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Literacy ideas: shopping lists

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shopping list literacy idea A very simple but effective way to encourage your children’s writing when you’re going out shopping is to have the children write the list.

This shows them that writing has a purpose and involves them in serious, grown-up business. Don’t worry too much about spellings and neatness, the idea is to promote writing as something practical that they can do, not something where they make mistakes or get things wrong.

Have them add picture clues if they like, especially if they’re shopping with younger siblings who might like to join in too.

And then when you’re shopping, let them be in charge  – giving them the added practise at reading their list. Letting them direct the purchases might even make for a happier trip to the supermarket with less pestering now they’re in charge.

happily shared with abcand123 tot school

How to make a rock pool

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how to make a rock pool
After a trip to the beach we returned with a bucket full of treasures and decided to make a rock pool in the garden for lots more beach play at home. You can see in the pictures some of the things we collected, and a few we already had at home: pebbles and shells, sand and seaweed and two mermaid’s purses (much to B’s delight).

seaside topic ideas

The girls gave the treasures a clean and then settled them into a new home in a tub of water. They made some fish from scrunched up tinfoil and then were ready to play. Adding in some tea-strainer fishing nets was perfect.

Books about seasides and mermaids

My girls love stories about the sea. Here are two favourites which we’re reading tonight  – the perfect bedtime stories after a trip to the beach.

Shirley Hughes books are favourites in our house and The Big Alfie Out of Doors Storybook is L’s favourite of them all. It’s a collection of short stories and poems about outdoor play and adventures. One tells the story of Bonting, Alfie’s treasured pebble who is lost (and later happily found) on a family outing to the beach. The illustrations capture the essence of a UK beach.

Can You Catch a Mermaid by Jane Ray is a wonderful story set by the sea. It’s a moving tale of a lonely little girl and a very hard decision she has to make. It’s all about friendship and features Jane Ray’s beautiful illustrations. B has a real love of mermaids so this is her top pick, and I like it because it can be read on different levels: it has a happy ending and also leaves you thinking about unanswered questions long after you’ve finished reading.

happily shared with gardening with kids and made by little hands and  inspire me Monday and tot school and science Sunday and link and learn and craft schooling Sundayand  preschool corner and the resource centre and  it’s playtime and upcycled awesome and works for me Wednesday and  tot tuesday and we play and abc and 123

 

Games to play with dice

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Things to keep in your nappy bag to keep children occupied while waiting for an appointment: what do you always carry with you? Small books, paper and pencils, pot of bubble stuff? How about a dice*? Here’s a couple of suggestions for simple dice games to play whenever you need to keep the kids entertained for 10 minutes.

Gimme 6

One of you picks a category: fruit, vegetables, things that are yellow, things that start with ‘a’, things that are triangular – whatever you like! The other person rolls the dice and whatever number they land on they have to name that number of things in the category. Good to play with 5s and under as they can usually manage to think of up to 6 things, so you’re not hanging around waiting for them to think of the last one. Playing quite quickly with lots of different categories keeps them busier. For older children you might like to make the categories harder: places that start with ‘s’, planets, foods that grown underground, people who work in a hospital?

If you’re waiting outside, or somewhere with a bit of space, you can play a physical version of Gimme 6. Categories can include star jumps, touches of your toes, laps to the nearest lamppost, hops, forward rolls.

*OK, I know the singular of dice is die, but do you every say ‘die’? When I say it to B’s friends they don’t know what I’m talking about, so I’m bowing to what seems to be the norm nowadays are going with ‘a dice’. Happy to be  corrected – what do you say?

Autum leaf crafts

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I love autumn. I love the feeling of change and the crispness of the air but even better than that is the opportunity for lots of beautiful autumn crafts. Take a walk along a leafy lane with a pre-schooler and you simply can’t help having fun and learning something new. Talk about why the leaves are falling, what colours you can see, the different shapes of the leaves. Do you know the names of the trees? Can you catch a leaf as it falls? Collect some favourite shapes and colours and bring them home to make a leaf picture.

I’d thought we might do some leaf rubbings using wax crayons but L wanted to glue. Here’s the picture she made – with some letters sneaked in too.

