Ice Eggs

This activity was a blast!
When I saw the forecast last night for warm weather today I got busy filling our freezer with 'ice eggs' for the girls to play with (ok, and me too :-D).
This activity is a combination of the Ice Bowling and Alphabet Ice blocks we played last year which were both a huge hit.

WE USED:

* balloons
(round shaped probably work best)
* small toys/glass stones
* water (tap)
* freezer

optional : spoons, magnifying glasses, food colouring/tempura paint.

Sorry that there are no photos of me making the Ice Eggs, it required both hands and was done in the middle of the night when all sensible family members were asleep ;-)
It was a bit tricky the first few times but once you get the hang of it it's a breeze.
First I lined my small objects up along the edge of the bench top (I used horse figurines from our play farm and small glass stones), then using both hands I opened up the top of each balloon by working my fingers down into the narrow neck bit. Once I had it open I just slipped the small objects inside by sliding them off the bench while still holding the balloon. Then I could fill the balloon up with water using the tap, tie it off like a water balloon and stick it in the freezer overnight.
You could also add food colouring like we did for the Ice Bowling activity but my girls weren't keen on that last time so I just used plain water.

An Ice Egg with a figurine frozen inside.

We found the balloons literally popped straight off our eggs as soon as we picked them up, but you could use scissors to cut the balloon away if it's being stubborn.

The photos don't do these eggs any justice, they looked so beautiful. The girls were enthralled; rolling them around, smoothing them with their hands and holding them up to the sky to see the objects inside.

Cracking the eggs open to retrieve the 'treasure' was a lot of fun.

The girls used spoons to crack the hard ice on the outside and dig through the softer ice in the centre.

We got out our magnifying glasses and studied the ice patterns and objects embedded inside.

So much fun, we already have the freezer loaded with more Ice Eggs for the next hot sunny day!

Building Block Maze

Sorry things are a bit quiet on the Blog front lately, we have had endless appointments finding Bubble new therapists and services so there has not been as much crafting going on here as usual!
This was a fun game we played today, we already had the pompoms out from another game we'd been playing, but ping pong balls, rolled balls of aluminium foil or any light plastic hollow core balls will work.
This was a great skill building activity working many areas of fine motor development.

WE USED:

* building blocks
* wide short straws
* large pompoms
(or other light ball such as ping pong balls)

Using our wooden blocks we made a simple maze/racetrack shape. For older children you could make it more fun by creating dead ends (to add problem solving) or a large spiral if you have enough blocks!

We added in some archways to make it a bit trickier. You could also use empty toilet roll tubes as tunnels or cut holes through things like milk bottles to use as obstacles.

The girls had fun taking turns to blow their pompom around the maze using their straws. We used our kitchen timer to see if we could beat our 'best score' each time without knocking over any blocks.

Front and Back - Speech Activity

This activity is taken directly from Bubble's speech therapy where we are working on joining words and increasing her sentence structure.
We use the instructions "at the front" and "at the back" because our goal is to increase speech not teach the concept of prepositions but the wording can easily be changed to "in front" and "behind" to teach these instead.
You could also create boxes to the sides to teach left and right, beside or next to. Make a row of boxes to teach first, second/middle and last.

WE USED:

* electrical tape
(masking or painters tape would work great too, I just couldn't find any)
* scissors
* small objects
* toy with a clear front and back
* paper and pen/marker

Using electrical tape we made two squares on our rug with space in between for our chosen toy.

I then gave Bubble verbal instructions one by one about where to put each of the sorting items (in the front or back). I encouraged her to verbalise as she placed each one.
We used wooden threading beads as our objects so I could add in some incidental learning.
For example instead of "put this in the front" I could say "put the blue dog in the front". It also gave us more to work with later when we did the game expressively.

If your child is finding the concept you are teaching a bit tricky you could use different coloured tape for each square to make the difference in position more visual, then change to the same coloured tape once they have the hang of it.

TO PLAY THIS GAME RECEPTIVELY:
Give your child the sorting pieces and verbal instructions (you could use paper and markers to make visual cues in the form of written words or pictures if these would help).
For example "put the orange cow at the back", "put the yellow duck at the front".
Encourage your child to verbalise what they are doing if they want to, but don't force it.
Alternate between front and back randomly so your child cannot establish a predictable pattern.

