Home » Archives for Activities

Flags for sandcastles

by

sandcastle flags

To make simple flags to deck out a sandcastle: take a rectangle of card, add a design, fold and glue onto a stick.

We’re off to the beach for a few days  – see you when we get back!

building sandcastles

Happily shared with…

We Play

abc button

Junk modelling ideas

by

Thjunk model dragonis 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 station with this idea from @noflashcards?

#goplay Twitter Tip #4 @Childhood101 has a fantastic tutorial  showing you how to make a kitchen from yr junk

#goplay Twitter Tip #5 How about hovercrafts from CDs and hot air balloons from yoghurt pots? https://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 making fairy toadstools from a paper bag? @mayamade shows you how

#goplay Twitter Tip #8 Transform a shoe box and some toilet roll tubes into a medieval castle

#goplay Twitter Tip #9 Turn a shoe box into a double decker bus

#goplay Twitter Tip #10 How about transforming a egg box into a fire breathing dragon?

Hope you find inspiration in these ideas – what could you make?

*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,  travelling with kids and encouraging reading and writing

Happily shared with WeareThat Family

Top Ten {Tuesday}

Play Academy #3

by

Welcome to the Play Academy.

play academy

Please come and share your play and learning ideas.

Thank you so much to those of you who linked up last week. It was great to see your ideas and to discover some blogs which were new to me.

Inspired by last week how about painting in the bath with this idea from The Wonder Days?

To join the Play Academy:

1. Add your post to the Linky below. Remember to link to the individual post rather than your homepage. If you are not a blogger please visit the NurtureStore Facebook page and share your photo there.

2. Go and visit some of the other blogs on the Linky. Leave a comment and say hi. Get ideas. Tell them you’re visiting from the Play Academy.

3. Add a link back from your own post to this Play Academy – your readers can then come and get ideas too. You can use the Play Academy badge if you like.(Grab the code from the column on the left.)

4. Come back next Friday and swap some more play ideas. The next Play Academy linky will be Friday 27th August.

Thank you for joining the Play Academy – I can’t wait to see what you’ve been playing this week.

Blackberry picking

by

cooking with blackberries`

One of my favourite memories from childhood is going blackberry picking along the lanes near where we lived. The scrapes we got from the brambles were worth it once we’d collect a bucket full of berries for mum to turn into a crumble. I remember always finding the ripest, juiciest, plumpest berry just a little too high to reach.

And one of the best things I think about being a parent is sharing your memories with your children and getting to do all the fun things again with them. This week we’ve made the most of a few sunny evenings and been blackberry picking on the lane nearby. B and L had a little wicker basket to fill – although most of theirs were eaten before we got home.

(If you haven’t got any wild blackberries near you, how about visiting a pick your own farm?)

And what to do with your blackberries?

The girls wanted to make juice so they squashed and sieved some berries and mixed it with apple juice. It tasted great (and gave you a wonderfully purple moustache when you drank it!)

I love to make a blackberry and apple crumble with a topping made from 3oz butter rubbed into 6oz flour, with a 1oz of butter and 3 tablespoons of oats sprinkled in – maybe some cinnamon too.

English Mum has a recipe for blackberry jam I’m going to try.

The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for blackberry ice cream would be great to go in the homemade cornettos we made yesterday.

Do you have any blackberries growing near you? Or any recipe ideas to share?

 

Homemade ice cream cornettos

by

One of our favourite summer treats is homemade ice cream cornettos. Great fun to make and ever so yummy.

homemade icecream

To make some you will need: wafer ice cream cones, soft scoop vanilla ice cream, raspberries, icing sugar, chocolate, fudge

Keep the ice cream in the freezer until you need to use it – you don’t want to melt it and re-freeze it.

(The quantities given below made 10 small cones, with some tasting and nibbling as we went along)

Chop up 100g chocolate and 100g fudge into small chunks.

Melt 200g  chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.

Whizz 100g of raspberries and a dessert spoon of icing sugar to make a raspberry sauce.

Wrap each cornet in a strip of greaseproof paper, held in place with sticky tape.

Paint the inside of each cornet with melted chocolate using a pastry brush. Make sure you get a nice pool of chocolate in the bottom  so you get a chocolatey treat at the end of your cornet.

Wait until the the chocolate has set  inside the cornet (about 5-10 mins)

Fill with layers of ice cream, raspberry sauce, fudge and chocolate. Work quickly so the ice cream doesn’t melt. Fill over the rim of the cornet, inside the greaseproof paper for that authentic cornetto style.

Pop back in the freezer for a little while so the sauce can set, then remove the greaseproof paper and…

Enjoy!

You can’t beat home made cornettos for a great summer treat.

Games to play on journeys

by

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

NurtureStore