For more information from Scottish Book Trust on live Bookbug sessions that you can share at home with your children please click here.
Popular songs and rhymes are also available to enjoy anytime.
Category: Nursery
NURSERY – FOR ALL OUR PARENTS
For all our Parents
Look after yourself too!
There is no point pretending that this isn’t a strange and difficult time. And you may feel so busy looking after everyone else that you forget to look after yourself. It’s important that you find time for you when possible, and to look after your own wellbeing.
Remember, this situation won’t last forever and you might one day look back fondly on this time you spent together as a family.
Parent Club Scotland have some useful online advice on looking after you and your child’s mental health during this time:-
Mental health advice for parents during coronavirus
Mental health advice for soon-to-be and new parents during coronavirus
Supporting your child’s mental health during coronavirus
You can also find advice on the Mind website about coronavirus and your wellbeing.
Keeping well
A few simple things you can do to keep yourself and your children as healthy as possible are:
- Keep to routines.
- Go to bed and get up at the same time as usual.
- Eat and drink healthily.
- Stay in touch with friends and family (phone and online).
ParentClub and Parentline have some good advice.
One Parent Families Scotland has produced information about how to keep your children occupied during social distancing.
Doing the best you can is what counts
It’s hard for everyone to be staying at home the whole time whether you’re working from home or not. Some of you will be trying to continue your children’s education, others will be doing their best just to get by.
Some parents will be looking for information and resources to help with their child’s education at home; others will be just trying to get by.
Just remember, maintaining the health and well being of your family is essential, everything else is optional.
If you are worrying about your children missing out because they are not at nursery or school, you might be tempted to do more than you all can really manage, like trying to make them do learning or school work for so many hours a day. You can help as best you can, but they also need you to give them and yourself a break:
- Like us, they’ve never experienced anything like this before. Although the idea of being off nursery or school might sound great to them, like you, they’ll find it hard being stuck at home and not seeing their friends.
- So, you might see more in the way of meltdowns, tantrums and opposition. This is natural and to be expected.
- What your children need right now is to feel comforted and loved, and to know that this time will pass.
- If you’ve got a garden, play outside. Go out for walks but keep your distance. Make meals together, paint pictures, play board games and watch films. Do science experiments together or find online tours of zoos and museums and other places. Start a book and read together as a family. Snuggle under blankets and do nothing.
- Everyone’s in the same boat. When they get back to nursery or school, the teachers will pick up and start again. Your children won’t lose out in the long run. Do your best to encourage them, but there’s no point in fighting with your children about all this.
- Do your best with them and try to keep in mind that, after this time has passed, how your children feel will be more important in the long run than what they missed at nursery or school.
Screen time
Like it or not, we’ll be using our screens more than usual: for fun; for learning; for working; and for keeping in touch with others. We’ll all be on our screens a lot more but try to keep some sort of limit on this if you can.
- Educational and other programmes online and on TV will be good for learning and entertainment.
- Promotional videos are good for encouraging children to be physical, eat and sleep well and have good personal hygiene.
And more generally, all curling up to a good film or favourite programme is a great way to have family time and wind down.
NURSERY – Fun and learning at Home
All the ladies at East Calder Nursery are thinking of you and missing you all. Here is a little message from us to you
Please click Here to access the picture if you cannot see it clearly.
P.s we have a new lady join our team while we have been off, can anyone spot her?, let us know via your Learning Journal which word you think she is holding up.
Lots of love
EC Nursery Team
NURSERY – Poem written by Mrs O’Neill
This virus appeared out of the blue,
Spreading to thousands not just a few,
Everyone’s pace of life has now went slow,
Hopefully end soon but we do not know
You children are home doing activities galore,
Independence, self-resilience, with them will soar.
Daily walks, planting sciences, and lots of fun,
Sharing their experiences online with everyone.
Riding bikes, virtual tea parties and games.
Counting numbers and writing our names,
Singing songs when tidying our rooms,
On the computer on messenger or zoom.
Colonel Tom is special we love him so much,
Watching him on TV we can keep in touch,
Bright rainbows everywhere, we see on Thursday night,
Everyone cheering and clapping, it’s an incredible sight!
The ladies think of you all every single day,
So this little poem was really just to say,
You’re not forgotten, keep safe, keep having Fun,
All you children in nursery, your missed by everyone.
By Mrs O’Neill
NURSERY – Fun and Learning at Home
Good Morning, hope you are all well 🙂
Here are some suggested activities to give a try.
