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Showing posts with label Winter activities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winter activities. Show all posts
Snowflake Soup Winter Sensory Play

Snowflake Soup Winter Sensory Play


Snowflake Soup. Winter Themed Sensory Play for Kids.

Winter is in full force right now. Lots of people have had snow! We've had a few flurries here in the UK but nothing to get too excited about (there's still time - fingers crossed). Frozen is still very much a firm favourite with the youngsters of today and so these two factors have been inspiring the way we play.

Today we have been very busy making snowflake soup. This activity delighted my preschooler for such a long time! I even popped on the Frozen songs in the background just to add to the activity for her!

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Painting Snow

Painting Snow







































We had a snowy down pour last night while Little N was in bed (typical as she would have loved it), so I was really happy to have woken this morning to a beautiful snow covered garden! Glad it didn't turn to rain and melt. We didn't have much but enough to collect some up in a tray and get creative today indoors.
























Here is what the invitation for play looked like.

You will need:
A set of water color paints
Paint brush
A tray filled with fluffy white snow
Small container of water.






It has been a while since Little N has used water color paints so I has to keep reminding her to use the water on the palette to get the colors to work.











It wasn't long before she started exploring the snow with her hands.
She collected small amounts of the snow and dropped it into the small container.
The color from the water oozed through the snow and she watched on as this happened before  it began dissolving.


It was great to try something different. The snow gave a lovely canvas and was an interesting sensory experience. Looking forward to having more snow so we can do some painting outdoors too.

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Frozen Inspired Sensory Bag

Frozen Inspired Sensory Bag







































We have been exploring different sensory bags lately and I decided to put together a Frozen themed/inspired sensory bag for Little N.

I used blue hair gel to fill the bag. Hair gel is my personal favorite sensory bag filler. It is so therapeutic squishing and squashing the bag, watching the items glide through the cold gel. The smell lingers too so adds to the sensory experience even more.

Inside the gel I added
- Curling Ribbon - cut into small squares
- Silver Glitter
- Blue Pony Beads
- Confetti Snowflakes

 As young as she is Little N joins the rest of the world and is a huge Frozen Fan. This has been her favourite sensory bag to date. She was drawn to the pong beads and kept pushing them around with her finger.

























She held the bag up into the air. Slowly the snowflakes began moving down to the bottom of the bag.
























Little N also explored them on the window. They always look very effective up against the light of outside.

 The Frozen Sensory Bag looked great on our home made light table too!




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Snowflake Playdough

Snowflake Playdough







































We have been getting creative with Snowflake Play dough today.
Using our simple homemade playdough recipe we created sky blue dough, perfect for this activity.
I put out a range of tools and decorations to get creative.

The invitation for play looked like this:





















Little N was eager to get started and began by using some of the tools to begin with.




She enjoyed using the wheel and went back and forth creating wavy patterns in the dough. She picked up an imprinting tool and pushed down hard to create lots of square dots. She then set about rolling out some new dough to create another snowflake.



She started to explore the decorations and began adding lots of textured, sparkly crafts to the snowflakes. They looked great and she was so engrossed when doing this.



Here is a selection of the snowflakes Little N has been busy making today (yes I did have a go at making one too - I couldn't resist!).

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Winters Soup

Winters Soup


We had been on such a lovely family walk in the Wyre Forest, on a very Frosty morning today. Whilst we were out walking Little N was also very busy collecting items in he wicker basket. 
I really do recommend these. They are ideal for young children when out Nature collecting. 
There are so many lovely things you can do with the items you collect and today I share with you..... 

Sensory Winter Soup.

I filled an under bed storage tub with warm water (enough to take the chill off but not too hot for it to start effecting the nature). I had previously washed the items collected, returning them to the wicker basket which I placed at the side of the box. I put the holly to one side and briefly spoke to her about picking them up carefully as they were spiky. She was over to explore.

She carefully picked up what she had collected and added them into the water. She used a large wooden spoon to mix them altogether. She had taken on board what I had said to her about the holly leaves and she picked them up carefully before dropping them into the water. 

As she was picking things up she would say what they were and if she was unsure she asked away.

She used the wooden spoon to stir the 'soup' she kept saying "It's cooking" and "Its not ready yet Mom".

I highlighted there was a bowl to the side and asked if the soup was ready? 
She began to use the spoon to fish out some of the nature and dropped them into the bowl. Using the jug she scooped up the water and poured it into the bowl. She loved doing this! 

She did it over and over again, emptying the bowl back into the big container and creating lots more Winter Soup.

