For today's painting activity I wanted something that my toddler (currently 17 months) and preschooler (4 years) could do together. I decided on some process art where instead of trying to achieve some sort of art work or "finished product" at the end, it was all just about the exploration of the provided materials and the results they could achieve with those.

In order to try and make it more about the process, I provided (I think for the first time ever!) only one single colour.

Ages: 6 months +

(See Handy Tips at the bottom to extend or simplify to suit your child's needs)

Materials: Paint, large paper, various painting tools.

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Kids love Water Beads. They are sensory, squishy, bouncy, colourful, rolly-poly balls of fun!

Generally when the kids are done playing with them though, they don't really resemble balls any more. They are much closer to GOO!

So, what to do with them once they are mush? The easiest thing of all is just to throw them on the garden. They will dry up and disappear, BUT, if you'd prefer to get one last activity out of them, why not try this?

Alphabet Goo! Add some basic letter recognition learning to this fine motor, sensory activity.

The invitation to play. 

Bowl of crushed water beads with magnetic letters inside. Tweezers for grabbing. Bowl of water for cleaning. Tea towel for drying.

Practicing fine motor skills using the tongs/tweezers to find and grab out the letters.

It's fun but tricky thanks to the slippery, slimy goo.

Cleaning the letters. Swirling the water round and round.

Drying the letters with the tea towel

Discuss the found letters. Do they know any of the names? Sounds? Words beginning with? etc

Ditching the tweezers, time to squish the goo between your fingers

I turned my back and guess what? 

Now all the water from the cleaning container is in with the crushed water beads!

She loved swirling it round and round and round with a spoon.

Adding a plastic cup to the goo soup! Lots of filling and pouring. 

It's fun to watch the chunky bits plop back into the mixture.

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by enjoying the sensory and fine motor components but don't put such a huge focus on the letter learning. If your child doesn't know any letters or sounds yet, there is still no harm in letting them search for them and just telling them what they've found.

- Extend this activity by including letters of basic (or more advanced) words. Have the child find, wash and dry the letters and then see how many words they can make from them.

- Mix Up this activity by including different objects to hide in the goo. Numbers, animals, coloured buttons, whatever.. it's up to you and what you're wanting to focus on.

- Some children aren't into the messy, gooey stuff which is why you'd include the tweezers/small tongs. This allows them to still play/learn without getting messy.

-Talk with your child about the process and order. "Which comes first? Drying the letters or washing them?" etc. 

- Listen to your child talk as they go through their experiences. This will help you determine where they are at with their learning, knowledge and understanding and help you to develop the activity (or future activities) to their level and interests.

***Water Beads should not be ingested so parental supervision with children who might be tempted to eat them is required***



Debs :)


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Children love to replicate the behaviours of adults, especially if it involves water!

Here, with this fun pretend play activity, I got 3 things accomplished. 

1) I kept her entertained, 2) She was learning AND 3) the dirty toys and doll's clothes got clean! haha

Ages: 2+
(M was just 3 here. See the Handy Tips at the bottom to simplify or extend to meet your child's needs)

 The setup: An Invitation to Play. using a couple of towels on the floor I set up a washing station (bowl of soapy water for washing and bowl of clear water for rinsing) and a child-sized clothes line with pegs. We then collected toys from around the house that needed a wash

 Learning about order and process. First we wash and scrub in soapy water. Lots of fun pouring, swirling, scrubbing etc here

 Second we rinse all the soap off in clear, clean water

 We don't need to scrub the material the same way we would with plastic toys. Notice how the material absorbs the water

 Understanding order and process gets easier the more we practice

Wringing out the clothes to remove the excess water. This is trickier than it seems for little kids... especially ensuring all the material is OUT of the water before squeezing and that it doesn't go back in!

Pegging up the clothes to dry. This requires good fine motor skills and is fabulous for practicing coordination

 Swishing it round and round in the water... just like a washing machine does!

 Coordination required here! There was a lot of dropping the peg while trying to adjust the clothing to be hung. I was happy to see her demonstrating patience and keep trying

Whilst doing this activity she role-played being "mummy" and commentated her every move. 
Fabulous language practice!

Handy Tips:

- 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.

- Use new language and descriptive words like, "process", "wringing out" etc. This will help with their language development.

- Simplify this activity for young toddlers who might not have the fine motor skills and coordination required to peg up clothes by just giving them some plastic toys or plastic plates etc, to wash

- Extend this activity by assigning your child a pretend role (mummy, daddy, Mr Washer etc) and allow them to get into character. This can add to the imaginative aspect of the activity and often promotes language development as they commentate their actions.

- We had to change the rinsing water at one point because it got too soapy.

- Demonstrate how or where to hold the clothing in order to peg it up if your child needs the assistance




Happy playing,
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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