Painting

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Painting is a wonderful activity for children and adults of all ages.

Whether you're capturing the first new born hand and foot prints that you treasure your whole life or letting your little ones free to express themselves and explore the paint - its fantastic!

Painting allows children and adults to be creative, expressive and imaginative. Painting allows you to make decisions - learn about what works and what doesn't work for you.

Its fun, enjoyable and therapeutic. Its a great stress reliever and allows you to express your thoughts, feelings and emotions. Painting is great for stimulating the creative side to our brains.

The most beautiful thing about painting is there is no right or wrong way to do it.

Our experiences with Painting right from the start

We began (like many parents and carers do) by taking small prints of Little N's feet when she was around a week old.

I brought some paints from a local super-market that were safe for children.

Although these colours wasn't very vibrant they gave me some lovely prints, they didn't stain her skin and washed off with no effort at all. They were Crayola - Beginnings paint around £6 for red, blue and yellow.

When little N was around 6 months old and was sitting up well I decided to strip her off, down to her nappy and take her into the garden. It was a lovely warm, sunny day and I sat her in her Bumbo seat ready for some creative fun.

I cello taped some paper to the tray and off she went. She was in her element from the get go.

Mixing the colours around with her hands. Making marks through the wet paint. She loved it!

She enjoyed grasping her hands together and squelching the paint in her hands. She was fascinated with the sensation.

I have also printed various colouring sheets off too and Little N has enjoyed spreading the paint over the pictures. Like the Pumpkins above, which I got from Google Images.

We turned some of her paintings into cards for family and friends. I include recent photos too of her.

Here is Little N again enjoying exploring the texture of the paint and feeling it on her hands.

She really does enjoy getting stuck in.

Printing with Sponges

Little N was amazed at the marks these sponges made. We felt the patterns on the sponges before we dipped them into the paint. When printing onto the paper she kept pushing down harder on the sponge observing the paint ooze from the sides.

Painting with Paint Brushes

This was Little N's first time using a paint brush. I didn't show her what to do with it, I just waited to see what she would do. She dipped the ends of the paint brushes into the paints and began mark making. It wasn't long before she figured out she could use the paint brushes to spread the paint over the palms of her hands. She giggled to herself as she did this and said "Mommy it's cold!"

Painting with Nature

We had a walk around the garden together and collected various leaves, flowers, twigs and brought them to the painting table.

I thought I would possibly have to demonstrate to Little N to dip them into the paint but I held back and observed what she would decide to do with them first.

She selected the leaf out of the wicker basket at her side and without any prompts pressed it into the paint and put it down onto the picture. They created some interesting prints!

Painting with Conkers

This was a great activity and one of our most viewed posts! Painting with Conkers. Read more

Painting with Potatoes

We carved a potato to make the print of a Poppy for Remembrance day this year! They looked so effective! Read more

More to come very soon.

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Early Years imaginative play Light table magnets role play science Small Loose Parts topic water beads

7 Activities for the Light Table

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Hi my name is Martina and I run Crawl2explore Daycare in West Sussex, England.

I am always finding ways to encourage children to use their natural curiosity in their play.

When I was asked to do a guest post sharing ideas on using a light box in a setting I thought of all the years of fun my children have had with our light box which I purchased from TTS educational supplies.

The children continue to love it and adopt it into their play based learning on a daily basis.

I provide a range of materials to explore at the light table and the children enjoy providing their ideas too. Our lightbox has been used over and over in role play, sensory fun, building and educational activities.

Here we were matching coloured pipe cleaners and magnetic discs. This was a great activity exploring cause and effect and also learning about magnets:

We used dry orange slices, cut out insects and laminated vines to create a spring collage. This is what I love about Light Table activities as you can link it to any theme, topic you are covering aswel as thinking about the children's interests :

Light boxes can act as another tunnel into imaginary play. Wooden blocks become temples and Magnatiles become spaceships:

A spaceship about to blast off into space:

We recently had a Doctors Role Play Area in our setting and we used the light box to learn about X-Rays and bones in our bodies. This really brought the role play area to life, the children really enjoyed examining the X-Ray pictures:

Sensory play is great fun with a light reflecting underneath. Here we explored water beads in a glass box with the light box. The children enjoyed watching the different colours mix and the reflection from the light. We added a marble run and the children used water bottles to make the water beads roll down the run:

Here we had a rainbow blocks on the light box and a see through sheet over them with shaving foam. The children enjoyed making patterns, shapes, matching numbers and just exploring mark making:

There are so many different types of light boxes available to buy so its always best to shop around and see which one suits your home or setting best.

