Bells Brae Nursery

To encourage hopping activities staff began to draw shapes with ascending numbers on the ground outdoors.  Staff drew shapes and numbers up to 10 and some children decided to continue this by adding bigger numbers on the end, “11, 12, 13”!  Some children copied the numbers and shapes alongside the originals.  Staff modelled hopping from one shape/number to another on one foot.

“I can hop”!    “Look 1 foot!    “It is wobbly”.    “I am balancing”.

On a walk in our local community the children were encouraged to identify 2D shapes in everyday objects. We saw a stop sign with 8 sides, the children suggested it was a hexagon.  We spoke about how a hexagon has 6 sides and an octagon has 8 sides”.

“Square, the sign is square, it’s got 4 sides”.    “No, it’s a rectangle”.    “Love hearts in the window”.    “Circle, wheels”.    “Semi-circles on the wall”.    “Triangle in the grass, it has 3 sides”.

Children engaged in play with peers using foam blocks in the indoor/outdoor area.

“Do you want to build a tower”?    “We’ve made a boat”.    “Let’s knock them over”.    “This is very tall, you have to hold it”.    “That was awesome”!

Staff provided a tray of sand and added diggers and cars.    The children enjoyed spending time digging in the sand with the vehicles.  Children then added water from the mud kitchen so the following day staff set up a tray again but this time added half water and half sand.

“It’s a beach”.    “It splash in the water”.    “Need a dumper truck”.    “We need clean water”.

Staff set up a water tray with different coloured water in squeezy bottles, a variety of vessels and some pipettes.  Children were supported to learn to squeeze the bottles to release the colours and squeeze the pipettes under the water to fill them and then release before squeezing again to release the liquid. This provided a great learning experience to develop their fine motor skills for pre hand writing.

“It’s purple”.    “Blue and red”.    “I made blue”.    “There’s black”.    “We need more water”.    “I doing potion”.    “I made my potion into purple”.    “It’s filled up”.    “We have orange”.    “Would you like some red”?  “Yes, please”.

Children enjoyed taking turns to play a shape monster game on the interactive whiteboard.  The children had to try and feed the shape monster the matching shapes.

Last term the children chose to create a Tesco shop for the role play area and their second choice was hairdressers.  Staff discussed with children if they would still be interested in creating a hairdressers and they were keen.  The hairdressers has been really busy this week with children really focused and engaged during play.  Children used real life scenarios to inform their role play, working together and sharing the hairdressing resources.

“Can you do my hair”?    “Can I have this please”?    “Have to wait your turn”.    “I’ll write you down”.    “What colour hair you want”?    “I’m sitting here until I get my hair done”.

Week Beginning: 27th April 2026

Our story of the week is The Perfect Fit by Naomi and James Jones.

Click on the link below to view and listen to the story being read by the author and illustrator.

Our song of the week is Shapes Song. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.

Week Beginning: 20th April 2026

Our story of the week is The Enormous Turnip retold by Irene Yates.

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

Our song of the week is Pull the Turnip (to the tune of London’s Burning).

Week Beginning: 13th April 2026

Our story of the week is Simon Sock by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet.

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

Our rhyme of the week is Let’s Put on Our Socks (to the tune of Hickory Dickory Dock).

Hickory dickory dock

Let’s put on our socks

We’ll walk around

Without a sound

When we put on our socks

Hickory dickory dock

Let’s put on our socks

We’ll tiptoe around

And won’t be found

When we put on our socks

Hickory dickory dock

Let’s put on our socks

We’ll slide around

The slippery ground

When we put on our socks

Hickory dickory dock

Let’s put on our socks

We’ll dance around

And jump and bound

When we put on our socks

Staff prepared a Spring craft activity which involved the children having the opportunity to cut out a picture of a watering can, drawing straight lines to create stalks on their plants and using chopped up straws to make flower shapes with paint.

“They are making the flowers”.  “Using paint to paint the flowers”.

“Look, it’s painted now”.   “I need a brush, I don’t want messy hands”.  “Painting the egg”.  “They are rolling it round and round”.

Children regularly have the opportunity to use wheeled vehicles outdoors.  Children take turns with their peers on a variety of vehicles which helps to develop their gross motor skills.

“Riding a bike outside”.

Staff created a cosy reading area in the indoor outdoor room for all the children.  We added a variety of books and children were keen to use books in a different environment.  Children joined staff in singing songs such as ‘the wheels on the bus’ as staff read stories to them.  The children used their language and social skills whilst they listened as staff read stories and joined in by sharing their thoughts throughout the stories.

“Reading a story together”.

“The library, to read and sit down”.  “They have somewhere to sit, even for a small person”.

Our new Tesco Store role play area!

The children voted for what they’d like the role play area to be changed into.  There were three suggestions from children including a vets surgery, a hairdressing salon or a Tesco store.  The children voted at together time with the most popular choice being a Tesco store.  The children provided suggestions of what they think would be in a Tesco store.”Food”.  “Clothes”.  “Toys”.

