This activity is part of the heart project: a collaboration of over 100 creative ideas raising . . . → Read More: Valentine touchy-feely hearts]]>

This activity is part of the heart project: a collaboration of over 100 creative ideas raising money for the American Heart Foundation. You’ll need to check back tomorrow to find out all about the project but for now, here’s how to make these touchy feely hearts.

Valentine touchy feely hearts

Start by drawing lots of heart shapes on some card – all shapes and sizes, let the kids have a go!

Spread on some strong clear drying PVA / craft glue and your love heart canvas is ready to decorate.

Invite the children to sprinkle and press on all sorts of materials. Try to provide as many different textures as you can find.

Ideas to try include
:: tissue paper :: wrapping paper :: tin foil :: sequins :: glitter :: sandpaper :: wool :: string :: card :: ribbon :: velvet :: bubble wrap :: sand :: rice :: pasta :: cotton fabric :: lentils :: silk :: hessian :: chiffon

Toddlers can certainly join in with all this and even babies might help. If your baby is too young to do some sticking they can explore some of the materials while older siblings (or you!) create the hearts for them to explore once they’re finished.

As you’re using a strong craft glue most items should stick well to the hearts and still allow you to feel the full variety of different textures. If you’re using small items, such as glitter and sequins, an extra layer of glue over the top helps to hold the materials together. Adding extra folds and crinkles to the papers and fabrics adds even more texture.

The finished hearts look wonderful as a touchy feely art gallery. Hang them where your children can reach them to feel the different textures. You could also stick them in to a journal or scrap book to create a sensory book to share with babies, but be sure to read the book along with them to make sure none of the materials get free and end up in their mouths.

This project is one of over 100 creative ideas joining the very special heart project. Find out all about it here

But if you really can’t wait, why not have a look at our other Valentine craft ideas, such as our water painted hearts and our valentine gratitude tree and our symmetry art love hearts.

We started by printing lots and lots of circles on to pieces of card. We used our set of stacking . . . → Read More: Painted Christmas wreath]]>
The children had so much fun making this painted Christmas wreath. I like the mix of the traditional decoration with the vibrant colours the kids chose. Here’s how they made it.

How to make a painted Christmas wreath

We started by printing lots and lots of circles on to pieces of card. We used our set of stacking cups to print with, which were really easy for the children to hold and gave us a variety of sizes. We used washable paint so we could clean up the cups afterwards.

Once we’d finished the stamping fun and everything had dried we used the same cups to draw lots of circles on the painted card and cut them out.

We used a paper plate as the frame for the wreath, with the centre removed.

You know my kids have an issue with waiting for glue to dry, so we stapled all the circles in place around the paper plate ring.

We added some shiny ribbon for extra pizzazz and ta-da, our painted Christmas wreath is ready.

More Christmas crafts

If you like this painted Christmas wreath you might also like our other Christmas craft ideas.

happily shared with it’s playtime

We’re joined by Christie from Childhood101 today, with a great post about sorting fun. I hope you enjoy her ideas.

“Pleasure in arranging things – whether lining up pebbles or tiny toys in a row, or arranging lines, shapes and colours on a sheet of paper – is part of children’s lives, part of the human desire . . . → Read More: Thinking It Through: Sorting Fun]]>

We’re joined by Christie from Childhood101 today, with a great post about sorting fun. I hope you enjoy her ideas.

“Pleasure in arranging things – whether lining up pebbles or tiny toys in a row, or arranging lines, shapes and colours on a sheet of paper – is part of children’s lives, part of the human desire for visual order.”

~Ursula Kolbe, It’s Not A Bird Yet: The Drama of Drawing (2005)

My daughter loves to sort and organise; from collecting small, natural objects on our daily walks at 18 months of age and sorting strips of fabric two months later, to arranging fairy stones at play or helping to sort the laundry as a three year old. At various times we have sorted by colour, size, texture, shape and number. Always in a spontaneous, fun and playful manner.

Play is the vehicle through which children learn best and the key to successful thinking and reasoning activities for young children is keeping it playful. I often look for ways to invite my daughter to come to these experiences herself, presenting them in a colourful and appealing manner (as an invitation to play) or leaving them ‘strewed‘ for her to discover. This provides her with an element of independence with the activity and me space to observe her thinking processes, her interest, her ideas for the experience. I show interest and answer questions but try to avoid leading or dictating the play, and hence the learning.

There are limitless ways to practice these skills but basing a thinking and reasoning activity around the interests of the individual child helps to engage them, therefore motivating them to learn. A child obsessed with dinosaurs can line them up in a row from biggest to smallest, a child who loves home corner play can sort the types of pretend food to set up a general store, and a child mad about cars can sort her collection by colour or type of car or size. It makes no difference to the learning if dinosaurs or plastic food or cars are used, the skills being developed remain the same.

Keeping it playful IS what makes all the difference.

Christie is a qualified early childhood teacher and the Mum of one very busy preschooler. You’ll find inspiration and information on children playing, learning and growing on Christie’s award winning blog, Childhood 101, and in her recently launched quarterly play-zine, Play Grow Learn.

It’s amazing what questions come up when you’re colouring. Tonight a new set of felt tip pens was the spark for some creative art and creative chat. What can you make when you gather all the pens of the same colour, in different shades, hold . . . → Read More: If the air was different, would we see different colours?]]>
‘If the air was different, would we see different colours?’

It’s amazing what questions come up when you’re colouring.

Tonight a new set of felt tip pens was the spark for some creative art and creative chat.

What can you make when you gather all the pens of the same colour, in different shades, hold them all in your fist and draw?

Wow!

happily shared with the sunday showcase and  it’s playtime