Bells Brae Nursery

Week Beginning: 8th December 2025

Our story of the week is Little Owl and the Star by Mary Murphy.

Click on the link below to view and listen to the story.

Our song of the week is Twinkle, Twinkle, Christmas Star. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.

Week Beginning: 1st December 2025

Our story of the week is You Can’t take an Elephant on the Bus by Patricia Cleveland-Peck.

Click on the link below to view and listen to the story.

Our song of the week is A Big Red Bus. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.

Making Playdough

The children helped to identify the ingredients needed to make playdough for Nursery.  They used their knowledge of numbers to identify the number of cups needed for each item in the recipe.  Each child taking part took turns and used their listening skills.  They measured with spoons and cups, adding the correct ingredients and mixing together.

“Actually flour is very dusty”.    “It’s like something that’s been left in the loft, it’s very dusty”!

Independence and Life Skills

Children are always busy building on their independence skills and life skills through play and becoming familiar with the daily routines at Nursery.  They’ve been helping to sweep up the sand and craft areas, discussing hand washing, tidying up after snack, toothbrushing and helping staff to prepare for lunch by counting out the cutlery.

“I know how to wash my hands”.    “We need to use soap”.    “Bubbles”.    “Helping to keep the nursery clean and tidy, Safe Bob would be happy”.    “We need to clean up any germs”.

Measuring and Estimating

We investigated the length of different parts of the outdoor area using our stride as a measurement.

“The steps are shorter than the grass”.    “I think it will be 10 steps long”.    “My steps are smaller”.

Week Beginning: 24th November 2025

Our story of the week is Owl Babies by Martin Waddell.

Click on the link below to view and listen to the story.

Our rhyme of the week is Wide Eyed Owl.

Children in Need

Children had the opportunity to come to Nursery in their pyjamas or spotty clothes for Children in Need day and spent time colouring in Pudsey pictures.

Toy and Book Sale

Primary 6 organised a toy and book sale to raise money for Children in Need.  We went for a walk through the school all the way to the top floor to visit their sale.  The children took turns of browsing all the toys and books and donated money.  Children helped to choose some books to take back to Nursery for everyone to share.

“We’re picking books for Nursery in the Primary”.   “We had to pay for them”.   “We have to give some money to the person”.

Pudsey came to visit!

At the end of the day Pudsey was so kind to stop by during his very busy day to say hello to the boys and girls at Nursery.  Everyone was very excited to meet our visitor!

“There he is”!   “He’s yellow”!  “Da bear”.   “Pudsey Bear!    “Pudsey, I love him, he’s so cute”!  “He come to see, he wave to us”.    “Pudsey bear hug everyone”.   “He got a sore eyeball and he need to keep dat on”.

Drumming with Joy

The children have had the opportunity to play the African Drums with Joy.  She engages the children with different drumming activities including copying rhythm patterns that she models for the children and taking turns of repeating a rhythm and saying their name.  The children learn about taking care of their drum, learn to listen to the rhythms and wait for their turn.  Children also danced and sang along as Joy played the drums.

“We going drumming”.   “Banging”.   “Playing on the drum”.   “I drumming”.

This week we have been learning about road safety. At together time, we met a cuddly alien called Ziggy who is the Road Safety Scotland mascot. The ‘Go Safe with Ziggy’ campaign teaches young children about the importance of road safety. We read about Ziggy’s adventure when crossing the road with the lollipop lady. The ‘Stop, Look and Listen’ song reminded us of the rules that we need to follow when crossing the road.

‘I hold my mum’s hand.’ 

‘Cross with the green man.’

‘Stop, look and listen.’

‘The lollipop lady can help us.’

We had a visit from Hannah, one of the school’s crossing patrol attendants. She showed us her Hi-Viz jacket and stop sign. Hannah told us that the jacket helps to keep her warm and dry. She also explained that she can be seen in the dark because the jacket is brightly coloured and has reflective strips.

‘The cars need to see us in the dark.’

‘The sign says – STOP!’  

‘Cars have to wait.’

‘It might be an ambulance or a bike on the road.’  

‘Nee naw, nee naw means cars have to stop.’

The children enjoyed listening to other stories about Ziggy’s road safety adventures on the interactive screen. They played a variety of online games from the Road Safety Scotland website to develop their understanding of how to be safe and responsible road users now and in later life.

‘Red light means stop.’ 

‘Beep, beep – it’s safe to cross.’

‘I hear a police siren.’  

‘That’s a zebra crossing.’

We walked to the front of the school wearing our Hi-Viz vests and waited on the pavement until Hannah was ready to stop the traffic so that we could cross Gilbertson Road. Hannah followed the Green Cross Code by stopping, looking and listening for traffic before stepping into the middle of the road while holding up her stop sign. A car and a van had to wait until we had all crossed the road safely.

‘Stop at the kerb.’

‘We’re holding hands.’

‘Wait on the pavement.’

‘This is fun!’

We spotted the words stop, look and listen while on our walk. Some of the children recognised ‘stop’ on the road as well as on a road traffic sign.

‘It says stop.’

‘S for stop.’

