Vibrant Chalky Paint

This activity happened by chance (the best ones usually do!).

We were in the garden and the little peeps were playing with some new neon chunky chalks that I had recently bought.  One of the chalks was left on the ground and it got stepped on and abit crushed.  

I quickly picked up the crushed chalk and thought this was the perfect opportunity to make some chalk paint, which I had seen in the fabulous 'Wonder Art Workshop' book by Sally Haughey of Fairy Dust Teaching.

I grabbed a couple of wooden pestle and mortars that I had picked up at a charity shop, and I showed the little peeps how to crush the chalk (I had to start them off by crushing the big pieces down and they carried on).

They loved doing this, using those arm, wrist and hand muscles (building up co-ordination and muscle strength ready for future writing).  

I then gave them a jug of water and they poured in a little, using control and co-ordination, I explained that the less water they added the thicker and brighter the paint would be, the more water they add the thinner and paler it would be (understanding cause and effect).  

They mixed and they stirred, they added more chalk, more water, more crushing, more mixing.  They then used a brush and started to paint, they painted the wall, the outdoor blackboards, the table or anything they could paint!.  

The vibrant colours of the paint looked amazing, although the photo below does not give it justice.  This little one, sat for so long just quietly painting the wall with the paint that she had made.

This was such good fun and they spent a while on this activity, they came back to it the next day.  I think this will be revisited again soon!  

Sometimes the spontaneous activities are the best!  

Zesty Lemon Playdough

Zesty Lemon Playdough

We love playdough here, and as far a playdough goes, there is nothing better than one that smells really scrummy. 

There are many benefits of playing with playdough not only is it creative and really fun, it also helps with fine motor skills as the children roll, squeeze, knead, pinch, pull, building up those little muscles in their fingers and hands ready for writing when the time comes.

I decided to make a lemon playdough, as I recently bought a lemon balm plant for a sensory tub in the garden, so I thought it would be a good idea to make some zesty lemon dough and incorporate some of the lemon balm leaves into the play.  NB.  Please note that lemon balm plant can sometimes give an allergic reaction to the skin, so please keep an eye on this.

I usually make the 5 minute non cook playdough, but I haven't been happy with the last few batches, so I decided to try another recipe I have.  It is done on the hob but was really quick and not as messy to make and it seriously is the most softest and pliable playdough.

If you want to give it a try, this is the recipe:-

200g Plain Flour
100g Salt
300ml Water
2tsp Cooking Oil
2tsp Cream of Tartar
Yellow Food Colouring (I used around 2 cap fulls)
Lemon Food Flavouring (I used around 1 cap full)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl to make a 'batter' mix (I used an electric hand whisk to do this but you can just hand whisk yourself).  Add the mixture to a pan and heat gently, stirring constantly until it comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a dough like ball.  Take out of the pan and knead, like you would when making bread and that's it ... .  a lovely ball of soft, pliable lemon smelling playdough. Keep in airtight container (I also wrap the playdough in clingfilm) and it should last for a while and remain really soft.

Once I had finished the kneading, I then passed it onto the little peeps to play with.  I added various items for them to use including rolling pins, silicone cake cases, lemon balm leaves, grated lemon rind, fabric daisies and small bamboo sticks.  One of the little peeps disappeared into the playroom and came back with a little microwave to use as an oven and then they set to work.

Look at these fab little cakes, each one was put individually into the microwave. Lemon rind was added as sprinkles (which made them smell even more delicious), abit of lemon balm leaf for decoration, a daisy and bamboo sticks as candles.  I'm sure we will revisit this activity at some point soon as it was enjoyed by all.  To extend this activity, I've promised the little peeps we will make some 'real' lemon cakes soon.

The Gingerbread Man

Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!!

This month I decided to do a theme based on a traditional story.  I thought The Gingerbread Man would be a good one to start with and I could link in lots of activities.

I started by introducing the story and a box with related props.  In the box we have a very cute gingerbread man, a fox, a horse, a cow, a hen and a dog (my eldest daughter collected beanie babies in the 90's so we have a huge box full of beanie animals which has come in so useful since I started childminding).  I also added some lovely shimmery tactile blue fabric for the river,  a spoon for stirring and a rolling pin for rolling.  I also put in various Gingerbread Man books so the children would have a variety to read (in the end they did prefer to read the same one which was the good old Usborne one).

The children really loved the props and getting involved with the story.

We did some number activities, here I printed and laminated some numbered gingerbread men and the children had to add the correct amount of buttons.

We also practised pegging our Gingerbread Men in a number line, focussing on ordering but also building up those little finger muscles ready for writing by squeezing the pegs.

We looked at space, shape and measure, I laminated a large Gingerbread Man and cut it into quarters and then removed a piece each time we said 'SNAP! ... He was quarter gone, SNAP! ..... He was half gone' and so on.  They really loved this and it also gave them a visual as to what quarters, halves etc look like.

We made Gingerbread Men out of play dough, lots of rolling and cutting.  We used buttons to decorate, (although I had to watch the babies closely as some were small), we also made marks with our fingers for eyes, buttons etc. We also talked about size.

I managed to get hold of this Gingerbread Man jigsaw which is great for problem solving and fine motor skills, but it also has picture story prompts which is great for re-telling the story to development communication and language skills.

 

Last of all, we couldn't do the Gingerbread Man without making some yummy Gingerbread yum yum.  I forgot to get some smarties or jelly tots to decorate but will remember that for next time.

We also decorated some templates of the Gingerbread Man with stickers, ribbon, googly eyes etc.


All in all, I am really pleased with how this month went.  The children really enjoyed it and they now love the Gingerbread Man story and I think it will a firm favourite from now on.