Simple activities for small children - GLOOP

This is probably one of the simplest activities you can set up for your children, though it can get pretty messy.

C found the instructions in his book "50 Science Things to Make and Do", a Christmas gift from one of his aunties.

All you need is a large bowl (washing up bowl is great), aprons, cornflour and a little food colouring (optional).

C followed the instructions to make the gloop himself.

Pour two cups of cornflour into the bowl (this was the messiest part in the inkspots house, somehow my children had forgotten how to pour and there was cornflour everywhere, but a dustpan and brush soon put this to rights).

Add a cup of water and a few drops of food colouring.

Mix together with hands.  

Once mixed gloop has some very odd characteristics.  It is made of long thin molecules particles which don't dissolve in water.  When you apply pressure or roll the gloop the particles join together and the gloop acts and feels like a solid.  When allowed to dribble or rest the particles slide over one another and the gloop acts and feels like a liquid.

The children remained engrossed in this weird liquid/solid material for almost an hour, squeezing it, punching it, pouring it, rolling it and then dribbling it through their fingers.

It did splatter across the table, but then goes back to solid form, making it pretty easy to sweep away afterwards.  At the end don't wash down the sink, as it may cause a blockage: either place in your kitchen bin, or allow to dry out to a fine powder, which can be used as a sensory material soil for toy diggers, or can later be rehydrated to make gloop again.

Kid's Activity - Junk robots!

I know the term "found materials" is preferred over "junk" these days, but "found material robots" just don't have the same ring about them.

This activity was eagerly anticipated by the children as soon as they saw it on the Holiday Plan, and their imaginations were already fired up and ready to go.  I actually had to do very little.

First we raided the Recycle Bin for any robot components.  We found plastic lids, cardboard boxes and cans.

Next we laid out our chosen materials on the dining table.  C thoughtfully laid out newspaper before we got started, and I fetched scissors, PVA glue and brushes, kitchen foil, and selotape.  The children also fetched their craft boxes and zippy bags (full of pom poms, pipe cleaners, scraps of patterned paper, craft foam, tissue paper, googly eyes and any other craft paraphernalia you care to imagine).

I sat next to them and worked on my own robot.  I tried not to make suggestions, but every now and then gave a commentary on how I was doing something.  For example I mentioned how I was cutting tabs at the ends of my toilet roll tube to make it easier to stick on, and how I was trying to stick the foil on flat before adding the face features.  I also commented on how they were doing things, for example the choice C made about his robot's eyes.  Here's my robot:

Here's C's:  

 I love the hose coming out of the arm.  I think it's so that he can put out fires.  C is delighted with it.  The face features apart from the eyes are done with Sharpie permanent pens.  See how he's done the tabs on the toilet roll tubes too?

 Here's Bug's:

 It's cardboard boxes are still showing through on the front.  This is a design feature apparently.  It is silver on the back, with feathers for a special robotic decoration.

 I note that this one also has a hose.  It also has an important added feature in that the head is removable.  This is a design feature, so that it can get under low furniture or bridges apparently.

After our creative session the children cleared up most of their stuff, and then set about playing an elaborate game of hide and seek with their robots for the rest of the afternoon,

Monday make - Tepee tutorial

So pleased to have finished this.  I've been wanting to make a tepee or something for the garden for the longest time.  See here for my plans to make our rented garden a more inviting place to play.  I then started looking for tepee ideas on Pinterest, and came up with the plan for this one.  I'll be following up with tutorials for the bunting and the campfire cushion (I'm so in love with this cushion, and will be making and selling more of them) in the next couple of weeks.

So... without further ado... how to make a tepee (teepee):

What you need: 

• 12 ft by 15 ft painters canvas drop cloth (or two 9 ft by 12 ft cloths, some waxed linen thread and a stout needle).  This is the cloth that painters and decorators use to cover furniture and carpets while they work.
• 10 x 8ft garden canes or similar (see note later)
• eyelets and eyelet inserter
• stout string
• short length of sturdy cotton or linen tape

Instructions:

I wasn't able to get hold of 12 x 15 foot drop cloth, though you can get it in the USA which is why I've included it here.  If you can't get hold of it, then your first job is to lay out your two 9 x 12 foot cloths with a 6" overlap between two 9 foot edges and join with two rows of running stitch on each side of the overlap.  You'll end up with a 12 by 17 1/2 foot cloth.

