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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query st patricks day. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query st patricks day. Sort by date Show all posts
St Patricks Day Tuff Tray

St Patricks Day Tuff Tray


St Patricks Day Tuff Tray


St Patricks Day is celebrated each year on or around the 17th of March. We recently shared a colourful Shamrock Suncatcher with you and today we are sharing hands on learning in a Tuff Tray.
St Patricks Day is a global celebration of the Irish culture. It celebrates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity to Ireland. There are often public parades, festivals and people wear green and shamrocks. 

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Shamrock Sun Catcher Craft

Shamrock Sun Catcher Craft


Shamrock Sun Catcher Craft


St Patricks Day is looming and during a super cold day with the snow gently falling outside - we made some Shamrock Sun Catchers to bring some colour to our windows! 

The children had so much fun learning about Chinese New Year! I loved seeing them so switched on and just hungry to know more. I answered so many questions and we read some fabulous books! We made Sensory Trays and even themed our Funky Finger activity. They are already really keen to learn more about St Patricks Day so I'm looking forward to sharing more over the coming weeks. 

Remember there is a free printable for you at the bottom of the page to download and use.

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Rainbow Canvas Printing

Rainbow Canvas Printing


Rainbow Crafts for Preschoolers


Drip, Drop Drip little April showers or a big horay for St Patricks Day! Spring (or quite frankly anytime) is great for Rainbow crafts. Throughout the year Rainbow crafts are enjoyed here. I don't think it matters how old you are - seeing a rainbow is magical! 
This is going to be a post that shares lots of colour as I go on to share this craft with you plus a handful of rainbow crafts and activities we have been enjoying!



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Bird Themed Tuff Tray

Bird Themed Tuff Tray


Bird Themed Tuff Tray


We have the wonderful Sue Baxter joining us today sharing another fabulous Learning Through Play set up. Sue is a childminder, rated outstanding by Ofsted and its easy to see why. We have already been lucky enough to see activities she has shared with the children for Duck Week, Easter, Pancake Day, St Davids Day, Spring and we have more coming! 

Today Sue is sharing with us a Bird Themed Tuff Tray her children have enjoyed playing with. A bird topic is an evergreen topic to cover with the children. Throughout the year birds need our help and through these trays and activities we can teach children all about the birds we see out and about and discuss ways we can help them - for example making homemade bird feeders, recycling and making your own feeding stations, providing bird houses for birds to nest with their eggs. 
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Handa's Suprize

Handa's Suprize


Handa's Suprize Tuff Tray - Exploring Culture with Preschoolers


Have you read the story Handa's Suprize? It is such a charming tale that encourages positive relationships. Handa's Suprize has been named one of the best culturally diverse picture books in the UK. Wrote by Eileen Brown this is the story of Handa, who's part of the Luo tribe in South West Kenya. Handa goes out of her way to create a fruit basket full of different fruits for her friend, Akeyo. She carries the fruit all the way to her friends village, contemplating which fruit will be her friends favourite. Unknowingly to her, along the way different animals are pinching the fruit from the basket. As she reaches her friends village it is Handa who gets the suprize. 

The text in this story is perfect for the 4-7 year old age bracket the book is aimed at. It's a story you can't help but love. It brings awareness to children of different culture. It gives a great base for venturing into many different activities including fruit tasting, talking about friendships (PSED), counting and reconising numbers to name a few.

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Pirate Themed Tuff Tray

Pirate Themed Tuff Tray


Pirate Themed Tuff Tray


It's a very miserable May day today. I am sitting down with a brew and sharing with you a wonderful Pirate themed tuff tray created by the lovely Sue Baxter. Sue Baxter joins us often here on Learning and Exploring Through Play, and shares the fabulous play set ups she has carefully planned for the children. The activities link to topics, personal interests of the children, celebrations - you name it! 
Sue is an outstanding rated childminder and after seeing her play invitations she sets up for the children daily - its clear to see why!
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Drip Painting Luminaries

Drip Painting Luminaries


Drip Painting Process Art for Kids - Rainbow Luminaries.


