Music and Movement~ Playing with scarves

 

Playing with scarves is such a wonderful sensory activity for babies and children alike.

 

When scarves are moving to music the baby or childs sense of sight is stimulated by tracking the bright colours with their eyes. The auditory sense is stimulated by listening to the music and the sense of touch is stimulated by the feel of the scarf on their skin.

 

They are also learning about object permance and developing motor skills.

 

Suitable ages: 0+

 

 

The best thing about scarf play is that it is so simple.

Most of us will have some scarves that could be used.

You can use sheer fabrics or solid. Any pieces of light material will do.

 

1. Play Parachute

 

Lay your baby down in a comfy position.

Put on some calming music.

Wave the scarf above your baby so that it is floating up and down.

 

 

Your baby may reach up and try touch the scarf!

 

 

Let the scarf drop so it floats down onto your baby.

 

What a magical sensation for your little one!

 

2. Play peek-a-boo

 

Peek-a-boo games are great for developing object permanance.

Object permanance is the knowledge that objects still exist even when they can't be seen. This skill is essential to cognitive development since only after a baby can imagine an unseen object can they remember, reason and plan.

 

See through scarves are great to use for introducing this game. Move onto more solid materials as your child becomes familiar with the game.

 

Read about another peek-a-boo game here hide-n-seekin fun

 

 

Be sure to put the scarf on yourself as well as soft toys and other objects!

 

3. Scarf in a tub

6months +

 

 

Simple and easy to make. Any container with an opening will do, tissue boxes are brillant.

Hide the scarves inside and let you little one have a great time pulling them out!

Better than pulling out the tissues lol!

 

 

4. Dancing

If your baby is not yet walking, simply put on some of your favourite (child appropriate) music, hold your baby in one arm and a scarf in the other and dance around to the music together.

Or, lay your baby down and dance the scarf around to the music for your baby to track with their eyes.

 

12months +

 

 

For older children let them explore the rhythm of music by dancing

free style with the scarf.

Let them experiment with how many ways they can move their scarf.

 

Can you make it go up and down, sideways, around and around?

Can you make the scarf dance on the floor or wave it high in the air?

Move your scarf like a rainbow.

Move your scarf slowly when the music is slow and quickly when the music is fast.

Throw your scarf up in the air then catch it.

Weeve the scarf through your legs.

 

The opportunities are endless!

 

How do you like to play and learn with scarves? Please share your ideas here.

 

Enjoy,

 

Play and Learn

 

Katey

 

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Discover wet and dry = sensory play

 

Children respond better to learning experiences when more of their senses are involved.

Sensory experiences are wonderful opportunities for learning and they are so much fun!

 

On this day we were investigating wet and dry!

 

Goop is a wonderful sensory recipe for learning wet and dry.

It has been one of Miss M's favourite things to do since she was around 15months!

 

 

 We started with 2 large storage container lids.

 

Fill one with cornflour.

Let your children touch and play with the dry cornflour.

Talk about how it feels, what happens when you pick it up, when you drop it and when you blow it. How does it feel on your skin?

 

 

Miss M (3yrs) was reluctant to play with the dry cornflour but she happily used a paintbrush to draw shapes and pictures in it.

 

This is similar to using a

 

 

salt tray

 

 

 

We also filled a 2nd large storage container lid with a little water.

 

It's hard to see the water but what a surprise for H man discovering it is wet!

He climbed straight in.

 

Splashing!

 

 

Taking a closer look.

He actually put his face and mouth right in. For babies, using their mouth is their favourite way to discover. This is because the sensations in the mouth are more highly developed in babies. For older babies, sensations from teething gums draws the babies attention to the mouth.

 

 

I added bottle tops to the water as a little extra experience and to stop him eating the grass lol!

 

We added some water to the cornflour.

 

Now is it wet or dry?

 

 

To Make Goop

 

Just like with most of my cooking I don't tend to follow exact amounts when making goop.

 

All you need is,

 

cornflour

water

food colouring

 

The more cornflour you use the more goop you will make. Simply add small amounts of water at time and play. You will understand as you play the strange and wonderful sensation that is goop! You will be able to judge when you have enough water. Be careful not to add too much but if you do, simply add more cornflour.

 

Unlike the dry cornflour, Miss M loved the sensation of the goop!

What happens when you pick up the goop?

 

 

You must try this!

 

 

I was surprised H man didn't get into the goop as much, he was happy with the water and bottle tops.

 

 

 Had to try this sensation out with our feet also!

 

 Make sure to,

• Talk about what your children are doing, give them the language that represents what they are doing. Providing them with new vocabulary.
• Ask questions about what your child is doing, feeling, seeing and experiencing. Give them time to answer. 
• Ask predictive questions, what do you think will happen if...? If your child struggles with this model for them "I think maybe..."
• Test it out and see
• Follow your child's lead and where they want to take the play
• Let them get messy and explore all their senses, this is safe and non toxic.

