Summer is on the way! It might not exactly feel like it but before we know it the warmer weather will be here and the children will be spending more and more time playing outside. Is your garden ready for them? Maybe it’s time for an Outside Play Space Audit?
Tomorrow Friday 11th February 2011 is National Doodle Day so go for it – get doodling! Can you create a doodle-friendly environment today? How about placing some paper, pencils, notepads, coloured pens and post-it notes around your play space and seeing what the children come up with. Sneak some into the tent, put some under the climbing frame, lay some out between the knives and forks at lunch time and see what your children doodle. When you sit down for story time today, have a clipboard and pencil on hand to capture any daydreamy doodles that might be inspired by the story.
National Doodle Day is run each year in the UK to raise funds for Epilepsy Action and if you’d like to support them you can enter their competition, where they’re giving prizes for the best doodle by individuals, nurseries and schools . Their site also has some tips on how you can interpret your doodles to find their hidden meanings.
Doodling is great for kids any day of the year of course. Having the opportunity to free-style lets children practise their pencil grip and try out different strokes, without any pressure to ‘do it the right way’. It lets them use their imagination and can also be a great calm-down activity or something to keep them occupied when you’re out and about. A magnetic scribble pad is perfect for taking in the buggy or car.
So – let’s get doodling! I’d love you take take a photo of your doodles and send me a picture. You can tweet me @nurturestore or add your photo to NurtureStore’s Facebook page.
Three for the price of one today! My love of love hearts seems to be catching as I’ve noticed B doodling them on her notepads and school folders. Here are three ideas which we love for Valenttine’s crafts.
Cookie Cutter Printing
Have you tired using cookie cutters to print with? I find they’re pretty easy for little fingers to hold on to. You could try using heart cookies of different sizes and simply letting the children stamp away to create their own design. Try sprinkling some glitter over the hearts before the paint dries for added sparkle. The finished designs can be glued onto cards, made into bookmarks or cut into heart shaped bunting.
Heart Wreath
This heart shaped wreath is made from dyed pistachio shells glued onto a piece of card and you can find my full tutorial over at A Thrifty Mrs. Of course you don’t have to use pistachios – the children could go on a colour hunt through some magazines and make a collage wreath from all the red things they find.
Stained Glass Heart Cookies
And how about some Valentine’s baking. I think these gingerbread hearts with a stained glass window are beautiful, especially hung up in the window where the light can shine through the middle. They’re easy to make to using this stained glass cookie recipe and I’ve found my girls love seeing how the window is made.
What are you crafting for Valentine’s Day?
happily shared with Craft Schooling Sunday and Something for the Weekend and Friday’s Nature Table and ABCand123 and Tot Tuesday and Kids Get Crafty and Upcycled Awesome
It’s so beneficial to get your baby hooked on books, as all the chatting you do as you read together boosts their language and listening skills. Just right for a Valentine’s gift then is this idea for a Lift-the-Flap Love Book.
1. Gather together some pictures of the people, pets and things your baby knows and loves.
2. Stick them on some colourful card to make pages for your book.
3. Make some flaps from coloured card a little bigger than each of your pictures, using contrasting colours to the pages so they catch your babies eye.
4. Make a fold at the top of each flap and use this edge to stick each flap over one of the pictures. You might like to use a strong glue and some tape over the top to make them extra sturdy and able to withstand some handling by little fingers.
5. Fasten all the pages of your book together with treasury tags.
6. Share the book with your baby. You can play peek-a-boo with the flaps, or guess who’s hiding underneath. Encourage your baby to try and lift the flaps themselves and say who they see underneath.
Zero to Two: The Book of Play is full of fun activities for babies and toddlers. Download you copy here!
This week’s Go Play! Showcase features Kristi from Creative Connections for Kids. Kristi has been blogging for just five months but has already shared some fabulous ideas with our Play Academy Friday linky party. I’ll let Kristi introduce herself and I hope you’ll pop over to Creative Connections for Kids to say hi and take a look at all her ideas.
Tell us about yourself
Creative Connections for Kids features simple inexpensive activities to enhance development.This includes art, crafts, book reviews for children and grown ups, games, recipes and other fun stuff! I provide researched based child development information through videos, websites and books as well.
What’s your play philosophy?
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the makers of the stage version of the best selling story Guess How Much I Love You have sent me two copies of their DVD to giveaway.
I’m sure most of you will know this book as it’s sold over 20 million copies world wide, so here is the chance to see how it’s been adapted for the stage. We’ve also been sent a copy for B and L to keep and L is watching it as I type – and gives it a two thumbs up!
To enter the giveaway: ask your child what or who they love and leave a comment on this post telling me their answer. Be sure to leave an e-mail address when you add your name to the comment.
The giveaway is open until midnight (GMT) on Tuesday 8th February 2011 and is open to readers with a UK postal address. There is one entry allowed per person. I’ll pick two of you at random (using random.org) and the winners will each receive one copy of the DVD. I’ll contact the winners on Wednesday 9th February to get your address and will post the DVDs off to you as soon as possible, so hopefully they will be with you in time for Valentine’s Day (can’t promise this though).
**************UPDATE**************
Here are the winners:
Winner One is Mermaid
Winner Two is johanna
Congratulations! I’ll e-mail you to get your postal addresses. Hope you enjoy the DVDs.