Bells Brae Nursery

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.’

Week Beginning: 10th November 2025

Our story of the week is Dear Mother Goose by Michael Rosen.

Click on the link below to listen to the story.

World Nursery Rhyme Week was launched in 2013 and is taking place this year from the 10th to 14th November. It promotes the importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood development and education. Nursery rhymes are excellent teaching tools and help to support skills in literacy and numeracy in addition to contributing to social, physical and emotional wellbeing.

This year’s ‘Rhyme a Day’ challenge will focus on the rhymes listed below:

• Sing a Song of Sixpence
• Humpty Dumpty
• When I Was One
• I Hear Thunder
• Two Little Dickie Birds

Halloween

During our first week back at Nursery we had lots of fun taking part in Halloween activities!

Children have been very interested in making symmetrical pictures by drawing around half an outline on folded paper and cutting it out to make a whole picture.

“Half a pumpkin”.    “2 halves make a whole ghost”.    “Both sides look the same”.    “This line is the middle”.

We had Halloween themed messy play with lentils and coffee beans.  Children chose to collect the coffee beans to count and sort them.  Children counted how many coffee beans it took to make up the same size as a spoon full of lentils.  Children used spoons and their hands to scoop up lentils into jars, they poured and filled the jars whilst commenting on capacity.

“It smells like coffee”.    “Smells like a cafe”.    “Half full”.    “Full to the top”.

We had sensory play exploring the inside of a pumpkin.  Children had discussions with each other and with staff about how it feels, smells and looks.

“It feels slimy”.    “It’s almost Halloween”.    “I have dat pumpkin at home”.    “We’ve got seeds”.    “Many seeds”.

Staff demonstrated how a whole pumpkin can be cut into 2 halves to reinforce their understanding of ‘half’.

“It’s a Jack o lantern”.    “When you chop it you make 2 circles and when you put it back together it’s 1 circle”.

There were lots of opportunities to take part in Halloween crafts.

Children used the interactive whiteboard to draw Halloween items.

Some children chose to wear a Halloween costume to Nursery and some chose to try various Halloween costumes and other dressing up items at Nursery.

“It was Halloween”.

Children enjoyed taking part in large group party games with their friends, playing the corner game, musical statues and pass the pumpkin.

We played musical statues, navigating the space around us whilst dancing to music and waiting for the music to stop to become a statue!

“We was watching”.    “We dancing”.    “I want to dance”.

They played pass the pumpkin where children practiced their listening and waiting skills and followed instructions well.

“We dress up”.  “We played pass the parcel with a pumpkin”.    “I’m a ghost”.

The children have enjoyed visiting the music room to take part in musical activities. They have been developing their listening skills while joining in with a variety of lessons which have included singing, dancing and playing percussion instruments. We have also had great fun learning about body percussion and how different sounds can be created by clapping hands, stamping feet, patting legs and snapping fingers.

A series of lessons based on the song I am a Robot proved to be very popular with the children. We sang the song using a robotic voice while developing our understanding of loud and quiet (dynamics), high and low (pitch) and fast and slow (tempo). The children learned actions to accompany the song and added their own free style robotic dance moves.

‘Let’s dance like a robot.’

‘My robot has a low voice.’

‘Sing loud then whisper.’

‘I am a robot, I go beep-beep-beep-bop.’

‘Slow but it’s getting faster.’

‘A high squeaky voice.’

The children have had great fun being active in the gym hall. They have enjoyed the freedom to move around the open space when performing different movement skills while also listening and responding to the signal to stop. We have also used our time in the gym hall to be energetic when participating in circle games and action songs.

‘Running fast is good fun.’

‘I love going to the gym hall.’

‘Can you catch me?’

‘Crawling like a caterpillar.’

The children have been developing their balancing skills by placing bean bags on different parts of the body such as the head, shoulders, arms and feet. We practised balancing a bean bag while standing still before moving around the gym hall by walking slowly at first then gradually increasing the pace while trying to keep the bean bag in place.

‘Balancing is tricky.’

‘The bean bag didn’t fall off my head.’

‘I am doing a quick walk now.’

‘It fell off, I will try again.’