Thursday 31 March 2011

A Spring Begining...!!

OK so I'm a little late to be blogging about the begining of spring...but the last couple of weeks have been a bit mad and stressful, not that I want to jinx it but we're quite likely moving house!!!! Only about a mile and a half down the road but it is quite a bit bigger soI can start advertising for spaces and be a lot more organised in my planning and preparation and generally have space to breath!!

I wont say any more because like I said I really don't want to jinx it but I'm soooooooo excited!!!

Anyway, to kick off our 'Spring' theme, in which I am including mini beasts, flowers, weather, and anything else that I can think of which comes to mind! I'm sure I've said before the majority of my childminding time at the moment is just for one little girl (20 months) so I sometimes feel quite limited on the 'activities' I can organise for her which are actually going to be of benefit and that she will understand. I was talking to my development worker about her today actually and we both think she is a very bright little girl so I'm going to start looking into activities aimed at around 2 years to see how she does. But this one I have to say she did enjoy...
Started off with making a little garden scene, complete with an army of ants martching through the grass...
...add a few flowers, and bugs of your choice. I laminated coloured in pictures but just as good would be little plastic animals, bit more life like aswell! And then let the creative play begin!!

This one took right off the page!! "flap flap flap flap"

It was really lovely playing with this, 'I' was trying to say 'butterfly' and 'dragonfly' and liked running her hands along the 'grass'. That was until her older brother arrived home from pre-school and decided he didn't want grass, so made his hands into a 'mower' and started cutting it all off.

I love seeing how kids change and adapt things you've set up for them, I always feel like I've got a bit more of an insight into how that child's mind works instead of just telling them how to play with things!!

Monday 7 March 2011

Beads and Bobs...

So I was looking around the house the other day for something I could quite litterally throw together to make an activety when my eyes landed on my jewellery/sewing box, I popped it open and grabbed a load of beads, buttons, gems, thimbles, couple of jewellery boxes and anything else that looked colourful really.

The result...? An activety which kept Isabelle entertained and amazed for over half an hour, and for an 18 month old I thought it was quite an achivement!

Note,  this needs to be really closely monitored if they are still in the putting things in their mouth stage, things can dissapear into mouths or up noses very quickly!

She loved scooping the beads and buttons into smaller boxes and pouring them back, there were also a few bells which she fished out and shook next to her ear. She put the thimbles on and off my fingers and was amazed when I made a few buttons 'dissapear' from under a box lid and then re-appear from behind her ear.

I just love this age when everything is discovery, and new, and magical, theres no better way to re-connect with our own inner child than through a child close to us.

Thursday 3 March 2011

ANIMALS!!!

I have now decided our first theme is going to be Animals! I thought it would be a nice easy start and tie in nicely to the following theme of Spring/Easter towards the end of the month.

So we started off with making some flash cards which Isabelle just loved having a look at and practiced naming with huge smiles when she got it right
Then using the same flash cards (which we had doubles of) we played a pairing game putting them up on the wall. Isabelle was so proud when she managed to find pairs of ducks and turkeys all by herself!
Next we had a trip out to the library to find some interesting animal books
And then we took the puppy out for a walk!

Lovely animal filled day!

Happy St David's Day!

...or... Dydd Gwŷl Dewi Sant hapus!

This one kind of snuck up on me it has to be said, both of the kids I look after have been down with really bad colds and trying to get all the rest of my paperwork in place meant I obviously didn't look at my planning very closely!

Only had the one little one and after a morning of looking at books for 'World Book Day' we had a crafty afternoon.....

First we had a look at pictures of daffodils on the computer
Then started off some painting some petals and an egg cup middle, with help from Aunty Georgia
Then to glue it all together...
And the finished article!!

Lovely quick activity for any age, I think Aunty Georgia enjoyed it the most!