Valentines Day Crafts

To turn valentines day into a fun crafting opportunity I made use of some wax resist painting. This was a massive success and the children all loved seeing the 'invisible' hearts suddenly appear on the paper as they painted. To extend this activity for older children I incorporated the word 'love' to help him recognise some letter shapes. 

The children had a great time painting with watercolours and discussing the shapes they found underneath. 

Another simple activity was making some coffee filter hearts.  Even our youngest enjoyed using the felt tip pens to make some marks on the coffee filter hearts. They then had even more fun painting some water onto them and watching the colours run together. The colours of these brightened up the window on yet another rainy day! 

Chinese New Year 2014

 In celebration of the Chinese New Year, the year of the horse, we have been participating in a range of activities that encourage children to learn about the world around them at a level appropriate to their age. 

We enjoyed doing some blossom tree printing. The oldest children drew their own trees and painted on the blossom while the younger ones enjoyed getting their hands messy in the pink paint, saying the word 'tree' in recognition of their work. 

We talked about the country China and looked at some fun images of new year celebrations ranging from the festivals and lanterns through to noodles and chopsticks. 

It was then time to get our hands a bit messy for some Chinese themed sensory play complete with noodles and chopsticks. The boys had a lovely time feeling and describing the texture of the noodles as well as attempting to use the chopsticks to pick the noodles up. 

 

Finally, after all that hard work the boys were hungry so we added a Chinese aspect to snack time today. The boys all tried, and predominantly enjoyed, some spring rolls. When I asked what they tasted like, one child looked at the spring roll, spotted some carrot and triumphantly announced, carrot!!'

Building Snowmen

As it is unlikely that the children will be able to build their own snowmen outdoors any time soon I thought it would be fun to let them create their own indoor snowmen using a few simple materials. On a plate I gave the children some sticks, buttons, black beans, foam hat shapes and some ribbons together with some small white circular coffee filters. 

 When presented with the plate I asked the children ranging from two years old through to seven years old to create their own snowmen. The older children demonstrated their creative side and set about creating their snowmen, closely watched and then followed by the younger children. The pictures above, from left to right, show the completely independent creations of a seven year old, four year old and two year old. 

The lovely thing about this activity was that children of all ages were able to use the resources in a different way and were all equally proud of their end results, asking me to take a picture of them all so they could save them. 

Winter Rain

Outdoor play is hugely important for children and we try and go out on a daily basis. Not only does it enable children to gain fresh air and exercise but it also prompts exploration of the natural environment, providing even more great play opportunities!

This winter has been particularly wet but this hasn't stopped us, we've donned the waterproofs and ventured outdoors. As you can see, the children are not phased by the weather at all and have a great time socialising and exploring. 

We believe that using open space to run, jump, hide and splash in muddy puddles is what childhood is about!

Homemade Puzzles

Children of all ages love puzzles and providing constant variety can become difficult at times so these homemade puzzles added new interest to problem solving. 

 I began by raiding the house for objects that had an interesting shape and then traced around the items onto a large piece of paper that I then presented to the children together with a treasure box of the items that I had traced. 

The puzzle immediately engaged the children who had great fun. Our preschooler took the lead in placing the shapes in their outline but this was soon followed by the younger children. Once all the shapes were in place the children turned to investigating the objects with our 20 month old being particularly fascinated with combing his hair!

The puzzle proved to be a hit with children of all ages with the one year olds through to our six year olds whose interest was increased by the use of household items.