I am taking no credit whatsoever for this idea as it was entirely inspired by Valerie and a post she wrote on her Frugal Family Fun Blog. Ever since I saw her story stones idea I have been dying to try it out as I knew B & L would love them. So making the most of our trip to the beach the girls and I collected a few smallish, flat pebbles to make our own set of story stones when we got home.
We used pencil crayons and felt pens to decorate our stones and used the shape of the stones to suggest some characters.
The illustrated stones have now moved into our fairy garden and the girls have spent a happy afternoon playing out stories with them. Make sure to pop over to the Frugal Family Fun Blog to see how Valerie added some extra play-factor to her set.
This week’s #goplay Twitter Tips* are bringing you some junk modelling ideas to inspire you to raid your recycling bin and get creating.
#goplay Twitter Tip #1 Stock a Making Box with left-over boxes wrapping ribbons tubes tinfoil to use for modelling
#goplay Twitter Tip #2 Junk modeling helps children think creatively, problem solve, imagine, play with size, dimension, angles and more
#goplay Twitter Tip #3 How about transforming some milk cartons into a fire stationwith this idea from @noflashcards?
#goplay Twitter Tip #4 @Childhood101 has a fantastic tutorial showing you how tomake a kitchenfrom yr junk
#goplay Twitter Tip #5 How abouthovercraftsfrom CDs andhot air balloons from yoghurt pots? http://www.playbasedlearning.com.au/2010/07/more-flying-machines/
#goplay Twitter Tip #6 Teacher Tom’s class made an erupting volcano from a fizzy drink bottle and some newspaper!
#goplay Twitter Tip #7 How about makingfairy toadstoolsfrom a paper bag? @mayamade shows you how
#goplay Twitter Tip #8 Transform a shoe box and some toilet roll tubes into a medieval castle
We made these fairytale fridge magnets today and they’ve proved to be a big hit. Fairytales are such an important part of childhood, helping children explore emotions and think about experiences in the big wide world from the safe and secure environment of home. Getting the children to do the storytelling themselves is a great way for them to practise their language and use their creativity as they adapt the story and give it their own personal twists. Using traditional characters is a good way to hook them into the story telling – but soon you’ll find them making up adventures of their own.
We went with The Gingerbread Man today – but as the magnets are very easy to make you can put together several sets so you can play with them time and time again.
All you need is: some card, some small magnets (we bought ours from eBay), pens and pencils, scissors and some strong glue.
Draw your your characters, cut them out and pop a magnet on the back. Easy-peasy!
As soon as the glue is dry you can put them on the fridge and start telling your stories.
(P.S. It’s a great way to keep them entertained while you’re getting dinner ready.)
If you’re looking for an idea to get your child writing, try making a Zig Zag Book.
Take a piece of card (long and narrow shape) in your child’s favourite colour. Fold it in half, then in half again to create a little book with four zig zag pages.
Then it’s over to your child. What story could they write? L re-interpreted The Bog Baby, one of our current favourite reads. B went for an alien adventure called ‘Space Dogs’.
Adapt the story writing to suit your child. L (4yrs) did all her illustrations and then dictated her story for me to write. She loves having Her Own Book. B (7yrs) made hers all by herself – I suggested she just write speech bubbles for her characters, so she could include some writing without being overwhelmed by having to write full sentences.
Why not give it a try and see what story your child could write?
Regular readers will know we’ve been running a Sunflower Club over the last few months, with families around the world joining us growing sunflowers and having fun with lots of linked activities. I thought you might like to see how our own sunflowers are getting on.
Here’s one we grew:
And here’s one we made:
Now, I hear some of you have sunflowers that are, shall we say, a little vertically challenged? Fear not – with this handprint sunflower you can make it just as tall as you like!
Here’s how: have fun making lots of handprints, cut them out and then staple them around a paper plate. Scrunch up some black tissue paper (which is fantastic exercise for fine motor skills!) and glue into the centre.
We have one more Sunflower Club activity for you, coming up in the next week or so. Then, on Wednesday 25th August 2010 we would love to have a Sunflower Link-up Party. I’ll be revealing just how tall our sunflowers have grown (keeping our fingers crossed!) and my girls would *love* to see what sunflower activities you’ve been up to.
So mark Wednesday 25th August in your diaries and please come over to link up your posts and photos to the Sunflower Party.
Look what’s been fluttering in our garden: a Lesser Spotted Peg Butterfly!
We had some wooden clothes pegs left over from making our pegdolls and Little wanted to make a butterfly. Here’s how we made it….