TO PLAY THIS GAME EXPRESSIVELY:

Once all of the pieces are sorted ask them "where is the orange cow?" and encourage them to verbalise ("the orange cow is at the back").
Start small and slowly expand their sentences. For example begin with "at the back", progressing to "the cow is at the back", to "the orange cow is at the back", then "the orange cow is at the back of the dog" etc...

Glow In The Dark Ring Toss

Glow sticks are big in this house, it's a rare week where they don't feature at some stage, usually in the form of Moon Balloons or Glow Stick Hide & Seek. Tonight we tried something different and created a glow in the dark ring toss game, which also proved quite popular!

WE USED:

* glow sticks and joiners
(the joiners usually come in the packs if you get the bracelet ones)
* clear tape
* play dough (could also use blutack or similar)
* shallow plastic tray
* lightweight ruler

First the girls made some rings using connectors and two glow sticks joined together in a loop. They made four each which left four glow sticks for the ring toss stand.

To make the stand we used clear tape to attach some glow sticks (already activated) to the top end of a ruler.

Then we secured it in the centre of the tray with some play dough.

Once the lights were turned off...

The stand was clearly visible in the dark.

The girls had heaps of fun throwing their rings and trying to loop them over the stand. The tray meant that even if they missed (which Squeak did most of the time being only 2) they still 'scored' because their rings were collected.

Sorry there are no action shots, they all look like this! :

Crayon Scratch Pictures

We took this activity to the park with us today while we enjoyed the increasingly warm weather (yay for sunshine, we've missed you!). The girls enjoyed crayon scratching but not as much as I thought they would, Squeak (2) was initially interested but after a little scribble wandered off to follow some ducks. Bubble (4) was into it for longer but still only wanted to do one picture.
We will be doing this again for sure, but next time we will try colouring the back ground with the other crayons before going over the top with black and seeing how that works out. We'll also be doing it at home without the distractions of waddling birds and climbing frames!

WE USED:

* coloured paper
(you can use white as well though)
* black crayon
(the softer crayons work the best)
* wooden skewers
(you could use anything from sticks to forks for the scratching part, we just used skewers because they were on hand)

Cover your sheet of paper with a layer of black crayon making it as dark as you can. The lighter coloured paper will show through better but any type (except black) should work.

Use your scratching utensil (in our case skewers) to make pictures and patterns. The coloured background will show through as the crayon is scraped away.

Movable Art

Set up on one of the desks in our study at the moment we have a 'movable art' station. The girls have been enjoying it so much I think it may become permanent, it has been a great way to encourage their spontaneous creativity with minimal mess and wastage.
The idea behind the movable art is to put out jars or containers of all sorts of things - beads, buttons, feathers, ribbons, matchsticks - anything at all your children can use to create pictures and/or words. Also provide a stack of different backgrounds for them to use, which can be anything from coloured paper to fabric swatches or foam sheets. The more textures and colours the better!
Once the pictures are finished we take a photo of their artwork and then all of the materials can be moved to create new art or packed away for the next burst of creativity.
The materials can be used over and over again (and changed often to keep them interesting), there's no build up of paper artwork and we get to enjoy their creativity by way of mini albums made from the printed photos or the digital photo frame.
The best part though is that the lack of need for glue or paint means the girls can do this anytime and we can safely leave it all set up without fear of destroyed walls, carpets or worse.

The girls creating movable art using brown paper bags, paperclips and buttons.

Once the masterpiece is finished we take a photo and we're ready to start again

Play Grow Learn

I don't often promote things on this Blog, but anything cooked up by the brilliant Christie at Childhood 101 has to be wonderful. We were lucky enough to be a small part of their latest project Play Grow Learn.
This amazing magazine contains 62 pages of brilliant play ideas for children from birth to 5 years and can be downloaded for only $4 US.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I checked it out today, the layouts and photos are just stunning, with so many ideas jammed into one issue it is a great read.
Head over to Childhood 101 for a look and download their very first issue.