Magnifier Discovery Board

Both of our girls are in love with their magnifying glasses at the moment, we bought them about a month ago and they've been getting a daily workout ever since. At Bubble's kindy they have a great 'discovery board' toy which consists of a wooden tray with holes cut into it and tiny specimens for the kids to look at with their magnifiers. There is a sheet of perspex bolted over the top to keep all the little things inside.
I thought it was genius and wondered if we could make something similar ourselves where the things inside could be changed around regularly. It took awhile to find some cheap petri dishes but our discovery board turned out pretty well and I'm really looking forward to changing the items inside it every few weeks to fit with whatever theme it is we are learning about.

WE USED:

* an old wooden puzzle board
(you could also use wooden board cut to size, a chopping board, a wooden tray etc...)
* a pack of plastic petri dishes
(we sourced ours from Ebay)
* adhesive
(we used clear Liquid Nails, but any strong glue would do the trick)
* small items of interest
* magnifying glass

For the base of our discovery board I used the reverse side of a large wooden puzzle that had lost some pieces.
(see HERE for what we did with the remaining pieces)

Using clear Liquid Nails (any strong glue would work, that was just what I had on hand) I attached as many of the petri dish bases to the board as I could fit.
Once the glue was dry (overnight) I filled each one with something interesting for the girls to examine and replaced the dish lids over the top.

Newsprint and old keys.

Pencil shavings and seed beads.

A piece of clay with an imprint and a swatch of interesting fabric.

Some coloured buttons and the insides from a broken kaleidoscope toy (I knew I held onto this stuff for a reason :-D).

A circle cut from one of the girls magazines.

Bubble examining the items in the discovery board.

Other ideas for discovery boards:

Natural items : leaves (skeleton leaves especially would look great), seeds, seed pods, flowers, dead insects like bugs or butterflies, soil samples, gravel/stones, bark samples, grass blades.

Colours or shapes: small beads, felt or fabric discs, sequins, play dough or clay shapes, miniature items of certain shapes (bottle lids, buttons, stamps etc...), glitter, coloured sand, confetti.

Textures: Fabric samples like hessian, satin, velvet etc..., netting (fruit bags or stockings), course sandpaper, recycled paper, carpet swatches, ash, smooth gemstones, clay, rough and smooth tree bark.

Threading Leaves

After all the rainy weather we've had here lately we took advantage of the clear day today and headed out to a reserve. This particular parkland is under the flight path of the planes coming in to land at the domestic airport so the girls had a ball running around, having a picnic lunch, playing on the swings and watching the planes flying low overhead.

We also had some quiet time sitting on the grass making leaf necklaces, both girls spent ages hunting around for leaves they liked and they were able to thread them easily using 'safe' plastic needles.

WE USED:

* leaves and flowers
* child safe needle
* embroidery thread
* scissors

The leaves the girls collected from the reserve.

I tied the embroidery thread to their needles so it wouldn't come loose while they made their necklaces.

The threading was great exercise for fine motor development but I also loved watching the girls exploring the textures, shapes and colours of all of the natural things they found.

Bubble's finished necklace. I tried to get a photo of Squeak's which had a flower on it but they all came out too blurry, she's too fast for me! :-D

Blindfold Block Sorting

This was one of those on the spot games that just came together and happened to be lots of fun. The girls enjoyed this new twist on a favourite activity and also took full advantage of my turn at being blindfolded...

WE USED:

* wooden block sorter
* blindfold (we used a scarf)

We sat in a circle and poured our wooden sorting blocks into the middle.

Then we took turns at being blindfolded and being handed the blocks one by one. We had to guess the shape just by feeling it, or if it was really tricky we got given clues (it's the shape of a stop sign etc...).

Bubble taking her turn at feeling the shape blocks. After a few turns we upped the ante by sorting the blocks into the sorter while blindfolded.
The girls both enjoyed this game and enjoyed my turn at being blindfolded even more. Instead of blocks I was handed all sorts of things; squishy pears from the bottom of the fruit bowl, nappy wipes, a fridge magnet, even someones foot! :-D

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!

Animal Spotlight

Since the success of our Sight Word Spotlight game a while ago I've been meaning to use the concept for different activities for the girls to enjoy.

I remember when I was younger and growing up on a farm one of the most exciting things we used to do was go spotlighting for animals through the paddocks and bush at night. Since we have neither a farm or animals I thought I'd try and replicate the excitement of finding animals in the dark using photos and torches.

WE USED:

* animal pictures
(I used Google but you could also use pages from an old calendar, photos or pictures cut from magazines)
* blutac
* torch

Using blutac I covered the girls bedroom walls and ceiling in animal pictures. You don't need to use so many (we ended up with 32) I just got a bit carried away!
You could even extend the learning by clustering animals from the same continent or habitats.

Turn out the lights and turn on the torches and get hunting!
The girls were SO excited spotting different animals in the dark, they particularly enjoyed the ones on the ceiling.
We also played a game where I made different animal sounds and they had to find the corresponding animal with their torches.

Floor Plan Treasure Hunt

My girls love treasure hunts. LOVE them. It doesn't matter if the 'treasure' is something cool and sparkly or a pair of rolled up socks, they love hunting down hidden things. And if there is a map to follow? Even better.

WE USED:

* paper
* ruler
* pencils/pens/markers
* laminator
(you could also use clear contact or a clear document slip)
* whiteboard marker
* 'treasure'

To start with I used pens and a ruler to draw the floor plan of our apartment onto a piece of paper. I included doors and fixtures like sinks, baths, showers etc...

Then I ran it through the laminator (you could also use a plastic slip or clear contact paper). Using a red whiteboard marker I then made 'treasure' crosses on the map to show the girls where to hunt.
Note; I didn't add furniture to the floor plan because I think that would have been too easy for Bubble, but they could easily be drawn in before laminating or with a whiteboard marker afterwards.

We used these cute heart shaped paperclips as our treasure.
I hid each one in a different place, then made a cross on our map to show which room they were in and the rough location.

As the girls found each treasure they added them to a tally card and wiped off the corresponding cross on their map.
We also played in reverse, with the girls hiding the treasures and marking the crosses and Mum having to hunt them out (they found some pretty tricky hiding spots I can tell you! :-D).

This was such a fun game, I can see it is going to be a favourite for a while yet! I loved watching Bubble studying the map and working out where to go, and little Squeak was adorable copying her sister and saying "hmmm" just like she did. They made such a very cute little team :-)

Phonics Seeking Game

This simple phonics matching game was a hit with both girls today, Bubble because she is very 'into' letters and Squeak because she loved racing around the house grabbing things!
This game could easily be adapted for a scavenger game where each player draws out a certain number of letters and has to find corresponding objects around the house/classroom.

WE USED:

* letter flashcards
(we made some by cutting speech cards in half and writing letters with a marker)
* objects from around the house

First we mixed up our letter cards so they were out of order, then flipped them face down in a pile.

Bubble turned the cards over one at a time revealing a different letter each time. We would practice the phonic sound/s for the letter and have to race each other to find something in the house that began with that sound.

Some examples:

For Y Bubble found a yellow cheese and I found a yolk.

A = apple and ambulance.

O = oranges and oval.

B = bee and book.

C = cup and carrot.