Easter Sensory Box

A sensory box is an activity where  the children are given materials and tools in a table or container with no instruction on what to do with them.  The children are given a chance to explore whats in front of them and decide what to do with it themselves. This self directed play allows children to be creative and gives them confidence and a feeling of self achievement. 

Today we set up a Easter themed sensory box using porridge oats, crunched up Shredded Wheat, fluffy chicks, plastic eggs, and feathers.

The plastic eggs I used split in half. The children used these as scoops and also mix and matched them together. They  used the eggs with holes in as sieves. 

Sensory activities  build on cognitive development. This is a mental process that includes memory, making decisions, problem solving and understanding language. It is the part of our brain that helps us process information and apply knowledge.

Maths can be applied to count, size, match and sort items into groups. They can grasp a better understanding of full and empty, more or less, and whether things float or sink.

Science concepts are used when predicting outcomes and experimenting with materials such as cause and effect. Children have the opportunity to explore and build a better understanding of gravity and speed.

English and language can also be improved. Children build their hand eye coordination and fine motor skills which are used for holding a pencil to learn how to write when pouring stirring, whisking and manipulating the materials. The activity gives a child a sense of self awe which they want to share. It gives them something interesting to talk to others about because each child will use the materials differently. It builds on their vocabulary as they try to express and share their ideas.

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Bakery Bath Time

 We set up a bakery themed sensory bath. My little girl was delighted. She had so much fun.
While I was running the bath I added a bath bomb which made the bath water turn pink and bubbly.

I cut up carrier bags to make confetti to use as sprinkles. (I used the holey lid that goes on top of  the children's bucket and spade set  to catch these in when I emptied the bath)

I used a empty ice cream tub and filled it with Baking soda mixed with a dot of food colour and a little splash of water to use as icecream or cake mixture. It dissolves as you add more water so it does not clog up the drains) 

I threw in a few bowls and plastic cooking utensils and silicone cake cases.

I mixed shaving foam with a dot of food colour to use as ice cream or cake mixture

I also filled a hand wash bottle with a mixture of water and bubble bath to use as a topping.

I made some ice cream bath stickers out of sheets of foam and stuck them on the side of the bath.

She spent the next hour making cakes and ice creams in her little bakery :)

Sensory activities  build on cognitive development. This is a mental process that includes memory, making decisions, problem solving and understanding language. It is the part of our brain that helps us process information and apply knowledge.

Maths can be applied to count, size, match and sort items into groups. They can grasp a better understanding of full and empty, more or less, and whether things float or sink.

Science concepts are used when predicting outcomes and experimenting with materials such as cause and effect. Children have the opportunity to explore and build a better understanding of gravity and speed.

English and language can also be improved. Children build their hand eye coordination and fine motor skills which are used for holding a pencil to learn how to write when pouring stirring, whisking and manipulating the materials. The activity gives a child a sense of self awe which they want to share. It gives them something interesting to talk to others about because each child will use the materials differently. It builds on their vocabulary as they try to express and share their ideas.

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A day at the vets

My little boy loves animals so I thought it would be fun to set up a little vet play area.

                               

We set up a veterinary table where he could give his teddies a check up, a spoon of (pretend) medicine, a plaster, and a sticker for being well behaved :) 

Checking Mr Rats chest

giving Mr Rat his medicine 

 I gave him a empty box, a sponge, and a towel so he could bathe his patients. Here is Mr Dinosaur getting cleaned up before his check up :)

We set up a feeding area. I filled a tub with porridge oats and gave him some yogurt pots to use as feeding bowls. He used a spoon to fill the pots with food for his teddies. 

I also cut out some cardboard bones and we decorated them for his pets to play with :) 

While we were out shopping we had a look in our local pet shop and talked about all the things you needed to look after animals and had a look at the toys you could buy. Some time this week I will be getting the recycling box out and the gloopy glue for them to design and make their own animal toys (not intended for real animals) 

Mickey Mouse getting his temperature checked 

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Sorting and Matching

Sorting coloured sticks into pots might not seem like much but this simple activity is packed full of benefits for your child.

Sorting and matching encourages early mathematical thinking and is great for cognitive development This is a mental process that includes memory, making decisions, problem solving and understanding language. It is the part of our brain that helps us process information and apply knowledge. By placing the sticks and pots in front of the children without or little instructions gives them the opportunity to process whats in front of them by observing and experimenting and apply this knowledge to decide what they can do with it.

