Category Archives: Imaginary Play

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…”

Food & Cookery, Fun, Health & Wellbeing, Imaginary Play, Loose Parts, Outdoor Learning

A Warm Welcome

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We hope you all had happy holidays and enjoyed the good summer weather we’ve had.  A very warm welcome to all new children starting at Busby Nursery and their families. And a big welcome back to all our returning children too. ☀️

You will notice a few differences! You might be exploring new areas of the building and outdoors, plus you will all be offered a delicious two-course hot lunch, which is freshly prepared in our nursery kitchen each day. Morning fruit snack will also still be provided as usual
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Dining out at Busby: pasta with garlic bread and vegetables today!

Fresh omelette with  diced potato and tossed salad

You can view the daily lunch menu on our new website. This website also provides lots of other useful information, including photos and links to learning ideas you can try at home. You can access it through the school website or through this link:
Busby Nursery Website https://sites.google.com/er.glow.scot/busbynursery/home

The children have been having great fun exploring, investigating and meeting up with friends, old and new:

One Potato, Two Potato….
After the summer holidays, we found that some vegetables we had planted in our garden had grown. Our tomatoes are still green but the potatoes were ready to dig up.


We washed them all….
then cooked some and tried them at Snack Time.  Mmmm….

 

 

 

 

 

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!”

 

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!


 

Gardening, Group Blue, Group Purple, Group Red, Health & Wellbeing, Imaginary Play, Literacy, Mark Making, Outdoor Learning, Science

Fun in the Sun

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The children in the Purple, Blue, Green and Red groups have settled well back into nursery. We have been taking advantage of the lovely weather with lots of exciting outdoor learning experiences such as pouring/ filling in water tray, painting, planting, reading and developing our gross motor skills on the bikes.

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!

 

 

Fun, Group Pink, Group Yellow, Imaginary Play, Life Skills, Numeracy & Mathematics, Social Subjects

Our money shopping role play game!

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Money Role Play Shopping Game!

The pink and yellow group have been learning about money the past few weeks. The children decided that they wanted to play a shopping game where they have to buy certain objects in the nursery with the different coins and pennies. The pink and yellow group were very engaged in this activity and had lots of fun and improved their numeracy skills!

Some of the children helped to write the number signs for the objects such as ‘1p,2p,5p and 10p’

The children were able to find the correct penny and match it to the correct number sign to buy the object of their choice.

‘It’s this one!’
‘Let’s play the shopping game!’
‘No, not that one – it’s this one!’
‘That’s a 5 and so is that one!’
‘That’s a 2 and that’s a 2 so that means I can buy it!’
‘I need this penny to buy the book!’
‘The turtle is number 10, 10 pence!’