Category Archives: Outdoor Learning

Eco Learning, Family, Learning at home, Natural World, Numeracy & Mathematics, Outdoor Learning, Science

Bird of the Day: Blue Tit

January 26, 2021 Mrs MacLeod Leave a comment

Tuesday’s bird is the Blue Tit.

– It is a very small colourful bird.
– It likes to eat seeds, berries, caterpillars and insects.
– In Winter blue tits join up and fly round looking for food together. (If you want to feed them they like fat balls, peanuts and sunflower seeds. They are so light they can hang easily on bird feeders or fat balls and peck away.)

-There are many other types of tit in the Tit family. Here are two other members of the family. Can you spot their differences?

This video below shows all 3 types feeding in Pollok Park just last Saturday. Can you spot them all?

Who is the biggest and who is the lightest? Here are some little Maths challenges for you about the three birds:

(Clue: it’s the littlest one…)

Creative Arts, Eco Learning, Family, Learning at home, Music, Natural World, Numeracy & Mathematics, Outdoor Learning, Videos with ELCC Staff

Bird of the Day: Clever Crow

January 25, 2021 Mrs MacLeod Leave a comment

Hello everyone, we hope you have been enjoying some of the sunny weather outdoors! Maybe you spotted a few birds. Mrs Toman was birdwatching in her garden this Saturday. Take a look…

Each day this week we are giving you a few titbits and challenges linked to a different bird, in the run up to the RSPB Big Garden Watch:

Monday’s Bird is Clever Crow:

– Crow is black all over and quite big – about 50cm long.
– Crows are one of the cleverest birds in the world. Did you know that they can recognise shapes and colours? They can also recognise human faces and they have a good memory.
– Crows are also cool with tools: they can use simple tools like a stick to poke around for food.

At Busby School & Nursery, we often see Crows in our playground and on the rooftops. They like to fly down for crumbs the children drop at playtime… Crows are not fussy eaters.
There are other types of bird in the Crow Family. Some of the ones we see most often in Scotland are Crow, Raven and Magpie. (The hooded crow usually lives in the Highlands.)

In Scottish, we sometimes call crows “craws”. We often sing the song “Three Craws” in nursery, especially today, which is Burns Day. Why not sing along today with the Singing Kettle, and don’t forget the actions… Click on this link to join in:
https://youtu.be/Io6ZXgSbyW8

You could even make some Craw puppets to use whilst you sing, perhaps using cardboard from an old cereal box. Just cut a big circle, draw on some eyes and a beak and stick on some wings made from black paper. Here are some other ideas for crow crafts:
Have fun, and look out for Clever Crow outside!

Creative Arts, Family, Learning at home, Mark Making, Outdoor Learning, Science

Shadow Art ☀️

January 22, 2021 Mrs MacLeod Leave a comment

Here is a great Sunny Day idea from Miss Baikie: ☀️
She has a little activity to inspire you to explore the rays of sun and the wonder of Science outside – Shadow Drawing.

You’ll need some paper, pens or pencils. Can you find an interesting object, maybe your favourite toy like a dinosaur, or you could use your hands to be creative and make different shapes – or even your whole body. You can try it at different times of the day as the sun moves across the sky and see what different patterns it creates.
– Do the shadows stay the same?
– How do they change with the time of day?
– Do your objects’ shadows change size?
This link will give you a bit more information:
https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/137133/how-to-make-shadow-art-with-kids/

You could also try taking some shadow pictures with a camera:

We look forward to seeing how your investigations turn out.
Maybe you could also use some sticks to make a frame for your artwork. All you need is 4 interesting sticks tied with string, and then decorate your frame with any natural materials you can find outside, like leaves or loose flower petals etc.
Have a great fun in the sunshine!

Community, Eco Learning, Family, Health & Wellbeing, Learning at home, Natural World, Outdoor Learning, Science

Birds Spotted today (Friday Jan 22nd)

January 22, 2021 Mrs MacLeod Leave a comment

Hi everyone, has anyone seen any birds out on this lovely sunny Friday? Miss Lawson spotted some Mallard Ducks and a Coot at the pond at Queen’s Park today. Here they are:

And in the woods by Greenbank Gardens Mrs Macleod noticed something very unusual – five green parrots in the trees!! Can you believe it?
They are a small kind of parrot, known as parakeets. Normally they live in the jungle and hot countries like Africa and Asia, but they might be pets that have escaped here and are now living happily in the wild. I hope they don’t mind the cold Scottish winter…
Here are the Greenbank Parakeets on video:

Have a Good Weekend and Happy Bird Watching!

Eco Learning, Learning at home, Literacy, Outdoor Learning, Science

A Bird a Day: Thrush 🎵

January 22, 2021 Mrs MacLeod Leave a comment

In the run up to the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch, we will give you a titbit about a different bird each day to help you spot them and learn a little more about them.

Today’s bird is the Thrush:
Thrush has a brown body and a smart white tummy with brown spots.
Thrush is about 20cm long. If you have a ruler you could look for the number 20 on it to find the Thrush’s size.
Thrush has a lovely song and likes to sing from the very tops of the trees! 🎵🎶

Thrushes are quite shy but you can often see them hopping about in grassy areas as they like to pull up worms there. Snails are another favourite food.
In Winter it can hard for Thrushes to find any worms if the ground is hard and frozen, so you will sometimes see them in the trees eating up all the red berries…

Here is a little rhyme for you about Thrush:

Mrs Thrush is in a rush,
To find some food for tea,
Because she knows that when it snows,
The ground is going to freeze,
There won’t be any worms to pull,
And so to keep her belly full,
She gobbles up the berries
On the bushes and the trees.

