The children have enjoyed listening to our story of the week, Puffin Peter by Petr Horacek. The book was part of a resource pack which was borrowed from the UHI STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) outreach programme. The resources were used to explore mathematical concepts and language while applying skills. The children used toy animals which represented the characters from the book by comparing and ordering their weight and length. We used a two-pan balance to investigate weight and a ruler to measure length. The children were very engaged in the activity and it was great to see their enthusiasm for learning while having fun. We will build on this interest by developing further opportunities for the children to explore measurement across the nursery setting and when using the outdoor environment.

‘The whale is heavier because it went down.’

‘The parrot is up because it is lighter.’

‘It’s like a see-saw.’

‘Look, both sides are the same.’

‘The whale is the longest.’

‘The puffin is 6 on the ruler.’

‘The ruler goes up to 30.’

‘I’m going to measure the domino now.’

We are looking forward to a visit from Eleanor Hutcheon next term who will be running STEM workshops for the children using Kapla (construction resource) and Botley (programmable coding robot).