 

 

For more sensory play ideas for toddlers and babies you may be interested in

 

Mash Potato Dough

 

textured sensory baby crawl

 

Cherubs cous cous sand

 

Lush Lux slime

 

 

Enjoy,

 

Play and Learn

 

Katey

 

 

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Mash Potato dough / rusks

 

 

Watching the H man looking inquisitively at Miss M playing play dough and giving me those eyes that just shouted out

"I want to do it too Mum,"

I was inspired to make him his own, baby friendly, safe

play dough!

 

Ages: 6months - 2yrs

 

 

I made the dough using mash potatoes.

Prepare for your baby so that it is safe for them to eat.

I steamed a couple of potatoes and mashed them with water and nuttelex for H man,

although you could mash the potatoes with your child's drinking milk (breast milk, formula or whatever milk your child usually drinks)etc.

 

I then added a very little amount of plain flour to make it a little firmer. Less than 1/4 cup

You do not need to do this step, however H man had eaten mash potato before (and played with it) so I wanted a slightly different texture.

The picture above is of the dough I used to make the rusks and not the dough I gave him to play with.

I added less flour to the dough I gave him to play/eat than in this picture.

 

 

I simply gave it to him and let him play and eat...

 

 

... and drop it on the floor!

 

You could encourage your little one to sqeeze, roll, pat, squash, pick up and pinch their dough.

 

Your baby is learning

• about their senses and exploring these, touch/texture, sight, smell and taste
• developing tiny muscles in their hands and arms which will strengthen their fine motor skills
• hand eye coordination
• creativity

 

 

I used some of the dough to make

homemade teething rusks.

I added more flour. I didn't measure I just added till I was able to roll it out.

You could add other vegies to change the flavour!

Simply roll out and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes.

 

Slow bake in 150 degrees or less for 30min

till brown and hard

cool

 

 

 

Gingerbread men shapes are perfect for little hands to hold and chew.

Please note~ they are very hard. H man chewed, sucked and gnawed on his for awhile before getting bored with it. He did not manage to bite off any chunks or pieces, however your child may, so always supervise.

 

Always Supervise your baby when they are eating in case of choking.

 

 

Enjoy

 

Play and Learn,

 

Katey



Textured, Sensory Baby Crawl!

 

 

Babies love to explore and get into everything!

(usually everything they know they are not meant to have)

 

They love to touch and discover knew things!

 

If your little one is adventurous like mine you may want to try this one out with them.

 

Suitable age: crawlers, although, my 3yrold had heaps of fun with this also

 

Learning/ Skills:

Exploration of the senses

Gross Motor development

 

 

 

Collect a range of blankets, fabrics and materials in different textures. Once you start looking you will realise you have heaps of options.

I've used a fleece blanket, fluffy blanket, bathmat, net material, snakeskin fabric, corrugated place mat, wooden place mat and a padded chair insert.

Lots of textures there!

 

 

I also used a beanbag for added challenge and some fluffy ball cushions.

You could use couch cushions.

 

 

I also added some extra sensory items for the H man to discover!

 

 

You'll also need a large floor space.

 

 

Now the fun begins!

Arrange your materials and objects to make a fun and wonderous area to explore.

Miss M (3yr's) loved helping make this for her little brother!

 

 

Here he comes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The discovery went on and on!

Everywhere he looked, everywhere he went there was something new to find!

 

 

Miss M wanted to have a go too!

 

 

Be sure your little one has bare feet!

 

Remember: always supervise your baby

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Play and Learn

 

Katey



Toddler teach baby animals!

 

My almost 3yrold and 1yrold are beginning to interact together alot more lately and it's delighful to watch. They love to spin around on the rocker together, roll balls together, my 3 yrold loves to read him stories, although he tries to steal the book to eat!

Pretty much anything Miss M does is immensly entertaing and joyful for the H man!

This makes her a wonderful teacher for him as whatever she does he wants to do also.

 

On this day she was teaching him all about animals!

 

Age: 6months - 6yrs

 

 

We used some animal picture cards.

These ones have photos so a great representation of the animals.

Here you can find some Printable animal pictures!

 

 

We also used some plastic animal as I knew H man would want to chew on something and have something to hold!

 

 

Miss M then set about matching the toy animals to their photo card, while H man busily chewed on some more animals!

 

 

Then it was time to share with H man.

"Here Harrison, this is a cow, it says MOOOOOO"

"The cow lives at the farm with the farmer who makes milk from the cow, MOOOOO"

 

 

Here's the Lion

 

 

"The lion goes ROAAAARRR!"

 

 

"The elephant goes brhhhhhh"

 

 

Wow that looks like fun!

"ahhhhhh"

 

 

This game is so much fun!!

 

This game was alot of fun for both ages!

It gave my toddler the opportunity to gain confidence and feel great that she could teach her little brother so much.

It helped consolidate her knowledge and was great for her oral language!

This game was very amusing and fun for the H man!

 

 

Alternative: You can still do this activity with just one child. If your children are older they could take it turns 'teaching/speaking' to each other and telling everything they know about an animal. One is the speaker and the other the listener!

 

We finished by singing songs about animals and making songs up too!

 

 

I hope you enjoy,

 

play and learn

 

Katey