Tag Archives: Viking

Early Years Term 3 2022/23 – Week 12

March 24, 2023 Mrs Malcolmson Leave a comment

(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Transition started this week with visits to the playpark during morning break time. The nursery bairns buddied up with the Primary 6 pupils. This gives them someone else to go to if they have a question or need help. We’ve already seen great collaborative and imaginative play between the nursery bairns and upper primary bairns.

For the last few months, the bairns have been engaged in water play using baby dolls and imaginative play in the home corner caring for the babies. “You look after the baby, I’m going to work.” This led to a special visitor at nursery. We were delighted to welcome one of our parents and their baby to the setting. The bairns helped to bath and dry the baby and then it was time for snack. The bairns also sang nursery rhymes to the baby.

Beads are a great resource for developing fine motor skills and can be used to support the trajectory schema with the pouring of beads from one vessel to another. We’ve also been working on picking up the beads from the floor to keep it safe. One of the bairns made a shaker instrument using a pot with some beads inside, sealed with a piece of paper which they cut to size before adhering with tape.

While our garden is still under renovation, we headed to the school playground one sunny afternoon. The bairns explored all the equipment, trying new things, making up their own games, assessing their own risk and revisiting play from previous trips. It was great to see the bairns helping their friends on the swings.

We are still immersed in Viking play and today it was the school galley burning for SMUHA. We were lucky to have some of the South Mainland Up Helly Aa squad join us for the burning. Earlier in the morning, the bairns had built a galley using the big blocks in the outdoor room. When we returned to the setting, the bairns revisited this imaginative play by building and burning their galley several times. They also added safety cones to keep everyone watching safe. Three cheers for SMUHA!

Risky play encourages resilience and problem solving and gross motor development. The wall of the outdoor room is often used as a climbing area. The bairns are supported to climb within their limits, thinking ahead to assess how they will get down.

Early Years 2022/23 Term 3 – Week 9

March 3, 2023 Mrs Malcolmson Leave a comment

(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Preparations for SMUHA have ramped up this week again! The bairns have made lots of decisions about their galley, shields and torches, developing their language and communication skills. They decided to have a vote to choose the shield background colour and blue was the favourite. Rehearsals for the big day are coming along nicely and we are definitely seeing some galley builders and torch makers of the future.

Thank you so much to everyone who came along to our reading breakfast on World Book Day to help us celebrate our love of books, sharing stories and rhymes. We enjoyed a story filled day using books, story CDs, online stories, puppets, props, QR codes and more, the bairns spent time using the story props to recall familiar books and rhymes and of course add a bit of their own imaginations to the stories to give them a bit of va va voom!

Early Years Term 3 2022-23 – Week 5

February 3, 2023 Mrs Malcolmson Leave a comment

(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

We have been preparing for Up Helly Aa by learning the songs, practicing our marching and holding galley burnings in the quiet room! The bairns have also been creative building their own galleys and making costumes.

The anticipation had been building for Up Helly Aa and finally it was time to get on the bus and head to Lerwick to see the Vikings. We found a clear viewpoint from the balcony at the Great Wall. The Vikings roared past, bringing along their galley, the pipe band and the brass band. Then it was the turn of the Junior Jarl Squad. We headed to the museum where we had snack, a Bookbug session, Viking activities and a Viking hunt. Three cheers for Up Helly Aa!

After discussion at lunch about what Vikings eat, the bairns agreed that they would probably like butter on toast for breakfast. We discussed how they couldn’t go to the supermarket for butter or bread, where food comes from and that Vikings had to make their own food. The bairns poured cream into a jar, screwed the lid on tightly and shook it up until it turned into butter. Next it was time to make Viking bread using the buttermilk from the butter. The bairns weighed out the ingredients, all having a turn to mix the dough. Then it was time to pop the bread into the oven. The bairns had a taste of their baking at snack – “I love it!”

This is the recipe we followed:

Kids in the Kitchen: Viking Bread Recipe | Raising Lifelong Learners