Category Archives: Imaginary Play

Creative Arts, Culture & Traditions, Fine motor skills, Fun, Gardening, Group Pink, Group Red, Group Yellow, Imaginary Play, Literacy, Mark Making, Natural World, Outdoor Learning, Science

ā­ļø Shining Stars ā­ļø

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In Arran the children have been getting into the Christmas spirit – role-playing and hammering in the elvesā€™ workshop, potting their hyacinths in silver pots, creating seasonal artwork, using clay to design decorations of their choice, counting penguins, making cards, calendars, lanterns and much more…
What a busy bunch!
Outdoors we have been exploring the properties of ice and enjoying frosty walks to Busby church gardens.
Role Play: “Itā€™s a polar landscape.ā€

Literacy: In the Story Box, Ā The Gruffaloā€™s ChildĀ has been very popular, with the children keen to act out the story and make up their own versions using the props for character and setting.
Stick Man has been another seasonal favourite story to explore.

We also read Little Owl and the Christmas Star and looked at different types of stars, before the children designed their own.

Rolling, moulding, cutting, imprinting: the Red, Yellow & Pink groups experimented with clay and water to create stars, snowmen and other decorations, Ā using beads and various implements to make patterns, then metallic paints with varnish to finish them off.


“I’m going to make mine so pretty!”


The children were very proud of their different shining stars. We hope you enjoy hanging them on your tree or around the house!

Science: Planting & Growing: We have been watching the hyacinth bulbs that we planted start to grow. The children repotted them in silver pots for you and hope you enjoy the flowers later at home.

Science: Watch us mixing up fake snow using baking soda and hair conditioner…

Science: Ice Experiments: nature has kindly provided us with lots of thick ice shapes to investigate and experiment with.



Outdoors the children had great fun rolling down hills and investigating bugs found under logs

ā€œI want to hold the wood louse… we have to be gentle. Iā€™m going to put him back.ā€Ā ā€œLook, black beetles!ā€ ā€œA centipede!ā€

We have been gradually adding to our Kindness/ Christmas Tree with snowflake decorations, sunshine sticks and kind deeds.

“Share my lego with friends.”Ā  “I helped with lunch.”

Making lanterns to light up Busby


Numeracy: Christmas counting games


The children have also been offering ideas for a new nursery logo and then voting for their favourites to create a simple pictogram.




We’ve seen some fabulous Christmas outfits!

We wish a Merry Christmas to all our star children and their families!
We hope you have a very happy time together during the break.

Eco Learning, Group Pink, Group Yellow, Health & Wellbeing, Imaginary Play, Literacy

We are Together

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Continuing with Health & Wellbeing Week, the Pink and Yellow groups have been exploring feelings through various props in the Story Box, inspired by the lovely book “We are Together” by Britta Teckentrup. It is a story about self belief, resilience, and the power of friendship.

“Look at this… Sun up in the sky with rain. The rain becomes a rainbow!” “I don’t mind rain.”Ā  “I hate rain.” ā€œThis one is a shooting star.ā€

As they played with the props the children also began telling their own stories:
“Evil seagulls come out when there’s a storm. The butterfly will wait” (till the storm has passed)



“We need to add more people.”

“This sounds like birds singing.”

“This one makes it heavier.”

Aw… all cooried up with a soft blanket and heart pillow…

ā€If storm clouds gather and weā€™re caught in the rain,
Letā€™s splash through the puddles until the sun shines again.ā€
(from ā€œWe are Togetherā€)

Eco Learning, Group Red, Imaginary Play, Loose Parts

Cardboard Capers

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Ā Cardboard Capers!………. Have a look at our ā€˜teleporterā€™.Ā Ā  We have been using our imaginations to create structures from cardboard boxes, using various materials.

ā€œItā€™s got holes in it so fresh air can get in.ā€

ā€œIt also has a button you press to get on board.ā€

ā€œThereā€™s an X there thatā€™s the exit-it tells you not to sit there.ā€

If you have some cardboard boxes or junk material at home maybe you could create an amazing structure too! Please let us know how you get on! šŸ“¦

‘The Teleporter’

Look at our innovative inventors!

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We really need a bed for the children!”Ā  Amazing innovation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun, Group Pink, Group Yellow, Imaginary Play, Literacy, Mark Making, Music

Fun with Literacy

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This week the Yellow and Pink groups have been taking part in a range of different Literacy experiences.
They loved their Bookbug session with Mrs McInnes, where they were reading Shark in the Park on a Windy Day and practising rhyme together through song and puppets.



Later they gathered around the Story Box to take part in reading the seasonal classic “Room on the Broom” with plenty of props.


“We need to add some red fire for the dragon!”
“WHOOSH! They were gone!”
The children have been focusing on the initial letters of their name, identifying them and tracing them using Transient Art objects like green pasta, play dough, beads.

“That’s my letter. It’s a D.”
“We both start with A!”
They also experimented with different forms of mark-making, using a range of utensils.
The children are using Name Stones to identify their names when they arrive each morning.

Creative Arts, Food & Cookery, Group Pink, Group Red, Group Yellow, Imaginary Play, Literacy

Creative Minds at Work

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The Red Group put on a Show šŸŽ­

After reading The Gruffaloā€™s Child together, the Red group children were excited to create their own puppets and put on shows using characters from the story, and characters of their own. They experimented with torches to create lighting effects in their cardboard box theatre.


