Paint & Glitter

I have always said to parents, "if you don't like the mess of paint and glitter, then leave this activity to when your child is at daycare or playgroup!" But after visiting a friend I was inspired to try this at home myself, I have been a bit reluctant until now as was waiting for Monnie's need to taste everything to pass (which lessens from around 15 months). 

This morning we had a great time with paint and glitter and I must admit the clean up wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! Bottom right photo is Monnie using baby sign to ask for more! She loved it!

Recycle Cards

Today we practiced sticking so I cut pictures out of old birthday cards and Monnie tried to use the glue and stick the picture to her paper!

I used the hand over hand teaching approach to help her put the glue on the picture, she loves to pat the picture down to make her masterpiece! 

Ice Balls

Further on from yesterday's post I made ice balls. I filled balloons with water and froze overnight. They worked great! Little hands explored the cold ice and we we added water and watched them melt. They enjoyed trying to pick up the treasure inside. 

Highly recommend for these warm weather days to cool down! 

Ice Eggs

Today I filled two balloons up with water and added a few blueberries for Monnie to discover inside. 

I froze the balloon balls for a few hours (as a bit of an experiment so they would be hard on outside but soft in middle, like an egg). Monnie then played with the balloon balls and was able to pop them, giving her a surprise of ice cold water and blueberries inside to reveal the egg. She quickly scooped up each blueberry to eat and then played with the ice egg until we turned the game into water play adding more water and toys. I'm going to try this again and let the balls freeze overnight for a slower melt but the element of surprise made it fun today! 

Ice Search

We started by adding ice to the bowl, then milk bottle tops, some large wooden beads and pegs. Our toddler stirred the items to make a soup, then it turned into a game with our 5yr old. We asked questions like, "can you find the blue bead?" The coldness of the ice made it a fun surprising sensation as she searched for the item. Our toddler continued to put her hands in and look for items too. We would then talk about the colour, shape and size of item before having another turn. 

This activity helps to develop fine motor skills and teach shapes and colours. It also entertained us on a rainy morning!

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!