Measure 7 1/2 foot along the long side of your cloth and stitch on a loop of cotton or linen tape.  Tie the end of a piece of string to this loop, and then tie a pen 7 1/2 foot along the piece of string.  Get a willing volunteer to hold the loop still, while you pull the string taut and use the pen to draw a semi-circle on the cloth with a 7 1/2 foot radius.  Cut out the semi-circle.

Insert eyelets down the straight edge of the semi-circle on one side of your loop.

Now take your canes.  I used 8 foot long heavy duty garden canes.  Most places only sell them in packs of 50 or 100, but I did find a place that sold a pack of 10.  Actually these weren't as sturdy as I expected or hoped and we're having to take the tepee down overnight and wouldn't leave it up in the wind.  In the future we'd consider replacing them with steel rods, metal piping or 2"x 1" wood to add stability and we'd then tie down a couple of guy ropes which would give us a lot more confidence.  Fasten the canes with string in a variation on the tripod lashing about 6 inches from the end.  

Spread the canes out in a circle approximately 5-6 feet in diameter.  Stand on a step or chair and hook the loop (half way along the straight edge of the semi-circle of canvas) over the top end of one of the canes.  Wrap the canvas around the canes.

Sew the top of the tepee closed using the first few eyelets, and sew loops of string in place on the non-eyelet piece of canvas to open and close the door using the other eyelets.

I hope this is okay.  I'm still quite a tutorial beginner, and now I've found that I didn't take enough photos of each step to make it clearer.  I'm sure I'll improve in the future!

Ten things to do with mud - activities for children

Since mud surrounds us most of the time, it's freely available in the garden at no cost and it's a marvellously tactile material, it makes sense to use it in children's play.  I do live in the real world, and there are times (many) when I groan to see yet another clean pair of trousers or brand new pair of cream tights covered with mud and requiring washing, but I also love to see my children getting hands-on with interesting materials, particularly outdoors, natural materials.

Here's a round-up of ten interesting activities that children can be encouraged to do with mud:

1. Cooking mud pies in a mud kitchen - this image is from www.castlenursery.net.  A mud kitchen can be as simple as a patch of soil and an unwanted saucepan, right up to a fully equipped toy kitchen set up outside with a variety of wooden, plastic and metal tools, pans, bowls and utensils - where children can mix mud, water, acorns, pebbles and pine cones to their hearts content to make mud pies, grubby soup, worm cake and any other delectables that their imagination provides.
2. Mud sculpture - this image is from casamarias.blogspot.co.uk.  Encourage children to make models using mud, and allow them to dry out.  Clay type mud is better for this.
3. Mud painting - image from elmbridge.gov.uk.  Take a large, sturdy piece of card and encourage the children to "paint" images and patterns using hands, sticks, car wheels, bike tyres, brushes or anything else.
4. Planting - image from mymothermode.com.  Children don't "get in the way" of gardening (once they are walking and not eating everything anyway), and love to be involved in the gardening process.  Point them to some nicely prepared soil, show them how to plant, and let them go for it.  It's true, a few small plants may get slightly damaged in the process, but most recover, and the learning experience is well worth it.
5. Small world farm - This awesome small world farm was pinned by Kirstine Beeley on Pinterest.  I would prefer to set the farm up in a raised bed, but this outdoor play tray is really good too.  She's even got real carrots in there for the tractor to harvest!
6. Diggers - This image is from pre-schoolplay.blogspot.com.  So the toys get dirty - they can be washed!  Put diggers in real soil/mud, especially if there's a construction site nearby that the children can relate to.
7. Archaeology dig - Bury an interesting artifact (a pot in several pieces, an old metal kitchen utensil or a few toy dinosaurs) in the soil in one area of the garden or a raised bed, and allow it to settle for a few weeks (if you can spare some garden).  Now introduce the children to the idea of archaeology and how it works.  Show them the area of the garden where they will search.  When they've dug the item up, get them to try to put it together if required, and to figure out what they can about the item.  This image is from allthatsgood.blogspot.co.uk.
8. Make compost - Get kids involved with your compost making routine at home and you'll have the joys of introducing them to reducing waste, to all sorts of little garden critters, and to making the garden a better place.  It's a win-win!  These images are from www.greenmomguide.com where she talks about how to make compost with kids in under an hour.
9. Barefoot walk - I know, I know.  There might be sharp stones, prickly plants, or even glass or dog mess.  But let's say you check the route for any obvious signs of these first.  It takes a lot to beat the feeling of tickly grass and squelchy mud between our toes.  And lets face it, most of us don't think twice about letting our little ones barefeet on the beach, where there are similar risks?  This awesome picture is from outsideways.com.
10. Tracking - There are two types of tracking.  The first is the one practiced by wilderness gurus the world over, where you are looking for signs left by wildlife.  This may be owl pellets, fur, tunnels through the grass, nibbled nuts and... footprints in the snow or... mud!  The other is the method used by scouts to leave a trail for those following on behind, a series of simple symbols created with pebbles, stones, chalk or even drawn in the mud.  It doesn't matter which of these you choose, you'll have a ball.  To find animal tracks in the mud you'll want it to have rained the day before, to make the ground nice and soft, so that evening and night time critter visitors will have left nice footprints for you to find in the morning.  This image is of a deer print from newforestexplorersguide.co.uk, where they have lots of other great tracking information for the UK.