The children enjoyed playing with the resources from our road safety role-play set when playing outside. They had great fun making roads, setting up cones, using traffic signs and walking on the zebra crossing. The most popular activity was taking turns to stop those who were riding scooters while pretending to be the crossing patrol attendant.

‘It’s my turn to be the lollipop lady.’

‘Is it safe to cross?’

‘We are being Safe Bob.’

Click on the link below if you would like to find out more about the early level resources that are available on the Road Safety Scotland website.

Early (ELC, P1) – Road Safety Scotland

Bonfires

On the lead up to bonfire night we discussed all the things you might see, do and wear.  The children have been exploring different materials and textures when making bonfire pictures.  They used tin foil to create patterns to imitate fire and used strips of paper to make the wood.  During together time we also discussed keeping safe whilst watching bonfires and fireworks.

“I’m going to bonfire night with my Mummy”.    “Fire is really hot, you have to stand back”.    “You need red, orange and yellow for the fire”.

Fireworks

The children created firework pictures using cardboard tubes, black card, paint and glitter.  We spoke about the colours you could see and what noises fireworks make.  The children coloured in firework pictures and asked to add glitter to them to make them more realistic.

“Bang”!   “Pop”!   “Whizz”!   “Sometimes they go round and round”.   “I like the rainbow ones”.   “I like the ones that sparkle”.   “My dog doesn’t like them as they’re so loud”.   “We need glitter, fireworks are sparkly”.

Sparklers

Children were keen to make their own sparklers at the craft area.  They used straws and strips of paper.

“You need to wear gloves or you might burn your hands”.  “I used a carrot to hold onto my sparklers”.

Emotions and Feelings

Our story of the week recently was ‘Ruby’s Worry’.  Children listened to the story at story time and took part in a discussion about the story and what we can do if we have a worry.  The children were asked who they could talk to about a worry? One children pointed to the teacher and others said “Mam, Dad, Granny, Da”.

Week Beginning: 17th November 2025

Our story of the week is Ziggy and the Lollipop by Lynda Kennedy.

Click on the link below to view and listen to the story.

Our song of the week is Stop, Look and Listen (to the tune of Ten Green Bottles).

Stop, look and listen before you cross the road,

Stop, look and listen before you cross the road,

Use your eyes and your ears before you use your toes,

Stop, look and listen before you cross the road.

Dear Mother Goose by Michael Rosen was the perfect choice of book for World Nursery Rhyme Week as it featured two of this year’s chosen nursery rhymes. We enjoyed finding out what advice had been given by Mother Goose to the problems encountered by several well-known nursery rhyme characters in her letters to them. The children showed a keen interest in the book all week and enjoyed looking at the pictures, lifting the flaps in addition to reciting the rhymes.

Sing a Song of Sixpence

The children learned the rhyme at together time and made up actions to accompany the song. Not many of the children were familiar with the rhyme so we continued to learn the words throughout the week.

A tuff tray activity was set up to encourage the children to make a picture of a blackbird using 2D shapes.

‘A circle for the head.’

‘One square body.’

‘Triangles for the wings and tail.’

‘Blackbirds in the king’s pie.’

Humpty Dumpty

The children consolidated their understanding of positional language when placing a Humpty Dumpty finger puppet in different locations throughout the nursery.

‘On a chair.’

‘Under the table.’

‘Next to the bin.’

‘Behind a cushion.’

‘On top of the blocks.’

‘Above my head.’

Matching Humpty Dumpty picture cards provided the children with an opportunity to develop their understanding of halves and symmetry which we have been learning about recently.

‘These two pieces go together.’

‘Both sides are the same.’

‘That’s not right, the colours don’t match.’

‘Where does this half go?’

When I Was One (The Pirate Song)

The children enjoyed pretending to be pirates while singing the counting rhyme. We added actions and included a few dance moves as well.

‘I’m a scary pirate!’

‘Forwards and backwards dancing.’

‘Three rhymes with knee.’

Numicon was used to make a pirate hat and ship. The children used their problem solving skills and number recognition to position the shapes within the outlines. They showed good concentration and helped each other to fit the shapes together.

‘I need a shape with three holes.’

‘This is like a tricky puzzle.’

‘Where does this bit go?’

I Hear Thunder

This song was known to most of the children as we sing it regularly on rainy days during our together time.

‘We sing this song.’

‘Let’s sing it again.’

‘Pitter patter raindrops.’

A mark making activity allowed the children to create their own umbrella designs. There was an interesting discussion about the variety of colours, shapes and patterns chosen by the children.

‘I’m using red and blue.’

‘I want spots and stripes on my umbrella.’

‘Don’t forget to write your name.’

‘Look at my pattern.’

Two Little Dickie Birds

This was another rhyme that the children were familiar with. We had fun substituting the birds’ names (Peter and Paul) with staff and children’s names. The children had the opportunity to make finger puppet birds which they were keen to use when performing the actions while reciting the rhyme.

‘Fly away Peter, fly away Paul.’

‘My dickie birds are different colours.’

‘Two finger holes and two more – that’s 1, 2, 3, 4.’

‘Come back Mrs Goodlad, come back Mrs Hyde.’