Shadow puppets

on April 19th, 2012%

shadow puppets
Remember the indoor meadow we grew as one of our Earth Day activities? This week it has become the indoor / outdoor stage for a theatre production using shadow puppets.

Home made puppets are some of the most played with toys in our house, lending themselves time and time again to all sorts of adventures. The children play with puppets so often I think because it lets them be the master of a small universe and really stretch their imaginations as they tell their tales. Puppets are also a wonderful way for children to work out real-life relationships and develop their language – and so much fun to make! Here’s how the girls made their shadow puppets this week, with links to some of the other puppet ideas in our archives.

How to make shadow puppets Read more »

3 comments   Books, Creative / Art, Feelings, Language, Preparing for new experiences, Puppets, Rainy Days, Small world

21 ideas for world book day

on February 21st, 2012%

world book day activitiesAre you going to celebrate World Book Day with your children on 1st March? It’s a worldwide celebration of children’s books and reading and marked in over 100 countries around the globe.

Books are such a fun springboard in to all sorts of activities, crafts and play. Here are our favourite World Book Day ideas for you to try.

21 World Book Day Ideas for fun with your kids Read more »

5 comments   Books, Charity, Reading, world book day

Carnival of Reading and Book Play

on September 23rd, 2011%

Welcome to the carnival of Reading and Book Play

L’s been taking literacy outside this week and reading stories to our sunflower (which had decided to grow along and up)

How do you share books and reading with your children? Swap an idea with us. All playful activities related to books, reading and story . . . → Read More: Carnival of Reading and Book Play

10 comments   Books, Reading

The Very Hungry Caterpillar activities and ideas

on June 23rd, 2011%


Looking for some The Very Hungry Caterpillar activities and ideas to add in lots of fun and learning? Here are some of our favourite ways to use one of our all time favourite story books.

Explore the colours and textures in The Very Hungry Caterpillar with some beautiful butterfly craft ideas.

Talk about the feelings in the book. How might the caterpillar feel when he pops out of the egg? When he’s eaten all that food? WHhn he’s inside his cocoon? When he emerges as a butterfly? Read more »

24 comments   Animals, Books, Fine motor, Stories, Storybook Springboard

The Very Hungry Caterpillar craft ideas: butterflies

on June 22nd, 2011%

butterfly craft ideas

Following on from yesterday’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar craft ideas for caterpillars, today we have a selection of butterfly crafts. The designs are all very simple again, making them easy for very young children to try.

Working with the idea of butterflies gives the opportunity to talk about symmetry and with older children you might want to encourage them to focus on creating matching patterns, as part of a more mathematical activity. With young children though I think the main purpose behind these crafts is to invite them to enjoy the colours and see what patterns they can make – so I would never give strict directions about making sure both sides match. Read more »

15 comments   Animals, Books, collage, Junk models, Model Making, Painting, Puppets, Stories, Storybook Springboard, Summer

The Very Hungry Caterpillar craft ideas

on June 20th, 2011%

the very hungry caterpillar craft idea

Kicking off our celebration of Eric Carle’s birthday this week we’re sharing three The Very Hungry Caterpillar craft ideas.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is our favourite of Eric Carle’s books and is the first book I ever read to both my girls. It’s masterpiece of a children’s story, a joy to read and look at, and bursting with possibilities to use as a spring board for lots of crafting, exploring and learning.

Mr. Carle is celebrating his birthday this week and Kate at An Amazing Child is hosting a week of fun, linking up many early years bloggers who are sharing ideas for activities and crafts linked to Mr. Carle’s books. We’re sharing some caterpillar craft ideas today and some butterfly crafts tomorrow. On Thursday we have a post full of ideas you can use to explore The Very Hungry Caterpillar with links to the EYFS.

Eric Carle is famous for his signature style, combining colour and texture and The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a perfect book to use to inspire children to try some art and crafting. When creating with young children I always like to give them plenty of opportunity to explore materials their way. Even though these projects are all designed to result in a caterpillar there is plenty of scope for each child to experiment and add their own style to the creations. The caterpillar crafts are all very simple to follow, inviting even very young children to have a try. Read more »

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16 comments   Animals, Colours, Crafts, Gardening, Model Making, Spring, Stories, Storybook Springboard, Summer
 
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