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Learning and Exploring Through Play 2016

Showing posts with label EYFS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EYFS. Show all posts
Outdoor Dried Rice Play

Outdoor Dried Rice Play

We have had sand out for the last few days and I wanted to offer a slightly different play invitation for Little N today as she has really been enjoying exploring and creating with sand.
It was a lovely warm sunny day so we took our sensory play outdoors today.

You will need:
- Bags of rice
- Food colouring
- A range of kitchen utensils
- Storage container

Our Experience:
Using the rice that we had from our spring sensory box in the under bed storage box I brought it outdoors. Inside I put a silver culinder, wooden spoons, wooden salad tossers, plastic ice cream scoop, silver tea bag strainer and a silver ice cream scoop. 

















Here was the invitation to play and it wasn't long before Little N dived in....



She began by swishing around the rice with the metal ice cream scoop "mix an mix and mix" she said.

She then began to scoop the rice up and pour it into the culinder. 
The rice pinged off the sides of the bowl.
She was contented doing this for a some time. 

















She then turned around and saw the black tray on the table so she started to transfer some of the materials she had. Once she was all set up she started sharing her intentions.....

"Mommy mommy, cake"
"A cake?" I questioned
"Yes cake" she replied
"Cake it's Nanny's" she added
"A cake for Nanny?" I said.
"Yes" she replied smiling
Little N got very excited and went on to mix the rice in the bowl.

As she was mixing some of the rice began to fall out from the holes. 
She could hear the rice falling so moved to check out what was happening.
"Oh no" she said "it dropped".

After a few minutes playing here she began to return everything back to the box. 


She called me to help mix so I went to join her. We mixed it all together and filled the culinder to the top. 

Little N then began to push the utensils into the rice.

A very simple, easy and quick activity to set up today. 

Resources are low cost, it is easy and quick to clean up and it provides a great opportunity to explore different textures.

Little N has really enjoyed it!

Learning:
- Filling and emptying containers
- Practised fine motor control 
- Introduced basic meaning to her play
- Imaginative play
- Experimented
- Cause and effect
- Explored texture

Extension:
As Little N has enjoyed this I plan in the future to provide more interesting sensory textures for her to explore with her hands and also using a variety of bowls and utensils.

You may also like:

http://learningandexploringthroughplay.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/water-wall.html



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Toddlers Winter Bucket List

Toddlers Winter Bucket List


Toddlers Winter Bucket List is here!
Winter officially lands in the UK on the 21st of December, and if you are anything like me you too will be looking ahead at activities and fun that you can plan for the coming Season.

Here is a list of must do things this Winter with your Toddler!

What exciting things do you have planned this Winter?
Is there anything you would add?
- Get in touch!!


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Room on the Broom

Room on the Broom

The Perfect Halloween Story


The witch and her cat fly happily over forests, rivers and mountains on their broomstick until a stormy wind blows away the witch’s hat, bow and wand. They are retrieved by a dog, a bird and a frog, and each animal asks for a ride on the broom. They climb on, one after the next, until the broom is so heavy that it snaps in two! What will happen next as they tumble into a bog and meet a greedy dragon?

 I purchased this book last night in the form of a board book from Sansbury's at a great price of £4. 
I have read this story many times before and it has always been a hit with the children. I was pleased they did a hardboard book version as this is perfect for Little N as she can be a little heavy handed sometimes.

 I've never read this story to a child under the age of 3 years old before however so I wasn't sure how Little N would react to it as she is only currently 23 months old.

 When she first saw the book she was very excited and said "Mommy read it" I sat her on my lap and got ready to read the story. 
I began by showing her the front cover and introducing some new words to her.
- Witch      - Broom      - Cauldron
I encouraged her to repeat the words a few times after me. I then asked her where they were, where she successfully pointed out all 3.

 We spoke about the moon in the sky (which she has a fascination with at the moment), about the star wand in the witches hand and the cat. 
"Hold on tight" I said. "Don't fall" she added.

 The foundation was set. New words were introduced and she was keen to get going.

 I began reading the story, adding in key phrases along the way.
"Oh no! The dog's got the witches hat, give it back please dog!"
"Snap!" Oh dear the broom is broken!"
"Naughty dragon, leave the witch alone!"
I add in these phrases as she will go on to use them independently then when she sits reading the story through pictures to herself.