You can drop by and see what else we have been up to on Facebook and get more ideas for making the most of your light box at Crawl2Explore.

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Adults Benefits Children Early Years Sensory Play Special Needs What is Sensory Play?

The Whats and the Whys of Sensory Play

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We keep hearing how important sensory play really is - you may do more of it than you realise too, but with a little extra knowledge and understanding experiences can be enhanced, extended and appreciated.

I will begin this blog by explaining a bit more about it:

What Is Sensory Play?
Sensory play in a nut shell is play which stimulates one or more of our senses.
There are 5 senses in total -
* Hearing * Sight * Taste * Touch * Smell

Why is Sensory Play so valuable?
What I love so much about sensory play is that opportunities can be provided and every single child/adult can succeed. There is no right or wrong way to do things, individuals can be left to explore, experiment, create and learn at their own pace and there isn't a planned or expected outcome.

It allows children/adults to work alongside one another - sharing, imitating, relationship building. Its fun, calming, therapeutic even. It encourages social interaction, imagination, creativity, language development, cognitive growth. There are opportunities for problem solving, decision making and can boost confidence and self esteem.

What age can we start taking part in sensory play?
Sensory play is great for children and adults of all ages.

Before babies are even born they are learning about their environment via their senses and of course this continues after they are born. They begin to learn about their new world around them by what they see, hear, touch, taste and smell.

Some materials used during sensory play may not be suitable for all ages however so it's important to take that into consideration when planning and preparing.
Make sure items are age appropriate, safe and supervised as and when required.
Also check for any allergies. Ensure that the task you are providing is suitable for the individual which leads me on to my next Q+A....

Is Sensory Play for everybody?
Some individuals will enjoy sensory experiences a lot more than others. Some people will gravitate towards them at every opportunity they get and love nothing more than getting 'stuck in'. This will not be the case for everybody although opportunities can be adapted to be more suited to them.

It's paramount that sensory play is not forced upon anyone!

Some Great Medias For Sensory Play
Rice  - dye it, add scents and glitter to it
Water  - dye it, freeze it, add bubbles, toys, containers
Glitter - can be added to almost anything and glistens lovely
Water Beads  - mash them, colour sort them, feel and freeze them
Lentils - mix, pour
Pasta  - sort, mix, cook, dye it add scents to it
Sand - add water, draw with it, filter through toys, build
Ice - feel, make an artic scene, make ice blocks hiding sensory items
Shaving Foam - add glitter, colour it, fantastic for mark making
Mirrors - funny mirrors, dance in them, dress up and look at yourself
Fabrics - ribbons, scarves, ties, silk, wool - list is endless
Playdough - dyed, scented, add glitter/oats/beads etc
Lights - torches, bubble machines, projectors, disco lights/balls
Bubbles - hand held, push along bubble machines, touchable bubbles, water play
Scents - The lists of scents you can use is endless
Sweet Wrappers - great to collect over Christmas - sparkly, crunchy, see-through
Painting - edible paints, indoor/outdoor, finger painting, colour mixing etc
Nature - sticks, conkers, pine cones, grass, flowers, leaves
Pipe Cleaners - colourful, sorting, bending, making, big long short, small
Ribbons - feel, explore, long, short, sparkly, smooth, rough, stiff
Shells - bumpy, smooth, big, small, rough
Twigs - rough, bumpy,

Some Useful Apparatus For Sensory Play
Spoons
Scoops
Bowls
Plastic Bottles
Trays
Containers
Brushes
Paint Combs
Tweezers

So there we have it Sensory Play explained - The What's and the Why's touched upon.
If you have anything you would like to add please get in touch! I would love to hear from you!

Why not check out some of our sensory play ideas featured in the right hand side column.

(The five senses poster used on this blog post was featured on google and was created by Bev Evans who created fantastic resources for the SEN community. I love all her work!)

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Bubble Painting

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I think at some point in all our child hoods we can all recall on standing at the sink with a bowl full of fluffy white bubbles being supervised whilst standing on a chair. Its exciting to experiment and explore the texture of the bubbles in lovely warm water and today we added a pallet of paints to paint the bubbles. Little N kept saying she was making ice cream.

