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Balloon puppets

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Gloriana, Queen of Balloons

Please welcome Her Royal Highness, Gloriana, Queen of Balloons.

This is Big’s creation made this weekend from the balloon she got from the vet’s open day, and the contents of our craft box. The balloon came with a plastic stick attached so it’s perfect to hold upright and move, play, dance with. The features are simply fastened on with sticky tape. She’s holding up pretty well, three days later, so we may be in for a long reign (so long as the kitten doesn’t pop her).

Have you ever made balloon puppets?

(One word of caution is that young children should be supervised with balloons. It they do pop, the pieces of balloon can be very dangerous if swallowed.)

 

Water play: washing up

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washing up play Sometimes the simplest ideas turn out to be just the most fun. Little asked if she could do the washing up yesterday ‘like a grown-up’. Two minutes to set up, all for free, and it kept her busy for an hour. I think she enjoyed it so much because she was using ‘real’ adult things rather than ‘toys’: washing up liquid, our washing up bowl and one of ‘Mummy’s’ scrubbing pads.

As you can see we set her up outside so there was no need to worry about any splashes. However this has turned out to be so much fun, she’s been playing again today when it’s been rather chilly so she’s been in the kitchen. I put a big bath towel on the floor as a precautionary measure but she’s been very grown up and sensible so there’s hardly any spills.

I only wish I still found doing the dishes so much fun.

For more fun ideas check out our other kids role play ideas

Snail races

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Growing sunflowers with children? Download our free sunflower activities ebook.

How are your sunflowers coming along? Ours went out in the garden a couple of weeks ago. The tallest one is up to 45cm on our sunflower height chart and  mostly they’re doing well – working their way up the wall but not yet taller than Little. One however has been munched. The girls were horrified! Who had done such a thing? Pulling some ivy off the wall this weekend we found our answer: 14 snails, sat biding their time, waiting for the feasting to begin.  I am such a hippy, harmony-promoting gardener that I can’t bring myself to squash them, so they are flung over the back wall (into an alleyway, not someone else’s garden!) – which of course only delays the munching.

Before the snails went for the high jump, we put them through their paces in a Snail Race.

On Your Marks....

This gave the girls the opportunity to look at the snails up close and ask lots of questions about their shells, slime and ‘sticky out bits’. Snail World had all the answers. We talked about our responsibilty to animals and both girls were very careful when handling the snails. One thing we did discover was that snails just don’t understand the concept of keeping in your own lane – so if you fancy trying this I’d suggest more of a ‘bull’s eye’ circular race track, starting all the snails in the centre and seeing which makes it to the circumference first.

Victory to Snail #1

What do you do when you find snails, or slugs, in your garden? Have you got any alternative solutions to stop them munching?

 

Make a fairy garden

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Following on from the success of our Dinosaur Garden, this weekend we’ve been working on a Fairy Garden. The film below shows how we made it – now we’re eagerly waiting for the seeds to start growing so the flower fairies can really feel at home.

The music on the film is kindly provided by Anne van Schothorst and is from a piece called A Bird Came Flying.

Happily shared with Today’s Creative Blog and WeareTHATfamily’s Works for me Wednesday

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Starting School: Putting on your own coat and shoes

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8.25am is the most stressful time of day in houses with school-age children*. That last push to get out of the door and off on the school run can be the biggest hurdle of the day. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Welcome to Part Two of our series: Starting School. In part one we looked at School Dinners, this time the topic is:

Putting on Your Own Coat and Shoes

A simple skill we grown-ups take for granted can actually be quite tricky for little ones to master.  So here are a few thoughts which might help.

1. Let your child have a try. This sounds obvious but in the rush to get ready I see many parents doing up buttons and putting on shoes for their children. While this saves time, it’s not giving your child any chance to learn the skill for themself.

2. Take your time. You need to allow plenty of time to master this skill – so start when you’ve got lots of time to get ready, not when you’re already late. Little does a great job getting her own coat on, but the buttons take her ages. I have to remind myself to give her the time she needs – we wouldn’t rush along a child taking their first steps, so we need to slow down here too.

3. Give your child some Top Tips. You put on your shoes without even thinking about it, but does your child actually realise there’s a difference between their right and left foot and they need to match up the correct shoe with the correct foot? Little knows to line up her shoes on the floor before she puts them on. She knows that the flowers on the outside of each shoe shouldn’t be touching – if they are, she knows to swap them over. This is how she gets them on the correct feet. Even black school shoes often have a little pattern on the outside, so you should be able to get a pair with this picture clue. If not, maybe you can draw arrows or make a mark inside the shoe.

With coats our top tip is to get one with a hood. Then, the first step to putting it on is to put the hood on your head. This leaves both hands free to get the sleeves on – instead of having to hold the coat and get your arms in at the same time. Try it both ways and see how the Hood Manouvre helps!

4. Zips, button or toggles? Which can your child manage by themselves? Try a few in the shop and buy whichever your child finds easiest.

5. Laces or velcro? One child I know had a pair of high-top lace-up ankle boots, which were always tied (by their parent) in a double knot. She couldn’t even get the shoes off by herself, let alone lace them up. So my choice is always to go with a simple velcro strap.

With 25 children doing coats and shoes, up to 10 times in one day, your child’s new teacher will be so pleased you’ve worked on this!

(*Source: My good friend Catherine heard this on the radio. Not exactly scientific, but you agree don’t you?)

You might also like this idea for organising your school run.

Happily shared with WeareTHATfamily’s Works for me Wednesday

Make a dinosaur world

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As the weather is getting warmer and we’re starting to spend more time outside I thought I’d show you one way my girls love to play in our garden: in our Dinosaur Land. Big recently did a ‘show and tell’ at school about gardening and the Dinosaur Land proved to be so popular an idea with her classmates, that several of them have gone home and made their own – so it comes highly recommended.

This kind of ‘small world’ play is fantastic for young children: they get to be the boss of the world, create characters, role play situations, use their language skills, be imaginative…..  I love watching children engaged in this kind of play as it really gives you an insight into where they’re at, what’s concerning them, what they’re exploring at this present time. Big’s characters are often having battles at the moment, as she works through ideas of ‘being fair’ and negotiations. Little’s play in nearly always focused on a family group and playing out familiar routines – her dinosaurs get tucked up in bed and read a bedtime story.

As always, this idea is easy to make and you’re likely to have most, if not all, of the things you need around your home.

Start by finding a big plastic storage box and making some drainage holes in the bottom. Then let your children fill it up with soil – good, messy fun. Add a few rocks – we have one big one, which the dinosaurs like to stand on to survey their territory, and some smaller one to sit on. How about some plants for the dinos to eat and hide in? Have you got one to spare somewhere in one of your borders? The grassy one we used works really well – low maintenance, pretty robust and won’t get too overgrown. You can add any other props which catch your children’s eye: glass pebbles, fir cones, sticks, water too if you’d like a swamp area.

Then it’s over to the kids to get playing.

If your children are enjoying the garden, have a look at our Sunflower Club for more outside play ideas.

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