I've started working in my school's nursery this year, and I've been brought to reliving the fascinating life of a three year old. A little creature who isn't much out of the toddler stage, who is encountering everything in the world for the first time, yet within a year is going to have to start full-time education. Gosh sometimes, it feels very harsh on the poor little mites.
Days 202-208 of Project 365
202. Fave Food (Massively contrived! MASSIVELY! However, The Boy decided to climb a tree at Westonbirt Arboretum so that he didn't become The Gruffalo's fave food!)
203. Grey (This colourful photo was taken to try and lift my grey mood after a rubbish INSET day where I ran around doing things for everyone else and achieved nothing for myself. Additionally, the end-of-year tiredness kicked in and I was exhausted and very melancholy.)
204. I Drew This! (Welcome to the family TBaM! I am so proud of him for this, I think it's brilliant.)
205. D Is For… (Danger! He does this funny little hopping up from behind thing onto the swing, only he planted his feet on the seat and stood up instead! Eeeek!)
206. Ground (We met an old friend up at the clifftop park with her one year old son. She was late and so while we waited The Boy had a swinging conversation with the ten year old boy next to him. The Boy won, which I was quite proud of, and cast some beautiful shadows on the ground as he was swinging.)
207. The Everyday (The temperature of the day started off quite mild, but after a phone from nursery at 8.30 to ask me to bring him in earlier than I normally do as they were going for a walk that morning, I ended up hot and bothered, rushing around. I got hom at 10.15 and then managed to settle down to have some breakfast and do some school work. Once I'd picked him up from nursery, we popped into Parc Play for an hour or so during which time the temperature soared to 28°C. We came home, borrowed a pump from a friend and blew up his new paddling pool. This sunshine photo is the everyday at the moment.)
208. Black + White (It's pouring down today, which is fine because the garden really needs it, but the world is a little bit grey and monochrome today. We also need a break from all the amazing outdoor play we've had; sometimes you just need a 'chill out and do nothing' day. Definitely a day for some work on pre-writing skills.)
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Days 97-103 of Project 365
97. Through the Semi-Circle Window! (The sun valiantly tried to shine for most of the afternoon and so we headed out to St. Fagan's Museum in north-west Cardiff. Back in November I bought an annual pass for the car park (museums in Wales are free) but we haven't been there since to get our money's worth. Now the weather is brightening up, we'll be there a lot more often. This time we explored the castle, but it's fair to say that once we've done that it will be a long time before we need to go back. Bit bland!)
98. By Torch-Light (We made a spectacular den in the living room (actually I did, Mr. TBaM is rubbish at them) and The Boy spent quite some time underneath reading his books by torchlight.)
99. Adoring Listener (We visited his cousins who we'd missed for several weeks due to us both being on holiday. He adores his cousins, and they are so good with him. Here he's watching and listening to his nine year old female cousin.)
100. Bath-time (Apologies for the bland photograph but today was back to work after three weeks off and I was shattered! A bathtime snap is all I could manage!)
101. Stretchy Squares (I bought The Boy a pegboard and eleastic bands and he's had great fun making shapes.)
102. Before The Big Day (Today we nipped into town to retrieve my much-missed Samsung Galaxy S3 which took a month to repair, as a result he missed his nap and was shattered at bedtime. Busy day tomorrow!)
103. Justin's House (We've just come in from an amazing day with Jenny from Mummy Mishaps and her lovely family. It was a great surprise for The Boy as I didn't tell him any of the plans until he saw Jenny pull onto the drive in her car. They came up for lunch, the three boys had a great play together and then we headed into Cardiff to see Justin's House. He's been to a few shows before, mainly CBeebies, but this was his first larger production and he loved every second (apart from when Robert sucked up all the lights into his hoover). Afterwards we all went for a yummy dinner in Pizza Express!)
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Pipecleaner Space Hat
I have never understood the appeal of pipecleaners. They bend and make cool shapes, but for a pre-schooler I've always thought they were a little pointless and hard work.
And then I discovered (via Pinterest) a few activities which suggest that they can be used as a tool in threading and beading exercises.
I set out a tray of materials for The Boy as an invitation to explore and play.
We used:
- metallic coloured pipe cleaners
- buttons of various sizes
- maxi Hama beads
- a metal sieve
- silver confetti strands
The pipecleaners are much easier to use for threading than a shoelace as they stay rigid and don't flop over while trying to fit the beads onto the end. This also makes them easier to shape when creating a design. One more bonus is that the metallic fibres covering the wire enable beads to stay in place and not slip down to the end.
We started by poking the wire end into the sieve and bending it over 'inside' to prevent it from being pulled out. Then The Boy was keen to have a mismatch of buttons and Hama beads on the pipecleaners, alternating and contrasting the design. Buttons that have multiple holes are really useful to thread two pipecleaners through. To ensure the buttons and beads didn't fall off, we tucked the loose end back into the sieve and bent the end over again.
Threading is an excellent activity for pre-school children as it helps to develop fine motor skills, hand to eye co-ordination and the pincer grip; all of which are needed to develop pre-writing skills. Pipecleaners are a very useful tool for threading because of their rigidity.
And it's great fun too!
