Oakburn Early years centre

This week in our summer plan it was Movement Week.

On Monday it was ‘Oakburn Euros’ . Where we played football and took part in a range of different ball games.

On Tuesday it was Danceathon and Gymnastics Day. The children used the soft mats to practice forward rolls and handstands. We then did some Danny Go workouts in the courtyard!

On Wednesday it was bring your bike or scooter to nursery day. It may have been a cold wet day but that didn’t stop us from racing around the garden.

On Thursday it was Obstacle Course day. The children took part in an obstacle course upstairs in the village where they had to jump, run, hop and skip to complete the course.

We look forward to seeing you all next week for Oakburn Festival Week!

rt Area 

This week in the art area we have been focusing on symmetry after creating beautiful butterflies last week. The children have used different materials to create symmetry on the table 🦋🤩👏

Outdoors

Over the past few weeks, the children have been very busy developing our tree area at the top of the garden! Using tools and risk assessment skills, the children have offered a hand practically using hammers and screwdrivers, as well as, offering their opinions about what should be added and the how to make it as safe as can be! We have added a balance bridge, an obstacle course, a den, tree swings, and so much more! This wouldn’t have been possible without the fantastic ideas from the children and now our gross motor development has no limit! Outstanding work everyone!

Baking Area

We have been very busy in baking area. This week we have made smoothies and banana bread. The children have been practising chopping the fruit, demonstrating good fine motor skills and safety using knives. The children have also been exploring technology while using the smoothie machine.

Courtyard

This week in the construction area the children were talking about boats and how big they are in the water, the children then used the water tray and the blocks to build their own boats. This then led on to the children talking about how boats float in the water even though they are very heavy. The children then made their own chart using tally marks to see what different object they thought would float or sink the children made their predictions and added a tally to the right column, we then used the water tray to see what was going to happen with the objects. Once we had tested all the objects the children then spoke about what happened and if they had made the right choice and why they thought the objects did either float or sink.

Story Corner

We have been practicing our rhyming this week. We have been matching crayon 🖍️ colours with other words e.g glue with blue, bed with red, bite with white and bean with green.

In another activity, the children have been choosing an item from the Rhyming Basket and then trying to find another item from the basket that rhymes with it.

We have also been looking at the books Oi Frog, Oi Puppies  and Oi Duck-Billed Platypus by Kes Gray and Jim Field where all the animals sit on something that rhymes with their names. We have then been thinking about what our names would sit on!

For Mental Health Awareness week we have been talking about our emotions in the small world area. We have talked about what emotions are, how we feel and what makes us happy, sad, angry etc. We also took our activities outside and drew how we were feeling  and we spoke about why we felt like that.

Woodwork

This week in the garden the children have been using different types of wood and learning the different names. We discovered some wood was easier to hammer than others. We then  used the iPad to look up the different wood types as well this was great work well done boys and girls

Fine motor area

In the fine motor skills area we have been exploring flowers. The children demonstrated great numeracy skills as they measured flowers by counting cubes and matched the correct number of beads to the stem of each flower. The children also demonstrated their mark making skills as they drew flowers in the sand.

Construction

This week in the construction area we have been looking at castles and bridges 🌉 🏰. I have been encouraging the children to plan what they are going to build first, by drawing their ideas and planning what blocks they are going to need to make their ideas real. The children started with castles using a box cardboard box and the blocks to make it bigger we spoke about the different things castles have like turrets and a moat and a child said some have a draw bridge as the door. We began looking on the iPad at different types of bridges such as pedestrian, car and rail bridges. The children created their own bridge that even had an underground tunnel! The children then used a number pallet to measure their Bridge to see how tall it was and if it was big enough to have a river underneath.

Art Area

This week in the art area we have been focusing on the very hungry caterpillar 🐛. We used different coloured paper and pens to create and cut out all of the food that he eats and then added them in order into green paper plates.

Woodwork

In woodwork this week the children have been making a box.  We have been working together following the steps on what we need to do to build our box. First we started off by making sure we had the right amount of pieces then went onto cutting them to correct sizes. After this we were able to stick the pieces together and put on our door hinge. The children showed good use of fine motor skills during this.