You could ask an adult or a big brother/sister to read this rhyme to you, then try saying it back to them, a line at a time.
Can you think of another word that rhymes with “Thrush”? Maybe you could make up your own rhyme or a story about Mrs Thrush.
Or you could try drawing her lovely speckled tummy.

And let us know if you see one!

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 ⭐️

December 14, 2020 Mrs MacLeod 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.

Community, Group Red, Health & Wellbeing, Life Skills, Music, Outdoor Learning

Yoga Bugs and Tongue Drums

November 20, 2020 Ms Small Leave a comment

We have been very busy this week exploring many different ways to enhance our health and wellbeing. Let’s have a look at some of the fabulous experiences the Red Group have been doing.

Confidence and self esteem

Dare to be different

Crazy hair and yoga cobra pose!

Yoga can be done anywhere you feel comfortable! Trying out the spider pose …..this strengthens and activates core muscles….also…..helps to refine fine motor skills (e.g writing and dressing) by activating shoulder muscles and many more benefits, as well as being relaxing and lots of fun challenging yourself!

Mindful Walking

On our mindful walk we stopped to focus on our thoughts and sensations in our bodies with our eyes closed……….

Bumble Bee pose – find your happy hum!
Building resilience and self esteem

We are ‘All Kinds of People’ – we had fun mixing paint to match our own different skin tones and making a self portrait.

“My skin’s not that colour, maybe if I mix white and orange”
“I’ve got blonde hair”
“My hair is pink and brown”

Have a look at our resources!

Group Purple, Health & Wellbeing, Outdoor Learning, Technology & Construction

Feeling thankful with the Purple Group

November 18, 2020 Miss Murphy Leave a comment

This week the children have been helping Mrs Walker develop our block area, the children have shown a particular interest in building castles, they have been developing their mathematical language as they described their castles.

‘My castle is taller than ………., but hers is longer’

‘I built a long castle for the Queen’

‘My castle is like the Statue of Liberty, really tall and the colour teal, the statue of Liberty is in New York in America’

As part of Health and Wellbeing Week, we have been discovering what our peers are thankful for. The children thought carefully about this, and posted their answer in our gratitude jar.

‘I am thankful for my Mum’

‘I am thankful when my Grandpa kisses and hugs me’

‘I am thankful because my Mum takes me to the park all the time’

We have also been taking part in a wide range of activities outdoors. We were making muddy handprints and creating obstacle courses, developing their gross motor skills and problem solving skills. Well done everyone.

Group Red, Outdoor Learning, Science

Making a Rainbow🌈

November 16, 2020 Ms Small Leave a comment

What do we need to make a rainbow?

Let’s investigate!

“Sun, rain, and maybe with a torch?”
Did you know that you can split the light using a CD?

We tried this using a CD and a torch .

“I see all the colour, it’s a success!!”
“I love science experiments”

We discovered that bright white light is made up of different colours of light all mixed together.We tried to think of things with all the colours of the rainbow for our experiment……We could use:

“the wee sweet bright things you can eat?”

“Oh look the colours all mixing up”

“That’s going brown”

“It’s really making a rainbow”

This experiment didn’t quite work out! We thought using water and sun we would somehow create a rainbow? Maybe try a holding up a glass of water in a sunny place until you see a rainbow on the floor next time? However we did discover you need light to see your reflection! We also noticed our shadows on the ground when it was really sunny, then when it clouded over they disappeared. Sometimes scientists repeat experiments and get different results depending on lots of factors like the environment or method. (During our experiment a fly flew into the water………..which may spark another type of investigation!)

Try these experiments at home to see if you get the same results! Next generation of scientists!

Eco Learning, Fun, Group Pink, Group Yellow, Health & Wellbeing, Natural World, Outdoor Learning, Technology & Construction

The Great Outdoors 🌳🍁

November 10, 2020 Mrs MacLeod 1 Comment

The Yellow and Pink groups have been having a variety of outdoor adventures. Today we went on a local walk for a Nature Scavenger Hunt, looking out for different coloured leaves, spider webs and birds. We ticked off all of them!
We stopped to collect pine cones in the lane. We are going to wash, dry and paint them later. “We’ve found tons!”

We enjoyed feeling the beautiful tree bark.
“It feels scratchy” “Look, I found more moss.”

“Here’s some yellow leaves!” “Look! Spider webs!”
We also came across some blackberries and interesting fungi.
“The birds will eat them” (berries)
“Some of them are poisonous, so you don’t touch them” (fungus)

We then walked round to the back of the new nursery building for a sneak peek at how it is coming along.

Back at nursery, various outdoor investigations and physical challenges have been taking place:

Balancing, transporting, and building core strength

Ingenious minds construct their own see-saw

After all that… a well deserved Snack.

Tuesday’s bird is the Blue Tit.

This video below shows all 3 types feeding in Pollok Park just last Saturday. Can you spot them all?

Here is a great Sunny Day idea from Miss Baikie: ☀️ She has a little activity to inspire you to explore the rays of sun and the wonder of Science outside – Shadow Drawing.

You could also try taking some shadow pictures with a camera:

Mrs Thrush is in a rush, To find some food for tea, Because she knows that when it snows, The ground is going to freeze, There won’t be any worms to pull, And so to keep her belly full, She gobbles up the berries On the bushes and the trees.

Mindful Walking

Have a look at our resources!

Keep up to date with what we're getting up to in nursery!

Here is a great Sunny Day idea from Miss Baikie: ☀️
She has a little activity to inspire you to explore the rays of sun and the wonder of Science outside – Shadow Drawing.

Mrs Thrush is in a rush,
To find some food for tea,
Because she knows that when it snows,
The ground is going to freeze,
There won’t be any worms to pull,
And so to keep her belly full,
She gobbles up the berries
On the bushes and the trees.