Get your children gardening with these ideas.
Autumn tree collage
This autumn tree collage is a fun autumn craft for children that build fine motor strength.
I’m looking after a child at the moment who adores ripping up paper. To put this passion to good use we made an autumn tree collage.
Tear :: Glue :: Stick
Autumn beauty!
Make your own street map
To help children get to know their local comunity you can make your own street map. I’ve used this with children who were new to the area to help them feel settled in their new home, and with children starting school, to help them feel confident about the school run.
Start by taking a walk around your local community. You might want to pick a particular route that the children take regularly – to school, to the childminders, to the shops. Help your child to spot local ‘landmarks’ which they recognise on the way – a post box, a zebra crossing, a park, the house where the barking dog lives. Use a digital camera to take pictures of each landmark.
When you get home, print off the photos. Use a roll of paper (or the back of a wallpaper roll) to draw out a basic road map of your journey. It’s doesn’t have to be exactly to scale of course, and you’ll probably need to do this bit for them. Then, together tell the story of your journey – talking about all the things you pass on the way and sticking them in the right places on your map.
When you’ve finished you can use the map to play with toy cars or dolls’ house people to bring it to life. You could roleplay situations with the child – for example you could walk a doll to school along the route and have them say goodbye to mummy and line up to go into class. This lets your child try out situations before they occur – giving them chance to prepare themselves and become more confident in the real situation.
Next time you go on the journey keep a look out for all your landmarks and notice if any have changed.
Ladybird number line
To create a lady bird number line you need:
red card
black card
scissors
glue
black crayon
Simply cut out the ladybird shapes from the red card. Cut out heads from the black card and stick on to the bodies. Draw a line down the centre of each ladybird body. Then cut out lots of black circles.
Work with the children to count and stick one circle on the first ladybird, two on the second, and so on. Help the children to write the correct number on each labybird and see if they can arrange them into ascending order. Stick them up somewhere prominent – you can use tack or string and pegs.
You can refer to the ladybirds to help you count – perhaps to work out how many cups you need to get everyone a drink. Or you can use them for number games. Pick a ladybird to start with and see if your child can count on two more. Pick another ladybird and ask your child to work out what one less would be. Ask each child if they can find the laybird which has their age number on. Simply having the numbers written down where your child can view them regularly will help them to become familiar with them – and soon they will be spotting them in other places too.
How to make a number line – autumn leaf rubbing craft
Turn the classic autumn craft of leaf rubbings into a useful math display by making a leaf number line.
How to make a number line – autumn leaf rubbing craft
A well stocked craft box – what’s in yours?
Nurturing creativity in your children requires a constant supply of craft materials! Here are some ideas on what’s easy, cheap and useful to have to hand.
Get recycling – start a collection of empty cereal packets, used wrapping paper, old Christmas and birthday cards, toilet rolls tubes, egg boxes, celophane wrappers from boxes of chocolates, tissue paper from inside shoe boxes, empty food packets / boxes -especially ones that are an unusual shape – all free and environmetally friendly. What other ideas? Please post a comment – I’d love to hear your suggestions.
Tell grandparents etc. you’re collecting – and ask them to let you have any goodies they come across.
Stock up in the sales – it almost goes without saying that you’ll save lots of money if you bulk buy when things are discounted.
Make a craft box – we use a big cardbard box in the utility room to store boxes / packets etc. and we have a shelf in the playroom for paper /pens / glue sticks and so on. This allows the children to access the materials independently and gives them the freedom to select their own resources – they’ll have lots of ideas you’d never think of to make use of what’s available. (I keep paint / PVA glue on a higher shelf so we can make sure table cloths and aprons are on before we use these).
What to include:
All sorts of paper – white and coloured, A4/A3 / on a roll, sugar paper, tracing / greaseproof paper, tin foil, tissue paper, corrogated card, holographic card, wallpaper, wrapping paper – you can never have too much paper!
Collage materials to spark the imagination – feathers, pine cones, dry leaves, felt, wool, cotton wool balls, drinking straws, envelopes, matchsticks, lolly stiks, pipe cleaners, stickers (bulk packs of stars / dots are usually a lot cheaper then character stickers). Re-cycle the containers your take-aways arrive in to keep all these organised!
Something to make your mark – felt tips, wax crayons, coloured pencils, chalks
Scissors – child friendly ones with a rounded end
Something to stick with – PVA glue is good for model making, and you might want some fabric glue, but for general use I find glue sticks are really easy (and not too messy) for the chidlren to use independently. You can use spatulas and cotton buds for spreading. Tubes of glitter glue are fun and children love them (watch out for pots of loose glitter though as some can be abrasive and children will get it all over their hands – and possibly in their eyes). Investing a little money on a sturdy stickytape dispenser has proved a good expense as the children can use it by themselves.
Imagination – sometimes you’ll be working with the children to create a specific thing but mostly let them have free reign with the materials, to choose what they use and how they use it. Allow them to use the craft resources in all their play – so they can use matchsticks with play dough, or cottonwool balls in their dumper truck. Nurture this experimentation and imagination.
You never know when the creative urge will strike – so get your craft box ready!
Happily shared with ABCand123’s Let’s Get Organised