 

Baking Area

We have been very busy in the baking area this week with Mairi.  The children have made soup, flapjacks and cornflake cakes. This has allowed the children to build lots of different skills such as food hygiene, safety when using knives, measurements and following a recipe. ❤️

This week Sarah has and the children have been baking freshly made rolls and bread to enjoy with our lunch. Cooking covers all areas of the curriculum, the children read the recipe, counted, measured and estimated the ingredients.  They used tools and utensils to mix, pour and cook the bread in the bread machine.  Cooking gives the children a chance to explore texture, shape and form of the cooking process and provides endless opportunities for conversation and development of language.

Outdoors

This week in the garden we have built a den! Using old pallets, the children used their amazing risk assessing skills to secure the pallets to the trees using cable ties which displays their strong fine motor skills! They then tested each pallet by giving it a wee jiggle to ensure it was steady and safe. Then to make it more “home-like” the children asked for a door and a window which we then cut out! This den now creates limitless opportunities for imaginative play and supports each child’s social skills. What an excellent job you have all done! This area is becoming more and more impressive with all your fantastic ideas! 🤩💡

Gross motor Area

This week in the gross motor area we have developed the gross motor area. We have added goals for football and created more space for the children to do obstacle courses and gross motor activities. This week the children participated in an obstacle course practising their hand eye coordination and balance skills. We also done the limbo lowering the rope to make it more challenging.

Small world

In the small world area we have been looking at the book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. The created caterpillars with our names on them, developing our writing skills and pencil grip. We also made transient art butterflies  using different coloured wooden shapes , the children were able to make the wings symmetrical.  We then used the story cards to be able to retell the story in our own words developing our language .

 

 

Outdoors

Spring is here and the garden is getting prepared! 🌺 The children have helped create a nice wee quiet space to relax and watch the world go by from the top of the garden. Using key skills such as gross motor skills, design, and communication, everyone worked very hard and contributed loads! With only a few finishing touches needed, the children have impressively created their own area in the garden to grow and develop. Always impressed by these wonderful minds 🌱🌈

Fine motor area

This week in the fine motor area the children have been exploring families and self portraits. The children drew their own self portraits, they used mirrors to identify their features on their face. The children then explained who was in their family and drew a picture of them.

Malleable Area

In the malleable area we have been using the book “there’s a monster in your book” we created our own monster using playdough and added pom, poms, pipe cleaners and googley eyes. We used our fine motor skills manipulating the dough into different shapes.

Woodwork

In woodwork  the children’s choice was to follow what they were drawing on their pictures and then designing them onto the wood. We then cut out the pieces of Wood sanded them down and then covered them with colourful buttons and sparkly gems.

 

Art Area

This week in the art area we have been creating our own Elmer elephants using tissue paper. We have been using the elephant to trace or draw round and then added lots of different coloured tissue paper. We have spoke about what we like about the story and what shapes and colours we can see too 🐘

Acorn Room

Pool party in the acorn room the children had fun splashing and exploring the props. The children laughed and sang songs.

STEM

This week in the stem area we have been exploring space. The children helped to make and melt ice and explore the colours that looked like the galaxy. We also used balloons and paint to create planets in our solar system that we found in a space book. As the week came to an end we made spaceships to fly around all of the planets 🚀 🌍 🪐

 

 

 

Courtyard

This week in the courtyard we have been looking at patterns. The children have using lots of different materials to copy and create patterns. We used the numicon to create patterns which the children were then able to recreate by themselves.

Art Area

This week in the art area we have been drawing characters from “Also an octopus” book. We have been talking about the author and illustrator and adding lots of the same details to our drawings.

STEM area

In the stem are this week we have been exploring light and shadows. Using torches the children explored how to make shadows and different colours and shapes we could make with the light.

