Playing and Learning Begins at Home

Sunday, 10 March 2013

Ooey Gooey Wibble Wobble Jelly Play

Yummy to eat, but Jelly is also fun to play with and a great way to get creative and develop new and interesting vocab with your littlies.

Ages: Children will like to taste and eat the jelly as they play so you can introduce jelly play as soon as you feel comfortable with your little tasting it.

You can get more natural, preservative and colour free varieties nowadays.

To begin with prepare your jelly according to directions on the packet, you may wish to use more than one packet. You can make it more watery if you'd like a more slimy feel or set it quite hard if your wanting a firmer consistency- good for digging into and getting little muscles in little fingers working.

Below, I'll share with you some of the ways I have used Jelly play with my children.

Alphabet Recognition

Miss M learnt her letter sounds and names really quickly however we hadn't done any consolidation of this skill for awhile so I decided to add some gorgeous glittery alphabet letters I have to the jelly. I added them into the 3 packets of dissolved jelly crystals before I put the Jelly in the fridge.

I left the Jelly to set overnight for 24 hrs as I wanted it quite firm.

You could also try

numbers

shapes/ cookie cutters

plastic animals/ dinosaurs

utensils

glass pebbles- over 2.5/3yrs

anything that is of particular interest to your child at the current time

Ummm it didn't quite come out looking like I expected but Miss M didn't mind one little bit. She couldn't wait to get into it!

You can do this inside or out. If inside be sure to put down a large messy mat/ old table cloth etc to help with the clean up.

"Hmmm I think there might be something in here"

Using her senses,

smell

taste

touch

sight

"hey look what I found"

"let me just clean off these letters a little bit"

Each letter she found we'd talk about it's name and what sound it makes in words. We would think of and share some words we knew that began with the sound.

Once she had found all the letters and had finished exploring the jelly I had a tub ready to give the letters a wash.

Miss M lined the letters up on the paving to dry but the play didn't stop there.

Together we arranged the letters to see if we could put the sounds together to make words.

Miss M is learning the skill of blending

" j , c " thats not a word hehehe!

" m , a , t " makes mat, yay

We had many laughs using the letters to make up real and nonsense words.

Miss M also enjoyed Jelly play in her younger days also!

She had lot's of fun using all her senses and I still remember how she tried to get in by stepping into the bowl! How awesome would a jelly bath be if not just a wee bit sticky.

The H Man's turn at Jelly play!

I used smaller bowls of jelly this time and placed them around a small table as I wanted to encourage the H Man to stand and play and to cruise the table to get to each of them. This is something he has needed some encouragement to do.

It is great to think creatively on how to use play to develop certain skills that need strengthening in your children.

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Fun in the Tub ~ Bath Play

The bath tub makes for an excellent art canvas!

All that white shiny surface that little fingers just love to cover; creating, decorating and experimenting as they go!

Painting in the bath is one of the most favourite activities in our house.

Usually I'm too busy getting in on the fun to take photos, but this one particular day the colours were too vivid and delightful I couldn't resist the urge.

I must admit that Miss M and H man spent alot of time playing in the bath tub this summer. With baby number 3 on board my morning sickness was really bad and playing in the bath was a great solution for us,

1. It was very hot this Summer and the bathroom is very cool and the bath tub is a great place to cool off.
2. It was great for both ages and they both could 'play' together!

3. Playing in the bath is a great distraction when kids get a little fussy and especially if they are frustrated and cannot get outside to play in very hot weather.

4. The bath tub is right next to the toilet where I was spending alot of my time anyway. I could supervise whilst... well you know what! So glad that has passed now!!

And we are lucky to have a lovely big spa bath in our en suite!

There are many recipes you can use for painting the bath.

Here are my faves

Shaving Cream: 2yrs plus- simply mix shaving foam with food colouring in small pots or containers and you are set. This is definitely the easiest.
Lux soap flakes: 2yrs plus- dissolve approx 1 cup lux soap flakes in some hot water, add small amounts of cool water at a time and beat till fluffy. Divide into small pots or containers and add food colouring.
Baby wash paint: 2yrs plus- Add a little cornflour into baby wash till desired consistency and add food colouring.
Baby safe finger paint: 6months plus- Mix in a saucepan over medium heat 3/4 cup cornflour and 6 tablespoons of sugar, slowly add up to 4.5 cups of water depending on consistency. It'll go nice a gloopy. Add desired food colouring.
Goop: 6months plus- much quicker and easier and our preferred option on the day due to the H man's likely attempt to eat it. Mix 2-3 cups of cornflour with small amounts of water till you get an unusual consistency. It'll feel hard but when you pick it up it will drip through your fingers.

Be sure to choose an age appropriate recipe as younger children have a natural tendency to place their fingers in their mouth. This is why we went with option 5, completely safe if not a bit bland for H man to taste.

Be sure to spot test a patch of your grout before trying this to make sure colours will wash away- if painting onto tiles. I have found that as long as I wash it off immediately after I don't have any troubles with staining.

(Doing some painting in the shower- make sure you grout test first in case)

Let the fun begin

Goop is such a fun texture to explore anywhere but the possibilities really open up in the bath!