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Happily shared with Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted Art

Games to play on journeys

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It’s summer holiday season when lots of us are travelling with kids so this week’s Twitter Tips* are all about keeping children entertained on a car journey.

Twitter Tip #1 The key to traveling happily with kids is a little planning: make a box of goodies for snacks, treats and activities

Twitter Tip #2 Make a bingo game to take along with pictures of roadsigns, vehicles, people and landmarks you can spot along the way

Twitter Tip #3 Play 20 questions. With younger children give clues to about someone in the family, let older ones ask questions

Twitter Tip #4 Stock a busy bag with pens, paper, stickers, doll, magazine, books, sweets, a magnetic scribble pad, magic colour pens

Twitter Tip #5Every 20 mins or so give the kids something new from the busy bag – keeps them busy & helps measure out the journey

Twitter Tip #6 Take along some audio books (borrow some from the library ) -better for carsickness than watching a film on a screen

Twitter Tip #7 Locate the playgrounds along your route. Stop regularly and get out of the car to let the children run around.

Twitter Tip #8 Put together a compilation of the family’s favourite music: can’t beat a singalong to lift everyone’s mood!

Twitter Tip #9 Make story magnets & play with them on a baking sheet -they won’t get lost down the car seats

Twitter Tip #10 How about some washable car window crayons to let the kids get creative while they ride?

*These #goplayTwitter Tips are tweeted each Friday at 8.30pm – follow @nurturestore or the #goplay hashtag to share

View the Twitter Tips on playdough, water play and encouraging reading and writing

Happily shared with Top Ten Tuesday and We Are That Family’s Works for me Wednesday

What to do if you get lost

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Both of my daughters, at around the age of 3, gained a sudden awareness that they might get lost and not be able to find mummy or daddy when they were out. It’s a very scary thought for young children and quite natural for the realisation to come at around this age: they’re gaining an awareness now of the wider world, and taking little steps towards independence by staying places without a parent (such as pre-school) and wandering just a little further away when we’re at the park.

I think you tread a fine line talking about these issues with young children. On the one hand you need to answer questions they have, to re-assure them and give them confidence that they would know what to do if it did happen. On the other hand you don’t want to dwell on issues which might give them more fears or cause bad dreams, and which hopefully won’t happen anyway.

I have two books to recommend to you which we have found really helpful in exploring ‘being lost’.  The first is Come on, Daisy!by Jane Simmons. This is suitable for ages 2-4 and tells how Daisy Daisy wanders off from Mama Duck and gets a little frightened by suddenly finding herself alone. The story has a happy ending and Daisy learns to stay close to Mama. The illustrations are beautiful and it’s a great book to read aloud.

The second book is more for 4- 6 year olds and features one of our favourite characters. It’s Little Rabbit Lost (Picture Puffin) by Harry Horse. You’ve just got to love Little Rabbit – he’s such a 4 year old! Full of independence and confidence but, as it turns out, not quite ready to face the big world alone. This story tells of a family trip to a rabbit amusement park where Little Rabbit wanders off alone. The details in the pictures are wonderful and the book provides a good way for your child to talk about Rabbit getting lost, and what he should have done.

These books have helped us tackle the issue of getting lost before it’s ever happened, to give the girls the chance to think through what it might be like and what they would do. We have three Golden Rules…

1. I will find them. Whatever happens they know I’m going to be coming to get them. This is to reassure them and try to help them not panic. Mummy will come.

2. Stay where you are. I tell the girls I will come to them, so they mustn’t wander out of the park or shop to try and find me (and  perhaps put themselves in danger of a busy road).

3. Tell a grown-up. In a shop I’ve told them to tell the person at the till, in a park they could tell another mummy. We’ve talked about using a big clear voice to say ‘I’ve lost my mummy’ and practised how they’d answer the questions they might be asked.

Rather than scaring or upsetting them I’ve found these books and golden rules have empowered them – helping them feel more confident to cope if they did get lost. (But say a prayer that it never does.)

Have you talked about getting lost with your children? What Golden Rules do you have?

This post is happily shared with Babyrambles and the Keeping Children Safe carnival.

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