Snack Area

The children have been using fruit to 🍎🍇🍌 explore patterns.  We used the fruit to create our own patterns making predictions about what fruit would come next.  Some children explained what they thought a pattern was, “ it’s one thing, then another thing that is the same as before”.   This supports logical thinking and reasoning skills. 🤔

Woodwork Area

In woodwork this week, the children have had to chance to explore patterns. Children were asked to select their own pattern to copy and some of these patterns had a missing colour which they had to figure out. This was an excellent way to get them thinking about colours and pattern recognition. This activity also combined their fine motor skills (to select the correct coloured bead) and their gross motor skills (to hammer the bead and nail in). There was so much learning present and it was all displayed perfectly by these hard-working children!

Malleable Area

This week in the malleable area we have been focusing on health and well-being. On Monday we used the big teeth to practice how we brush our teeth at home by using toothbrushes and toothpaste. The children explored their fine motor skills as well as discussing the importance of brushing our teeth twice a day before bed and when we wake up. We also sung along to the child smile song together.

Construction Area

This week the children have been looking at numbers, we creating a bowling game for this. The children rolled the cylinder down the ramp to knock the blocks over! They then counted how many blocks had fell and what numbers were written on them. During this the children were developing their number recognition skills.

Story Corner

The new Author of the month is Julia Donoldson. This week the children chose superworm as the first Julia Donaldson book to focus on. I read the story to the children, after the children participated in a mark making experience choosing their favourite parts of the story and re drawing it. I then added to this learning by introducing rulers to measure the length of the worms created. This encouraged number recognition from 1-20.

Small World Area

In the small world area we have  been looking at story books about Dinosaurs including “ Old MacDino had a farm”. The children were counting the dinosaurs on the pages. We then used our toy dinosaurs to add and subtract numbers. The children counted out the dinosaurs and then added them together or took them away.  This was developing their number recognition skills, their 1-1 counting skills as well as addition and subtraction skills too.

We also were putting the dinosaurs in  size order from smallest to tallest.

Snack Area

To celebrate Chinese new year, we used our cooking skills to make rice paper rolls.  We searched the fridge for healthy ingredients and together we decided to use “carrots” and “peppers”. 🥕🍥We also added some spring onions,which was a new ingredient for us to use.  We used our chopping skills to chop all the ingredients then safely cooked them in a frying pan to make them soft and mix all the flavours together.  We really enjoyed trying out the rice paper as it was “sticky” 😂 We had to follow the steps carefully, firstly dipping the rice paper in warm water then added our vegetables. Finally we rolled the rice paper over the vegetables to create the roll effect.  Looked at our amazing cooking skills,  we have the best chefs at Oakburn.👩‍🍳

Small World Area

In the small world area the children have been reading “One Button Benny “ who is a robot with one button , this button is only to be pushed in an emergency . We have been using different resources all week to create our own robots . We have used junk modelling, some different shaped paper and also playdough. We have had some amazing robots in nursery this week!

This has been developing our fine motor skills, our creativity, language and shape recognition.

Home Corner

This week in the home corner the children have enjoyed chopping a variety of vegetables. Children were using their fine motor skills to hold the vegetables still whilst using a knife to cut. This increase’s their independence skills. They are also learning how to keep themselves safe when preparing food. The children then used their imagination to make some delicious recipes. Keep up the great work !

Art Area

This week in the art area we have been practicing our cutting skills and making heart bunting in time for Valentine’s Day ❤️ the children have been talking about who and what they love and what makes them feel loved 🥰

STEM

This week in the Stem area the children have been exploring robots. The children have been looking at the story book ‘ One button Benny’ to explore the different robots. Using loose parts the children created their own robot. The children then used their problem solving skills to program the beebots to move in different directions.

Gross Motor Area

In the gross motor area we have been building obstacle courses. We have been using lots of different things such as the balancing beams, the pogo stick and the blocks. The children took turns each to go round the course, doing all different movements. This has been a fun way for the children to build their balance and coordination as well as their confidence. ❤️

 

Malleable Area

In the malleable area we explored numbers for number day. The children were asked to slide the pasta down the spaghetti depending on the number they chose. The children learned about counting forward in a sequence up to 10.