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20 Fun Winter Activities for Preschool

20 Fun Winter Activities for Preschool






Winter is in full swing in the country from the end of November.
The cold winds bite and the trees are now bare.
Thick coats are needed along with woolly hats, scarves and gloves.
Nights sitting in, in front of the fire all snug under warm blankets.

What better way to look into enjoying Winter with your Preschoolers than to do some Wintery activities together?

Here is a list of 25 Preschool activities guaranteed to be lots of fun!!

1) Read a Winter themed story together. Stories really do set a great foundation to anything. Our favourite winter themed story is Snowflakes by Cerrie Burnell. The pictures are beautiful and the story is charming and magical. It has such a touching message - "Every snowflake is different, every snowflake is perfect." Snowflakes by Cerrie Burnell (Amazon Affiliate)

























2) Create a Sensory Box - Sensory Boxes provide hands on learning that stimulate the senses. You can even consider any learning outcomes you wish to work on with your preschooler. From learning to recognise their numbers, spelling, storytelling and hunt and finds this post from One Time Through is full of ideas.

























3) Create a busy bag - Busy bags are activities in a bag that can be transported easily, if you are visiting relatives or going out for a family meal busy bags are great at keeping children amused. They are also great for little activities when you are all at home. It gives the children something to occupy them whilst you busy cooking the tea for example. Sunny Day family have a lovely idea to build a snowman.

























4) Play dough Snowmen - Playdough is great for developing fine motor skills, creating, exploring and imagining. This looks like so much fun and I love how there is lots of materials to add to the dough creating different textures. Multicrafting Mummy share this beautiful post.

























5) Create Textured Art - Make some 3D textured art with your preschooler. Set out an array of different crafty bits and see what they create. Sand in my Toes

























6) Beaded Snowflakes - These look so beautiful and effective! A very simple craft idea that would make pretty decorations for afterwards. The Inspired Tree House




















7) Snowflake Soup - from here at Learning and Exploring Through Play. Does your pre-schooler enjoy playing with water? This is a great activity to set up for them if they do! Will keep them entertained for ages as their imagination flies away with them. Read more.

























8) Sparkly Gel Dough - Wow! This looks so attractive - I would love to explore this one myself! This is created using some simple ingredients. This is definitely on my to do list! In The Playroom




















9) Paint Snow - This is a new one for me but looks like so much fun! What a beautiful, large, white canvas the snow has to offer. Wrap up warm and get out there to express yourself.  Lemon Lime Adventures share a fantastic post on all you need to know for creating snow paint outside.



















Why now have a go at 'painting snow' indoors too? - Kitchen Floor Crafts show us how.

























10) Peppermint Slime - Mama OT share with us a how to make peppermind slime. What a wonderful sensory activity!


















11) Frosted Snowflake Craft - These snowflakes look so effective! A lovely craft using salt crystals, head on over to  My Little 3 and Me to find out more.

























12) Wooden Spool Snowmen - These are just adorable! Cindy O'Brien shares in a guest post on our blog exactly how you can set about making these at home. Read more




















13) Venture outside on a woodland walk. See what signs of winter nature you can find. Can you find any robins flying about? Take some photographs of frosty, iced over pathways, branches and grass.

























14) Create a Winter Wonderland with Snow dough - Gather up your favourite characters for some small world play. Love Play and Learn

























15) Popsickle Sticks Snowflakes - Endless design opportunities. Pint Sized Treasures

























16) Ice in a Balloon - One all the ice is set in the balloon, remove the balloon and explore the melting ice. This post gives you lots of ideas for talking points with your preschooler.  Science Sparks
























17) Paint Robins with your feet - Robins can be spotted all around this time of year. Be sure to be pointing them out where you can. This is a lovely idea from Messy Little Monster.


























18) Create Bird Feeders from here at Learning and Exploring Through Play -
This post will suprize you at just how easy these are to make! Teach your preschooler all about looking after local wildlife. Hang them outside and see how many birds you can spot enjoying your creations. Read more




















19) Make a snowman sensory bag - Adventures of Adam
Very simple activity with shaving foam in a bag. Stimulating touch and with no mess! 


















20) Create Ice Art, this beautiful ice art is great to make for any season! - What do we do all day
There we have it - a round up of 20 fun winter activities for your preschooler.




















21) Create a Winter Nature Basket. - Learning and Exploring Through Play.
Enjoy a Walk together and get out collecting Nature for a Basket to explore at home.




















22) Enjoy Winter Soup - Learning and Exploring Through Play
A wonderful sensory opportunity for some water play, creating some delicious Winter Soup.




















23) Snowflake Playdough - Learning and Exploring Through Play
Snowflake crafts and activities are so appealing to me and this one was enjoyed by my toddler so much!

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