My little man tends to fiddle about with the sticks first by filling the cups up and pouring them into another cup which is great to grasp the concept of full and empty and pouring is great for fine motor skills. After a little play I will prompt him by asking him what colour the sticks are which then progresses to him sorting the sticks into the correct colour cup. We also use this activity to practice counting. Most of the time he will attempt to count the sticks himself and I will take this further by putting a couple of sticks in each pot and counting them with him. Older children can practice more or less.

To put more focus on fine motor skills you can give the children spoons, plastic tweezers, or chopsticks to move the sticks or tape some cardboard that has holes poked through or slots cut out to the top of the cups.

Best of all this activity will make your child feel good, the opportunity to figure things out for themselves will make them feel confident and give them a feeling of self achievement. :)

This day in history - Mount Vesuvius erupts

On the 24th August 79Ad Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried Pompeii

pompeii is in Italy. The country shaped like a boot.

The flag is green,white, and red.

We made a volcano and made it erupt. To find out more check out my post by clicking on the image caption.

erupting paper mache volcano

I explained that Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried a whole city called Pompeii. Everyone forgot about the city and it was not discovered until nearly 2000 years later by a archaeologist.


What is a archaeologist?

An archaeologist is someone who tries to find out about the past by looking at things people left behind. They look at  skeletons and fossils and artifacts.

These are the things archaeologists found in Pompeii

Setting up a  Archaeology dig 

We made some clay (4 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1½ cups of water) and made a city. My children are really young so they were basically balls with there thumbs pressed into one side to make a door but they were aware of what they were and thats all that matters. We also made some bracelets and some vases that were broke in half (so they can be pieced together at the dig). We placed them in the oven  at 180°C for 1 hour and then painted them.

I placed the houses in the bottom of the sensory table and covered them with sand. I then buried the other pieces we made along with lots of 2p and 1p coins. I kept half of the table empy so that they could move teh sand across later.

City before we buried it.

Becoming Archaeologists

A true archaeologist needs the right outfit and tools. We made some cardboard fedora hats using this fabulous tutorial by justjonty on instructables and equipped ourselves with spoons and toothbrushes.

Unfortunately I did not have time to paper mache and paint our hats but we will definitely be doing this later. These are fab to add to the fancy dress box. The children did not seem to mind they were quite happy with just the cardboard.

The dig!

We used the spoons to search the sand and used the toothbrush to rub the sand of the items before putting them into a tub. I explained that digging at a site is slow and careful work to make sure they don't miss or damage anything

I originally set up a archaeologist tent using a hula hoop, shower curtain, and ribbon. Inside was a table with boxes for them to sort out the things they find. It was too windy to use the tent so we had to make do with just the table :(

We used the pink tub for items and the black for coins. Once we got near to the bottom we started to uncover the city. We had to be really careful. We used our hands and the toothbrush to brush the sand away from the buildings.

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Curiosity lands on Mars

After watching this clip and hearing that NASA's Curiosity rover successfully landed on Mars this morning I decided to share this with my children and land our very own rover on Mars.
After showing them a few pictures of curiosity and telling them that it had cameras and gadgets to explore Mars for life they rummaged through the recycling box to get parts to build a rover themselves.

They used cardboard packaging, shiny paper, kitchen roll tubes, fuzzy sticks, and lolly pop sticks.

I then set up a space theme sensory table.

I made a small sensory box to make the surface of Mars. We mixed rice and pasta with red paint and added it to the box along with brown sugar, shells and stones that we had covered in red glitter. I explained that Mars was known as the red planet. 

I also filled a container with glittery paper and ice cubes and explained that the only water on Mars is frozen like ice in polar caps or underground. 

I lined the table with black tissue paper and sprinkled it with little stars. I then  cut out cardboard circles in various sizes and the kids stuck bits of tissue paper on them. I spread these across the table to show that there are lots of other planets in space. 

I closed the curtains to make it darker and placed our globe lamp at the end of the table. 

We then got the rovers we made earlier and we acted out Curiosity's mission to Mars. 

Me: Earth to curiosity, are you ready to land. You have a big mission ahead.

Macey: Yes I can see the big red planet

Me: Your very hot and moving very fast. Don't forget to get rid of your heat shield and let out your parachute.

Macey: Ok I'm landed safely. Its very beautiful come and see

Me: It takes far to long to get to Mars use the satellites to send pictures back to earth. 

Macey: Ok beaming photos to earth. 

Me. Brilliant! good luck finding life on Mars 

I let the children know that mars has big mountains and volcanoes and left them and their imaginations. Curiosity spent the next few hours trapped under ice, escaping erupting volcanoes and exploring mountains. 

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