Winter Play Dough
Play dough is a basic toy and craft item for all pre-schoolers. How many of us spend hard-earned pounds buying the badly spelt version in cute little plastic tubs? You know the bright yellow tubs with an impossible lid to remove? The stuff that gets stuck into carpets, clothes, hair, eyes, etc. and dries out within half an hour if not replaced to the safety of the tub? And that you then curse because you'll need to find another fiver to replace?
Two years ago I discovered that play dough can be made easily and cheaply, and the version that I use from The Imagination Tree lasts for ages in the fridge (my last batch lasted for eight months!). The Imagination Tree has a variety of recipes available but I prefer this no-cook play dough recipe, and so does my husband who does the washing up!
Winter Play Dough
Basic Recipe:
- 2 cups plain flour (I use the value range)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ cup salt
- 2 tbsp cream of tartar (a powder which comes in pots like baking powder)
- 1 cup of boiling water (you made need to add more. Anna recommends up to 2, but I always need to add more flour, so start with less)
- few drops glycerine (optional adds more shine!)
- Extras:
- white glitter
- silver glitter
- silver star confetti
- white foil confetti
- peppermint essence
Other equipment:
- snowflake, snowmen and star cutters
- Winter-coloured beads and string
- magnifying glass
- bubble wrap
- sequins and beads
- stampers, moulds
- cake cases and birthday candles
I gave The Boy a tray full of goodies and the mound of play dough and waited to see what would happen; it wasn't long before he was exploring the texture and shapes with the bubble wrap and the magnifying glass.
It wasn't long before he was doing his James Martin impression though and baking me cookies and a cake, glad to see I've trained him well. And of course, no Winter Play Dough activities would be complete without the obligatory snowman!
I'd seen some play dough mats on the Internet, but most of those designed for Winter also encompass Christmas or Thanksgiving, so I decided to make my own with invitations to play and design on them.
You can download a copy of these winter playdough mats here.
Days 27-33 of Project 365
27. 'One Giant Leap' (Off to Porthkerry Park on Sunday to play in the sunshine and check out how high the water was in the brooks.)
28. 'Hello, Down There' (a trip to the local Victorian park on the way back from the supermarket. This is part of our bid to spend 15 minutes outside in the fresh air every day, inspired by Jenny from Mummy Mishaps and Cerys from Nature and Play. Some days are really easy, other days – like a work day – are harder. Today was also the day of the epic play-dough making session; three colours and still he wanted more?!)
29. 'Do You Like My New Hat?' (Big activity day today, Tuesdays often are as I try to cram as much quality and quantity time in as possible before having to go back to work the next day. We made a wintery hat which ended up looking more like a space hat, did a science experiment involving moving water, went to gymnastics and also went scooting in the pouring rain in Cardiff Bay. Thanks for that Jenny and Cerys!)
30. 'New Jigsaw' (A work day but when I came home The Boy was able to play with his brand new jigsaw from Orchard Toys. Watch this space for a review!)
31. 'The Gruffalo' (Thanks to a 'heart-pressing' session when The Boy saw one of his friend's wearing a Gruffalo hat, he decided he wanted to dress up in his costume. I got the mirror down so he could see what he looked like. The irony was that five minutes later, the nanosecond I'd finished taking photographs, he insisted the costume came off. I think he scared himself!)
32. 'Slumber' (Absolutely exhausted, I let him have a longer nap today. I certainly paid for it as we had a ridiculous wake-up time of 5.20 this morning. Now where's that Gro-clock I was sent for review?!)
33. 'Rebel!' (We nipped down to Cardiff Bay Barrage for a cycle and a scoot in glorious sunshine, but dear God it was Arctic! The road across the barrage isn't used by vehicles and is a safe route for cyclists of all ages. The Boy has a minimal awareness of the highway code and road signs, clearly!)
My favourite photo of the week is The Gruffalo photo.
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Christmas Sensory Box (Learning Through Play)
It's been a while since I did a sensory box for The Boy (our Autumn one went mouldy when Nana put the lid on the wet conkers) so I decided to create an exploratory festive box for him.
I used:
- white rice coloured with red food colouring and baked in the oven for 90 minutes on 90°C
- cinnamon sticks
- pine cones
- red and gold glitter
- red sand
- orange slices painted gold
- gold sequins and jewels
- a variety of shiny gold and red items; straw circles, jingle bells, chocolate coin covers
- ground ginger sprinkled all over.
The best bit of this is giving The Boy a magnifying glass and encouraging him to explore the 'buried treasure'. Sensory boxes are great for fine motor skills development and encourage exploration and communication. The Imagination Tree is the grand master of sensory trays and exploratory boxes.
Tuesday 4th December 2012 – 'Snip!' (339/366)
Sunday 7th October 2012 – 'Mummy' (281/366)
This is the first time The Boy's drawn a full picture of anyone, not just a face. He's also had a go at writing my name underneath. In the past he's drawn a face, but I've never suggested he draw a whole person before and I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
Mary Sheridan (the guru for stages of child development) identifies that a 3yr old child will draw a person with a head and usually indicate one or two other features or body parts. A 4yr old child will draw a person with head, legs and trunk, and usually some arms and fingers.
Most nursery or reception aged children will draw a head with arms and legs coming off it, as to them they are the most important body parts. A body is surplus to requirements at this age and usually is missing. However, The Boy has drawn one on this picture of me. Interestingly though, my arms are coming from my head showing that he's not quite realised how everything connects or that the body has a part to play.
