Category Archives: Natural World

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!”

Eco Learning, Group Blue, Group Green, Group Pink, Group Purple, Group Red, Group Yellow, Literacy, Natural World, Outdoor Learning, Science, Social Subjects

Bugs Glorious Bugs

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There has been much excitement among all the nursery groups over looking at various live insects and mini-beasts these past weeks. The children have shown a huge interest in learning about them and caring for them:
– On trips to Busby church gardens we have found wood lice, worms, millipedes, slugs and beetles under damp logs and studied them with magnifiers. We looked up more about them in books too.


– In our nursery garden the children have prepared their Bug Hotel and have been excited to observe a few visitors, like spiders.


Spider books and spider crafts: “What’s this one called?”

– The children have also been studying four snails in the outdoor classroom. We found that snails love to eat basil and that they each have four antennae, two for seeing, and two for smelling and feeling.


The children were fascinated to watch the snails come out of their shells and observe how they move and eat, and the trails they leave. They gave the snails names too.
“This one is called Rainbow Drop.”
“This is Daisy.”
“Let’s feed them. They like to eat this”
“Look, they’re kissing!”
“They have slime under them.”

– And we have also all been following the journey of our nursery caterpillars with great excitement:

The children watched them journey through their life cycle, turning from caterpillars to chrysalides and then last week to beautiful tortoiseshell butterflies.

They were so excited to release our butterflies into the wild. Suggestions for names of the butterflies were also very interesting.  Toby, Neeva and Pixie were a few of the favourites.
It’s been so good to watch the children loving and appreciating nature.

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!



 

 

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!

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!


 

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!

 

 

Fine motor skills, Health & Wellbeing, Learning at home, Mark Making, Natural World, Outdoor Learning, Science, Sensory Play, Technology & Construction

The Wonder of Snow ❄️

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Hello everyone,
This week we are focusing on Sensory Play and Fine Motor Skills.
We have been given a free gift of one of the best sensory experiences ever – SNOW – and lots of it!

What have you been doing with this sparkly new toy?

If you are building snow people or an igloo, or rolling giant snowballs or sledging, these are all great for your gross motor skills like strength and co-ordination, as well as your creativity. Drawing or writing your name in snow is also really good for your fine motor skills.

And we can use all our 5 Senses to enjoy the wonders of snow.
For example can you –
– See the snow sparkling in sunlight, like millions of tiny diamonds?
– Hear the “crunch crunch” sound as you stomp through the snow?
– Feel snow with your hands, feet, cheeks?
– Smell the freshness in the air?
– Catch a snowflake on your tongue – how  does it Taste?
What do you notice about the snow?
Snow has many different forms:
When is falls, is it light or heavy?
What about when it is rolled into a giant snowball?
And when it melts, what is it like then?
What colour are snow shadows?

Have fun investigating and playing in the snow!

 

Creative Arts, Eco Learning, Fine motor skills, Learning at home, Natural World, Sensory Play, Social Subjects, Videos with ELCC Staff

Let’s Get Crafty!

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Here are a few ideas of fun ways to get creative, using some household objects you may have lying around:

PASTA ART with Miss Hampton
“Today I felt creative, so I thought I’d share my idea to see if any of you wanted to be a creative designer. All you need is pasta! I have attached some of my creations, plus a masterpiece I found online, to inspire your creative juices. There are lots of ways you can be creative with your pasta. I used a glue and some colouring pens to make a flower, but don’t worry if you don’t have these things because the great thing about not using glue is that you can make something different every time by rearranging the pasta into different patterns or shapes.”


Make a flower, a boat, a face… whatever you can think of!

PRINTING with STRING and FOIL with Mrs MacLeod
☀️ 🌤 🌦 🌧 🌨 ❄️ ☃️
“We’ve  had all sorts of weather recently – rain, snow, ice, frost, sleet, sunshine and rain. Today I tried printing some weather pictures with different objects. Perhaps you would like to try printing patterns too. These are some items you could use to print with: corks, fruit or vegetables cut in half (ask an adult to help cut), string, old cardboard, tin foil, cotton buds – plus some paint.

Watch these quick videos if you’d like to see how to try foil printing and string printing.

You can use the same technique, wrapping string around a square of card then painting  it blue to print rain next to your sunshine. You might also use a cork, dipped in white paint, or cotton wool balls or buds to print snow falling.

Have fun getting crafty!