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!