Art Area

This week in the art area we have been creating fairy gardens using transient art. The children have been using their imagination with the help of a you choose story based around fairytales 🧚

Home Corner

Today the children have been practising their numeracy and language skills. The children had fun saying the ‘One potato, two potato’ rhyme and counting the potatoes and matching to the corresponding number. The children were able to show the numbers in different ways. Well done children keep counting.

Snack Area

This week we have been trying out some new fruits.  We had mango, star fruit and pawpaw.  The children explored the different colours, shapes, smell and texture of the fruits using their senses.  We searched up where the fruits came from and how they are grown.  Some of the children’s responses were, “looks like a star fish, under the sea” “ it’s a star shape” “looks like a melon” “ tastes like a grape” “feels squishy”.   The children enjoyed some of the fruit mixed in with smoothies.

Story Corner

This week was numeracy week. In the story corner we focused on the author Mike Brownlow & Simon Rickerty books “ten little superheroes, ten little princess”. I set up an experience which encouraged children to count forward in a sequence 1-10 and identify numbers 1-10. The children were creating their own characters. Each of the children chose a number for their superhero, came up with a name for the character and a superpower.  Each of the children drew their own superheroes or princesses

STEM area

In the stem area we have been exploring our senses. This week we have been exploring our sense of taste and smell. The children tried a variety of different foods.

We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year. We have been busy settling back into our routine here at Oakburn. Here are some of the exciting things we have got up to this week.

Woodwork area

New year, fresh starts! In woodwork this week we have been starting from the basics and building our way up! Focusing on the basics has allowed all the children to learn the foundations of woodwork from hammering into practice blocks to 1-1 sawing, as well as, discussing all the safety aspects of woodwork so that everyone is at the same level! Better yet, this has given the more experienced woodworkers the opportunity to discuss and educate the less experienced through confidently demonstrating and answering questions related to the safe approaches to woodwork! Not only have we been learning about how to craft with wood, we have been learning about how to craft deeper friendships! Amazing work woodworkers!   

The Courtyard

This week in the courtyard we have been developing our numeracy and gross motor skills. We played an exercise game where the children threw the beanbags into the hoops then completed the activity in each hoop, the corresponding number of times.

We have also been using dice and dot patterns to build our numeracy. The children were able to find the dot pattern which matched the number they had rolled on the dice.

Art Area

This week in art we have been very lucky and got new resources for our transient art area. The children have been learning about how to take care of our resources and where they stay. They have been busy using their fine motor and creativity skills making flowers and creating fairy gardens too 🧚‍♀️

Acorn Room

The children were showing a particular interest in lights. A child was observed stomping their feet, exploring the flashing light on their welly boot. This led to L.F creating a glow stick sort experiences. With support the children were able to develop their colour recognition skills and sort the glow sticks into colours. A child was observed exploring the torches,  this lead to a number shadow experience. The children took turns to hold the torch and numbers. The children were able to identify the numbers on the wall 0-5.

STEM area

In the stem area we have been exploring our senses. This week we have been exploring touch. Using there hands the children have been exploring how different materials feel.

Small World Area

This week in the small world area we have been talking about winter and the cold weather. One of our activities involved numbered mittens and cotton wool balls (as snow). The children were able to use the tweezers to pick up the correct number of  snowballs to place on the numbered mittens. This activity was developing their hand eye coordination, fine motor skills and number recognition skills

 

Outdoors

In the garden this week, it’s been very frosty and cold. We have been using the ice and snow to draw pictures with sticks in the garden developing our fine motor skills and being creative using natural resources around the garden.

Acorn Room

It was nursery rhyme week in the acorn room! The children enjoyed recognising numbers on the clock, exploring the 10 green bottles rhyme and matching the numbers on 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive! In our art area, the children showed off their creative skills by decorating their own version of Humpty Dumpty and created Jack and Jill’s bucket of water using a variety of paint and collage materials. At group time, each child individually chose their favourite nursery rhyme and sang it with their peers.

Story Corner

This week we have been exploring the nursery rhyme hickory dickory. We looked at pictures of clocks and identified the numbers. We put the rhyming pictures in order and also practiced singing the song incorporating makaton signs.

