August - December 2023

We had a special visitor to the nursery!

The Purple Group

The Green Group

The Red Group

Our Christmas Party!

We've had lots of fun taking part in festive experiences this week!

Busy elves in Santa's workshop

I can spread butter on my cracker independently

'This is our castle,
I am a soldier'

Merry Christmas to all our families

and have a

Happy New Year!

Jolly Jingle

Our Jolly Jingle 2023 was a great success! We had a great mix of festive fun experiences for everyone to join in with. The children enthusiastically sang a mix of festive songs much to the delight of their audience. Thank you to everyone who came along.

The children made Christmas decorations using recycled cardboard and weaving techniques.

We also made bird food for our nursery garden birds. The children prepared pine cones before adding food and hung them on the tree - a yummy Christmas treat for our friends in the cold weather!

let's mix it all together

let's hang them on the tree!

making Christmas decorations

We loved decorating our own Christmas biscuits! We found out how to make icing by adding water and then chose our decorations. Some of our grown ups helped too!

We followed a recipe and mixed flour, salt and water together to make salt dough for decorations. After we made shapes with the dough, we put our decorations in the oven to bake. Then it was decorating time!

Mixing our ingredients together

Let's roll the dough

Time to make shapes

We are always so creative in our block area!

"This is a Christmas tree, this is the battery for the lights"

"It's so so long"

Making paper chains for our tree

"making an obstacle course for the cars"

Bonnyton House Care Home Visit

Bonnyton House enjoyed a visit from a group of children this week. They sang a mix of festive and international songs and delighted residents with their confidence, delivery and charming personalities.

Our sincere thanks for the parent helpers who accompanied us.

Wonderful singing everyone!

Recycling

We have been finding out about recycling and what we can do to help. We looked at all the different kinds of rubbish and chatted about what bin each one should go into.

We are being very responsible and helping look after our planet.

Create with Blocks - endless possibilities

Lots of creativity and risk assessing taking place this week in our block area.

'This is the steps, this is the bridge'

Helping at Busby Nursery

We were lucky to have visitors to the nursery to share their wonderful baking skills. A big thank you to Mrs McMahon for helping the children make yummy Fairy Cakes. Also a big thank you to Mrs Henderson for helping the children decorate Christmas Biscuits with edible toppers.

Engineering & Ideas -
Pulley System -
Mechanical

The children explored engineering ideas with great delight at our pulley system this week! They experimented with gravity and weight and discovered what will happen if we let it go, and what would happen if we put something heavy in the carton.

Dreamcatchers

Developing our weaving skills by
making dreamcatchers.

hand-eye coordination
concentration
problem-solving skills
creativity

We celebrated St Andrew's Day by dancing to Scottish songs and music, making Scottish flags and listening to The Gruffalo in Scots.

Woodwork
The Woodwork area is always popular and the children love being creative and using our tools.

We are being very responsible and careful using the saw.

'saw dust is falling down'

'it cuts wood, it's getting cutted, it did it!'

Now we're using the hammer!

'it's going in!'

hammer puts it in'

Developing lots of skills -

gross motor

fine motor

hand-eye co-ordination

creativity

imagination

concentration

Look at our wonderful creations!

Stay and Play Fun

It was lovely to welcome some families to our Stay and Play. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed taking part in experiences with their child and their friends. We look forward to having another one soon.

Playing Olly Olly Octopus - one of our favourite games

Play dough time!

Story time!

Playing numeracy games together

Story time with the Red Group

The Red group enjoyed their visit to Busby library this week and choosing books. The children listened well to all the stories and also to our safety chat for walking to the library and back to nursery. We love their comfy bean bags, we can relax and enjoy reading a book on them!

Risk awareness

The children are helping to ensure our garden is a safe environment to play in and complete their own risk assessment. What items are on the list? We need to check our gates are closed and that there are no broken toys or trip hazards. Great teamworking and risk assessing!

Let's find everything on our list

I can check off items, all done!

I can rake our sand to make sure we can play safely here

As part of International week we are finding out about Tanzania. The children have enjoyed listening to and chanting African songs, as well as drumming along to the beats.

We picked an African song, Olele Moliba Makasi, for our rhyme of the week. This song is sung as a lullaby or by canoe paddlers to paddle on the steady beat.

Come to our hair salon!

Wonderful imaginative play in our role play area this week - the children have opened their own hair salon - the Busby Nursery salone is now open!

The children used our toy sink for 'washing hair' and then the rollers for styling.

We made our own playdough!

Let's listen to the play dough recipe so we can follow it correctly

Measuring water

Time to measure the oil

I can pour my water independently

Play dough is made - let's play!

Creativity

The children built a submarine using large blocks which led to great discussions and imaginative play. Wonderful creativity!

"We're building a submarine! We made a door to go out into the ocean" T

"You need to close the door so the water doesn't go inside" H

"I can hold my breath to swim" J

"How do you know where you're going in a submarine?" C

Good question C - this led to the children investigating submarines and discovering what a periscope is. They then made their own periscope using a tutorial and added it to their play - wonderful teamwork and collaborative play!
C brought in a toy submarine from home to show everyone.

