The Nativity

Over the years I have helped the children make their own Nativity scene to take home. Some years I have been more adventurous than others. As my class consists of 3 and 4 year old children, I think that this is the perfect Nativity scene for them to make completely on their own. The pictures speak for themselves ...

Nativity Pebbles

A lovely teacher at school said she had seen some Nativity pebbles and asked me if I could paint her some. I tried to find pebbles that could stand on their own and ended up painting two sets so she could choose what she preferred.

I painted the pebbles with acrylic paint and they were quick to make and the children loved playing with them and telling the Nativity story.

Have a go at making your own or even printing out little pictures and gluing them on pebbles.

This set consists of pebbles that are all upright. The photo is deceiving and shows no dimension .

The pebbles on the wonder table at school.

Home Made Santa Land

I love Christmas and love setting up Christmas activities and small world play. I am using the Nativity blocks I made last year in the block area but thought I would make a little Santa village to promote play at the wonder table.

My lovely husband cut some wood into house shapes for me this week. After a quick sanding, they were ready to be painted. My son helped me paint patterns, windows and doors on the houses. We decided to only use red and white paint as we were trying to make the houses look like they were from Santa's village.

I added a wooden sleigh, Santa, Christmas lights, little figurines, pebbles, logs, a Christmas tree and some cotton wool for snow.

The children loved playing with the Christmas village and spent ages talking, sharing and throwing the snow everywhere. By the end of the day the poor Santa land looked like a demolition site but by the time they arrive tomorrow it will look as pretty as a picture.

Have a go at making some Christmas houses for a village in your home or classroom.

Recycling Milk Containers

I hate throwing away plastic containers as there are so many ways to recycle them. Here are a few ways to recycle plastic milk containers. Really, the possibilities are endless and it is great for children to think of ways to recycle in all aspects of their lives.

MILK CARTON POT PLANTS

After putting drainage holes in the base of the container, the children drew decorations on the sides of the milk carton with permanent markers. They then added potting mix and their seeds.

MILK CARTON FUNNELS

As we have been doing lots of name recognition activities at school, I wrote the childrens names on the  funnel part of the milk carton and the lid so they needed to match the names. They had lots of fun pouring, scooping and screwing the lids on and off.

MILK CARTON STAR DECORATIONS

At home we cut out stars and punched holes in them and my daughter threaded them onto string with straws.

Playdough Maths Activity

I have posted lots of posts on playdough before because it is one of the most wonderful resources teachers and parents can use to foster creativity, improve fine motor skills and teach many different concepts across the curriculum.

We have been learning our numbers through number rhymes, finger plays, counting songs and many different hands on activities both inside and in the playground.

Today we played with dice and playdough.

This is a very simple game but it is very effective and the children loved it.

The children rolled the dice. They then either counted the dots on the dice or if it was one of the smaller numbers they called it out straight away.( I was playing this with 3 and 4 year olds.)

They then rolled the corresponding number of playdough balls and put them on a plate. I then asked them to find the corresponding written number and put it on the plate as well.

The children were counting, talking, using maths language, developing fine motor skills, sharing and most importantly, learning through hands on play. The playdough table was quickly transformed into a restaurant with the playdough balls becoming meat balls!