinds of exciting creativity in their play. Great minds at work!

Planting our herb garden and creative cup stacking. “Tah dah!”


Young Scientists in the Making:
“Scientists work really hard.”  “Can I be a scientist?

Helicopter Stories:
In Helicopter Stories, the children make up their own stories and are then each given the “stage” to act out their story, with friends taking part as various actors. It is great for building self confidence, esteem, focus, and talking and listening skills. We have had some wonderful stories, including “The Rhino and the Fight”, “The Orange Dog”, “The Magical Unicorn Food” and “The Red Racing Car.”


Some of the children wanted to create their own puppet show too. Great acting and storytelling skills were on display!

The children wanted to turn an old cardboard box into a den and had lots of great ideas about how to design, decorate and upholster it:


And for Mrs McInnes’s special birthday this week, they carefully designed her cards and created a very special cake:


“Happy Birthday, Mrs McInnes!”

 

Community, Eco Learning, Fine motor skills, Fun, Group Pink, Group Yellow, Health & Wellbeing, Natural World, Outdoor Learning, Science, Social Subjects

The Joys of Spring

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We had a lovely morning exploring the joys of spring in nearby Busby Church gardens. The children loved the freedom of the outdoors and they went on a Colour Hunt, finding blossom, daffodils, dandelions, stones, and bugs under logs. They were very excited to discover and study wood lice, slugs, worms, centipedes and bees, and they took great care to look after the nature around them. We also had fun trying out different viewpoints – including  lying down and upside down…


“We found bugs and snails.” “Wood louse is brown.”




The children found “pink blossom”, “brown tree stumps”, “a green tree”, “white stones”, “yellow daffodil heads”, “blue sky” and “purple pansies” on their Colour Hunt.
We have also started to look at the life cycles of various creatures, including frogs, and match them to their habitats.
 “Worm lives in the ground!”   “Bird in the nest.”

Here is a video of some tadpoles that Mrs MacLeod was lucky to see in a small pond last weekend. What other new life have you seen growing this Spring? Let us know!