Messy Mice

We went to a new activity at the children's centre today - Messy Mice.



The Messy Mice group involves a variety of activities including messy play, glueing, painting, sensory play (e.g. water, jelly, soil) - all the mess without any of the tidying up!



Everything that happens in a Messy Mice class has a purpose. It is more than just mess. Arts, crafts and sensory play in particular are wonderful tools to enhance your child’s: creative, physical and mathematical development, communication, language and literacy, personal, social and emotional development and knowledge and understanding of the world.

Messy play activities like at the Messy Mice group have lots of benefits including self-confidence, creativity, self expression, hand-eye co-ordination, concentration, fine motor skills, problem solving skills, sense of achievement, learning skills, self-esteem and exploring concepts (e.g. colour, form, texture).

At this weeks group there were the following activities:

• painting
• playdoh (see here for recipes / ideas)
• flubber (see here for details)
• water play
• runny strawberry angel delight play
• shredded paper play
• giant Lego
• sensory bottles (see here for ideas)
• giant crayoning (big paper on the floor that children drew on)

Look out for more messy / sensory play ideas soon!

Messy Play Learning

We have blogged in the past about messy play but saw that The Play Academy are looking for messy play posts for the end of October so thought we would write a new post on this theme.

Judging by the four year old's school uniform he has been doing a lot of it at school so I asked him about his five favourite messy play things and have added some learning!



1. Shaving foam
Very simple and very messy - squirt on the table and then spread out with the palms of your hand and draw shapes, patterns and pictures or write letters, numbers and even words. This is a great activity for children who don't really like writing as they are too busy drawing to realise they are practicing and developing these fine motor skills!


2. Paint
He likes paint (claims he hasn't done it this week but someone has because there was green paint on his school shoes this morning)... He then talked about rolling marbles in paint to make patterns and mixing colours.


3. Finding Buried Treasure
Hide coins in a sandpit (doesn't matter if the sand is wet or dry - wet is messier though) and dig for them - you can use spades or spoons, sieve for them or just find them with fingers.


4. Noodles
He still remembers this from Chinese New Year - a big tray of cooked noodles to stir, pick up with large tweezers (trying chopsticks if you are brave!)

5. Playdough
Probably one of every preschoolers favourites - blogged about before with recipes - lots of learning opportunities. This week they have been thinking about birthdays and have been making playdough cakes.

Summer Holiday: Messy Play

Today we did 'messy play' luckily for us it was at the local Children's Centre so no mess in our house for once. I've posted lots of messy play ideas before here and today wasn't any different - the eldest two liked finger painting - blobs of squeezy paint on the top of the paper and useur fingers / hands to draw patterns and mix them up and the baby enjoyed playing in a bowl of runny strawberry angel delight (don't ask how much he ate!). They also played with coloured sand, cooked pasta, playdoh, water and grains of wheat and jumped in bubbles with the bubble machine. Maybe something to do on a sunny day at home when you can use the garden so as not to make too much mess in the house!

Guest Writing!

Just a little post to tell you where you can read more educational / activity ideas written I've written.

Firstly - Treehugger Mums which is an online magazine, updated monthly with loads of articles on all aspects of pregnancy, parenting, green living - you name it! They also run an online shop which sells baby slings, cloth nappies, natural toiletries, eco-menstrual products. I write for them monthly generally providing seasonal craft ideas. My next article (currently in work progress) is on messy and not so messy Fathers Day Card ideas. So check back there and see what's new each month.

Secondly - Play Activities which provide a daily fun educational email for parents of under 5s and have a blog with practical and everyday play ideas and comment for under 5s. I'm still thinking about what to write there and not sure when it'll be up but in the meantime there are lots of activities there to keep your little ones out of mischief!

Operation Play Time - Playdoh, Gloop and Yuk!

Operation Playtime got decidingly messy today with Playdoh-gloop-and-yuk!

We've previously posted about Play dough and Flubber.

Other 'substances' for messy play are:

• shredded paper
• sand (wet or dry)
• uncooked rice
• dried lentils / beans / peas
• Angel delight
• water
• jelly
• baked beans
• bubble bath mixture (very slimey!)
• gravel
• gloop (cornflower mixed with water)
• salt
• cooked pasta
• pebbles
• paint
• dry cereal
• dry tea leaves
• shaving foam
• cooked noodles
• margerine
• glass beads
• porridge
• sweetcorn
• mashed potato

Some are cleaner than others - Have fun!

Does Cooking with Children = Mess or Learning?

There is an article on the BBC website If flour + sugar + children = mess, why let them bake? written by Katy from I Can Cook which got me thinking about cooking with children.

Of course cooking with children is messy but it also has a whole host of learning opportunities.

First, you need a recipe. Finding a recipe using cookery books, shows the use of non-fiction books and gives the opportunity to use an index or you could use a computer search engine. We have found using an internet search for a recipe interesting to see variations of the same recipe and deciding which one works best for us.

Then reading the recipe - older children can read it for themselves, younger ones will need help. This shows that reading is a useful skill and demonstrates the use of instructional text. If your children like cooking get them a notebook and help them make their own recipe book. This helps them practice writing skills (don't forget to add photographs or illustrations of the finished product). They can copy in favourite recipes but also make up their own simple ones for their favourite things like cheese on toast, home made ice lollies or popcorn, which gives them practice at writing instructions.

