Volcano Busy Bags

Last week Mount Etna erupted so I decided to do a little volcano activity with the children. I like to use real life events for inspiration for craft projects. It gets the children involved in what's going on around the world and gives them some general knowledge along with all the fun stuff.

I found some videos on You Tube showing the volcano erupting. The kids found them  fascinating.

We made a volcano Collage using tissue paper for lava.

My little boy loved decorating the volcano so I decided to make him a Volcano busy bag.

Firstly I stuck a volcano on a piece of white paper

I then shredded some orange tissue paper and cut out other scenery shapes that can be used to decorate his volcano. I found an old biscuit tin to store them in so he can put them away and get them out to play with whenever he likes.

Here is little mans first creation. 'There's lots of fire, its HOT HOT HOT' he shouts. 'That's why there is lots of smoke'

 'Watch out Mr Dinosaur the lava is coming to get you' 

Add a few more sceneries and items to your box. They can come in handy when you need to occupy them for five minutes or to keep them quiet while you answer the phone :)

Here are some other Volcano projects we have done :)

http://amazinglittleminds.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/erupting-paper-mache-volcano.html

http://amazinglittleminds.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/mountvesuviuserupts.html

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AmazingLittleMinds

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/littlemisskirst/

Muffin Maths Game

A simple muffin game that can be used to practice counting, shapes, colours, and sums.  

This morning little man and I had a mini cooking session. We usually make cakes completely from scratch but I wanted something quick and not too messy to do with him so I bought some muffin mix. Afterwards I kept the box for their toy kitchen. I thought he would love pretending to make the muffins himself. I intended on getting some cardboard and making some muffins with him to put into the box. I thought he could colour them in and glue some sprinkles on them but whilst digging around in the crafts box for something to make sprinkles with I found some left over felt and ended up making this fab little game.

Firstly I cut out a muffin case using brown felt and made a muffin top with pale pink fabric.

I then made some sprinkles. I made a set of 5 in  6 different shapes.

The sprinkles can be used simply to decorate the muffin. A little activity to occupy them for a short while or they can be used to practise counting and to sort shapes and colours.

To use this as a educational game I made some cards which will show what is required to put onto the muffin. These range from simply asking to put a certain amount of a shape, or 2 shapes to working out simple sums. Here are some examples below.

I have used my muffin box to store the game (with a small container inside for the sprinkles.) and plan on buying some more felt to expand this game further by making more sprinkles with a larger amount and variety of shapes and also making  a few different colour muffins and cases.

Little man loved his new game, here he is making his muffins this morning :)