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June 30th, 2007
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We’ve just moved from a small rural village in Europe to a mid sized town in the US- suburbia. So our usual walk with the kids has changed.
I was a bit thrown I must admit the first few times we walked. My big guy and I just looked and listened. I would highly recommend that.
One our first walks, we noticed all sorts of things like planes (F-16s) , utility boxes ( they look different in Europe) the weather changes in minutes from bright sunshine to snow….no change there.No birds song, rustling leaves or church bells. But steeper hills, huge drains and lots of cars to count and guess the colour before we could see.
We found a lovely hill to sit and watch the day go by.
We bring stories, sing songs, count cars and try to predict whether they are turning left, right or going straight.
It’s a great view!
***********What do you do on your walk? ****************
If you don’t record them you’ll forget them.
Try this simple easy and cheap hour of fun!
So here is my son’s current favourite play activity. Running away from the crocodiles whoops that should read crocodimes ( pronounced croco- dime-es)
He had been drawing forever. We have a huge pile of papers. He let me reuse his drawings as stepping stones. Very environmentally friendly son. Thanks!
I set him the challenge of crossing the shark infested sea to get to the dry land without being eaten. He changed the story to crocodimes as these are his favorite chasing thing to be scared and running away from….other than monsters.
Here he is balancing on a sheet of construction paper A4 size……about to enter infested waters. Little brother tore up junk mail paper to keep himself amused so they became the crocs on the move.
He felt the boats had to touch…
Little brother still manufacturing ‘crocs’
Jumping…
… after some time…..
He made it!
The next picture should have been the leap to safety but little brother came to claim the boats as crocodiles. I had to make the mad dash over and that was that!
This kept us all amused for over half an hour.
He hopped, jumped, leaped, added more stepping stones, tried to go faster and then finally wanted to race me. His brother made a huge pile of crocodiles that filled the floor and just stepped on these. I had the feeling he was looking at us both and thinking…..you just have to do this it’ s much easier.
Other things to do
- make the paper smaller than A4
- have team races with play dates or family
- Try strips (rectangles) instead of squares
- play a song and see if you can get across before the song finishes
- make the infested area smaller/bigger over obstacles like cushions (mountains) etc
Before you throw away that paper, junk mail, flyer or your umpteenth bit of art from your little one- Challenge them to a crocodime race! You’ll have a lot of fun and laughter!
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June 19th, 2007
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“We need to start talking about a learning entitlement for every child from the moment it’s born -not fritter away money when the damage is already done and it’s too late… Early intervention, in my view, will be the domino that sets the others falling and brings together the major initiatives on social inclusion.”
Michael White, Aberdeenshire Director of Education, national conference in Edinburgh, September 1999
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Database/earlyyears.html
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June 14th, 2007
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Today, I’m excited that we are starting a series of articles written by the talented Elaine from littlesheeplearning.co.uk. Elaine also writes a blog that has news from Littlesheep Learning and the wider world of education and learning. She’s also featured in the free play-activities.com daily play activity emails
Sensory play is a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy trying some of these activities with your little ones and are inspired to find out more.
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Sensory play an introduction
Sensory play 2 sight
Sensory Play 3 Smell
Sensory play 4 sound
Future: Sensory play 6 Touch
Sensory Play Part 1 Introduction: What is Sensory Play?
Sensory play is currently seen as one of the key areas of play for babies and young children and a crucial part of their development. Sensory play is play that involves the use of one or more of the five senses, touch, sight, smell, taste and hearing.
Our senses are our guide through the world around us and for babies and young children they provide endless opportunity for fascinating discovery. Simply gazing at a colourful toy, hearing a bird sing, smelling a flower, tasting a juicy orange or touching a furry soft toy are all opportunities for sensory learning about the world. Young children learn best when they can experience new things with all of their senses; they need to see, hear, feel, touch, smell, and sometimes even taste a learning material in order to really understand it fully. As parents and educators, it is our responsibility to provide sensory opportunities to aid our children’s learning.
The use of sensory materials provides opportunities for self-directed and guided play to encourage a variety of different skills to develop. Through the manipulation of materials – pouring, moulding, lifting, carrying and sorting children will improve their fine and gross motor skills. Child led play with novel materials will help the development of creative skills. Self-confidence will increase as children master what they are trying to achieve and they will develop socially as they learn to share materials and increase their vocabulary. Children will develop their cognitive skills through sensory play by observation, experimentation, the formulation of solutions to problems and manipulation of the sensory materials. Sensory play also gives the opportunity for learning colours, counting, sequencing, sorting, constructing and much more besides.
Recently, sensory play has become synonymous with messy play. This series of articles aims to give a variety of activities to help sensory play be about exploring using the senses rather than making a mess. There will be five more articles with activity ideas for sight, smell, sound, taste and touch.
To challenge your senses until the next article here are a few activities – one for each of the five senses to keep you busy:
- Sight pull faces in a mirror
- Smell sniff some smelly soaps
- Sound “play with musical instruments
- Taste bake some yummy biscuits
- Touch“ share a touchy feely book
Sensory play does not have rules to follow and the possibilities are endless – get your little one’s eyes, noses, ears, tongues and fingers busily involved in playtime and discover a learning experience that is fun for everyone!
Elaine Lambe
Educational consultant
Elaine trained as an Occupational Therapist before working with children with autism on home based early intervention programmes. Through her work in the home she helped parents to support their child’s learning, implemented behaviour plans and assisted with teaching self help skills for example toilet training, self-feeding and dressing. She has also had experience of supporting children with special educational needs in mainstream schools, adapting the curriculum to make it accessible to them. After the birth of her first child, Elaine started Littlesheep Learning – www.littlesheep-learning.co.uk – an online store with an ever-growing range of teaching and learning materials for everyone who wants to help their children reach their potential.
**What sensory play ideas do you do already? Share them with us. Write a comment **
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