Noodle Box Counting

I had some disposable noodle boxes and thought I could use them on the light table at school.

I attached the numbers 1-10 on the fronts of the noodle boxes as we are working on our numbers.

I have lots of wool scraps at school and so I thought I could cut up a variety of colours and lengths to represent noodles.

The children had used chopsticks to fill the noodle boxes with wool noodles and then add the correct number of pom poms to the noodles, from 1-10.  We discussed what the pom poms could represent and the children came up with lots of ideas- meatballs, vegetables, sausage etc...

Using the chopsticks was a lot of fun and a great fine motor activity. 

This activity could be done anywhere but was very effective on the light table as the noodle boxes are transparent.

You could use bowls or plates for this activity and crepe paper or ribbons as noodles.

The children thought it was great fun.

Niccola

Fishing for Names

This is a great outdoor activity that involves three of my favourite things- water, recycling and STICKS!!

Cut out fish shapes from any plastic container and write the children's names on the fish with a permanent marker. Using a hole punch, make holes for the eyes - the bigger the better!!! Fill up the water trolley with water and let the fun begin!!

The children then made their own fishing rods and tried to catch the fish that had their own name.

The fishing rods were made by winding a pipe cleaner around a stick and bending a little hook on the end.

This was a tricky activity but a fun way for the children to identify their name - even if some children caught the fish with their hands! This could be done with letters of the alphabet, numbers, colours or just as a fine motor activity.

Have fun

Niccola

Frozen Dye Art

All children love playing with, watching and experimenting with ice. Here is a 'STEAM' activity incorporating art and science. The children talked about water, ice, melting, pattern, design, colour, time, area....to name just a few concepts!! This is my favourite type of activity as the children all want to participate, explore, discuss and most importantly learn while playing and creating.

They loved it!!!

I froze small fish, sharks and whales in blue and green edicole dye.

 I used icy pole containers and put one, two or three sea creatures in each until the fins were sticking out the top. These were our handles.

The children painted with the frozen dye.

Once the dye had melted, the children played with the sea creatures in the fish bowl.

Have fun

Niccola

Early Literacy and Playdough

Playing with playdough has so many benefits for children. From the development of fine motor skills, language skills, opportunities for problem solving and creativity, through to social skills- the list goes on and on...

In the classroom, I put out playdough all the time and it is always a favourite activity .

As the children are beginning to recognise their names and recognise the letters in their friends names and from labels and posters around the room I thought they could experiment with letters at the playdough table.

I put out simple materials like wooden letters, playdough stamps, old scrabble letters,pop sticks and match sticks.

The children made their names, patterns and random words. They talked about which way round the letters should go and they helped each other find letters.

The children were talking, investigating, comparing, sharing, laughing, creating and most importantly- learning through PLAY.

Niccola

Water Play

Water Trolley NumberActivity 

These fabulous scoops can be used to pick up and transfer pom poms, bottle tops, rice, peas, sand, water - really anything. I used them this week in the water trolley with ping pong balls for a fun number activity.

Here are the scoops!!

I wrote the numbers 1-10 on a few packets of ping pong balls.

I also wrote the numbers 1-10 on plastic cups and tied them together with string.

The children tried to pick up a ball and then put it in the corresponding cup.

As you can see, we are just learning our numbers!

Tip them out and start again...

The children loved this activity.

Niccola

Playdough Birds

I was at the Library today getting some books to use at school when I saw a pile of beautiful bark that had blown off the tree in the recent storms we have had. I couldn't help but collect a pile for later use and remembered another time I had collected a big pile of bark. 

This is how I used the bark last time....

Place numbers on the bark.

Collect some leaves and encourage the children to draw patterns on them.

Help the children make some birds out of playdough. Roll a large ball for the body, a small ball for the head, pinch a beak and push a pen or similar to make some eyes.

Use the leaves as feathers and push them into the playdough birds.

Ask the children to identify the numbers on the bark and count the correct number of feathers.

This is a very inexpensive activity and has many educational benefits from fine motor skills through to several maths concepts. I love it because I think it is so important for children to appreciate the beauty in nature and that you can use resources that are in your backyard.

I have an idea of how to use my new collection of bark.... I'll share when I use it.

Niccola

Small World Play

Gather your materials.....

Bamboo plates

Paint and brushes

Loose Parts- pebbles, nuts, small animals, sticks, leaves

Plan your design 

I wanted mine to flow like a puzzle so I lay them in a straight line and drew a path that meandered across all of the plates.

Paint your design

I added a path, a lake and green grass.

I added the numbers 1-5 when mine was dry.

Add your loose parts!!!

Now the fun begins....encourage your child to count, label, discuss, imagine, rearrange, change, create and play, play, play!!!

Niccola