Baking – Why not try making some yummy brownies – Click Here for the Recipe. L.I I am able to follow a recipe and use scales to measure out ingredients.
Numbers and Letters- Make your own number/letter monster using junk e.g. paper bag, cereal box, shoe box. Write numbers (start with 0-10)/letters(start with letters in your child’s name) on paper and scatter them out, then ask your child to feed the monster a certain number/letter e.g. find the letter B or number 5. L.I I am able to recognise numerals/ letters in my name.
Junk models – what can you create using junk? Click Herefor some ideas if you are stuck, but remember to use your imagination to put your own unique twist to the model, it doesn’t need to look exactly the same. L.I I can use my imagination to create art using various resource’s/materials.
Help in the house – Help make meals, water the plants, wash the dishes/car, dust, tidy your toys away or make your bed, you could even help write/draw the shopping list. L.I I am responsible and developing my independence skills through everyday tasks.
Remember you can also have a look at West Lothian Early Years Blog for more ideas by clicking Here.
Have fun and stay safe
EC Nursery Team
Hello Everyone
We hope you are all well and enjoying the decent weather.
The government recommend during lock down you access the outdoors once a day to benefit your physical health as well as mental health, so we have suggested idea’s you can share with your child outdoors incorporating into your daily walk to help access much needed daylight, fresh air and exercise. We are lucky to have so much green space and natural woodland on our doorstep. These will help to capture your little one’s interest, imagination and continue to support their learning.
There are many nature related activities you can do allowing your child to experience and explore natural materials. These ideas have been tried and tested at East Calder Nursery in the past and they always prove popular with the children.
Art with Natural Loose Parts
Encourage your child to collect natural loose parts outdoors and excite their curiosity and creativity by giving them the opportunity to experiment with them. They can have fun recreating what they have seen during their walk or simply enjoy exploring the materials – no end result is necessary! Allow their imagination to guide them. L.1. Working on my own and with others, I use my curiosity and imagination to solve design problems.
Numeracy/Maths
If your child is showing an interest in numbers and counting reinforce this by using collected sticks, leaves and stones to match, sort, count and recognise numbers. The above idea can support them with their learning in numeracy and maths. Borrow a dice from another game and turn this activity into your own game. Roll the dice and sort, match and count the amount of natural loose parts to the numbers/dots on the dice and copy the number with sticks.
L.1. I can match objects, and sort using my own and others’ criteria, sharing my ideas with others.
Literacy and Communication
If your child is showing an interest in letters and writing their name, use collected sticks to copy letters, names and words. The following idea can support them with their learning in literacy. Chatting with your child about what they are doing and your shared experience of your walk – what you seen, found, and heard supports and extends their vocabulary and listening skills.
| L.1. As I play and learn, I enjoy exploring interesting materials for writing and different ways of recording my experiences and feelings, ideas and information. |
Exploring and caring for Wildlife
Engage your child in caring for plants and animals. Indoor plants and pets are fine, but it’s even better to engage children outdoors. Consider working with your child to provide habitat for wildlife. You can do this by setting up a bird bath or bird feeder. You might also plant a butterfly garden. It’s also important to show children how to relate to other living things in a gentle and caring way: water the plants; avoid breaking branches or stripping bark from trees; and avoid disturbing the homes of birds and bugs. If you collect an animal from outdoors for closer observation (such as a snail or beetle), return it to its natural habitat within a short period of time and explain to your child why this is important (wonder: a survival skill – www.communityplaythings.co.uk 2020). L.1. I have observed living things in the environment over time and am becoming aware of how they depend on each other.
Have fun and enjoy the outdoors safely! And remember you can access more play and learning ideas at http://blogs.glowscotland.org,uk/wl/snonursery
NURSERY – Fun and Learning at Home
Good Morning, hope you are all well 🙂
Here are some suggested activities to give a try.
Baking – Why not try making some delicious flapjacks – Click Here for the Recipe. L.I I am able to follow a recipe and use scales to measure out ingredients.
Float and sink – Do you know what floats and sinks and why? Find items in the house with an adult e.g. cutlery, toys (non-electrical/without batteries), fruit/veg, or natural items when out a walk e.g. flowers, pinecones, sticks and stones. See what floats and what sinks. Discuss why you think this happens L.I I have experimented with everyday items as units of measure to investigate and compare sizes and amounts in my environment, sharing my findings with others.
