Below are quick, easy and simple things you could do with your child at home. Ideas have come from us, found online and shared by other parents........
Pasta play
It's amazing what fun can be had with pasta!
Threading:
*Thread macaroni on to spaghetti
*Thread pasta shapes onto string to make necklaces
*Make the experience sensory by mixing cooked and uncooked pasta, add a drop of essential oil, use warm and cold, make instruments by filling pots and covering in paper held by elastic bands - the ideas are limitless!
Talk about the textures, how the pasta changes, what it smells like, you could count, talk about which one is shorter or longer, group them in to types - and lots more.
'Messy' play
Children LOVE mixing and making and you could support them with this using everyday items you will have in your cupboards.
*Maybe set up a 'bakery' letting the children explore flour and water - add herbs or spices to enhance the 'dough'.
*Fill trays with water and add liquid soap or washing up liquid and let the children at it with some whisks - how many bubbles can they make?!?! You could add a drop of food colouring too.......
*Gloop is a fantastic sensory experience and is also very 'sciencey' too! Just add water to some cornflour then sit back and let the children explore.....is it a liquid or a solid? The answer is it's both!
*Make 'potions' outside mixing up anything you can find - flowers, mud, sand, water, grass, stones, twigs
Mark making
You can mark make with all kinds of everything...........
*Cover the bottom of trays with lentils, rice, flour, paint...... use fingers to create patterns and shapes
*Use pencils to create 'dents' in foil
*Good old water can be used outside with paint brushes to create giant pictures on the paths or fences
*Would you be brave enough to let your children free with the face paints on your face?
*You can freeze paint in ice lolly moulds and the children can have great fun experimenting with painting while it's frozen or melting. (You can also make our own moulds using plastic cups and lolly sticks)
Pasta play
It's amazing what fun can be had with pasta!
Threading:
*Thread macaroni on to spaghetti
*Thread pasta shapes onto string to make necklaces
*Make the experience sensory by mixing cooked and uncooked pasta, add a drop of essential oil, use warm and cold, make instruments by filling pots and covering in paper held by elastic bands - the ideas are limitless!
Talk about the textures, how the pasta changes, what it smells like, you could count, talk about which one is shorter or longer, group them in to types - and lots more.
'Messy' play
Children LOVE mixing and making and you could support them with this using everyday items you will have in your cupboards.
*Maybe set up a 'bakery' letting the children explore flour and water - add herbs or spices to enhance the 'dough'.
*Fill trays with water and add liquid soap or washing up liquid and let the children at it with some whisks - how many bubbles can they make?!?! You could add a drop of food colouring too.......
*Gloop is a fantastic sensory experience and is also very 'sciencey' too! Just add water to some cornflour then sit back and let the children explore.....is it a liquid or a solid? The answer is it's both!
*Make 'potions' outside mixing up anything you can find - flowers, mud, sand, water, grass, stones, twigs
Mark making
You can mark make with all kinds of everything...........
*Cover the bottom of trays with lentils, rice, flour, paint...... use fingers to create patterns and shapes
*Use pencils to create 'dents' in foil
*Good old water can be used outside with paint brushes to create giant pictures on the paths or fences
*Would you be brave enough to let your children free with the face paints on your face?
*You can freeze paint in ice lolly moulds and the children can have great fun experimenting with painting while it's frozen or melting. (You can also make our own moulds using plastic cups and lolly sticks)
