Plastic Bottle Lava Lamp

WE USED:

* clean empty bottle
* water
* funnel
* food colouring
* bottle of oil
(I just bought the cheapest one they had, which was about $3)
* Aspro tablets (make sure to keep these up high until you are using them, just in case small hands get a hold of them. Alker Seltzer tables also work just as well)

I've seen these made a few times on the net and have been keen to try it out. Both girls helped make the lava lamp (or bottle I should say) and Bubble and I chatted about water being heavier (denser) than oil, and how they repel each other. Squeak just wanted to shake and roll the bottle around and watch the colours separate :-D

In goes the water.

Then the food colouring.

Then the oil.

Drop in an Aspro and watch the magic :-) We found putting in two or three even better, although it did bubble over a little bit so put down some paper towel!

Animal Stones

A little while ago we made these, and today Bubble brought a bucket of stones and some textas to me and asked for help to make some animals.

WE USED:

* flat stones (gardening centres or craft stores usually carry them if you cant get your hands on any)
* textas

Two little mice. Bubble needed a bit of help to make hers, but remembered all the features.

We made our mice some cheese :-)

Shoebox Stove

WE USED:

* shoebox
* coloured paper/card
* glue and tape
* pen, skewer or craft knife (for punching holes in top of box)
* matchsticks
* cotton reels

Trace around some cup or bowl rims and cut out your circles for the hotplates. Glue and/or tape them to the top of the box.

Use a pen, skewer or craft knife to pierce the lid in four places along the top of where you have placed your hotplates. Careful not to make the holes too big.

Push in some matchsticks so they are firmly held in the lid.

Place cotton reels over the matchsticks to create turnable oven knobs.

You could also cut a flap in the box side to create an oven, although our box is hinged so my girls just opened and closed it to 'cook' things.

Gender Matching Game

WE USED:

* Whiteboard friendly surface (we used our glass wardrobe doors, but a mirror or window would work as well)
* Whiteboard marker
* Pictures of girls and boys (we cut ours from old sticker books, but you could use magazines)
* Blutac

Mix the pictures together in a bowl so they can be picked out at random. On your surface draw two columns and label them 'girl' on one side and 'boy' on the other. Make sure you point to and say the words before starting so your child knows which side is which. You could even draw a little symbol if you wanted to, to help them remember. One by one select pictures from the bowl and ask " is this a girl or a boy?".
After we had stuck all of our pictures up I asked Bubble questions, like "where is the girl who is eating?", "where is the boy who is reading?" etc... so that she could expand her learning/speech.

Pointing to different pictures of people doing things.

Having a draw with the whiteboard marker :-)

Beach treasure hunt

Bubble and Squeak have both been into pirates lately; Bubble gets around singing a pirate song she learnt from one of her favourite dvd's and wearing a pirate hat, and Squeak toddles along behind saying "ahhhrrr!". So today we headed down the beach to have our very own treasure hunt, it was easy and so much fun we will be doing it many times I think!

WE USED:
* small shovels
* small toys from a dollar store (it cost only $9 for all of the ones we used on our treasure hunt; two sea animal toys, a whistle, some sea slime with a whale toy inside, a set of rings bangles and gloves and some plastic bead necklaces)
* small plastic bags (ziplock would be best) or paper bags
* peg basket

I placed each of the little toys into a plastic bag to protect it from the sand, and then while Bubble explored the rocks I quickly buried them in different spots, marking each with a big 'X'. Squeak had fallen asleep during our walk to the beach, but Bubble had a ball discovering the crosses and digging up each treasure like a real pirate.

Other ideas:
You could make your treasures to fit a theme, or create pirate maps to show where the treasures are buried. The treasure doesn't have to be toys, it could be beautiful shells or maybe pieces to a puzzle that the kids can put together at the end of the hunt.

Please Note:
it's really important that you make sure everything you bury is dug up again, and nothing is left behind. If you have a lot of items to bury then mark where they are clearly and keep count so nothing gets missed. Also check the time of day that you are digging so you aren't taken by surprise by an incoming tide :-)

We used the peg basket to sift the sand and find shells and rocks. We also used it to carry our treasure once it was dug up.

Bubble digging up treasure.

Her first find, some play sea animals.

Some sea slime and a toy whale.

It wouldn't be a treasure hunt without something sparkly :-)

More sparkly treasures.

Car Mat

I found a big roll of this waterproof covering at our local Lincraft this week and bought a metre of it for only $7. The girls have been playing with it endlessly, with their cars, dolls and we've been taking it outside to the park when we go as well. It's great to sit on as it's waterproof and also easy to clean - bargain :-)

State Labels - chalkboard

As an extention of our learning about the states of Australia Bubble and I played a matching game. I drew the least dodgy version of our country that I could manage on the chalkboard (including state lines) and gave Bubble the names of each state one by one. We sounded out the names together and she stuck them in their correct position, either by memory or by asking me for help. Once all the labels were up we played a "Where Is" game ("where is Queensland?" etc...).

WE USED:

* Chalkboard
* Chalk
* State labels written on paper
* BluTac