What you need

- Washing up bowl

- Washing up liquid - take into account any skin conditions

- Paints

- Paint brushes

- Egg cups/bowls/plates

- Wooden spoon/scooping utensils

Our Experience

First we added washing up liquid to a bowl of warm water. Little N loves bubbles! Available for play today was a tray of watercolor paints, paint brushes, wooden spoons and egg cups.

Little N used the wooden spoon to scoop up some bubbles our of the washing up bowl. She filled the egg cup full. She was on a mission to make some 'ice-creams'.

After being shown how to use the water paints she copied independently and dipped her paintbrush in the water and swished it around on the red paint block.

She then started to paint the bubbles:

She began to fill the second egg cup with lots of fluffy bubbles.

She kept patting the bubbles down with her hands too.

It wasn't long before there was a lovely mound of bubbles (ice cream) piled up high.

This is a great sensory, therapeutic experience.

Some of the bubbles got stuck to Little N's finger tips.

She wiped them on the sides of the egg cup making the bubbles fall back into the cup.

She then began to mix the bubbles together using her paint brush.

"Mix and mix and mix" she said.

Learning

- Filling and emptying containers

- Exploring textures

- Role play

- Imaginative play

- Creating

- Cause and Effect

Extension

I am planning to take this activity outdoors over the coming weeks.

Providing more bowls, containers and utensils.

I also plan to provide some pipettes to use with some coloured water as her fine motor develops a little more.

20 Christmas Time Dreads

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Well Christmas is on the horizon again, and the Christmas Dreads are looming:

1) Cheesy Christmas Pop Songs - They do actually make you feel upbeat and happy. You get the urge to have a little boogie and two step with your fingers clicking from side to side to begin with, but hearing the same songs over and over and over again, so annoying!

2) Christmas Lights - There is nothing more magical than a place full of twinkly lights, but why do they always tangle? It takes longer to untangle the lights than it does to clean and decorate the whole of your house for Christmas! In fact by the time you have untangled all the lights you've pretty much lost the will to live and the excitement of dressing the tree has well and truly gone out of the window.

4) Crowds - You cant go anywhere in December without crowds and queues being so overwhelming! You even have to queue to get on board an escalator! Shops are hotter than usual, the shelves are under stocked and messy, children are tired and fed up and you're left trying to remain positive but are also questioning why you bother!?

5) Online Sales - You know the types of sales where items are promoted but when you go to buy them they are out of stock? Why don't they just take the item off their sale list then? False hope and time wasting!

6) Pleasing everybody else - Don't get me wrong, I do like to please people but it is impossible to please everyone! There is always someone who has something to say about what your doing over Christmas! No matter how hard you try to make everyone happy there will always be someone who has a bee in their bonnet!

7) The Unsuspecting Gift Giver - You think you have Christmas all sorted then 'ding dong' a visitor bearing gifts turns up out the blue which fills you with embarrassment and horror as you haven't brought them anything. Awkward!

8) Snow - I love snow! But why does snow never come on Christmas day? The day comes and goes without a flurry and I always think how magical it would be if we could spend some time on Christmas day building snowmen, having snowball fights and making snow angels just like they do on the television adverts!

9) Christmas Television - Always rubbish, yet every year we actually expect something different? Line up the Christmas DVDs and if all else fails Only Fools and Horses is usually on Gold.

10) The super organised and super prepared - You see I am pretty organised and prepare in advance but I dont go on and on about it! You know the people who go on and on about how they started Christmas shopping in January and have everything wrapped by June. Oh go away already!

11) Turkey Terror - It does make me smile how relieved people get when they get their turkey home, all safe in their fridges. I cant stand the swarms of customers who launch as soon as a new stash of turkeys is pulled out of the warehouse.

12) The Key Gift Disaster - Its the number one gift on your children's lift, you've trawled through shop after shop after shop and they are all sold out! You finally find one left in stock 70 mile away, because you love them you go and get it.

15) Hiding gifts - The stressful job of finding hiding places for all the gifts you buy.

16) The Christmas Tree being attacked - You spend hours perfecting the tree, everything is beautiful and in place but you know it wont be for long. Whether its your toddler pulling things off the branches or your cat jumping into it, you just know its a matter of time before there is an array of baubles and beads all over the floor.

17) Wrapping - You have a million and one gifts to wrap, you can only wrap once children are in bed. The tape dispenser is temperamental, the sellotape runs out the minute you start getting into it and don't even get me started on gifts that aren't square!

18) Christmas Carolers - Its been a long, hard day. You settle the kids off to sleep and you sit down with a brew, ready to put your feet up by the fire. DING DONG "We wish you a Merry Christmas" - No no no! I shall be putting my "Baby sleeping please do not knock the door" sign up this year!

