Make a beautiful nature scene using materials found on a nature walk.

This activity has a few elements to it that can extend it to an all day activity! From a nature walk, to flower pressing, to pasting and creating. This should keep them busy (and learning) for quite some time.

Off on a nature walk to find and collect items for our picture

 To press any flowers you might want to use, lay between 2 sheets of baking paper (or any paper) and weight down with a pile of books. Leave overnight if you can but otherwise just press them flat to use right away.

 Set out your materials so they are easily seen and accessed by your child.

 Talk about all the materials you've collected. The different colours of leaves, the different texture of the bark etc.

 "The bark is curling. It's tricky to paste"      "I have to hold it down to make it stay stuck!"

Pasting with different elements provides different challenges and thought processes for children.

Problem solving: "I need a LOT of glue to make it stick"

All done

Some tips:

- We used a piece of cardboard to create our nature scene on as paper would be too flimsy with the heavy materials

- Simplify this activity by letting your child stick their collected nature objects however they want on the page. It doesn't have to be a nature scene. Just trying to get some of the objects to stick to the page will be challenging enough.

- Extend this activity by focusing on all the different elements of the nature objects such as the different textures and colours. Were the dried items easier to stick than the fresh items?

- Make your child aware of the problem solving they are doing. "How are you going to get the bark to stay stuck to the page?" "Holding it down for a while was a great idea to get it to stick" etc

- Remember to talk with your child about what they are doing. This will help them understand the physical and mental processes they are going through as well as giving them the vocabulary to describe it.

- This activity can be repeated time and time again with a different end result each time. Mix around and change some of the materials each time to inspire new ideas


Debs :)

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Sushi rolls are a favourite food for my daughter and I. She has been eating it since she was very young and I'm happy that she loves it because it's healthy as well as yummy!

Here, she demonstrates how kids can make their own sushi rolls at home (with a little help from mum).

(Note: You will need specialist ingredients as well as a bamboo mat to roll the sushi. See "Some tips:" below the pictures for more details)

 Lay out the ingredients on a clear bench so they can be seen an accessed by your child easily

Put the sushi rice (short grain rice with rice vinegar) on your nori seaweed 

 Spread it out over the seaweed

 Lay your toppings down in a line in the centre of the rice

 When she was done, I was required to help roll it up

Lunch time. Time to eat! Yum

Some tips:

- When you buy the "yaki nori for sushi" (seaweed sheets), the back of the packet will have instructions on how to make the sushi rice and the best way to make the sushi rolls.

- We used tuna, avocado and cucumber for our filling this time. You can use whatever your child likes.

- Talk about all the steps involved with making sushi with your child before they start making it.

- As they make it, focus on one step at a time and any processes involved with that step.

- Simplify this activity by spreading the rice on the seaweed yourself and letting your child put the toppings on.

- Extend this activity by letting your child attempt all the steps and processes independently, including preparing the toppings, making the rice and rolling the sushi! (This bit can be hard for adults so some help might be needed for a while until they are competent. Remember that practice makes perfect!)


- Include the correct vocabulary for the techniques, ingredients etc when talking to your child to help extend their vocabulary and understanding

- Makes great party food!

Debs :)

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Using the popular children's song "Elephants Balancing" as our inspiration, we create an easy but super cute picture.

Using memory to recreate the picture, fine motor skills to assemble it all, reasoning to figure out the order of pasting, verbal communication and recount to sing the song and early mathematics skills to count and add the elephants, makes this seemingly simple little activity full of fun and learning.

We used 3 elephants that we cut out of some recycled wrapping paper, 3 green kinder circles, some brown paper for the tree-trunks, a piece of string and a couple of pieces of paper to mount it all on.

Before sticking it all down, we created the picture first, rearranging it until we were happy with the design

 The next part of the activity included sticking down all the pieces back in their original places. Talk about the steps/order and layering. Which pieces need to be glued first? What would happen if we stuck the string down first? etc

Madeline's finished picture after she re-arranged it and glued it all down

Song Lyrics

One grey elephant balancing
Step by step on a piece of string
Thought it was such a wonderful stunt
That he called for another elephant

Two grey elephants balancing
Step by step on a piece of string
Thought it was such a wonderful stunt
That they called for another elephant

Three grey elephants balancing
Step by step on a piece of string
Thought it was such a wonderful stunt
That they called for another elephant

Four grey elephants balancing
Step by step on a piece of string
Thought it was such a wonderful stunt
That they called for another elephant

Five grey elephants balancing
Step by step on a piece of string
All of a sudden the piece of string broke
And down came all the elephant folk

 

Some tips:

- Use any elephant pictures you can find or draw them yourself. Cut them out of a picture, print some off the computer or make them from your child's hand prints etc.

- As our elephants were white (not grey), we had to change the lyrics in the song to suit our picture (eg "3 white elephants balancing...")

- To simplify this activity, do the cutting and arranging yourself and assist your child in sticking the pieces down, recalling where they went and the order they get stuck down while singing the song.

- To extend this activity, allow your child to do the cutting, arranging, memory recall, sticking etc as they are able.

- Figuring out the process and order to stick down the pieces will be challenging for young children so continue to communicate with them throughout the activity

- Here is a youtube video of the song with elephant puppets to compliment the activity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QXkFtdFy0A&feature=related

Debs :)

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