Our lovely Raffa has written her recipe for you all to try at home. Oats 400 g Golden syrup 125 g Whole cane sugar 125 g (I only use 40 g) Butter 125 g Dark chocolate chips 100 g ( however, can either use raspberries, raisins etc) Salt up to 1 pinch Put in a pan the butter, sugar, salt and golden syrup , heat over low heat (without boiling) when everything is melted, switch off and let it cool down. Add the mixture into the oats, put in a baking tray and in the preheated oven

People kept on mistaking the Rocky Racoons recycling bin for general waste so we made a recycling symbol to stick on it. We explained that the recycling symbol is made up of triangles, explaining and showing how we draw them. They traced the lines and finished by colouring it in Blue/Green. We cut it out and pasted it onto recycling bin. The children are learning to identify the recycling symbol and getting to know that paper and cardboard can go in the recycling bin. #arb

Eco-Code ‘Arbor, Arbor Green, We keep the plant clean. We sort the rubbish into bins, And don’t forget the tins *Tune to row row, row your boat* Our new Eco-school journey has begun! The children have been engaged with completing our environmental pictorial review which led us to determine that our new topics are Energy, Water, Litter and Waste! We will be working to achieve this in the next 2 years and would love it if you could help and be part of our eco-committee. I’d lik

To celebrate Burns Night🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 we spent our afternoon listening to a Scottish themed animated book called 'Hazel the Highland Hedgehog'🦔 The children sat for the storytelling session and really engaged with the story as when I asked questions relating to what was just read she was able to recall names of characters and pick out visual information through the pictures. We looked at tartan picture and patterns today for Robert burns day, we began trying to create tarta

As part of our Emotions Topic, we made an Anger Volcano! First, we read the "Alligator is Angry" book, which talks about different things which can make us feel angry and what we should do in those situations, then we started our activity. We cut up letters to spell the word "Angry", mixed them up and had to stick them to the paper in the correct spelling, the children then had to draw around the word how they feel when they are angry, then lastly write their name on the draw

The squid has been a big topic of interest so today as a group we decided to look more closely at this interesting creature! At morning gather time we looked at some footage on our iPad of Squids, examine their movements and were amazed at how fast they could shoot across the screen! Aa group we began to look at our Unbelievable Underwater Fact cards we learnt that “when under attack, the vampire squid can turn itself inside out” and “the giant squid is the largest creature w

Today we have been learning about giraffes. I brought in cardboard paper rolls to make some. The children painted yellow first on all the rolls. After we let it get dry I asked the children what do you think we are missing now guys? They talked about the spots and I asked to them what colour they should be. Some of them said brown and other said black, we were learning how the word is spelt. When the yellow paint was dry, we started to paint brown dots around the roll. I

We took all the children in the Bunny Room and went for a walk outing to Inverleith park to go and visit the swans and ducks. When we got to the pond we walked along to see if we could spot some birds and after we stopped at the park for a while, Kirstin read the children "The very hungry caterpillar" talking about the different foods the caterpillar ate. We then headed back to nursery for lunch. This regular contact with nature can engender an appreciation and respect for

Last Friday, our Arbor Green family met in George V Park with John, Alice and Jake to continue helping with our community garden project. We started by weeding the beds and exploring whats growing. The garlic is taking off! Recently the children have been learning about birds, so we decided to get everyone involved by making bird feeding balls and filling up already made bird feeders. Children and parents then explored the park finding the best spots for the birds to enjoy th

Last week Tuesday, January 4, was World Braille Day. At morning gather time, we spoke about, what braille is, who uses braille to read, and its creator Louis Braille. As a group, the children looked at the braille alphabet and pointed out the letters in their names. Eager to make their names in braille, I drew each letter of the alphabet separately and used pipe cleaners below to create braille dots to mimic the letters above. The children explored the pipe clearer bumps and

Did you enjoy your lunch today? We certainly did! Oyster mushroom risotto with roasted Jerusalem artichoke and salad greens all picked from our nursery garden. Before we left for the festive period, the children grew the oyster mushrooms by inoculating cardboard. They were delighted to harvest them today along with the Jerusalem artichoke they planted in the summertime and picked the salad greens from our polytunnel. Tell us what you're harvesting? #oystermushrooms #mushrooms

This Christmas, we’ve decided to fundraise to help our local charity, The Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home. Still affected by the hit of Covid-19, The Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home are continually seeking support from the community to assist in the care of the animals. With the risk of animal abandonment higher leading up to Christmas, funding is essential to continue their work. Our fundraising week will commence 13th -16th December 2021, with all donations to be made via our Facebo

We have been teaching the children that for some flowers, fruits, and vegetables to blossom and grow in Spring, they have to be prepared in Autumn. Bulbs have been our focus, with the children learning the life process of the bulb by watching a video to see the stages of the bulb from roots to flower. The children then looked at an onion, seeing its roots drinking water, and discussed how plants need water to grow as humans need water to stay hydrated. Showing the children al

Our community garden project was back in full swing last Friday at King George V Park. Children and parents from Arbor Green Nursery came together to help John weed the raised beds, plant strawberries, and discover what is starting to grow from our last planting sessions. We thought the raised beds could use some decoration, so the children drew pictures of what they've planted and want to plant in the coming months. We will have them on full display shortly for everyone to e

Celebrating Diwali, the children created beautiful Rangoli designs. Rangoli is an art form originating in the Indian subcontinent, in which patterns are created on the floor or a tabletop using materials such as powdered limestone, red ochre, dry rice flour, coloured sand, quartz powder, flower petals, and coloured rocks. It is an everyday practice in Hindu households, however, colours are preferred during festivals and other important celebrations as it is time-consuming. Us

For centuries the evening of November 5 has been synonymous with Guy Fawkes or (as it has come to be) fireworks night. At Arbor Green, the opportunity for the children to create their version of fireworks using cut toilet roll holders and paint was a perfect way for us the recognise this date in history. Of course, basic firework safety was discussed with the children before they dived into creating their fireworks with booming colours and explosive patterns across pages. We

The children, enthralled by our topic, Dinosaurs dived right in speaking at gathering time about herbivores, omnivores and carnivores and what they eat. We went around the group and said different dinosaurs, discussing what each ate and what category they fit. The children then discussed what they eat, leading them to assign what category they fit into. After snack, the children decided what dinosaurs they would like to use to complete their ribbon threading activity. They th

Halloween last week was a spooky blast at Arbor Green with the children and some dedicated staff dressing up all week in their favourite costumes and joining in on a range of fun Halloween themed activities. Our youngest, have been learning about Halloween, part of our autumn activities and what it means. Using their fingerprints, we made spiders on wooden circles whilst adding different materials in the Bunny Room. We enjoyed counting the spiders’ legs and picking what colou

Over the last couple of weeks, the children have been helping John save seeds which is the practice of saving seeds from vegetables, grains, herbs and flowers for use from year to year for annuals and nuts, trees, fruits and berries for perennials and trees. This is the traditional way farms and gardens were maintained, for generations. We have collected seeds from pumpkins, butternut squash, sunflowers, perpetual spinach, sweet corn, apples, plums and loads of types of beans

Rhubarb jam is on the menu, with the children relished taking turns picking rhubarb from the garden, snapping it in half and placing it in our basket. As we harvested the rhubarb, we learned the leaves are poisonous to eat, so we used the leaves as hats instead, leaving nothing to waste! With John helping the children cook the rhubarb on the outdoor cooker, the children explored the rhubarbs colours and textures before, during, and after being cooked. The rhubarb was then enj