Category Archives: Health and Wellbeing

Curiosity Inquiry Creativity, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and English

Reading & Rhyme Time

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There’s a reason why reading has always been one of
the most valuable early years activities! Not only does it benefit their language development, it helps you bond with them and gives your child a sense of intimacy and  calmness.

1.  Get some of your wee ones favourite books and cosy in together. Introducing concepts like rhyming,
matching and getting children excited
about reading time is central to developing
competent readers when they grow up.
2. That’s why it’s never too early to read to
the little ones. Don’t forget to keep eye
contact and use lots of exaggerated facial
expressions so that they can develop their
vocabulary and understand emotions from
your non-verbal cues. Most of all, enjoy this special time together.

Curiosity Inquiry Creativity, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and English

Feel how…

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This is a game all about encouraging your wee ones  to
speak and learn new concepts, by asking them to ’feel how’
certain things will have certain qualities.

What you can use:

• Toys or objects
• Material
• Whatever is around you!

What to do:

1. Try grabbing something close by  you and your wee one like a toy
bear and saying ’Feel how soft teddy’s
tummy is!’ You could make a wee box or basket with different textured objects to explore.
2. This is all about encouraging them to
explore words using their senses, and
talking directly to them will give them
confidence about their own speaking.
3. Try to keep it simple to start with and
don’t overload them with lots of different
examples until they’re ready. Keep returning
to the same idea to scaffold their
learning.

Curiosity Inquiry Creativity, Health and Wellbeing

Let there be Light!

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A plastic jar filled with fairy lights can be an utterly
fascinating resource for babies and toddlers alike.

What you need:

• A plastic jar
• A string of battery fairy lights

What to do:

1. Take the fairy lights and put them inside
the jar. It’s helpful if they’re battery or solar
powered because you obviously can’t
have them plugged in.
2. Screw the lid on tight.
3. Allow your wee ones to explore
the jar with all of their senses. They can
stare at it, roll it,  or bang it.

 

Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and English, Social Studies

Sow some Seeds

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Planting seeds is great for fine motor control and
even better to help your wee ones learn about the natural world
around them.

What you need:

• Seeds
•  Pots
• Water
• Compost
• Spoons

What to do:

1. Start by picking out your seeds.
Sunflowers, and sweet peas work well at
the start of spring, as well as nasturtiums
and calendula for attracting pollinating
bees and butterflies.

2. All you need to do is fill a
pot with compost, water it, and pop
the seeds in an inch or so down using a
spoon. You can reuse some shop-bought
starter pots or use old cartons, egg boxes
or old fruit peel.

3. Keep the packets! They’ll be packed full
of information that you can discuss with
your wee one such as what conditions
work best for the plants, the differences
between different plants and why some
will flower sooner than others.

Curiosity Inquiry Creativity, Health and Wellbeing

Kerplunk!

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This homemade version of Kerplunk is the perfect activity for
busy young minds and a great game for all the family to play.

What you need:

• Approx. 40 coloured pom-poms
• BBQ sticks, pipe-cleaners or straws
• A large colander

What to do:

1. Sit the colander on a surface and fill it up
with pom-poms.

2. Once the pom-poms are in, place your
sticks , straws or pipe cleaners through the holes,
from one side to the other. Depending
on the situation your wee ones  can help
you out with this too!

3. Turn the colander upside down, and get
your wee ones to take turns in removing the
sticks.

4. As they take out various sticks, pom
poms should start to fall onto the table.

5. Don’t place any rules on the children, or
any idea of ’winners’ – let them choose
how the game works.

6. Great for their fine-motor control, it’s
also a great way to let them express their
imagination and practice taking turns.

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

Light and Dark Den

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Find a dark corner of your home or make a DIY den  and use torches to let your wee ones explore light and dark, shadows and silhouettes.

What you need:

• A dark corner or DIY fort or den
• Some torches or other lights
• A music player

What to do:

1. To begin, you’ll need a dark corner of your house, or use some blankets and chairs
to create a makeshift fort or den.
2. Let your wee one
experiment with dark and light,
turning the torches on and off. They can
also look at the silhouettes they create
and the shadows their bodies can make.
3. To add a new layer to the activity, take
a music player in with you and see if your wee one is interested in  moving the light and dark shapes in time to the music.

Health and Wellbeing, Numeracy and Mathematics

Pin the Peg

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Get your wee ones  to peg on the missing number in this simple but
fun counting exercise.

What you need: 

• Craft sticks or paper or anything you’re happy to write on and be          able to add a peg
• Felt pens
• Clothes pegs

What to do:

1. Start by drawing numbers one to ten on
a craft stick or paper making sure to miss out and
leave space for one of the numbers each
time.
2. Take the clothes pegs and draw the
numbers from one to ten on the outside
of the part that usually attaches to the
clothes.
3. Lay everything out for your wee ones and see if
they can fill in the blanks by attaching the
clothes pegs to the right part of the craft
stick.
4. Perfect for their number recognition and you also
get them to work on their fine motor
skills while you’re at it.

Curiosity Inquiry Creativity, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy and English

Start a Story

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Use paint, pens or stickers to create engaging story stones that act
as a great starting point for imaginative, storytelling play. If you don’t have stickers, you could draw on pieces of paper then stick them on to the stones or cut images out of magazines.

What you need:

  • Flat stones
  • Paint
  • Stickers/or paper/glue to stick
  • Pens/pencils

What to do:

1. Start by making a few story stones yourself,
by selecting a few large, smooth
stones and paint, draw or put stickers on them.
These could be animals, characters, or
features of an environment like trees or
mountains.

2. Make sure you have plenty of leftover
stones and gather your wee one
to start a story.

3. Use your existing story to build a starting
point to the story, then open it up to your wee one, letting them make the next character.

4. Once the children understand the concept,
use open-ended questions so that
they can help to develop the next part to
the story. Where is the character going?
Who will they meet?

5. Afterwards, you can leave the story
stones out and you may find your wee one
starts to craft their own stories independently.