Next we need the ingredients (learning through shopping is a whole other post see summer holiday market shopping or super maths for supermarket for some ideas). Have you got everything you need or do you need to make some substitutes (strawberry jam for raspberry jam, sultanas for raisins (or chocolate chips!). Looking at the ingredients gives the opportunity to increase vocabulary and general knowledge - what is oregano? where is butter kept? how is tomato puree made? what are raisins made from? where do bananas come from?

Measuring out ingredients using both weight and volume is a great practical maths lesson, what is bigger a teaspoon or a tablespoon? How many cups of flour do we need - can you count them?

Then the making part - this involves many fine motor skills; pouring, scooping, cracking eggs, stirring, whisking, cutting, grating, spooning, kneading, rolling, squeezing, sprinkling, spreading - every part of the making process using motor skills (which in turn will help them improve their handwriting!).

Recipes that involve cooking (or freezing) also teach patience / time telling as you can't eat them immediately!

Some of the things we have made recently...

Flubber

As promised - more information about 'Flubber' as experienced at Messy Mice.

Making 'Flubber'
Materials Needed:
4 teaspoons Borax (find in cleaning supplies or laundry aisle of supermarket)
1 cup warm water
lots of food coloring
2 cups PVA glue
1 1/2 cups VERY hot water

How to make it
In a small bowl, mix the Borax with the warm water. Stir with fingers to dissolve. Add lots of food coloring as it seems to absorb it.

In a large bowl, pour the glue into the hot water (as hot as you can get it without burning yourself). Stir with your fingers as you add the glue.

Slowly add contents of the Borax bowl to the glue bowl, mixing with your fingers constantly.

There will be a cool chemical reaction as the Flubber solidifies.

Keep stirring and mixing until it no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.

Pour off excess liquid (there usually is).

Begin playing!

Store Flubber in an airtight container (it will keep for about 2 weeks).

Note: Flubber may stain fabrics and clothes when fresh, so keep it away from carpeted areas and wear smocks or old shirt.

Warning: Flubber could be toxic if ingested

Flubber Play:
Flubber has the great property that it is hard when cold and somewhat oozy when warm. Leave it on a cool table top for a while, then pick it up, and it will snap into two clean halve when you pull it apart. Hold it in your hands awhile and it will warm and soften and begin to oooooze! Lay it on top of objects and textured surfaces and it will mould itself to their shape. You can use Flubber with all your playdough tools - cutters, rollers, etc, but it will behave a bit differently than playdough.

Colour Playtime

Spring seems to have arrived with a few sunny days and the garden has become a lot more colourful; this gave me the inspiration for the subject of this article - fun ways to teach colours. Children learn to name colours at different ages however it is never too early to start and it can be great fun!

Here are some ideas for colourful experiences:

1. Name colours in general conversation, “look there is a yellow digger”, “look at that black bird”, “can you eat up your red strawberry” etc.
2. Use colours as part of choices, “do you want to wear the red t-shirt or the blue t-shirt?”, “what colour plate would you like?”
3. Play matching games, using simple colour flashcards get your toddler to find an object the same colour or take the card to something the same colour.
4. Play the game ‘I spy’ but instead of saying “something beginning with the letter…” say “something the colour…” and guess things that are that colour, you can also use patterns – “stripy”, “spotty” etc or try the more abstract “I’m thinking of something that is…” for things out of view
5. Go on a colour adventure – choose a colour and while you are out see what you can spot that is that colour, or try and find a rainbow – something of each colour in turn.
6. Play turn-taking games that involve matching colours or throwing coloured dice
7. Use colours as part of physical play, play with coloured beanbags, balls, and hoops, get children to run to, kick, or throw a certain colour.
8. Have a colour day – choose a colour and make that your theme of the day, wear clothes that are that colour, eat food that is that colour, play with toys that are that colour, paint pictures with that colour.
9. Use colours in messy play:

• Add food colouring to water for colourful water play
• Mix paints – paint one hand yellow and the other blue, make a handprint picture... then see what happens when the hands are rubbed together
• Mix playdoh – get a ball of red and a ball of yellow, what happens when you mix them together
• Freeze coloured water in a variety of containers and watch what happens when it melts, and the colours mix together
• Make collages using different colour materials, e.g yellow sand, orange lentils, green grass and blue paper
• Make finger paint pictures

Overall the most important thing when learning colours is to have fun and include colourful language in general conversation.

Red Nose Day - Do Something Funny for Money!

Today is Red Nose Day - and as you can see we've donated and given our sheepy a red nose... you can get one too from Digital Red Nose.

What are you doing for Comic Relief?

Here at Littlesheep Learning we are wearing pyjamas to school, wearing Red Nose Day Deeley Boppers to Messy Play at the Children's Centre and donating a £1 for every order placed today.

Playday

Today is Playday the annual celebration of children's right to play. On Playday and throughout the summer, thousands of children, young people and communities will get out to play at hundreds of locally organised events across the UK. As well as a celebration of children's right to play, Playday is also a campaign that raises awareness about some serious issues affecting children's play.

The Play Day 2010 campaign is 'Our Place,' which puts children at the heart of our communities, and asks everyone, young and old, to help create better places for all of us to live and play.

We are off to an event for 0-8 year olds at our local Children's Centre (shame about the rain!) where there promises to be: face painting, messy play, entertainers and a bouncy castle and a picnic afterwards.

See if there is something happening near you - www.playday.org.uk.