Water beads - observing and reporting

Water beads have been used for sensory play for a few years now. I only just recently got some off eBay.

I didn't want Lumpy just to play with them. I wanted her to to watch the process - observe what was happening and report and discuss what was happening.

At 4 different stages she looked at the beads, told me what was changing and then did a drawing of what she saw.
before we started i asked her what she thought would happen "they will shrunk"

She really loved this activity!

Science! inflate a balloon

Lumpy is really into how and why things happens (and also dinosaurs) at the minute.
So I figured we could do this simple experiment - inflating a balloon with the gas (carbon dioxide) created from the reaction of vinegar (acid) and baking soda (base) mixing together.

Marble run

Lumpy had seen a marble run getting made and wanted to try and make one.

So we collected inside of toilet rolls and wrapping paper. Some sticky tape and marbles.

It took a few adjustments to get the marbles to go along the run (had a few fly off the first couple attempts, had them get stuck on a few more).

Eventually we problem solved how to get a smooth run and she played with it for ages... We will get out of out PJ's sometime today ;)

A little something i've been working on.

Introducing a little sister for Lumpy. 2.0 was born 12 June.

More busy bags for 3-5 yr age group

Here are a few more busy bags I have made for Lumps.

Placing the correct number of buttons on each card - helps with counting and fine motor picking and placing the buttons

Making a fish, has everything she needs (except the stapler for the tail)

Place the pegs with the matching colour on the paint card in the same pattern/on the pen line.

Very simple find a word puzzle (plenty of websites let you create your own - including size and words

Making butterflies! there are 2 paper plates, 2 pipe cleaners and plenty os sequins and other sparky things to glue on.

Fine motor skills and number activity

Being on maternity leave, I have so much more time to organise and research activities. Lumpy asked for a "quiet time activity" so I set up a simple peg and pom pom activity to work on her fine motor skills. I thought this would be to simple to just move from one container to the next, so I made it into a math game. I was surprised that she actually had some trouble with the smaller pom poms, The large orange ones were fine - so I limited the number of those she would need to move .

We set out 4 different sized pom poms - one size to a container, mixed colours (except orange was the only colour we have for large). Used silicon bake moulds to transfer the pom pom to. Did a mix of "instructions"

All ready to start

Counting out the number of dots so she can put the right number of pom poms.

If the tongue is out, things are serious! she needed to use 2 hands a few times, often one hand would hold the pom pom while the other worked the peg.

working on her "math" instruction 4 blue + 3 pink = 7 pom poms.

After the number activity, we matched up the pom pom sizes. I will be doing this again, she really got frustrated with this activity when she started struggling to open and close the peg.

Lumpy gets a special room mate!

FIRSTLY - happy 100th post!!!!! I have wanted to make a fairy garden for a while, however with a dog and chickens it would have been dug up in no time. The front yard is unfenced so not safe for any kid related fun. After much thought and planning I decided to make a fairy yard and door to attach to the wall in Lumpy's room.
We had some left over tiles from when the hour was built, It was a really cheap option and I think it looks pretty good.
She woke this morning and came and asked
                                                                        'Mum, did you make this?'
                                                       'What is it?, no I didn't make it'

                   'MUM it's FAIRYLAND and a fairy house in my bedroom and I love it! 

Aquarium bridge, toad stools (ebay) and some glass stones (cheap store)

the door (ebay) i painted pale purple (purple is sometimes Lumpy's fav colour)

I also added a dolls house chair (ebay). I added a little glitter (fairy dust) to the bridge.

Lumpy is absolutely in love with her fairy land, it is all we have heard about since she woke up and I am sure the Kindy teacher will hear all about it today.