19) Strawberry Flavoured Quality Streets - Nobody likes the Strawberry flavoured quality streets! You visit the tin looking forward to a little sneaky treat and frown at the discovery of only these chocolates left!

20) Christmas Markets - They are the most delightful events but why do they only last for a weekend? The stalls are crammed with beautiful Christmas nik naks, The aroma of delicious foods fill the air, everyone is wrapped up nice and warm sipping their favourite hot drinks having a stroll around with their families, but there is that many people there you cant get anywhere near the stalls!

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Open Ended Play Small Loose Parts

Open Ended Play

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Small Loose Parts for Open-Ended Play

By Leisha Harrelson, Owner of Gingerbread Lane Play House, Maryland USA.

Gingerbread Lane Play House supports authentic learning experiences through a delightful play-based child care and preschool program adapted for young children, ages 3 to 5-years old. Children are given the freedom to play, discover and learn through child-led exploration and imaginative play, all in the comfort of home.

https://www.facebook.com/gingerbreadlanefamilydaycare

www.gingerbread-lane.com

(Editor’s Note: Small loose part play is recommended for children over the age of three-years old who no longer put toys and small objects in their mouths. You need to know your children well and closely supervise whenever young children play with small loose parts. Small loose parts play can be adapted for younger children by providing larger parts - objects that cannot pass through a toilet paper tube).

At Gingerbread Lane Play House, preschoolers have lots of opportunities to explore small loose parts in open-ended play. This type of play magically sparks children’s interest, imagination, creativity and learning.

Small loose parts play stirs the imagination and fuels self-expression that ultimately enhances the entire play experience by making play more complex, elaborate, dynamic and extended. Pre-literacy skills and mastery are gained in dramatic and creative play involving small loose parts.

Instead of telling a story, a child can build or create fanciful stories, ideas and structures by adding these extra elements. Playing with small loose parts can really become the ultimate learning experience by fusing together active interest, creative tinkering, and imaginative expression within the freedom of unstructured play.

Free and unstructured play with small loose parts also helps young children discover their world by learning about natural and man-made materials with different textures, shapes, colours, masses and other physical properties. This type of play fosters pre-maths and pre-science skills by allowing children to figure out different ways to order and classify parts by counting, sorting, stacking, grouping, matching and comparing, by creating patterns, designs and displays, and through modifying and adapting toys/structures that suit their whims.

What exactly are small loose parts?
Simply put, they are any small materials, objects or parts (natural or man-made) that can be manipulated in a multitude of ways during play. They need not be the same size, shape, color, texture or even the same sort of part. They can be a collection of different parts. They are considered parts or objects and not pre-fabricated toys, although some toys like animal figurine collections and construction toys like blocks and Lego’s can also be considered loose parts in play. Loose parts can be played with on their own, added with other loose parts and materials, added to toy sets and toy play and/or added to other elements like water, sand, clay, dough and soil. The handling of these parts alone can help improve hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

Here are some fun examples of small loose parts: pebbles, twigs, pine cones, sea shells, plastic straws, craft sticks, pom-poms, chess pieces, sequins, buttons, flat marbles, wine corks, sea glass, napkin rings, nuts & bolts, acorns, seeds, feathers, dominos, wooden parts, toy wheels, lids, fabric scraps, ribbons, small ramps, thimbles, etc. They can be used to construct, create, manipulate, penetrate, move, frame, encircle, etch, decorate, design, adorn and embellish. Small loose parts can be used indoors and outdoors, with sensory play, water play, and even in conjunction with process art and sculpture. They can be set out in piles, displayed with other items, or organized in containers, trays, jars and baskets.

Small loose parts play also gives young children a chance to handle materials that they may otherwise not have an opportunity to play with or may have been limited to specific uses, times or places. Unlike more expensive toys, small loose parts may be readily available for free or can be purchased inexpensively, while providing hours of endless play possibilities. The main idea behind loose parts is that they can be used in more than one way in play; they are open-ended. This is what gives them value and their appeal in playful learning. It can be as simple as adding chess pieces to a block centre or twisting pipe cleaners and beads into dough or dropping a scoop of pebbles and plastic fish into water or pressing sea shells and shiny flat marbles onto a slab of clay.

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Painting

7 Activities for the Light Table

The Whats and the Whys of Sensory Play

Bubble Painting

20 Christmas Time Dreads

Open Ended Play

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