I have wanted to give drip painting a go for quite some time. With us getting through lots of baby jars each week with the twins - I washed a few out to make some Luminaries using this method. We made some Heart Luminaries recently and I light them every night! They are beautiful and I love that they were made by my daughter!

You will need:
Vivid Paints
Glitter Paints work brilliant too!
Glass Jars
Battery Operated Candles
Surface Protection


Drip Painting Process Art for Kids - Rainbow Luminaries.


Wash your jars out. If they have labels stuck to them, submerge in water and they will fall off with no effort. Consider the surface underneath your jars as the paint will drip down in blobs. We used large plastic jar lids (that I have saved off the baby porridge pots. I honestly drive my other half crazy - HA!). We actually used the blobs of colourful paint that fell on the lids to enjoy another Process Art activity, It wasn't planned which made the spontaneous additional activity rather fun!.


Drip Painting Process Art for Kids - Rainbow Luminaries.


Place your clean, dry jars in the centre of your lids, upside down. Begin squirting paint on the base of the jar. Keep squirting and you will see the paint ooze down the sides of the jar. It's actually quite a calming activity, even my preschool was fascinated by the paint falling down gracefully. The colours came together beautifully! 


Drip Painting Process Art for Kids - Rainbow Luminaries.


When there was enough paint added - we found that there was a pool of colours sitting at the top of the glass jar. Using our finger, we skimmed over the top to help push this paint over the sides. The swirls were so pretty on our fingers - I grabbed a piece of paper for us to do some printing with our fingers!

Drip Painting Process Art for Kids - Rainbow Luminaries.


It took all day and overnight for them to dry fully. I did manage to move them onto a different surface. I was conscious of the beautiful thick blobs of paint that were on the lids and was keen to make show my Preschooler another beautiful Process Art technique.


Drip Painting Process Art for Kids - Rainbow Luminaries.


Once they were fully dry I gave them a quick spray with some varnish that I purchased from a DIY store. It's great stuff and dries within an hour! We grabbed the battery operated tealights and popped them inside! They looked beautiful. I love all the vibrant colours and the mix of glitter really adds to the effect!

Drip Painting Process Art for Kids - Rainbow Luminaries.


They are great fun to make all year round. You can make them as little gifts for Mothers Day, enjoy the rainbow colours as part of St Patricks Day or make them just because. My preschooler has made sure Nanny has a set of them too! They look lovely with our heart luminaries. 
Now to think of something else we can utilise empty baby jars with. 

If you have a go at making some of these we would love to see them!! Be sure to get in touch!! 
We would love to add your photos!

Before you go two posts you HAVE to check out:
Jar Lid Marbelling Process Art


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Easter Sensory Tray

Easter Sensory Tray


Easter Sensory for Preschoolers


One of my most favourite play invitations to set up is one that links to a particular topic or celebration. I love teaching children about whats going on in the world. About religions and respecting and understanding the faith of others. Did you see the Ramadan Tuff Tray? From the youngest of ages you can begin to introduce these things. I used this tray for Chinese New Year, so here it is again but this time for Easter. 

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Painting with Watercolours on Paper Towels

Painting with Watercolours on Paper Towels


Painting with Watercolours on Paper Towels - Preschool Process Art


I love it when one activity spontaneously creates a new one. My daughter had just finished painting her Recycled Carton Bird Feeders, I took a glance over at all the paint left over and it was perfect for an activity I have been wanting to do again for a long time - using water colours to paint on kitchen roll.

We have done this for fun before and created a beautiful Butterfly Craft with it. Today we set it up just for fun. The art technique we experimented with did link in brilliantly with the art Jackson Pollock was famous for! Lots of fun! We enjoyed painting in the style of Jackson Pollock in the Summer last year on a much larger scale but this activity was perfect for the table top. 


Painting with Watercolours on Paper Towels - Preschool Process Art


You will need:
Surface/Container 
Paint
Water
Pots
Paint Brushes
Jug


Painting with Watercolours on Paper Towels - Preschool Process Art


I set this activity up outside. You can create the watered down colours prior to the activity if you wish however do keep in mind having children involved in the whole process is important. I have my daughter the opportunity to add water to the pots and she did a brilliant job! She concentrated and used her hand eye co-ordination when pouring the water. We used a small gravy jug that worked excellent for little hands. I also used recycled yogurt pots to mix our paint in. 

