Nocturnal and Diurnal Animals

At night as it is getting dark the girls and I often lay out on the trampoline watching the bats flying overhead. They are fascinated that some animals are just waking up and heading out when they (and other animals, like the birds we see settling in to the trees) are about to go to sleep.
Today we used the animal pictures from our Spot Light Game to learn about nocturnal and diurnal animals, and some that are both!

WE USED:

* animal pictures
* cardboard
(we cut and folded out a medium size postal box)
* paint or coloured paper
(black, yellow, grey)
* paper
* textas/markers
* scissors

First we cut and opened up a medium sized postal box, then painted one side yellow (for daytime) and the other black (for night time). The centre strip we painted grey to represent the animals who are both nocturnal and diurnal.

I used markers to make some simple explanation cards.

One by one we sorted the pictures; I would tell the girls when each animal was awake and they would put them on the nocturnal or diurnal side (or in the centre).
Squeak was fascinated by the bilby picture :-)

I'd love to do this activity again with a wider range of animals, particularly a bat which Bubble was very disappointed we didn't have!

'D' is for Dinosaur - making fossils

The week for 'D' to be the letter on our sound wall couldn't have come soon enough, Bubble is right into dinosaurs at the moment. She loved everything about this activity - from getting to squish clay to making her dinosaur 'fossils'.
First we squashed the clay into little puddle shapes which we pretended were mud. Then our dinosaur came stomping along looking for his dinner and left his footprints behind. We made imprints of every part we could lay flat - his arms, legs, tail and face - they turned out great! We have left them to dry for a few days and then they will go on display in Bubble's room.
Mr Bubble&Squeak was home today so while Squeak had her nap Bubble and I walked up to the library and found some books on fossils to read a bit more. Bubble was excited to find pictures just like our dinosaur footprints, and even more excited to see volcanos!

WE USED:

* air drying clay
* toy dinosaur
* books about fossils (if you want to do some follow up)

The head imprint looked very cool.

Foot, tail, skin, and leg imprints.

Arm and tail 'fossils'.

Fossil footprints like the ones Bubble made.

I think astronauts on the moon heard Bubble's joy when we found the chapter about volcanos :-) This picture was great for showing her how volcanos work.

'D' is for Drum

We are up to the letter 'D' for our sound wall this week and yesterday we made these paper plate rattle drums. I made Squeak's for her and she painted it, but Bubble was able to do her own threading as well as painting. The drums were a hit with both girls, so much so that we were woken at 4.15 this morning to the sounds of someone drumming in their bed :-D

WE USED:

* two paper plates per drum
* twine (or string, wool etc)
* hole punch (or scissors/ballpoint pen)
* childsafe needle
* dry pasta/rice
* sticky tape
* paint
* chopsticks or similar (for the drumsticks)

Place your plates so that they are facing each other, top to top (so you get a bubble type shape). Using a hole punch or a ballpoint pen go around the edge of both plates and punch holes about 2cm apart.

Using twine or string and a childsafe needle your child can then thread the two plates together. When there are only a few more holes to go push some dried pasta inside and then finish sewing up. The pasta is what makes the rattle noise when the drum is played.
We actually put rice in one and pasta in the other, the one filled with rice though had to be sealed around the edges with tape to stop the grains escaping!

Bubble gets painting.

Squeak painting her rattle drum.

I tied a loop of twine to the top of Bubble's drum so that she could wear it while playing. It made a great sound!

I left Squeak's drum without a loop as she is a bit small to have anything around her neck, she loved putting her drum on the ground and table and bashing away :-)