What do you like to do with mud?

Invitation to...

An "invitation to..." is a very simple way to structure play or creativity for your children.  

You set up some resources and just wait and see what the children do with them.  I'm still quite a beginner at this idea and you can find a lot more inspiration at the following sites:

The Imagination Tree - info on what an "invitation to play" is and some great ideas and answers to questions.
This Pinterest Board has seriously loads of ideas.  It isn't about copying the idea, it's about getting inpiration.
Teach pre-school - some great invitation to... prompts, plus some more links!
Learn with play at home - a great idea for inviting number play.

This week I've tried the following invitations:

A big pile of plant pots, a large tub, and a hose nearby (sunny weather - hose essential!).

 The children ignored the tub and the hose, but made castles with the plant pots.

A piece of drain pipe across the swing frame, with a couple of toy boats, and the hose.

The children used the hose to wash the boat down the drainpipe - great fun!

A tray with some poster paints and paint brushes, some paper of different colours, and the pine cones, feathers and sticks which they had collected on a walk the previous afternoon.

The children painted the twigs and pine cones, and have all sorts of ideas of what they will use them for.

Invitation to.... create with ribbon weaving

Please don't ask me why this photograph, which was the correct orientation in my photo folder, has decided to realign itself.  Still, the invitation is the same.  This is on my dining table right now, waiting for eyes and fingers to discover. 

Sadly I'm next to useless and cannot for the life of me remember where I got the wicker shapes from.  I've only ever ordered from a couple of educational catalogues, so I figure it must be one of them, but my search on their websites hasn't yielded any joy.

Anyway - wicker shapes, bag of assorted ribbons (bargain on e-bay).  I've started weaving some of the ribbons in with the wicker, so lets see what they come up with!

An invitation to play

What is an invitation to play?

There are some much better explanations than I could give, both here on www.teachpreschool.org and here on The Imagination Tree.  I recommend a visit to both.

Basically, while still allowing the children to play freely and choose what they want to do, you set up some materials in an inviting way that catches their imagination, and they just come over and play with it.  You don't need to buy anything special, you just use the materials and toys you already have in your house and present them in an interesting way.

Here's an invitation to play that I set up yesterday.  I put it out while the little ones were napping, and when they came downstairs and found it, they were immediately hooked, and played alongside one another for about two hours!  I used a grow-bag tray from the garden, put some chickpeas in it (they won't be eaten now, but will be used as stuffing in some beanbags), and set out the few Duplo pieces that we have around the edge.  After about twenty minutes I also brought some pots, as they were both engaged in picking up the chickpeas with the little Duplo spades and wanted somewhere to put them.