Initially the water sat over the paint. The paint didn't move from the bottom. As she started mixing she was amazed to see the vibrancy of the paint appear in the water. 
TIP: The more paint you use in the pots the more vibrant the colour will be.


Painting with Watercolours on Paper Towels - Preschool Process Art


Once all your colours are mixed up ready, reach for the paper towels. It was a windy day today but we were able to keep the towels held down with the pots of paint. Once the water was being added we had no issues with the wind lifting up the towels. Neve did a great job of placing the towels around the tray and making sure it was all covered up. 

Then it was the fun part. Getting stuck in and flicking down the paint. You could see the paper towel soaking up the watercolours before your eyes. 
My daughter loved the freedom of being able to use gross motor movements to paint, making this a must do activity outdoors for us. I love when children have no restrictions and if I was doing this indoors I would have had to have encouraged her to use much smaller motions. 


Painting with Watercolours on Paper Towels - Preschool Process Art


It wasn't long before the paper towels were completely covered over with a beautiful array of colours that had worked their way into mixing with one another. In addition to this activity we were able to touch upon a little science too. We spoke about how the paper towels looked and felt and I asked my daughter what she thought may happen if we left the paper towels so wet outside. 

Here is our activity in action:



Come and follow us on YouTube for lots of play ideas in action. 

A few hours later we returned to see the sun had been super busy and had absorbed the water making the paper towels dry. It was no suprize that my daughter insisted to do the activity all over again.
Lots of fun! I am looking forward to doing this activity again with her soon.

Have you ever done this activity? Get in touch and send some of your photos to us! We love seeing what you have been busy doing.

Painting with Watercolours on Paper Towels - Preschool Process Art


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You may also like:

Nursery Rhyme Crafts - Once I caught a Fish alive    St Patricks Day activities for kids    Process Art Drip Painting


Space Themed Sensory Play    Easter Activities for kids    Three Little Pigs sensory play


Spring Themed Sensory Bag    Easter Activities for kids. Cross Suncatcher Craft    Duck Themed Activities. Duck Tuff Tray.



Literacy Ideas for the Classroom. Story Chair.    Creative Area ideas for the Classroom.    Shirt and Tie Fathers Day Card Creative Area ideas for the Classroom.


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Learning Through Play
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Homemade Bird Feeders

Homemade Bird Feeders



Homemade Bird Feeders


Today we set about making some home made bird feeders for our garden. Winter is a very tough time for birds and they need high energy food to help maintain their fat supplies to keep warmer on cold frosty nights. This activity is a great way to share with children just how tough it is for animals at this time of year and discuss ways we can help make their time a little easier.

This is a very simple recipe that is great for preschoolers to be fully involved from start to finish. We are planning to give some of our home made bird feeders to our friends and family members too over the next week or so  to help birds that visit their gardens.

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Unusual Gifts for all the Family

Unusual Gifts for all the Family




When I have a loved ones Birthday coming up, I love to think outside the box and buy items that are not the obvious thing to buy. I like products that are quirky, fun, different and practical. So I must admit I did spend a considerable amount of time looking on Uncommon Goods. This is why I really love my bedtime browsing sessions. After the super busy days, this is MY time of day, where I get to zone out a little and do something for me. 

It's often at this time I discover some pretty fabulous things. From products, to people to follow on social media and websites.

Today I want to share with you a list of 9 fabulous out of the ordinary products:

Unusual Gifts for all the Family


Created by Britta Ambauen from Texas, this beautiful locket is enclosed by tree branches on the front and encased are a set of gem stones that link to your loved ones Birth dates. Inside the locket the quote 'from deepest roots, tallest branches grow'. This would make a wonderful gift for a person who holds their family very dear. With almost 100 reviews you, why not come and read all the lovely feedback relating to this item and read about all the happy receivers!