Diwali - The Festival of Lights

We are finding out about Diwali and used clay to create our own Diwali lamps. It was lots of fun
developing our gross motor skills using our fingers to manipulate the clay!

We can't go over it, we have to go around it!

The rain has made our hill very wet and slippy, how can we still manage to jump into the sand from our obstacle course? We went on our own type of bear hunt and moved resources to create a path around the hill. One cable reel was too close to the hill tunnel for the children to fit through it, so N and C worked together to move it further back so they could fit in. Fantastic problem solving and teamwork everyone!

"We can make a path to the sand"

"I can go through it, we need to move this"

"I like to jump, it makes me happy"

You managed it!

The children have also been busy experimenting with creating potions by using rainwater from puddles, after we had lots of fun jumping in the puddles! Well done wearing your waterproof suit.

Great balancing skills everyone!

Yummy scones!

The children worked together to make scones for snack. What a fantastic job measuring all the ingredients, mixing them together and following the recipe. Star bakers all round!

measuring and pouring in the ingredients

it's time to mix it all together!

I wonder how many scones we can make from our mixture?

the taste test - yum yum!

As well as baking, the children have been busy building houses and towers, exploring loose parts and role play, learning about the solar system this week. We even had a visit from our P7 Playleaders to
talk to us about road safety, thank you for visiting!

developing fine motor skills with loose parts

role play dress up

stretch to reach the top!

"we're building a house to fill the square"

comparing aliens!
"this one has 1 eye, this one has 3 eyes"

we listened to a story about
road safety

practising how to cross the road safely with a lollipop person

we can cross the road safely

Den building

This week some of our 'engineers' had a great idea to create and build a cosy den. Den building seems like just a fun, easy activity, however the benefits of this activity are huge. Children learn to cooperate and work as a team, communicating and problem solving together to achieve a successful build. Just take a look at all of the interaction and learning here.

"Let's use these for a secret passage."

"This bit keeps falling, trap it in the drawers."

"What's the password?"

Super Soup.

Some hungry tummies were working together today to chop, grate, peel and slice up the vegetables to make a very yummy soup. They worked hard as a team to follow a recipe and add the correct ingredients. Not only a fantastic way to enjoy new foods and healthy habits but also a great activity to practise fine motor and numeracy skills. How many do we need? how long will it take? what time do we need?

I can slice

I can peel

I can pour

I can grate

"This is the stock i have to peel them all open."

"Let's do it together."

"mmmh yummy!"

We all have the right to healthy food.

Ideas for work at home

While Nursery is closed, here are some activities for you to try at home. Click on Busbee to find them.

Autumn time is here!

The leaves are falling down, red, orange, yellow and brown,
the leaves are falling down.

The children wanted to paint autumn leaves and were interested in making colours with after S told us 'yellow and red make orange'. The colour looked too red so N suggested 'a bit more yellow' to make it orange - great knowledge!

'now let's do purple' I wonder what colours we need to make purple? 'red and blue'

"autumn leaves are falling from the trees, it's the stalk of the leaf"

This led to the children wishing to make more colours. We had fun experimenting with paint to make light purple and green. We used different resources to paint with - the masher made great patterns!

How did we make light purple?
"with white, blue and red"

"it's working, it's green now!"

Spooky fun for Halloween

The children took part in lots of spooky fun experiences and enjoyed creating skeletons, spiders, pumpkins and potions. They developed their woodwork and fine motor skills by hammering our pumpkin with golf tees.

Our New Rhyme of the week is
Five Currant Buns In A Baker's Shop!

Every child has the right to be heard!

One of the relevant articles of the Convention that addresses the principle of participation is Article 12 the right to be heard. Article 12 says that every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered an taken seriously.

The children tried a new way of voting this week and voted with their feet. Look how long our voting line is!

Halloween Is Coming!

What do you know about Pumpkins?
We had fun investigating them and what's inside by scooping out the flesh and seeds!

Wow H, we love the pumpkin you and your family carved! Thank you so much for bringing it in to show everyone.

We have had an exciting week exploring number games, going to the library and taking part in Mini Kickers!

What do we do to stay healthy?

The children have been discussing different ways to stay healthy and what our favourite healthy foods are. They showed fantastic knowledge and awareness of how to keep healthy, including great turn taking skills during our conversations.

"We need to wash our hands so we stay healthy and don't get ill"

"Brush teeth, it makes them nice and clean. I brush my teeth before bedtime"

"Eat carrots, oranges and strawberries.
Healthy, a fruit"

"Broccoli and milk. I like doing exercise""

"Strawberries and healthy. Broccoli and cherries"

"I like carrots and blueberries"

I wonder if this piece goes here?

Great teamwork and problem solving!

"This is the strawberry piece!"

"I want to write cucumber"

Wonderful writing and letter recognition skills!

Mini Kickers - First Steps on the Football Pathway!

