Valentines Creation Station. Arty Hearty

Jan 31, 2013

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We're not huge on Valentine's Day here but where there's an opportunity to get creative and entertain the kids, we'll take it.

I set up a simple Creation Station for my daughter and that's it. 
The rest is up to her...


Ages: 2+
(M has currently just turned 4. See the handy tips at the bottom to see how to simplify or extend to meet your child's needs)

Materials: Cardboard heart cut-outs (I pre-cut these from recycled cardboard), oil pastels, cut-up coloured paper squares, glue, sequins, hole-punch and washi/patterned tape.
(Aussies, the tape is difficult to find. The dotty ones are more fabric-like and I found them at a $2 shop and the fluro ones are from Micador and are at Big W and Officeworks. I've seen other varieties at Spotlight too)



Some of the recycled cardboard had large ridges. She was drawn to those before the other hearts.
(Use an opportunity like this to use new and descriptive language. In context it will help your child to learn)



Other than assisting to cut off some of the bits of tape (the dotty fabric type tape was too tricky for her to rip off or cut) she worked away unaided and was a constant flurry of activity.



She'd not touched the hole-punch so I couldn't resist



Suddenly, this needed to be hole-punched (haha)



A good hour of work



Affixing the hearts to various parts of the house was enjoyed by her as much (if not more) than even decorating the hearts in the first place.




On her own she rolled out some of the tape and stuck all the hearts along it in a line, stuck it on the wall, and was done.



Handy Tips

- Simplify this activity by providing materials that your child will be able to manipulate on their own. Some simple sticking and pasting or colouring with oil pastels is a nice place to start

- Extend this activity by introducing new and varied materials for use decorating the hearts. Whilst allowing the child their own creativity, you could still challenge them to come up with a variety of different mixed media pieces.

- Use whatever materials you have on hand and repeat with different combinations of materials for different results

- Talk with you child about what they are doing and experiencing to help them consolidate and understand the processes they are going through and the experiences they are having.

- Mix it up by challenging your child to join their hearts together using nothing sticky at all. Provide some more varied materials like string, cardboard for cutting etc and watch them problem solving and investigating.



Here's some more ways from us to get creative
(click the picture to go to the post)
  playdough activity, open ended, sensory activity

  kids activities, DIY kids room decor, kids craft


Happy playing,
Debs :)

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10 Fun Valentines Activities for Learning

Jan 29, 2013

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Welcome to this weeks TUESDAY TOTS 

This Week:
Learn with Play at home is featuring

Valentines Activities
(all with added learning!)

(if you missed it, we featured Sensory Play Ideas!)



FEATURED

This week we had a ton of great activities linked up to Tuesday Tots. Among them were a number of great Valentines Activities for kids.
I had a browse through them all and picked 10 of my favourites that include areas of learning.



1) Valentines Message in a Bottle. Great for practicing letter writing by Frogs & Snails & Puppydog Tails

2) Candy Hearts Writing Bath. A fun way to get clean and practice your letter writing and reading in the tub by In Lieu of Preschool

3) 10 Valentines Literacy Activities. A great collection of ways to incorporate Early Literacy and Valentines by Reading Confetti

4) Valentines Mail Box. Get crafty and creative and make somewhere to inspire letter writing by Sparkle and Splatter

5) Felt Envelope Pattern. Now your letters will have the cutest valentines felt envelopes to use over and over again by Just for Daisy





6) Heart Weaving. A great way to practice fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and creativity by Niccola on Tuesday

7) Fine Motor Valentines Craft. Here's a great simple craft for developing fine motor skills by Mama OT

8) Valentines Sensory Bin. I loved this super sweet, rice Valentines themed sensory bin by Mama Miss

9) Graphing and Sorting with Candy Hearts. Have some maths fun with Candy Hearts by Fireflies and Mudpies

10) Colourful Heart Fun Learn more about colours with this fun activity and see other ways they incorporated learning into Valentines Activities by The Educators Spin on It


Congratulations if you were featured!  Feel free to grab a featured button.
(click the link to go to the page with the Tuesday Tots feature buttons)



-----------------------------------

Here is your chance to link up your posts for children 5 and under. 

Remember to check back on all the great ideas that are linked up weekly. We had over 160 activities linked last week!

Who knows, perhaps next week you will be featured.

(please read the guidelines before linking up)



Happy playing,
Debs :)

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Counting & Make 10 with Egg Cartons. Playful Maths

Jan 25, 2013


I am absolutely thrilled to be introducing you to a new weekly series called "Playful Maths"


Together with the fabulous Anna, from The Imagination Tree, we will be bringing you a whole host of 
fun, hands-on maths using everyday materials.

Each week you will find a Playful Maths activity on both Learn with Play at home and The Imagination Tree so be sure to keep checking back for all our upcoming fun!

We'll also be pinning them all to our Playful Maths Pinterest Board

Together, let's make MATHS FUN!


........................................


To kick off our series we are starting with the readily available, egg carton!



Today's activity focuses on "Making 10
(An important skill where children learn about the combinations of numbers that make up the number 10. This is helpful for mental maths & is necessary down the track to aid with addition, subtraction... etc.

This activity includes counting, one-to-one correspondence, addition and fine motor skill practice.

We also used this activity to practice number recognition and number writing
and found it was good for subitizing/subitising as well. 


