Category Archives: Mark Making

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

⭐️ Shining Stars ⭐️

Leave a comment

In Arran the children have been getting into the Christmas spirit – role-playing and hammering in the elves’ 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: “It’s a polar landscape.”

Literacy: In the Story Box,  The Gruffalo’s Child 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,  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

“I want to hold the wood louse… we have to be gentle. I’m going to put him back.” “Look, black beetles!” “A centipede!”

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

“Share my lego with friends.”  “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.

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

Fun with Literacy

Leave a comment

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, Fine motor skills, Group Blue, Group Green, Life Skills, Loose Parts, Mark Making, Numeracy & Mathematics, Outdoor Learning

Super maths with green and blue

1 Comment

Over the past few weeks the children in the Green and Blue group have enjoyed learning all about shape and numbers.  Have a look at all the fun experiences we took part in while developing our early numeracy skills.

The children  sorted and identified shapes whilst taking part in “tap tap” and transient art activities, they then used these shapes to make objects.

They have also used a variety of media to make  shapes, including paint printing and mark making in shaving foam.

Blue and Green group took part in number activities and displayed confidence when counting out and matching corresponding numbers with picture cards.

 

 

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 🍁🍄🍏

Leave a comment

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 chopping  apples and plums from the trees to find their seeds. We have been talking about harvesting and where different foods come from:
”Carrots and potatoes grow in the ground.” “Apples and pears on trees.”
“That’s wheat… it gets made into Weetabix!”

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 Hockney’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.  At Together Time the children identified, described and matched different animal patterns.  They practised their aim and number identification with this Beanbag number game. Watch them in action!

If you would like to sing our Autumn Song with your child, here are the words (the tune is The Farmer’s in his Den).  Have fun!

Autumn time is here, autumn time is here,
It’s getting very chilly now, ‘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, Fun, Group Purple, Health & Wellbeing, Loose Parts, Mark Making, Numeracy & Mathematics, Sensory Play

Purple Group Adventures

1 Comment

The Purple Group have settled back into Nursery life really well.  We have been establishing old and new friendships, following routines and learning lots of exciting things.

We have been spending a  lot of time outdoors, accessing all aspects of the curriculum.

We love getting our wet suits on and exploring in the rain.

We have been exploring symmetry through a variety of different experiences.  The children  created butterflies and used transient art to develop their awareness of symmetry in their local environment.

Making tea in the water tray stimulated our senses. We have enjoyed taking part in a lot of different sensory activities across the playroom and outdoors.

 

 

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… 🐠

Leave a comment
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.
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! 🚘

1 Comment

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.

Community, Creative Arts, Imaginary Play, Learning at home, Mark Making, Natural World, Outdoor Learning

Fairy Doors and Stone Painting

Leave a comment
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…

Creative Arts, Health & Wellbeing, Learning at home, Literacy, Mark Making, Numeracy & Mathematics

Activity Ideas

1 Comment

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.