All posts by Mrs Findlay

Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and English, Social Studies

Making Memories

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Collect some photos in your home and prepare a little memory
box to help your wee ones understand their place in the world.

What you need:

• Photos from family members
• A box or wall display

 

What to do:

1. Start by asking family members to send
photographs of the children’s relatives,
favourite things, and other close attachment
objects such as pets.
2. Create a memory box with the photographs
in, which you can share with your
little ones throughout the day.
3. Got a bit more time on your hands? Why
not create a family tree display which
children can use to start recognising
other families too?
4. The photographs can help comfort younger
children and give them some understanding
of their place in the world. As
they grow, the pictures can be useful to
give them an understanding of the differences
between their own home environment
and that of their little friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expressive Arts, Literacy and English, Numeracy and Mathematics, Sciences

Marvellous Magic!

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Make some hidden letters on white paper and let
the children paint over them, revealing the letters
before their eyes!

What you need:

• White crayons
• Watercolour paint
• White paper
• Paintbrushes

 

What you do:

1. Take the white crayon and draw some
random letters or short words on the
white paper. Don’t worry – you shouldn’t
be able to see anything just yet.
2. Hand the paper to your wee one and get
them to paint over the paper with their
watercolour paint.
3. Watch as they are fascinated by the
shapes that start to appear before
their eyes!
4. If your children are interested in the
activity, why not show them how the
magic is done? If they’re engaged, then
it’s a great opportunity to improve their
mark-making and maybe even get them
to try some letters of their
own.

Curiosity Inquiry Creativity, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and English, Numeracy and Mathematics, Sciences

How to make Bartholomew’s Oobleck (Dr.Suess)

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Make this fascinating substance that is both liquid and
solid all at once and you’ll have yourself endless hours of
multi-sensory messy play.

What you need:

• Corn flour
• Water
• Food colouring

What to do:

1. Mix together 2 parts corn flour to one
part water with a few drops of food
colouring. Here your children can learn about
colour mixing, counting and measuring,
using tools, collaboration, and more.

2. You’ll now have a slimy substance that
goes solid when you apply hard pressure
and is more liquid when you apply less.

3. The children can explore the way the goo
feels and moves, and understand ideas
like cause and effect. For example, when
they hit the goo fast it will be hard while
it will turn to liquid when they move
more slowly.

4. You can also practice language skills as
they describe the texture, look, and smell
of the goo, and you can develop fine motor
skills by hiding objects in it.

5. CLEAN UP ADVICE – You don’t want to
just pour everything down the sink and
clog up your drains. Wash little hands
and tools in a big bowl and then leave
overnight. Eventually, the corn flour will
settle to the bottom and you can pour
the water from the top down the sink
and the corn flour straight into the bin.

 

 

Curiosity Inquiry Creativity, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and English, Numeracy and Mathematics, Sciences

Numbers and Tongs

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Submerge some numbers and have the children pick them
out using tongs to improve fine motor control while
working on number recognition!

• A substance like jelly or Oobleck, shredded paper, pasta or rice
• Bowls
• Plastic numbers
• Tongs

What you do:
What you’ll need:
• 1. First, take a bowl filled with your substance
of choice and submerge a few plastic
numbers in it. That might be a liquid
substance like jelly or Oobleck (see how to make this on the next post) or a solid substance like
pasta, rice, or shredded paper.

2. Once you’re ready to start the activity,
give your child/ children tongs and show
them how to pick up the numbers using
the tongs

3. As the children are getting stuck into the
messy play,  ask
questions about the numbers, helping to
improve the children’s number recognition.