Ages: 3+
(M has just turned 4. See the bottom for handy tips to Extend or Simplify to meet your child's needs)


Materials: Egg Carton (standard 1 dozen), Pompoms (or counters, buttons, playdough..etc), Scissors. 
Paper and markers (optional)



Directions: Cut off 2 of the egg sections to leave 10 compartments. Provide 10 of each colour pompom.


Start by having your child count the spaces to see how many "eggs" they can fit in.


When she discovered there were 10 spaces I wrote the number 10, a dot representation of it (good for subitising & number combinations) and the word on a piece of paper to help consolidate the connections between the number and symbols.

Let children fill the egg carton with 10 pompoms. 
Encourage them to use as many of each colour as they'd like.



When the carton is full, ask "How many purple pompoms are there?"
"How many yellow pompoms are there?"
How many pompoms all together?



I was going to write the number sentences for her as she made them but she insisted on doing it herself.
I provided a number chart so that she could see the number and attempt to copy it.


Then, repeat. How many different combinations can they find?
Great for fine motor skills too.


Not long after using 6 purple pompoms & 4 yellows to make 10, she ended up doing 4 purple & 6 yellows. This was amazing to her! "4 and 6 make 10 AND 6 and 4 make 10!!" she kept saying. 


She then had to test if the previous combination of 1 purple and 9 yellow would also translate to 9 purple and 1 yellow. It did! She was very pleased about this discovery.
(and you can imagine my delight) :)



We kept going until she'd had enough (which was when we'd made all the combinations you can do with 2 colours). After figuring out that the end result was the same whether it was 6 and 4 or 4 and 6 and testing it again with the 1 and 9, she was convinced that she didn't need to test it out for the other combinations and she "knew" that they made 10 too.

Here she was reading her number sentences. We talked about what the + and = symbols meant as well as their technical name. As she read over her sentences (consolidating the learning), sometimes she would say 6 plus 4 equals 10 and other times, 6 and 4 make 10, or 6 and 4 is 10. I was more than happy with her demonstrating her understanding in this way.

Occasionally she did get confused about the symbols when she tried to use the technical name and would say "equals" when reading a +. Like any language, this is just something she'll get over time from repeat exposure. At this age the understanding of what it means is far more important than the correct terminology but I think there's no harm in letting them know the correct words as well.

Her finished Make 10, number sentences. (she asked me to write a few of the numbers)

This to her is so much more valuable then any number chart I could buy her. 
Why? Because SHE made it. It makes sense to her. 
(she's even realised that by writing her 0 so close to the 1 she is confusing herself when reading it as it looks like a backwards 9 (or a P) haha)


I'm a visual person so couldn't help myself making this little number 10 representation picture.
(and sneakily.. there's 100 there too)



Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by providing the carton and manipulatives for kids to play around with and leave out the number writing. You could write the numbers for your child or could even provide number stickers or magnetic numbers for them to find the corresponding number to amount.

- Extend this activity by challenging children to find every combination they can with 2 colours. Have them guess before making. Children can also make their own number 10 representation poster. 
Try adding an extra colour. What combinations can be made then?

- Mix it up by using playdough to mold egg shapes  instead of using pompoms or buttons etc

- To learn new skills and to consolidate their understanding, children need to experience opportunities to practice these skills over and over again. Repeat this activity with different colours, manipulatives etc.

maths for kids, number activity
- You don't have to use pompoms. Whatever you have available, so long as you have at least 10 of each colour, is fine!

- Here is a previous fun maths activity we shared using Egg Cartons. Click the picture to go to the post.

- Don't forget to pop over to The Imagination Tree to see their Egg Carton Maths activity from this week and be sure to stop back next week as together we bring you another 2 fun Playful Maths activities with Egg Cartons.



Happy playing,
Debs :)




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Sensory Play Ideas

Jan 22, 2013

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Welcome to TUESDAY TOTS 

This Week:
Learn with Play at home is featuring

Sensory Play Ideas

(if you missed it, we featured 5 ideas for Learning with Play)




FEATURED

We love sensory play. It's a fabulous way for children to learn more about the environment around them while connecting with their senses. 
We found a whole bunch of super fun Sensory Play Ideas on last weeks Tuesday Tots and just had to share them with you.




The ABCs of Sensory Play by Creative Playhouse






3 Ocean Themed Sensory Bins by Learning and Growing the Piwi Way

Alphabet Sensory Activity by Creative Learning Fun


Exploring Marshmallows with the 5 Senses by Fantastic Fun and Learning

Rainbow Noodles by Miss Courtney meets Bobo


Congratulations if you were featured!  Feel free to grab a featured button.



Here are a few sensory play ideas for you to browse from us.
(Click on the picture to take you to the post)
cloud dough recipe. how to make cloud dough   

crushed water beads, letter activity    

If you enjoyed this post, please spare a second to give me a vote in the "TOP 25 Creative Moms". 
Just click the badge below and click "vote" on Learn with Play at home. Thanks!


-----------------------------------

Here is your chance to link up your posts for children 5 and under. 

Remember to check back on all the great ideas that are linked up weekly by Kid Bloggers worldwide.

Who knows, perhaps next week you will be featured.

(please read the guidelines before linking up)



Happy playing,
Debs :)

Look where else we are :)
New Here? Subscribe to get all activities sent directly to you
Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Check out our Newest PLAY collaborative!
The P.L.A.Y Group
(click the pic to go follow our pinterest board)

Continue reading...