Father's day

For Fathers day this year, I decided on a very simple card but hand prints usually go down well. This was easy then to do even with the babies.

 

but rather than just adding happy fathers day to the inside I found some poems about Dads and printed out some, then the children choose which one they wanted to put in their card. They enjoyed listening to the different poems (there were several) and trying to decide which ones their Dads would like best.

Sensory Bottles

We had one very wet afternoon during half term, so I decided this was a good time to make our sensory bottles for the littleones. The children had a lovely time deciding what they were going to put in the bottles, liquid or dry, quiet or noisy ect and also thinking about what the babies might like.

The shredded colour paper bottle had some rice added to it so it makes  a lovely sound.

Found a good use for those seeds that are past there use by date, the children said they didn't want to add too many as they were worried it would be too heavy for the babies to lift, which was a really sweet thought :)

Then we had mixture of bottles, bottle 1 glitter and water, bottle 2 glitter water and baby oil and bottle 3 glitter, baby oil, water and food colouring.

No Mess Painting

I've seen no mess painting on other blogs and thought we would give it a go but they have always used a ziploc bag. We didn't have any of these and the only freezer bags we have are either blue or green in colour. I didn't feel they would work so well as the coloured bag would distort the colours of the paints. So I set about with a cardboard box and cling film. I tightly wrapped the cardboard in clingfilm.

The poured on the paint and tightly wrapped the paint and cardboard in another layer of cling film.

Now my first attempt was ok and you can see how much paint we used but quickly realised that you needed a lot more paint than I originally thought.

So for my second attempt we used three times the amount of paint, which worked a lot better. Our youngest one really enjoyed the experience

and they were very quickly joined by the other children.

I have been able to reuse the base as it was so well wrapped in clingfilm, that when I carefully remove the outer layer all I need to do is wash the paint of, leave to dry and then we are ready for another go.

Shaving Foam and Jelly

We regularly have some form of sensory play going on at my house, this can vary from bread baking, finger painting to playing with jelly.

We had a lovely warm day the other day, so I decided that we would all head outside to see how much fun 5 children could have with 1 can of shaving foam and my patio doors. It was a big hit, they loved to smear it across the glass, running their hands repeatedly through the foam, sometimes drawing pictures and then rubbing them out again. I think I might need a bigger patio door!

Today I let them loose with some jelly, not the horribly sticky shop bought jelly but some I made up some with gelatine and food colouring. To start with they had just the 3 primary colours and they enjoyed exploring not only how the jelly moves and feels but the way the colours mix together and create new ones. It was brilliant to hear one child say "I've made purple, red and blue make purple!" they were very amazed but then asked what other colours could they make, we set about trying other combinations of colour. I'm wondering if this will be something they will remember, it might even be a better way of teaching the mixing of colours rather than with paints! The highlight of today was one of my children when they started with me last September was very reluctant to touch anything and eyed any type of sensory activity with suspicion  when I first introduced shaving foam to them, they would only touch it with the tip of one finger, today, they were straight into the tub and the last to leave the activity, they wren't at all bothered by the textures etc one happy childminder as well as a happy child :)

After lots of mixing etc, they asked if we they could add some shaving foam and I thought why not! It certainly added a new dimension to it and honestly it did clean up very quickly and easily.

Children learn about their world through their senses and have done so since birth. So providing a sensory rich play experience can help the child, through stimulating their senses, especial their sense of touch, to really connect with their body and develop body awareness.  Sensory play is also very relaxing through the rhythmic pouring, stirring, squeezing etc this aids a child's emotional development, because it helps them learn ways to calm themselves. The physical manipulation of the different sensory material, will aid their hand eye co-ordination and fine motor skills e.g. while playing with rice or pulses. It will help with problem solving, as they learn to deal with different types of material and how they can manipulate and use this material.

Sensory play is not just about the sense of touch, a child will use their eyes to look at the colours, movement etc, hearing, as they listen to the different sounds material make as they are poured from one container to another, smell, if you have added essential oils , herbs etc to the material, or through cooking, taste can also be used during cooking or food tasting to involve all the senses and help the child learn about their world. Through sensory play the child learns to integrate all the information coming to them through their senses. Oh yes and finally sensory play is just great fun for all ages, including adults!

Of On An Adventure

Today we set of on an adventure, M and I busily prepared the adventure before I picked up minded children from school, we stained some paper with tea and tore round the edges to make it look old. We then made a map of all the places we would visit. I wish I could show you the excitement and enjoyment but you will have to use your imagination! So of on the adventure we go:-

It was long hike to the base camp near the Flower Mountains (well it was really just the walk home from school). We studied the map

and checked we had everything we needed, map, rope to climb with, binoculars, telescope, a compass and of course a backpack to put it all in.