We used a sheet of clear plastic to cut our a butterfly shape – but card or paper would work just as well.
L was in charge of customising the butterfly, with liberal amounts of glue and bits and bobs from our making box. We talked about symmertry and L had a good try at getting her butterfly to match.
We put lots more glue down the centre of the butterly and inserted the wings into the peg. We also tied a length of string around the peg. Sitting the butterfly on the side of a glass helped press the wings in place while the glue dried.
We twisted a pipe-cleaner around to make the antennae, and drew on a face (you can see this on the first pic). Once all the glue is dry you can hang your butterfly up and watch as the breeze makes it flutter around.
They’re so pretty, why not make lots more to decorate your bedroom?
The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr is one of our all time favourite stories. My girls are spellbound by the idea of a tiger popping round and helping himself to all the cakes. It’s also a perfect book to use as a springboard for lots of other play and learning activities. Here are a few ideas:
When children first begin to engage in imaginary play it’s usually by role-playing things they see in their everyday life – feeding their teddy, giving their doll a bath, chatting to daddy on the phone. This is a valuable way for them to try out a different experience and practise all the language associated with it. As they get a little older and their view of the world expands beyond their own homelife they start to play in more imaginative, fantasy ways. The Tiger Who Came to Tea is a great book to use to foster this creative play and get them using their imagination. You could try some face painting, so they can be the tiger themselves. Add in some props, such as a tea set and some packets of food, and they can recreate the story – and then adapt it and make up their own endings too.
Everyone learns best when a new idea is linked in with other experiences which re-inforce the new. Can you have some fun bringing your child’s favourite book to life today?
This post is linking in with The Gallery, hosted by Tara at Sticky Fingers, where the theme this week is A Novel Idea – a photo inspired by your favourite book. Why not pop over and see the other pictures for more inspiration?
What are the best craft supplies to use with children? We like to re-use and recycle a lot of the things we have around the house which we keep in our making box. In preparation for the long summer holiday I’m also stocking up on some essential supplies. Our favourites are:
Glue Sticks
Relatively mess-free and easy to grasp in little hands – a good glue option for young children.
Coloured Card
We always use lots of this so we like to bulk buy in assorted colours.
Sticky Tape Dispenser
A dispenser which is weighted down makes using sticky tape so much easier for kids – allowing them to be more independent when they are creating.
Big sheets of tissue paper can be tricky to cut or tear, so these assorted smaller pieces are great for children to use. Perfect for making sun catchers.
Pom Poms
A few bits and bobs such as pompoms, stickers, foil shapes can be used to customise designs and add a little fun.
Pipe Cleaners
Good for arms and antennas (we used them for our peg dolls). B also uses them as connectors to fasten models together
Warm, sunny weather gives a great opportunity to take your play outside. How about some outdoor painting? Even if you’re usually reluctant to let the kids do messy play indoors, when you’re outside you can relax a little and let them get creative.
We used a wipe-able tablecloth to give the floor some protection and used washable paint. It was too hot to get wrapped up in coveralls so we wore old clothes. The plant pots did a great job holding our big roll of parcel paper in place. We had a washing up bowl full of water and a tea towel handy – good for washing off our feet!
We experimented with big brushes, washing-up scrubbers and the rake from the sandpit.
This was an ‘open-ended’ craft session where the kids had the opportunity to use the paint their way, rather than us making anything in particular. Little especially enjoyed using her hands and feet to paint with and Big experimented with some splatter painting.
Why not try this with your children and see what they create?
We had so much fun making these peg dolls! The wooden pegs costs less than a pound for about 24 and everything else came from our making boxes, so they’re a great frugal activity – perfect for the summer holidays. What I always like about these kind of crafts is that there’s so much playing you can do with what you’ve made. You can put on a puppet show, take them for a ride on your double decker bus, let them move into your fairy garden… wherever the kids’ imaginations take them.
If you make some peg dolls, we would LOVE to see them. You can share a photo on our Facebook page.
Please feel free to use any of these ideas with your children at home, school or any place you teach and play. If you would like to share a post on a blog or site, you may use one picture so long as you include a link to the original post. Please do not re-post the whole article or distribute printed-out content without written permission from the original author. You can contact me at cathy (at) nurturestore (dot) co (dot) uk. Thank you.
, one of our current favourite reads. B went for an alien adventure called ‘Space Dogs’.
by Judith Kerr is one of our all time favourite stories. My girls are spellbound by the idea of a tiger popping round and helping himself to all the cakes. It’s also a perfect book to use as a springboard for lots of other play and learning activities. Here are a few ideas:
