Bells Brae Nursery

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”.

Week Beginning: 9th March 2026

Our story of the week is Noah’s Ark by Lucy Cousins.

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

Our song of the week is The Animals Went in Two by Two. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.

The children had the opportunity to develop their numeracy and maths skills using the UHI Early Years Maths Tales Pack, based on the story Puffin Peter by Petr Horacek, which we recently enjoyed reading together at story time.

The STEM resources enabled the children to explore measuring and sorting activities while working collaboratively as a group. Toy animals representing the characters from the book were used for estimating, comparing and ordering by length, height and weight.

‘I think the whale is longer.’

‘Let’s check to see.’

‘I guessed right.’

‘The parrot is the tallest one.’

The children particularly enjoyed using a two-pan balance alongside non-standard units (multilink cubes) to investigate and compare the weight of each toy animal.

‘It’s like a seesaw.’

‘The whale is heavy.’

‘Can you help me count?’

They also used magnifying glasses to closely observe each animal’s features and were excited to be blindfolded while guessing the animal using only their sense of touch.

‘I can see bumps on the whale.’

‘Is it the parrot?’

‘It feels like the puffin.’

The final activity involved using sorting rings to group the animals according to specific characteristics such as wings, webbed feet, beaks and tails.

‘The whale can’t fly.’

‘The puffin has a beak so it goes inside the circle.’

‘Let’s do tails now.’

The Maths Tales Pack is a fantastic resource that supports children in developing and applying a wide range of maths skills through engaging, hands-on learning experiences.

Week Beginning: 2nd March 2026

Our story of the week is We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen.

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

Our song of the week is The Bear Went Over the Mountain. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.

Coin Recognition

The children have been learning all about the different values, colours, shapes and sizes of coins.  They have been doing various activities to help develop their knowledge of coins.

Staff introduced children to a coin recognition/sorting game on the interactive whiteboard.  The children showed great interest in the game.  There were discussions about the colours and shapes of each coin and what we need and use money for.

“Tiny ones is a circle”.    “That one is number 1 not 2”.    “10 is bigger than 1”!    “To buy some stuff”.    “My Mammy and Daddy have money”.

The children have been using the coins and crayons to make rubbings of the coins.  The children have been developing their fine motor skills.  They then moved over to the craft table and discovered they could make rubbing patterns of other items.

Some children were cutting and sticking paper coins and putting them into purses, identifying which value each coin had.

“This one’s 20, no 50”.

Play Dough

The children were keen to help make playdough. They got their aprons on, requesting help when needed using their kind manners.  We read out the recipe, the children recognised the numbers and quantities of each ingredient.  They took turns to put each ingredient in the bowl whilst staff encouraged independence.

Winter Mind Map

The children drew some pictures on a season mind map.  They shared their knowledge of winter and what they liked about winter.  A lot of their knowledge was about the weather.  We also spoke about other seasons and what they knew and liked about those seasons.

“Rain, winter”.    “My hat” (When going outside).    “My window, looking outside at the snow.  It warm in the window”.

Week Beginning: 23rd February 2026

Our story of the week is The Wobblysaurus by Rachel Bright.

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

Our song of the week is Once There Was a Dinosaur (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star).

Once there was a dinosaur,

And all he did was roar and roar.

He roared high and he roared low,

He roared fast and he roared slow.

Once there was a dinosaur,

And all he did was roar and roar.

Week Beginning: 16th February 2026

Our story of the week is Puffin Peter by Petr Horacek..

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

Our song of the week is Ten Puffins.

One puffin, two puffins, three puffins swimming

Four puffins, five puffins, six puffins swimming

Seven puffins, eight puffins, nine puffins swimming

Ten puffins swimming in the sea

One puffin, two puffins, three puffins flying

Four puffins, five puffins, six puffins flying

Seven puffins, eight puffins, nine puffins flying

Ten puffins flying in the sky

Week Beginning: 9th February 2026

Our story of the week is Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae.

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

Our song of the week is I’m a Giraffe. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.

Galley Shed Visit

We were very lucky to get an invite from the UHA Committee to visit the Galley Shed prior to UHA Day.  Children wore their hi-vis vests and used their road safety knowledge to make our way to the Galley Shed.  We split into groups and took it in turns to be shown various areas of the Galley Shed.  We got to see the galley boat which was almost finished, the children enjoyed discussing the colours and design of the galley and taking turns to be the driver!  Children were able to hold the torches which were then used in the UHA procession and watched a video all about previous years which told the story of UHA.  Everyone had the opportunity to go into the Committee meeting room and sit in the Jarl’s chair!

“Viking Hammer”.    “That me going on da galley ship”.    “They holding the torches”.  “How are they big and strong”.    “In the galley shed”.    “That’s the hammer”.  “Bang”.    “The steering wheel, up the galley boat”.

Up Helly Aa Day

The children have been really engaged whilst learning about Up Helly Aa at Nursery.  We got the opportunity to join the rest of our school community to see the visiting Junior and Senior Jarl Squads.  The children got involved in singing the Up Helly Aa song, clapping and cheering as they entered the hall.  Some of the vikings came to nursery and the children got the chance to explore their suits and get pictures.  The children wanted to have their own procession in Nursery, marching and roaring, we got our galley out which the children had decorated and the children threw their torches in to ‘burn’ our galley just like the real one.

“Burning the galley”.    “Let’s throw our torches in guys”.    “The helmets were really silver”.    “In the gym hall”.    “See the Vikings”.    “Galley last year looked happy not fierce”.    “Viking boat in a big fire”.    “That Vikings”.