Listography: Top Five Searches

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The inimitable KateTakes5 has set us the challenge of revealing the top five searches on our blog.

Some people have exciting results like "surfing on jelly" or "nakes bananas". I don't. On WordPress, I have three variations of my blog name and twelve variations for a cosmetic review I did. Oh and an ostrich.

I'm going to check Google Analytics instead…

They're just as bad!

I'm going to sift through the review referrals and pick out the next five that are about content instead.

  1. Learning Through Play: this makes me happy as it's one of the things that I'd like my blog associated with.
  2. Composterium: and now it's going through my head again! Thank you Mr. Bloom!
  3. We Went To The Animal Fayre: ah, that was a good weekend.
  4. Helen Jessup: I kid you not.
  5. I Need a Wee-Wee: ah, famous for my potty-training posts.

I can't believe number four…
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Boxing Clever

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Last night on twitter, I was chatting with some lovely folk about how our children, as all children do, prefer to play with a large cardboard box than the toys that were inside it. We shared a few pictures back and forth through twitpic, and I realised that actually there was a wealth of ideas for the brown cuboids.

However, when it comes to making something from it, the only thing that springs to my mind is a house.

I know that's what I seem to repeatedly make for The Boy, as he is yet to come out with ideas himself other than a boat for Mr. Meerkat. Although possibly even at two, he could be construed as having more imagination that his mother.

Boxes are such a brilliant resource to stimulate imagination, and in this modern time of plastic play it is essential to teach the next generation about reusing and recycling.

But most of all, it's fun!

I'd like you to link up with your posts or pictures of what you and your children have made with cardboard boxes. Have a nose at the other ideas, see what else you can come up with. The linky (thanks to Maggy) is open until the end of October.

Nature's Treasures

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A few week's ago, I made a treasure, sensory box for The Boy and he has thoroughly enjoyed exploring all the different colours and textures in it. Following last week's successful trip to the park where we found some amazing gems. We collected the larger, more round items up into his little shopping bag, and stuck the collection of leaves onto a recycled nature board.

It took The Boy a little time to understand that we were looking for different types of leaves; not as complicated as the species of tree, just colours and shapes. When we compared them after, he was able to distinguish the different shapes, but with the subtle shades in the Autumnal colours he found it quite tricky to distinguish the differences. He liked feeling them though and using the words 'scrunchy' and 'smooth'.

He has been a boy obsessed this week. The treasure box has had to come down at every opportunity. Throughout the week, I've had to remove certain mouldy parts but it has continued to serve him as a great source of enjoyment and fun. Of course, I've taken the opportunity to guide him. Of course I have: I'm a teacher!

He's sorted, counted, ordered, described.

But more importantly, he's had fun!

Seeking Out Autumn

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Several months ago I read an activity post from Multiple Mummy that involved a nature trail in her back garden (her son had chickenpox so they were quarantined). Ever since, I've wanted to do this with The Boy but it's taken time to get prepared. First of all, I had to find some self-adhesive pads which having scoured local shops for, I ended up finding them in a cheap shop on holiday in Dorset! Now things are more comfortable with potty-training, I felt happy to have a go.

With the increasing bite in the air and the occasional, but gentle, rainbursts, it was time to pop on our wellies and waterproofs and go nature-treasure hunting in a local park. Ideally to do this activity you need horse chestnut and sycamore trees, pine trees and possibly an oak. There is a park on the way down to the beach that is perfect for this with the abundance of trees lining the periphery of the park.

The Boy already knew what a conker was because I'd shown him a few days beforehand, trying to get him to find other treasures proved interestins; he's only two, he's never seen these things before. We wondered around the more woodland area of the beautiful Victoria park, straying off paths, climbing up banks and sliding down muddy paths and found a whole heap of nature's wonders. The Boy kept stopping and listening during the still moments between the roars from the cars on the road alongside the park. In those snapshots of serenity he heard the raindrops falling through the layers of the canopies, blackbirds calling, squirrels scampering up the treetrunks, and his absolute favourite was the chorus of the crickets in the long grass. He stood and listened for over ten minutes.

In this emeral and khaki wonderland, under our rubber-encased feet and amongst the fallen detritus, we found pine cones, acorns, beech tree seeds, red leaves, orange leaves, multi-coloured leaves and conkers in their cases and out. Is their any greater joy than opening up a conker case and being the first person in the entire world to see that feat of nature?

Children can only learn what they experience!

(Come back tomorrow to find out what we found in our nature trail)

Exploring Science!

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Today we met up with an old school friend of mine and her little girl who is two months older than The Boy. She had some Tesco Days Out vouchers which we used to gain free entrance into Techniquest, a science exploration centre in Cardiff Bay. I've been there many times over the years, either with nieces and nephews or taking a class there. This is the first time, I've taken The Boy on a dedicated trip just for him.

And he loved it!

Techniquest is a hands-on centre with dedicated exhibits exploring all aspects of Science. My personal favourites are the marble-run (massive display with different sized marbles and different routes), the water play, the shadow room, the walk-on piano (like in 'Big') and the headless table! If you are ever down in the south Wales area, then it is well worth a visit as your little ones could happily kill several hours there. Just take a spare change of clothes for the water-play area!

I think he's now the age where he wants to figure things out and fully explore them. He was therefore really able to enjoy the hands-on approach to the different aspects of Science that Techniquest promote. Mr. TheBoyandMe is going to be really chuffed that he enjoyed it there, as he has been desperate to go with him many times, but The Boy hasn't got it before now. We spent a really enjoyable couple of hours there, until our stomachs over-ruled our quench for play, and we headed off to Pizza Express.

Treasure Box

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I posted here about how I am a fan of The Imagination Tree, and the freedom in play that Anna gives her children which allows them to explore their world and environment. Exploration is the key to learning, providing them this opportunity in a focused and safe way is so important.

When I saw this post from her the other day, 'Flowers and Fairies Sensory Tub', I was immediately interested and thought how I could adapt it for use with a boy.

Basically dye some dried rice using food colouring, allow it to dry for a day, pour it into a shallow and wide tub, and then add some extra items in for variety of texture, size and colour.

I dyed two lots of rice; one blue and one yellow. However, I am an impatient Annie and didn't have the inclination to wait a whole day for it to dry. So I put it in the oven on a very low heat for two hours. Anna and I had a discussion over twitter as to whether this would work, she was pleased to hear that it did. I then added a handful of primary coloured sequins, feathers, beads, some old house keys, and last but not least, googly eyes!

We had great fun with this treasure box. He was very reluctant at first to get his hands in amongst the rice, but once I'd got him convinced that it wasn't going to hurt him, he was captivated. We got a couple of pots out and he started to use these for sorting the sequins into, and then pouring the rice from one pot to another.

I had bought a tub from Ikea for this, and made sure I got one with a lid, which has meant that we've been able to store it on top of the cupboard and come back to it. When I need a little more space, this will pour into a screw-top jar and can be used again. Not sure how long it will last but I'm giving it a go.

 

Anna has identified these learning links from this activity:

Learning Links:

  • sensory: exploring a range of textures and materials with hands (and feet!)
  • fine motor: scooping, pouring, pincer grip to pick up individual pieces of rice, mixing
  • creative: make up stories and role play scenarios using toys and imagination
  • literacy: develop language, vocabulary and storytelling skills
  • maths: count out scoops/petals/rice/sequins, explore capacity through filling and emptying
  • PSHE: work collaboratively and share resources
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