Block Play

In the block play area we were looking at “Hickory Dickory Dock”. The children were then able to place the numbers 1-12 in the correct order in the clock. We then used the clock game and were able to see that when the big hand was at 12 it was o’clock. Some of the children were able to identify different times including 5 o’clock and 3 o’clock.

Small World

In the small world area we have had so much fun during nursery rhyme week! The children learned all about the body through head, shoulders, knees and toes and we even translated it into Italian! Introducing different cultures through familiar themes is a fantastic way to learn!

Woodwork

The children were busy in the woodwork area creating buses for nursery rhyme week 🚌 we were focusing on the nursery rhyme 🎶 The Wheels On The Bus 🎶. The children joined in with some singing as well as woodwork to create their buses. The children used loose parts such as bottle lids, buttons and cork slices. The children practise safe woodwork wearing goggles and making sure their was only 4 people in the area ensuring everyone had enough personal space. We spoke about travelling safely when using the bus as a mode of transport and children responded with answers such as, standing back from the road, minding the step and never going anywhere without a grown up. The children explored numeracy, literacy and expressive arts throughout this experience. The children demonstrated symmetry when positioning the wheels. The children worked their fine motor skills positioning and hammering the wheels onto the bus. The children participated in a group discussion speaking about their experiences travelling on a bus and how to keep safe. The children then explored expressive arts performing singing wheels on the bus to everyone. Good job guys 👏

Outdoors

This week in the garden. The children have been helping make rockets. We have been adding water and seeing them take off different amounts of water made the rocket go higher or lower. We done a countdown from 10 blastoff. This was so much fun.💥🚀

STEM area

This week in the Stem area the children have been exploring aeroplanes. The children used different materials such as cardboard, paper and straws to make different planes. The children tested to see if their planes could fly and measured how far they go.

 

 

It was Halloween week at Oakburn,  and fire safety week ahead of firework night. here are some of the spooktacular activities we got up to!

Throughout the week the Acorn children have been focusing on fire safety 🔥!

We were creative and made some fire sticky pictures and spoke about fire being hot, one of the children told me “red is hot and blue is cold”!

In the garden the children used the spray bottles to put out the fire drawn with chalk on the ground. We pretended to be firefighters 🚒. Using fine motor and hand eye coordination to aim at the chalk fire drawings. We saved the nursery 🚨!

Woodwork area

This week in the woodwork area we focused on Halloween 🎃 we practised our fine motor skills positioning and hammering nails into the pumpkin. We discussed the different shapes we usually see on a pumpkin, drew those shapes and then used the drawing as a guide line to hammer the nails into it.

Fine motor area

In the fine motor area this week we have been creating fireworks using tissue paper. The boys and girls have spoke about how to keep safe and all of the different colours they see when the fireworks go off.

Small world

This week in the small world area, the children have done a wonderful job of decorating the area themselves, as well as, taking part in a variety of Halloween activities 🎃 👻 when asked what they found scary, the most common answer was spiders so we made our own friendly spiders and hung them from our giant spiders web! This developed the children ability to design and create their own models and was a good way to develop their scissor skills. The children also made their very own spooky stories! The were asked to illustrate and tell their story and they were all just so fantastic! We had a story about a ghost who was scared of the dark but by using a torch they could still join in all the nighttime fun! Amazing imagination 🌈 frightfully spectacular work everyone!

This week has been very busy in the art area, from making Halloween masks to firefighters and fireworks! These activities have helped to develop the children’s fine motor skills, their cutting and sticking and hand eye coordination. We have had so much creative fun this week, the children have made some fabulous pictures and have been having lovely interactions with our friends we have seen lots of amazing team work🎃 🎇.

STEM area

In the STEM area we have been exploring Halloween. The children carried out a pumpkin investigation, we carried out science experiments to create pumpkin potions, using cocktail sticks and sweeties we created our own spooky towers, the children learned about body parts by creating their own marshmallows skeletons.

Snack area

We have had lots of spooky food at snack this week!