The Reds have also been very creative at building houses with peas and cocktail sticks.
At the Junk Modelling table the Yellow and Pink group children came up with all sorts of innovative ideas, creating “a flag”, “a drum”, “a butterfly”, “a robot”, ā€œa Dino Detector”, ā€œR2D2ā€, “a bubble palace for tiny wee invisible people” and “a hamster run“. It’s amazing how many ideas emerge from a bit of rubbish, some tape and string…


A flag created at the junk table was tested out and flown in the wind outside.

Creative ideas with Rice:



“We made a cake with candles. Shh, itā€™s Ā a surprise!”

Creative Cookery: making banana smoothies. They were “yum!”

Creative Arts, Eco Learning, Fine motor skills, Fun, Group Pink, Group Yellow, Imaginary Play, Mark Making, Music, Natural World, Numeracy & Mathematics

September Days with the Yellows and Pinks šŸšŸ„šŸ

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As Summer turns to Autumn the children have been learning about what is growing and changing with the seasons. The Yellow and Pink groups have been exploring Autumn through song and role play, making leaf prints, counting conkers and acorns, and choppingĀ  apples and plums from the trees to find their seeds. We have been talking about harvesting and where different foods come from:
ā€Carrots and potatoes grow in the ground.ā€ ā€œApples and pears on trees.ā€
ā€œThatā€™s wheat… it gets made into Weetabix!ā€

Autumn role play corner in the Katrine Room.

The children painted an autumn frieze after looking at art by David Hockney, Gustav Klimt and Andy Goldsworthy. They wanted to make bats and fairies to add to the forest and glued on real leaves.

David Hockneyā€™s autumn woods


They later designed Autumn fairies using wooden pegs and leaves.

 


Chopping apples and plums, using hammer & nails to create squash hedgehogs, and designing leaf people.


Using leaves to copy a repeating pattern and create designs.

This week the children wanted to make a Safari Park for wild animals. They were fascinated to read the brochure from Blair Drummond Safari Park and tried drawing their own maps of it.
They also modelled a cave for the bears using Mod Roc with balloons, powder paint and water.

In Numeracy we have been learning about pattern.Ā  At Together Time the children identified, described and matched different animal patterns.Ā Ā They practised their aim and number identification with this Beanbag number game. Watch them in action!

If you would like to sing our Autumn SongĀ with your child, here are the words (the tune is The Farmerā€™s in his Den). Ā Have fun!

Autumn time is here, autumn time is here,
Itā€™s getting very chilly now, ā€˜cos autumn time is here.

The leaves are falling down, the leaves are falling down,
Yellow, red and gold and brown, the leaves are falling down.

The animals gather food, the animals gather food,
Nuts and seeds and juicy fruits, the animals gather food.

The farmers gather crops, the farmers gather crops,
Peas and beans and broccoli, and we can eat them up.

Creative Arts, Eco Learning, Fine motor skills, Fun, Group Pink, Group Yellow, Imaginary Play, Literacy, Mark Making, Natural World, Numeracy & Mathematics, Science, Sensory Play

Fishy Things going on… šŸ 

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Nature isĀ  fascinating!Ā In Arran Building, the Pink and Yellow group children have been showing great curiosity about sea creatures, so weā€™ve been learning more about Ocean Worlds in various ways :
“Can we read this big book about shells?ā€
“What is this fish called?ā€
Weā€™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.ā€
“Thatā€™s a whale shark. Itā€™s the biggest fish.ā€
“Look, Iā€™ve caught two anchovies.ā€
ā€I caught a number 3.ā€

The children explored with their senses as they felt the scales of a real mackerel and described what they observed:
ā€œItā€™s cold and slippery…ā€
ā€œ…green and blue, shiny, feels soft…ā€
ā€Tail helps it swim. Thatā€™s the bit that the eggs come out… thatā€™s the fin.ā€

RockĀ Pool role play and nature investigations with bladderwrack seaweeds and shells.Ā “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:Ā 
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.

ā€œI saw jellyfish floating in the water on my holiday.ā€œ
ā€They’re soft, yellow and redā€Ā ā€œThey have tentaclesā€œ ā€This one’s a babyā€
ā€œLook 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.
Creative Arts, Fine motor skills, Fun, Group Red, Health & Wellbeing, Imaginary Play, Literacy, Mark Making, Numeracy & Mathematics, Outdoor Learning, Technology & Construction

The Red Group Rev into Action! šŸš˜

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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, Ā the children Ā 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 GroupĀ 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.

Fine motor skills, Imaginary Play, Learning at home, Loose Parts, Numeracy & Mathematics, Science, Sensory Play

Kitchen Creation

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By using kitchen resources I created a filling and pouring station for Erin. There is no need to have a tuff tray to do this as this can be done on a smaller scale on an oven tray, inside a cardboard box, a plastic box from under the bed…anything really that will contain the mess. I collected various items from the kitchen rice, cous cous, tea leaves out of teabags, cornflakes, cheerios, spices, herbs, oats, a crushed up biscuit, spaghetti…the list is endless. You only need a small quantity of each to enable pouring and scooping between containers so donā€™t worry about using up lots of food. Then add to the tray any utensils and bowls to aid scooping and pouring; different sized spoons, measuring cups and spoons, sieves, pots and pans…make sure nothing sharp is placed in the tray that could pose a hazard. Filling, scooping and pouring activities help develop fine motor skills in under 5s as well as usingĀ concepts such as less and more. Adding scales to your pouring and filling tub can also introduce the concept of weight. These tasks help children coordinate their hand movements with what they are seeing and feeling.