At the Just So Festival we took part in a Wild Rumpus parade, joining the {winning!} owl tribe. The girls loved making their costumes and dressing up with a whole group of other owls, big and small, so much that I thought I’d share how we made our easy owl masks. Watch out for some more owl crafts over the next few days too – wings and bunting are on the way!
Activities for toddlers :: imaginary play
We’re mid-way through our special series on activities for toddlers. If you’ve been following along with us you’ll have already seen our ideas for sensory play, arts and craft and math games. Today we’re all about imaginary play, with ideas for setting up a shop, going camping in your playroom, and hosting a posh tea party. We also have ideas for children who love dinosaurs, pirates and dens.
Activities for toddlers :: imaginary play [Read more…]
Pretend play post office
‘No! Don’t talk to me Mummy. Send me a letter!’
Our house has been transformed this week with the creation of a pretend play post office. Children who used to run off into the garden at the sight of a pencil and piece of paper are getting up early to check their mail and write replies. Everyone is excited to find mail waiting for them outside their bedroom door when they wake up in the morning and lots of kind wishes are being expressed between siblings in their correspondence. The children are putting in plenty of writing practice too of course and learning the value of letters – making their mark with a practical purpose and having lots of fun as they learn.
How to make a pretend play post office [Read more…]
Egg carton treasure box make-over
We’re joining in with TinkerLab’s Creative Challenge today with an egg carton treasure box make-over. As soon as Rachelle laid down her challenge to see what we could make with egg boxes my girls were united and divided. Both wanted to make treasure boxes, but each with a very different style to match their individual passions. My princess-loving 5yr old made a treasure box fit for the crown jewels, while my adventurous 9-year-old went for a pirate box. Here’s how they transformed their egg cartons.
Make an egg carton treasure box [Read more…]
How to make a child’s hat
How to make a child’s hat couldn’t be simpler but with a creative kid involved the results are super fun and oh so stylish!
How to make a child’s hat [Read more…]
Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
A Mad Hatter’s Tea Party was the perfect birthday party theme for my little bookworm. B turned nine last week and at the weekend we hosted a Book Party for her family and friends, with crazy food and fun activities. The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party was such fun to plan and prepare, with the kids excited about sharing the mad ideas with their friends.
All the invitations were little books, illustrated by B, with the story inside telling the tale of how all the guests were invited to a party. Everyone came dressed as a favourite book character – I was Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, although sadly no photos of that incarnation remain. I do have lots of photos of what we made and what we ate though, so here’s our round up of how we hosted a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. [Read more…]
Five fabulous ideas for feet
Five fabulous ideas for a feet theme.
1. Set up a shoe shop: gather together as many different types of shoes as you can: lace-ups, high heels, flippers, wellies, ballet shoes, walking boots, football boots, slippers. Talk about when you would wear all these different types of footwear – what’s special about them? Add in some imaginary play and have some of the children be the shop assistants and some be the customers. Add in some maths by measuring everyones feet and graphing the results.
2. Explore movement and see what your feet can do: Play musical statues but have the children try out a different movement each time the music re-starts. Can they walk, hop, skip, run, go backwards, walk on tip toes? Try some other challenges such as seeing if they can pick blocks up with their feet and load them into a bucket. Or hold a crayon between their toes and do some drawing.
3. Discover animals’ feet: use toy animals or print off some pictures and investigate their feet. Talk about paws, hooves, webbed feet, claws and talons. Add some classification practise by sorting the animals into those with no feet, two feet, four feet, lots of feet. How do the animals’ feet suit how they live? Which animals can walk on the ceiling?
4. Make some footprints: for a great collaborative work of art tape big rolls of paper to the floor and then play some music. Have the children step in some paint and then dance their way over the canvas.
5. Read all about feet: with this fabulous selection of stories suggested by NurtureStore’s Facebook and Twitter friends. (Come and join us on Facebook and Twitter for lots more resources and idea swaps)
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happily shared with made by little hands Monday and math Monday and preschool corner and Outdoor Play and we play and math Monday and Tot School