If you follow us and the arts and crafts we get up to and share - you will know by now that we have a thing for suncatchers. Over the last year (now Little N is a bit older) we have made rainbows, earths, flags, stars and today we are sharing with you a really cool Pumpkin Suncatcher! 

We love our keepsakes here at Learning and Exploring Through Play and we have enjoyed making a few of them over the last year. Today we are here to share a wonderful keepsake that is great for Autumn.

A great way to put smiles on your nearest and dearests faces.
Why not send to your little ones friends houses through the post?

We have been busy making some keepsakes over the last week or so. Did you see the large foot print and hand print keepsake we shared with you yesterday? If you missed it you can see it here. In addition to the large keepsake we have also created some adorable thumb print pumpkin magnets.

'It's the most wonderful time of the year!'

The weather is cooling, the wooly jumpers are coming out, hot chocolate and delightful Autumn colours and treasures are in abundance! Ohh isn't it just lovely! 
I love all the Autumn celebrations coming up too!! Halloween being one of them!! 

Love Sensory Play? - So do we!! 

Preschoolers are so inquisitive. They notice the smallest of details. They are interested, eager to learn and they LOVE hands on activities that allow them to explore.
Sensory Bins are always a fun way to introduce new topics and to develop interests. They are a great talking point. You can really learn a lot about your children by taking a step back and watching the way they use the materials and how they interact and play with their peers.
We have created a handful of them now and look forward to making lots more over the coming year. 

If you are looking for some new fun Halloween ideas for children - you are in the right place! Today we are going to share with you an Art session we had printing using water balloons.

This was a new activity here at Learning and Exploring through Play. I blew up 4 'water bomb' balloons. They are a perfect size for little hands. I used a tray and created patterns of oranges, yellows, greens and I even added some golden glitter glue.

























What a beautiful invitation for play, don't you agree?

Little N used Pumpkin Print outs today.



She dipped the balloon into the paint and began printing right away. The prints looked very effective! When enough paint was on the balloon they created lovely circular patterns.

She really enjoyed dunking the balloon into the colourful paint.
It wasn't long before Little N got some on her hands and then the balloons started getting very slippery to hold. Little N found this very funny. She began painting using her hands too. Again this looked effective, and it was allowing Little N to be creative as she wished. As more and more paint made its way onto Little N's hands it became impossible for her to grasp the balloons in her hand. "Oh dear use fingers" she said. She then rubbed her hands together, spreading out the paint and began hand printing on the pumpkins.

She enjoyed swishing her hands around in the paint, mixing the colours together. She did several sheets of pumpkins pictures. Once she was finished I hung up the paintings to dry.

I will be using the pumpkin paintings Little N has created today to create some homemade Halloween Party Invitations.

Learning:
- Colour Recognition
- Fine Motor Control
- Exploring using the senses
- Keen to try new things
- Problem Solving
- Expressing with Art
- Exploring new ways of doing things
- Confidence
- Knowing help is on hand

Extending:
Continue to paint using a range of different methods.













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I am such a fan of fairy lights! In fact I want to let you into a little secret....
I keep at least one set of fairy lights up in my home all year round!! They make me feel cosy, and their warm white lights give off such a welcoming ambiance! I have a set above my patio doors at the moment. I love having a cup of tea (....or hot chocolate) in the dining room once the little one is tucked away in bed, all the chores are done and I can just have 10 minutes to zone out and chill out!!  The little fairy lights give me that 'peace at last' feeling. Anyway I am here to share with you another activity we have been enjoying with all the Nature we collected on our Nature Walks over the weekend. We were so happy with how the Nature Jars turned out that I got out the Light Box for Little N. 

Today we welcome Clare to Learning and Exploring Through Play. She stops by to share with us the fabulous seaside small world she recently created for her Toddler.
Hello I am Clare and I live in Norfolk. I am a busy working Mother of 5 lovely children. My eldest four are all teenagers now so I know how very quickly they grow up! Our youngest is 2 and a half at the moment, so I am busy making the most of his Toddler years. I know how soon they'll be gone and then who will I play with?
We love messy play and I always have one project or another going on for Roman. From Papier Mache pumpkin costumes to huge elephant sculptures taking over the living room, (my poor husband).
I’ve only very recently discovered the world of Tuff Trays, and I’m now hooked! I have gone completely tuff tray crazy and me and my little boy love it!