“Tesco sells lots of things, I’m going to buy the bear”.    “Here’s the bag”.    “Bye, I’m going to cook now”.    “Ice cream is my favourite”.    “Next”.    “Let me put it in my bag”.    “5p please”.    “Add it all up”.

The children extended their play as the days went on, they have had a great time in the Tesco store role play area this week.  Staff added some real food items including tatties, limes and carrots and this encouraged the children to be even more engaged in their play.  The children would purchase these items and then take them to the home corner area to use in their play.  Children practiced their numeracy skills and social skills whilst working or shopping in the store.

“Shop is open”.    “That will be 2 pounds please”.    “You can buy whatever you like”.

Library

A group of children visited the school library and spent time relaxing with books with their friends. Children chose books to look at individually or with friends and had a good knowledge of where and how the books should go back to on the shelf to keep them safe for next time.  Children then enjoyed a group story read by a staff member.

“Look at this cover, it’s the front cover, here’s the back”.    “Look what I got”.    “Room on the broom”.    “What’s this one all about”?

Week Beginning: 23rd March 2026

Our story of the week is Monster Counting Book 1 to 20 by Frances Mackay.

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

Our song of the week is Number Song 1 to 20. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.

Week Beginning: 16th March 2026

Our story of the week is Click Clack Crocodile’s Back by Kathryn White.

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

Our song of the week is The Sneaky Crocodile. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.

Our pre-school children recently enjoyed their second STEM session with Eleanor Hutcheon from UHI Shetland. This time, the workshop focused on two important topics: recycling and renewable energy.

Using a colourful play mat designed as a miniature town, the children explored how communities can look after the environment. Through hands-on play, they sorted pictures of everyday items into the correct recycling bins, thinking about what materials they were made from. This fun activity helped the children to understand where rubbish should go and why recycling is important for protecting our planet.

‘Food goes in the compost bin.’

‘I have recycling bins at home.’

‘The scarf goes in the clothes bin.’

The children also learned about renewable energy. Eleanor showed us how solar panels capture energy from the sun and how wind turbines use the power of the wind to generate electricity. After discussing where these might work best, the children added solar panels and wind turbines to different parts of the miniature town.

‘Solar panels go on the roof.’

‘I don’t have any on my roof.’

‘The fan made a lot of wind.’

‘The windmills go on the hill.’

We also talked about how people sometimes have different opinions about wind turbines. While they create clean energy, some people feel they can affect the landscape and change the look of Shetland’s beautiful scenery. This helped the children begin to understand that communities often have to think carefully about how they use their environment.

Through play, discussion and exploration, the children were able to learn that small actions such as recycling and using renewable energy can make a positive difference to the world around them.

It was a fun and engaging session that introduced important STEM concepts in a way that the children could understand. We would like to say a big thank you to Eleanor for another fantastic workshop. 🌍 ♻️ ⚡

Children have been having lots of adventures outdoors!  One group of children went for a walk to Gilbertson Park where they ran around jumping in puddles, the grown ups joined in too!

Another group of children went to Hayfield Park where they did a great job  climbing up the ladders to get up onto the climbing frame, climbing independently onto the swings, balancing and helping their friends.

“You’re getting all muddy”.    “It’s so muddy”.

“See me”.    “I’m so good at this”.    “I like climbing on this, I never done it before”.

Children regularly have the opportunity to used wheeled vehicles outdoor including trikes, balance bikes and pedal bikes.

“I can do it”!

Children have used their patience and balance skills whilst working individually and in groups to build different structures using the bricks.

“It’s a castle”.

We have had a variety of resources available in the message centre recently such as coins to cut and stick, blank purses and piggy banks so children can fill these with the coins, number formation strips and coin and bank note visuals.  Children have spent time exploring the new resources and using their fine motor skills to cut and stick the coins.

Coins were also added to the playdough table where children were supported to roll the playdough flat and demonstrated how to press the coins in to make a print.

“This is a 2p”.    “What’s this one”?    “Is this 5p”?    “This one is bigger”.    “This one is smallest”.

Children helped an adult to draw a road map so the children could drive their cars on it.  The children were keen to decide what needed to be on the map and add their own ideas.

“My do it”.    “It’s a pond”.    “I do grass”.

Children were busy using a variety of resources in the sand tray and playing in groups with their peers.  They used containers to fill and empty from one container to another whilst counting.

“”How many scoops will fill the bucket”?    “Five”.    “I think it will be more”.

There has been a variety of mark making activities for children to explore both outdoors and in the indoor/outdoor room, including an adult initiated activity where children could use cars with pens attached to the front to mark make.

“We are drawing”.    “A dinosaur with big teeth”.    “I can make a circle”.    “I’m drawing people”.    “Choo choo”.

Throughout the week the loose parts have been used in many different scenes including Up Helly Aa, boats travelling to different places and obstacle courses.

“We’re making a galley”.    “Yeah a galley boat”.    “Look there’s wood. That’ll help burn the galley”.