It was a long climb with the rope up Flower Mountain, it was so high the peak was up in the clouds. Honestly that is cloud you can see not a white sheet.                                                                                

At the top of the mountain we checked our map and followed the path to the sand caves, which are very small caves, we had to creep through on our tummies.

From here we had to very carefully make our way across the rickety old rope bridge, it was the only way we could get across the deep ravine.

                                                                                                               

Then the map said we had to make our way to the Cookie Caves and if we were lucky the Cookie Fairy might of left us a snack.                                                                                                                             

                                                          We were in luck!                                                                                                                                                                                        

After the cookie caves they had to negotiate the Chair Ravine and then the water chute.  We then got to the edge of Crocodile River, luckily  there was a boat for us to row across in, so we could get to the beach ok                                              

because there were crocodiles

                                                      and hippos in the water.

Finally they arrived at the beach and they went digging for treasure!

The children loved this and after we finished the adventure, they decided to do it again and again. I will definitely have to plan another adventure for them as it was very well received and a good, fun way to get lots of physical happening. Now of to think up more adventures as I know they will ask when are we going on the nest one!

Mother's Day

We usually make Mother's day cards or pictures and this year I decided rather than the normal drawing and or gluing and sticking, we would create a background with marbled paper. So we set about with the marbling inks, we have a foil tray that I use for this, which is a perfect size and it doesn't matter if the inks stain etc.

                                                 

 We then left the marbled paper to dry.

When dry, we used it for the background of our design. The children choose, what colour card they wanted for their cards and then the marbled paper was cut smaller than the card so it left a nice border.

When this was dry the children, then used a variety of foam shape, flowers etc to create a pretty picture for their Mum's. I was informed by one child that the Tulip shape piece of foam is a dinosaur footprint not a flower, which is why they are on the side.

Then something completely unrelated but made me giggle today. One of my childminded children unrolled all the loo roll and left a pile of paper in the middle of the bathroom floor, when asked why, reply was " I wanted to use the tube and all that paper was in the way" lol. I love my job and the children's logic is fantastic, you just can't beat it!

st david's day

Over the last couple of weeks we have been looking at Wales in preparation for St David's Day on the 1st March. We started with looking at where Wales was. I had an outline map of the United Kingdom as well as the atlas out for the children to look at, they were very interested in what the countries were called.One of my younger ones wanted to know if the seas had names too, so we looked at the atlas and I pointed out some of the names of the seas around the UK. It was great to see how interested the children were especially the preschoolers.

The older children, 8+, had a blank map and they labelled their map. Where the country Wales was, it's capital Cardiff, major rivers, Wye and Severn and it's highest mountain, Mount Snowdon, which is 1085m high.

All the children then had Welsh flag to colour in.

We also made Bara brith, which the children really enjoyed. They loved smelling the spice and the different dried fruit, as well as feeling all the different textures and describing how they felt about them. They also noticed how the dough changed from really sticky to bouncy as they kneaded it, so lots of sensory fun around cooking as well as maths with all the counting and weighing.

We also looked at pictures of the Welsh national dress , which only women wear, there is no national dress for the men but they might wear a leek, which comes from a story about St David. St David who was a monk is supposed to have said to the soldiers to wear a leek so they could be distinguished in battle form the Saxons, so the Welsh men went into battle with a leek in their helmets. They attacked the Saxon invaders and soon won the battle. This is one of the stories of how the leek became chosen as the Welsh national emblem, their other emblem is the daffodil.

We listened their national anthem in Welsh, which is called in English, Land of my Fathers or in Welsh Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

                                                           Land of my Fathers

                                           The land of my fathers is dear unto me,
                                           Old land where the minstrels are honoured and free:
                                           Its warring defenders, so gallant and brave,
                                           For freedom their life's blood they gave.
                                           Land, Land, true am I to my Land,
                                           While seas secure this land so pure,
                                           O may our old language endure

                                                                or in Welsh

                                                       Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

                                          Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,
                                          Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;
                                          Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mad,
                                          Tros ryddid collasant eu gwaed.
                                          Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad,
                                          Tra mor yn fur i'r bur hoffbau,
                                          O bydded i'r heniaith barhau.

We also looked at different lovespoons and some of the meanings  behind the different symbols. These wooden spoons are carved from one piece of wood, showing amazing skill of the carver. A man would carve a lovespoon  and give to the woman they hoped to court. And then made some out of card. I found a couple of videos on you tube that we watched. One was carving the spoon all by hand tools and the other was a mixture of machinery and hand. They asked lots of questions about what they were doing, the tools used etc. I had then cut out spoon shapes in card and some hearts, horse shoe, flowers etc also in card for the children to stick on their spoons and then paint, so they had their own lovespoons.

The littleones, enjoyed making the daffodils out of card and involved some counting of petals etc and we went out for a walk to spot daffodils beginning to grow and the how there were differnt sizes. We talked about how a daffodil grows from a bulb and the different parts of the plant.