Cloud dough

This was so much fun. A little different to playdough and that's what I loved about it. The children all love playdough, but well I get tired of the same things week in and week out so when I stumbled on this idea here I had to give it a go.

 Set up was very simple. Outside was a must and I just added some cups, pop sticks and lids off ice cream containers. Simple but very effective. 

 The children made me cups of coffee and mixed in the sugar.

 Amazing enough the dough stayed on the table (well most of it)

 Even though the dough is soft and fluffy if you push on it, it will hold it's shape on the lid.

 If you place it in the cup and tip it out it falls in a soft mess.

But when you press it in the cup the turn it out you get a castle.

This really was a great change from playdough.  

Spaghetti Painting

I seen this (somewhere) and it looked like so much fun.

Very simple. 

Put puddles of paint out on a plate.

Give every child a piece of paper.

Now the fun, everyone gets a piece of spaghetti.

The kids LOVED this, it was messy and they all love mess.

Oh and note to self, Miss 9 months likes to eat pasta !!!

Water Time

We had some great weather this week, so the water finally came out.

The sand pit toys become water toys.

What better way to cool down then get right in there, even if it's just your feet.

Water play is so much fun for all ages, and remember children are always learning, especially when playing.

This was the first week of work for 2012. Lets see what we got up to-

Painting, everyone loves to paint. We used squeeze bottles to put the paint on the paper then spread it all around to make our works of art.

A challenge I face everyday having children in care that range in age from 9 months to 4 years, is providing activities for the older children that the little ones can't wreck. This week I placed some texta colours and paper on a high table that the older children could stand at at draw masterpieces. The younger ones could not reach.

Of course we had playdough. The cutters made it to the colour table and were used to trace around and create pictures.

Collage with lots of different textures.

Again we used the squeeze bottles to place the glue.

Busy week getting to know all the new children and their families as well as welcoming back last years families. What wonders will we get up to next week......

Early Play Australia

A while back I was invited to be part of Early Play Australia. This is a wonderful web site that features many blogs and web pages based around children and learning. If you have not had a look already then take a couple of minutes and have a look, it really is a great site.

I am back to work next week and will again start posting about our wonderful adventures. Until then have a great week.

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Last post for the 2011 year

Hello and welcome back, sorry I am late to post. I have been without internet for 3 1/2 days, it's been horrible.

Anyway back to our craft. We have been busy this past week.

First of all we made red Christmas trees to hang on the tree. First step was for me to make 100's (ok maybe not quite 100's) of triangles from pop sticks then when dry join three to make a tree.

Then the children painted the trees with some bright red paint.

And you guessed it, add lots of glitter for that real Christmas touch. I found doing the glitter in a container you had less mess and could salvage the unused glitter for another project.

Next was some indoor (due to the rain) gluing. Having no internet I had to draw the candy canes and stockings myself. I added glitter to the glue to get the glitter effect of Christmas with less mess. the children were free to design the picture in their own way.

See the glitter in the paint.

Fluffy candy canes.

Red with a touch of green.

And lots of glue all make great pictures to hang.

Last of all, do you remember making paper lanterns at school ?, I do so we gave it a go.
I drew lines for the children to cut along.

Great scissor skills.

The final product.

So that's it for now, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and I will see you all in January when I reopen for the 2012 year.

Nothing says Christmas better then glitter

We have started some Christmas craft this week. All of which can be displayed at home on their trees for years to come.

Keeping it simple works best I find. Stars that the children can cover in glue and glitter, balls and spheres work well to. This type of activity can be enjoyed by all ages and stages.