Tag Archives: outdoor play

Outdoor play

November 15, 2019 Mrs Smith 1 Comment

We love to be outdoors. This week we have been focusing on the shape “circles” and what fun we’ve had.

Archie and Indie made up their own game by making circles for stepping stones and numbering them to make a path to follow.

We played some circle games where everyone’s favourite was Duck Duck Goose. It was a bit chilly so the bairns thought some races would help warm them up. Following our circle theme we used tyres to roll across the playground and race each other. The tyres made great use of the bairns motor skills and coordination while they lifted, pushed and rolled them across the playground with such amazing control.

Our Learning in Term 1

November 5, 2019 Mrs Smith 1 Comment

Hello everyone, apologies for our lack of posts for a while, there was a blip with our blog, but hopefully it’s all sorted now.

Here is a snapshot of our learning fun last term!……

…..Da bairns were really interested in exploring different materials, their properties and uses. They experimented to see if the material waterproof, strong, heavy, light, could float or sink.

……Then they explored their uses. Could they build with it, could it stack, could it hold it’s shape…….

…..They took their learning outside to explore further where they experimented with forces and how things move…..

….Some bairns were very interested in magnetic forces, push and pull and others really enjoyed exploring mark making in the sand using different tools and materials.

….Magnus explored forces of push and pull using his body and feet – he even made his own ski’s!

We had lots of fun outside as always………

…building, climbing…

…..Jumping, sunbathing….

…..flying kites, experimenting with sound, pony jumps and building….

….Bikes and scooters pedalling with a passenger and negotiating corners with an extra wide bike!

…..Pony cuddles, walks to the shore,

…..and of course jumping in muddy puddles!

….And finally…..

…..baking, tea parties, painting with pineapples and pineapple play doh…..

….cosy stories, colour sorting and lemon tasing…..

…….music making, instrument skills, rhythm….

We were kindly donated an amazing castle! The bairns carefully followed the instructions to build the castle themselves and some went on to make their own castles using all their knowledge of building and material properties they had already learned in their experiments….

We’re Back!

September 13, 2019 Mrs Smith 1 Comment

We are all so excited to be back at Nursery and welcome all the new boys and girls to Nursery for their first week. Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to…..

…..we love being creative with paint and loose parts..

…it’s great having a tea party. The smell of coffee and tea in the nursery has been delicious!..

…everyone likes to have a turn helping with snack and it’s great when the older bairns help our new starts to learn all the different jobs we do….

…..we continue our learning outside everyday. This week we’ve been pedalling, sharing, building, balancing, making music with different objects and the most fun playing in the rain! Puddles are great and when the rain stopped we added more water to make more puddles and continue our play.

Outdoor Play and Forest Fun!

April 16, 2019 Mrs Smith Leave a comment

We love going to our forest to play. There are so many things to discover in the forest and we find something new to do each time we go. It’s our favourite outdoor classroom!

We hold hands with a partner and practise crossing the carpark safely on our way to the forest.

The boys and girls in Nursery have been particularly interested lately in the signs they have found in the forest. They have been using their sounds and letter skills that they have been learning in Nursery, to try to read the signs and discover what they say.

These barrels and trees make great shelters for animals and creatures in the forest, but they also provide great climbing and balancing fun. Risky play really helps to develop our gross motor skills and allows our children to test and affirm their capabilities, as well as problem solve every day activities.

There are lots of exciting places to explore and hide, but some children have already begun to ponder……

” What will happen when the leaves grow? (Rory)”

“How will we get through the forest? (Owen)”

We found some more signs and worked together to find out what they said. Anri and Maximus wondered why there were no signs to show us how to get to the forest and thought about ideas of what signs we might need and what they would say.

There are lots of amazing things to discover and find in the forest. “What is this? Where did it come from?” Lottie-Mae wanted to take what she had found back to Nursery to look at it a little more closely.

MUD…glorious mud!!!

We were having too much fun to leave the forest so we stopped for a quick picnic snack.

“Look what I found! Is it a pine cone? It’s very small. (Archie)”

Look at us climb!

“I’m the highest! (Johanne).”

“I’m like a monkey. (Anri).”

“I got up! This tree must be very strong. (Lucille)”

Peek-a-boo!

“You have to put your head down low to get through. I nearly got stuck. (Elsie).”

We loooove a muddy puddle….

1….2….3…juuuummmmppp!

“Squelch”……”splat”….”sticky”…

We visited our nature pond to see if the Frog spawn has hatched yet. We hope to take some tadpoles to Nursery to look at more closely and see how they change into frogs.

Who will be first to spot a frog?

We found lots of frog spawn but still no tadpoles….

It’s hard work to walk through long grass and heather. Sometimes we find it tricky and fall over but we are getting better at it and our legs are getting stronger.

Yay – we caught a frog! It was great to take a closer look at the frogs. They look tiny but when the frog was trying to jump out of the bucket, we saw it had really really long back legs.

“That’s so they can jump high” (Maximus).

“I can see another frog!” (Honor)

We also took a closer look at some frog spawn. Some had black dots in the middle but some were beginning to uncurl into tiny tadpoles, getting ready to hatch.

Owen found a tiny caterpillar on the ground. He carefully and kindly picked it up so as everyone cold have a closer look.

We love getting outdoors to play. Even better when the sun is shining!

The bairns are really enjoying building their own obstacle courses. It is fantastic to see them working together to build the obstacles and helping each other as they build their confidence with balancing.