The children had a visit from Mini Kickers this week and loved developing their football skills in the Muga - thank you for coming Mathew! Mini Kickers develops a child's footballing activity, balance, co-ordination and social skills while getting their first taste (in some cases) of structured Football.

Spreading fun!

The children displayed fantastic independence and life skills this week by spreading butter on toast for snack. Yum yum and well done!

Can I have a slice of toast please?

Maths Week Scotland

This week we celebrated all things maths! We started the week talking all about numbers. Here’s what some of us had to say;

“ The biggest number ever is 86.”

“ I found the number 11 on my shoe.”

“ We need numbers to count.”

“My favourite number is 5 because my mummy told me.”

We talked about maths in the world all around us in numbers, shapes, sizes and more. We had fun going on a number hunt and exploring all of the loose parts to help with our estimating, counting and formation of numbers.

We know that maths is important in our lives and in our jobs. Why not have a chat at home about how you use maths in your day to day life?

Children vote for their favourite Nursery Rhyme each week and this week Hickory Dickory Dock got the most votes!

Nursery Rhymes are a great way to introduce and develop the early language skills needed for reading and writing. Together we have enjoyed exploring and playing with the patterns and sounds of language and will continue to have fun with our rhymes helping the children feel confident with words. Each week in nursery the children will learn and new rhyme which they can share with you at home.

Voting for our favourite nursery rhyme
of the week!

After creating roads using blocks, the children wanted to make road signs and traffic lights.

Wow, everyone showed great awareness of how to cross the road safely!

"Red stop, get ready, green go!"

"stop for the red man"

"wait for the green man to cross"

Sewing Skills

The children love taking part in sewing experiences, showing great concentration and skill. What a fun way to develop fine motor, hand eye co-ordination and numeracy skills as they explore patterns and measurements!

Experimenting with stitches is a bit like scribbling and early mark making... Sewing requires integration of all areas of children’s development to plan and carry out their ideas using small co-ordinated movements..." write the authors, Sharon Imray, Tracy Thomson and Jane Whinnett.

Showcasing our work! Have a look at our display at the door

Super Scientists exploring the properties of water

Water to ice back to water!

Risk Aware and Risky Play

Everyday life involves a degree of risk, and as adults we don’t always realise how much our children are learning when they manage these risks. Our children thought it was a great idea for children to do their own risk assessment of their outdoor space. We explored the outdoor space environment identifying what a great place to play would look like. We noticed some stones on the ground that might block our gate and sand on our planks which we found out makes it slippy!

Working as a team to move our
resources safely

We have checked our gate is closed to keep us safe while we play

Storytime at Busby Library!

We are enjoying going on our weekly library visits and listening to stories.
We pick books and are learning how to scan them out ourselves to
take back to nursery.

Lots of creativity taking place in the nursery with imaginative play

'I can see you!'

'That's my cat'

We have been busy building friendships, learning nursery routines
and exploring the nursery environments - look at how much fun we have had over the last few weeks!

What a fantastic start to our new term with our Bookbug Stay and Play sessions. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed joining in with the interactive rhymes, songs and of course the stories Bookbug brought…

Bookbug stories, songs and rhymes promote aspects of touch, such as cuddling or tickling. They also involve face-to-face interactions. Both of these things help develop good communications skills, bonding and can foster a trusting relationship between child and parent or carer.

Developing independence skills by pouring our own glass of milk and using tongs to select snack.
Yum yum! Well done everyone!

We enjoy having lunch together, serving ourselves and using cutlery.

Being creative in our home area, I wonder what you
are baking?

Exploring gradients and speed outside using cars

Wow, your car moves faster when going downhill

Artist at work!

We hope you all had a lovely summer break! It is wonderful to welcome back our returning children and meet lots of new children and families. Everyone is settling in well, enjoying taking part in fun experiences and making new friendships.

We are very proud to be a Gold award Rights Respecting School and Nursery. This means we spend a lot of time teaching pupils, adults and the wider community about the rights of a child to improve child well-being and empower pupils to become active global citizens from a young age.

We have been busy this week designing our Nursery Class Charter. This is a set of rules, promises and guidelines that children and adults all agree on together to help create a safe, happy and healthy learning environment. Please help us complete our charter by telling us what matters to you as the parent/carer. We have created a display on our outdoor board for you to have your say. How would you like the nursery to look/feel? What do you think is important to help your child achieve to their fullest potential in Nursery? Add your sticky note to the board at our front door or alternatively leave some feedback on the link below.

Feedback Form-https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=oyzTzM4Wj0KVQTctawUZKRLxqMzVlPlOvMGafNaG0ONUM1lCT1ZLSVZXRTlDUzNBTUNBUlNaOVhIVy4u

Your opinion matters to us, thank you for your help and support.

Voting for our Rhyme of the week

This week we have introduced ‘Rhyme of the Week’. Children will vote for their favourite Nursery Rhyme each week. Incy Wincy Spider got the most votes!

helping the children feel confident with words. Each week in nursery the children will learn and new rhyme which they can share with you at home. What do you know about spiders? You can go exploring in your home or outdoor space to see if you can find any!