 It really is a very clever story that you love a little more each time you read it.

 It is a wonderful read especially around this time of year for Halloween.
It features a friendly witch which is great for younger children.
The book flows with the use of rhyming sentences. 
There are some great videos on YouTube to check out, they even have this story on DVD which I am very tempted to purchase!

 Extending:

 I plan to extend this book by adding props that we can use whilst telling the story. 
As well as using them to tell the story, they will be available for Little N to play with independently and familiarise herself with some of the items featured in the story.


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Outdoor Ice Play

Outdoor Ice Play

Outdoor Ice Exploration



Well Little N had Little A round for a play date today. 
I wanted to give the two of them the opportunity to explore new things today.
Here was one of the play invitations I set up.

WARNING - 
Before you read on please please please read this carefully! 
Before giving ANY ice to your children to play with make sure that you swill the ice blocks or cubes under the tap. This begins the melting process which will avoid the ice sticking to their skin! 
This is so so important!!

You will need:

- A variety of containers
- Items to freeze
- Tray
- & of course a freezer



I gathered a variety of small containers together all different shapes and sizes. 
I have plenty of these as I made all my own weaning meals for Little N when she was younger and used these for storage. 

You can get them very cheaply from pound stores and super markets if you don't have many though. 
Time to get creative and start thinking of items to hide in the ice......

I selected green cut up straws, brown twigs, colourful and shiny sequins, shiny pink sweet wrappers, orange pom poms, blue, yellow and red water beads and pipe cleaners.
The list really is endless for this though.
Next time I want to include some sea shells, flowers, pine cones and leaves.

Of course it came to no suprize that Little A and Little N made a B line for this tray.
It was something new and different.
They both explored to begin with with just their fingers tips and looked over for some encouragement.
It was then I stepped in to show them what it was and I briefly told them about what we could see and encouraged them to feel the different textures. 
As this was a new experience for both of them and you could see they were a little hesitant.

They both began to utter the word "ice" well.
Together we all had a look at what we could see and we demonstrated how to take the ice blocks out of their containers, explore the melting blocks with our hands and how to put them back into the containers.
Once they had their introduction to this sensory experience, again I took a step back allowing them to lead their play themselves.

Little N decided to get up and went to walk off but stood still and watched as Little A remained crouched down and began to tip the ice blocks out onto the tray and put them back again. She did this for a few minutes before leaving and becoming distracted with something else.


Little N returned and crouched down. 
She felt the ice with her hands and repeated to herself  "ice it cold".
Little N did a great job at tipping the ice out of the containers. 
She looked down at the tray in amazement as she heard the ice blocks crash down into each other.

She then selected the melting ice block filled with fluffy orange pom poms.

She stood up with it feeling it with her hands. She walked over to me and handed me the ice block. "It cold" she warned me. Little N then went to look at the sensory bottles so I returned the ice block she gave me back to the tray. Little A dashed over taking an interest in what I was doing.


The ice was melting well by this point and some of the objects that had been frozen in the ice had now started protruding. 
This added to the sensory exploration as the blocks were not only cold they were now rough, smooth, crunchy, furry and prickly.

What a fantastic activity for children of all ages!
The learning opportunities here have so many possibilities.

Little A carried on tipping the ice out. I began to stack up the containers.
After playing alongside Little A's lead I once again took a step back.

I watched on as Little A began to un-stack the containers placing them in the puddles on the tray.
She began to place some of the ice back into the containers, tipping them upside down to make them crash back down onto the tray again.

Learning:

- Cause and Effect
- Exploring using senses
- Confident to show they want help and support where needed
- Keen to take part in new experiences
- Puzzles
- Sharing
- Taking turns
- Playing alongside each other

Extention:

I plan to repeat this activity again using some of the same objects but also adding different ones too.

Addition - 

What Can I Freeze?
(Pretty much about anything but here is a list of some more ideas)
- twigs - leaves - conkers - pine cones - shells - pom poms - pasta - rice - water beads
- action figures - small toys - pebbles - lego - octoons - flowers - straw - fruit slices
- feathers - pipe cleaners - sweet wrappers - ribbons


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