Made by Heather and Myles Geyman, both artists from Pennsylvania. They have a passion for creating products that are beautiful and functional. 
This vase is exactly that and is a great space saver too! So if you know someone who enjoys the pretty things in life, someone who perhaps enjoys cuttings from the garden, fresh flowers through out the year - then why not treat them to a lovely vase to add to their home.

Selling out like hot cakes, this is a creation by John Harrison and Vanessa Whalen that is all about love from the early days of creation to when it lands in your home. 
Keep a lamp at home and gift the other to a friend or relative. Through wifi you connect your lamps with one another - no matter how far the distance. A simple touch omits a colour to your loved one to let them know you are thinking of them. What a lovely way to show someone they are in your thoughts!

Unusual Gifts for all the Family


We can never record or document too much about the ones we love the most. These books  are well organised and have a brilliant range of questions you may not think to ask. Not only are they lots of fun to fill in together, they can be past down through the generations so they can get a good feel and knowledge of who their Grandparents were and what they achieved in life.

I find it quite difficult at times to buy for the Men in my life so their Gifts for Men section was fun to look around.

Weaning can be so much fun! Exploring new food, tastes and textures is very exciting for little ones. It can be a super messy time too with parents worried that their children aren't quite getting all the food and nutrients they should be getting because too much is ending up on the floor. 
These bowls have a suction cap on the bottom which sticks to the table preventing spills. A great parenting hack!

If you have a Baby Shower coming up there are a fabulous range of gifts to browse.

The Gym is a big part of many peoples lives these days. Often the 4 items that accompany people whilst at the gym are their keys, a drink and some money/bank cards their mobile phone. This clever water bottle holds your mobile phone, notes and credit cards within the bottle. Keeping your items together and with a headphone port accessible on the bottom you can still enjoy listening to your music whilst you work out!


Unusual Gifts for all the Family


Children will love the opportunity to colour their very own pillow cases! Whilst exploring the world children will enjoy learning the names for different countries, what different countries are famous for (landmarks/animals) and also their shape and position on the globe! The pens are washable and once the pillowcase has been washed there will once again be a fresh canvas to get creative onto. 

Very popular with a very impressive review count! Created by husband and wife inspired by their son who loved playing with his construction toys. This plate set (with utensils available to purchase also) is a great way to encourage healthy eating that is fun and engaging!

Did you know that each month of the year has its very own flower assigned to it? These beautiful keepsakes make the perfect Birthday gift! Created by Shari Dixon from Tennessee, her work often incorporated flowers and leaves, making her work timeless. 


I could honestly keep going and going! I could have done a post alone on Personalised Wedding Gifts. Not only does this website sell thousands, upon thousands of unique items.... I love how you get to read about the people behind the product. I have spent hours discovering products that I love and then being drawn in to reading about the makers and creators. There are often links to their blogs and subsequently social media channels so you can follow along to see what other products become available.

I have read about families developing items together, people supporting charities and recruiting people in rehabilitation programmes, artists that are inspired by nature and travelling. Its been very fascinating to see how different people become inspired and how they move forward with their dreams. This was exactly why this website was created. To share with people not only a fantastic set of items to purchase but to make it much more personal and be able to find out about the people behind the product.

If you are someone who is passionate about sustainability you will be pleased to know this is all part of this brands ethos and a plus that they donate to non-profit organisations as part of your orders.

So if you are looking for something fun and unique to gift or treat yourself to, this is the place to look at - with delivery available world wide.

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You may also like:

Nursery Rhyme Crafts - Once I caught a Fish alive    St Patricks Day activities for kids    Process Art Drip Painting


Space Themed Sensory Play    Easter Activities for kids    Three Little Pigs sensory play


Spring Themed Sensory Bag    Easter Activities for kids. Cross Suncatcher Craft    Duck Themed Activities. Duck Tuff Tray.




Literacy Ideas for the Classroom. Story Chair.    Creative Area ideas for the Classroom.    Shirt and Tie Fathers Day Card Creative Area ideas for the Classroom.

We were delighted to work with Uncommon Goods and share with you the fabulous range of products that are available to buy.
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Learning Through Play
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