Try painting and learning body part names!

Colour Mixing!

You may wish to put the plug in lol!

I can assure you my kids were covered from head to toe and looked very impressive.

They were entertained for at least 2 hours with clean up time.

The best bit is clean up is so easy and lots of fun too!!

Play and Learn

Enjoy,

Katey

Tuesday, 19 February 2013

#playmatters

It matters a great deal!

I am so excited to be writing this post inviting you all to embrace play and share it's magic, wonder, joy and importance!

A wonderful and clever bunch of fellow Aussie kid bloggers are launching an instagram community this week and we would just love for you to get involved.

WHY?

We all love watching our children playing happily, but what is play and why is it so important for our children? These are two questions I love to answer by the way!!

Play is voluntary, it is self chosen by the child making it enjoyable, fun, symbolic and meaningful to them! It is that simple and can take many varied and wonderful forms.

Play is active, physical, verbal, process orientated, intrinsically motivated and above all

a fundamental right of all children!

Through play children have the opportunity to construct ideas, solve problems and make sense of the world in which they live. In a nutshell play builds and shapes the architecture of the brain in a very unique way!

Play is central to emotional and social regulation and wellbeing.

Play helps children to develop empathy, reasoning and perspective.

Play Matters

and that's the short answer

HOW?

How can you get on board and help us spread the word that playmatters?

We would love for you to join our community and it's as simple as this

Sign up to Instagram if you haven't already.
Upload any photos you snap of your children 'playing'.
Tag the photo with #playmatters so that we can find you.
You may like to browse through the #playmatters photos by searching the #playmatters tag. This is a great way to discover some new ideas.
I would love for you to follow me and come say hi on my Instagram page playingandlearningbeginsathome
You may also be keen to follow us on pinterest here #playmatters
Upload as many photos as you like.
Everyone is welcome.

Here is the list of wonderful kid bloggers launching this great initiative

Adventures at home with Mum

Learn with Play at Home

Learning to Play and Playing to Learn

Lessons Learnt Journal

Playing and Learning Begins at Home

Triple T Mum

Wildlife Fun 4 Kids

You will find most of my #playmatters tagged photos shared on my facebook page.

I am so very excited to see what you have to share!

Let's all work together to make sure the whole world knows that

#playmatters

Play and learn

Katey

Wednesday, 30 January 2013

Baby sensory crawl obstacle course~ indoors

H Man quickly became a very efficient crawler. To be honest quick is an understatement. Of all the babies I have ever met I have never met one who can crawl as fast as this little man. Everyone comments on it!!! He is speedy...

...and after more challenges!!

Suitable Ages: You can modify this to suit all crawlers.

My little man was just 11 months old in these pics.

Learning Skills: Gross motor development, physical awareness, cognitive and classification skills, exploration and discovery of the senses

Equipment: It is simple to set up an obstacle course for your baby using household items.

Please make sure to consider the development level of your crawler and provides challenges that also allow for success. Don't make it impossible for your baby to achieve on their own.

This is how I did it, with Miss M's help of course!

A long cardboard box as a tunnel for your baby to crawl through.

I attached some ribbons to the exit after this pic was taken.

You could use a store bought tunnel if you have one.

Use some different textured materials for your bubba to navigate and crawl over. This is a shower curtain made from thick plastic.

Some large cushions from a couch or a beanbag to climb over.

Some babies are very good at climbing so you may like to make it extra challenging for them. They can also progress very quickly, a week after this and he was climbing onto furniture!

I made another crawl through using two stools draped in fabric with a soft fluffy blanket on the floor.

The coloured balls were to entice him through the obstacle course. Balls are his favourite toy so perhaps you can use something your child is particularly fond of to entice them through challenging parts of the obstacle course!

H Man was really good at pulling himself to standing on furniture but had not yet progressed to cruising around furniture so I Incorporated the ottoman as an obstacle to hopefully encourage this.

The end of the course was the mini pool full of soft toys!

Let the discovery begin!

He found his own way through lol!

Funny his reaction to this texture! He wouldn't crawl but adopted the bear walk! Same way he travels across lawn!

He actually stopped to play with the balls for quiet awhile!

Wow, this is exciting and fun!

Can you spot Miss M in the background?

Pulled himself up onto the smaller nappy box!

Here he goes at pulling himself up onto the ottoman!

Laughing froggie was a great encouragement!

Oooooh what's over there Mum?

Looks like fun!!!

So much for cruising the ottoman! Crawling is waaayyy faster!!!

Going for his prize!

Got it!

Remember to:

Speak constantly to your baby about what they are doing, seeing, feeling and experiencing. Be their words and give the language to the experience!
Give lots and lots of praise and verbal reinforcement when they overcome challenges.
Let them lead the play and do only what they feel comfortable and safe with.
Make sure baby is rested, fed and happy before attempting this experience.

For more sensory experiences for your baby please check out these links

textured-sensory-baby-crawl

Cherubs cous cous sand

music and movement with scarves

Stay tuned for sensory crawl obstacle course ~ outdoors for a whole new sensory experience!

Play and Learn

Katey

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