Arts and Crafts – As it was Earth Day yesterday why not try making a picture of Earth using shaving foam. Click Here for instructions L.I I have the freedom to discover and choose ways to create images and objects using a variety of materials.
Scrap book – Since we are unable to spend time with family and friends just now, why not look at photographs, talk about them and make a scrap book. You could stick pictures into your book of friends, family and happy times on days out or holidays and write when it was, who’s in the picture, what you were doing and decorate each page how you would like. L.I I am developing my fine motor skills. I am able to share my thoughts and feelings with others.
Remember you can also have a look at West Lothian Early Years Blog for more ideas by clicking Here.
Have fun and stay safe.
EC Nursery Team
NURSERY – Fun Learning at Home
Welcome back, we hope you all had a relaxing break over Easter.
We have enjoyed reading your posts on the home learning section of your child’s learning journals, thank you so much for keeping in touch. Sharing your news and photo’s have helped to lift our spirits as we continue to miss all of our little friends. We really appreciate the time you have taken to do this. Please continue and if you haven’t managed to log on yet, instructions have been posted onto each child’s learning journal to make this easier for families. Say Hi, we would love to hear from you and we will reply back to all posts.
If you are looking for some new idea’s to try at home this week, please give these a try………..
Star Gazing – wrap up warm and enjoy a hot chocolate with marshmallows whilst sharing family time star gazing at night with Elon Musks satellite. Find out more information by clicking here.
This week you can also see the Lyrid meteor shower which happens this time every year. Its said to peak tonight and if your lucky you could see between 10-15 meteors an hour! L.1. I have experienced the wonder of looking at the vastness of the sky, and can recognise the sun, moon and stars and link them to daily patterns of life.
We would love to hear about any star gazing finds!
Stone Matching Game – Find a selection of different sized stones during a local walk and use them to trace around, ask your child to match the correct stone to the tracing. Support your child with movement language to help them learn and understand position and direction including in front, above, below, left, right, forwards and backwards, this helps to challenge your child further. L.1. I can collect objects and ask questions to gather information, organising and displaying my findings in different ways
Painting Stones – If you have paint or felt tip pens at home, why not continue the play with stones and allow your child to decorate them. When they are finished your child can have fun hiding them in the local community for another child to find. This great idea has been shared on Home Learning in our Learning Journals, so we know there are already some stones hidden waiting to be found in East Calder. Have fun painting, hunting or both. L.1. I can create a range of visual information through observing and recording from my experiences across the curriculum.
Enjoy and most of all have fun and please remember you can access more learning and play idea’s from blogs.scotland.org.uk/wl/snonursery
EC Nursery Team
NURSERY – Fun and learning at Home
Good Afternoon
Here are some suggested activities to give a try.
Catching and kicking with a ball –play throw and catch or kick and pass with a ball (if you don’t have a ball improvise with rolled up socks or something similar to a ball shape.) L.I I am developing my fine and gross motor skills and am engaging in energetic play both indoors and out to stay healthy.
You could also keep a count of how many passes you can get without dropping the ball. L.I I am learning how to count in order and how to count using 1-1 correspondence.
Planting – Plant some flowers, seeds or bulbs in the garden and help them grow. Talk about what plants need to grow and discuss the different parts of the plant. L.I I have helped to grow plants and can name their basic parts. I can talk about how they grow and what I need to do to look after them.
Hot or cold game – Hide something in the room for another person to find and give them clues if they are close to the object by saying hot or if they are not near it say cold. Once you have found the object swap roles and try again. L.I I am learning how to take turns and follow rules.
Remember you can also have a look at West Lothian Early Years Blog for more ideas by clicking here.
Have fun and stay safe
EC Nursery Team
NURSERY – Fun and Learning at Home
Good Afternoon!
We hope you all had a great Easter full of fun.
Here are some suggested activities to give a try.
Top marks maths games – Play some maths games online which will further develop your counting, number recognition, ordering, pattern and much more! L.I I am developing my numeracy skills. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/
Origami – what can you create? Here is a link to help https://www.easypeasyandfun.com/easy-origami-for-kids/ L.I I am developing my fine motor skills and can stay engaged in an activity.
Spell your name – Stick each letter of your name onto blocks then scatter then on the floor/table, now find each letter of your name and join them up in the correct order. L.I I can recognise letters in my name.
Play outside – Enjoy the sun and fresh air in the garden or out a walk, you could also take you bike or scooter out. L.I I am developing my gross motor skills, coordination and balance.
Hope you all have a good day
EC Nursery Team
