Coloured Rice Play

It's a rainy Friday so we are making coloured rice! Distribute rice into small snap lock bags, add 1tsp white vinegar & choice of food colouring to each bag, snap lock and let little hands help to mix the rice and colour for the start of a sensory experience. 

We are now waiting for the rice to dry on newspaper to play with it later today! 

After a couple of hours, the rice is dry and ready:

Posting Play

We used several different size shapes (milk bottle tops, pasta shapes and lids), we then posted into different size containers. This activity assists with brain development through cross patterning and transferring of objects, and through learning about size and space. Music was made as objects were tipped out and shaked. As the objects were picked up and dropped the fine muscles of the fingers developed and the little mind was entertained! 

Feathers - a cleaner messy play!

You can find colourful feathers at your local craft/sewing type shop and with the furry tickly texture these are a fantastic sensory experience for little hands. 

We used different containers to put (and tip out) them in, we blew kisses off our hands with the feathers, covered different body parts in feathers and Monnie generally carried them around with her while playing. As feathers fall they move slowly so excellent for developing eye tracking skills and as little hands pick the feathers up fine motor skills are developing, so essentially feathers help build the foundations for reading and writing!

Snow!

We are coming into a NZ summer, but the otherside of the world is coming into winter, so you can use this activity to teach what the snow might be like in all those Christmas Carols! 

Pour baking soda into a tray, add shaving cream slowly as you mix the two ingredients together (I made up ratio but probably used about 200g baking soda to 1/4 cup shaving cream). Check consistency to be crumbly and "snow like." 

We then sprinkled the snow, built a snowman, played with ping pong balls in snow and sang "Let it Snow." We did this indoors as raining outside today but it did make quite a mess which the vacuum cleaner soon dealt with!

Shaving Foam Messy Play

Monnie at 14 months didn't really like the texture (or taste!) of shaving foam. She preferred to use the utensils and cups to play, but when we added colour it made it a more magical experience for her and one I definitely recommend for you to take outside! 

Next time I'm going to add Baking Soda to the shaving foam to make snow! 

Skittles

Inspired by some friends who went ten-pin bowling recently we jazzed up toilet rolls with wrapping paper before setting them up as skittles and rolling the ball to knock them over! 

However the reality with a 14 month old was she preferred to play with them and eat them over a game of bowling but she did try picking them up, threw the ball a couple of times and then she wore them as a necklace (the skittles made for a threading activity too). We will try this game again soon and eventually she will learn how it goes! 

Lavender Playdough

Inspired by my sister-in-law & niece this week, they have chopped up some gorgeous lavender and sprinkled it into their playdough mixture. A fantastic way for the senses to explore. Playing will be an even more relaxing experience as the smell of lavender is released as you roll and move the playdough about. 

Adding lavender flowers to the playdough has made a lovely arrangement, it looks so pretty!

Can't wait to try this with Monnie!

Messy Play Options

Monnie has cloud dough, water play & small ball play to choose from, this allows her sense of curiosity to develop as she chooses what she would like to play with. For me, I sit back and observe! 

By the end of the session she has combined all three plays together and I've been able to sit back and relax! In order to do this you need to trust your child to play without interfering. It's been incredible to see Monnie use some of the play we have done together but extend her own learning. For example she has got in and out of the water (without sitting down), stirred and poured the water, posted balls in the jug and then back into the water, picked up the cloud dough and sprinkled it into the water, and she has also come over to me, take my hat on and off before heading back to play!  

Milk Bottle Top Lei (Manawatu Lei)

My Mum inspired this recycled toy. 

Start collecting your milk bottle tops, ask friends for theirs! Drill a hole in each milk bottle top and then thread onto a ribbon or shoe lace. (You may need to burn the ends slightly to stop fraying and this will also make the end of ribbon easier for threading). 

The Milk Bottle Top Lei makes a musical instrument as the bottle tops shake about, is excellent for fine motor development as the milk bottle tops are pulled off the ribbon (and as your child develops their fine motors skills further they can try threading the bottle tops back on to the ribbon). It is also fun for your toddler to try and put over their head and wear as a necklace, in our house this is known as Monnie's Manawatu Lei (being from a dairy farm, the name stuck). 

Ball Drop - Our Creation

My turn to make a Ball Drop. I started out by cutting and pasting (with a Royal theme) but Monnie's Dad was the real talent behind this creation. 

He used a coffee cup, coffee cup holder, toilet rolls, a paper towel roll and a drink bottle to make this! So far so good with some giggles (from Monnie) as the ball drops, the wider cup at top makes posting easier for her too! 

Ball Drop

I love it when a friend shows me her creative play idea, so I just had to share! Using a box as the base, tape on some toilet rolls and then let a ball drop (or any small object) from the top! This has been taped to a window for support, it probably took less than a few mins to make but can be played with for hours! 

Cloud Dough

Today we made Cloud Dough - which feels amazing! Simply take 4 cups of flour, add 1/2 a cup of baby oil and mix together. You will have a light fluffy mouldable dough for little hands to explore! Tip: take this messy play outside, the flour goes everywhere! 

Silky Sand

Today we covered sand in dishwashing liquid, added a little water and mixed it together with our hands to make a soapy, silky sand. Silky sand has a soft and frothy texture, it has a lovely feel to it that makes you just want to keep touching it! 

I think next time I will add glitter to make it sparkle! 

Baby Massage

Monnie is now 13 months old and I have the privilege of giving her a massage every night after her bath. We started this at around 2 weeks old. I have always made sure I save 5-10 minutes of her bath time to do this. It was hard when she started to roll and crawl (to keep her still) but her snuggly and a musical mobile (found on trade-me) helped her to focus and relax. It was also my persistence and keeping the routine going that eventually saw us through. 

This is my favourite part, seeing her lay on her tummy in complete relaxation. If you haven't given your baby/toddler a massage lately, give it a try. Through repetition and practice it will become a routine you will both find relaxing and enjoy. I hope it's a routine that will last throughout her childhood and beyond! 

Flower Salad

We went for a short walk and picked some colourful flowers to explore. Dad dressed Monnie today and her floral top inspired this activity, I love flowers and want to share this interest with Monnie. 

We talked about the size, shape and colour of each flower (I need to learn names), we smelt the flowers (Monnie tasted as she pleased), we picked off the petals, tipped the flowers out of tray (and then put them back into the containers), played dress up with the flowers (did you know a pohutakawa makes a good brush?) and let the flowers fall from different heights. 

The result was a colourful flower salad! 

Rainy Day Activity Box

Today I was about to throw a box out but after a scavenge around we made this activity box! 

This box has an envelope full of feathers for posting into hole on top, a ribbon is stapled on so little hands can untie the bow, there is bubble wrap for texture and stickers for colour. 

It's a box of fun for a one year old and I'm sure it will evolve over next few days as we keep adding bits and bobs to it! 

Wibble Wobble Jelly Play

I made the different colour jellies (pink, green, yellow, purple) the night before and let them set in silicon cupcake cups, then using a deep oven tray we explored the different textures of the jelly together. We stirred, tipped, picked and mushed the jelly with utensils & our fingers. We sang: 

"Jelly on a plate, jelly on a plate, wibble wobble, wibble wobble, jelly on a plate."

It was hard not to lick my fingers as I reminded Monnie "this isn't to eat but for play"! 

Colour Water Play

A couple of drops of pink and blue food colouring, a little water, some bubble bath, a paint brush and a bath toy = today's water play!