little bright sparks

Egg Shell Smash and Paint Planets

2020-07-09T00:03:00.000-07:00

As part of the Space themed Homeschool this week we used egg shells (cleaned) and the boys smashed them with a hammer. Then glued them to a piece of paper to make a moon. The best size of the pieces was probably the size of a 5p.

The next day they used rock painting pens to add colour to the shells to change them to the sun and Earth .

My 9 year old said he enjoyed smashing the egg shells and that he could change it from a moon to the Earth .

Fireman Sam Number Rescue

2016-06-28T01:48:00.001-07:00

In preparation for preschool we played a game with magnetic numbers and fireman Sam with a helicopter and helipad.

I placed the one set of numbers in order on the chalkboard for him to match up to.

He had to identify the number and collect it from the helipad and place it in the harness then take it to the chalkboard to match it up to.

He enjoyed playing and was pleased he matched up the numbers. He still doesn't recognise all the numbers but definitely made progress.

Zac 2.11

Frog on a log science

2016-06-25T13:06:00.001-07:00

FROG ON THE LOG by LEYLAND PERREE

Storybook inspired science.

Tadpole observation and transformation is a great way to explore the life cycle of a frog.

http://littlebrightsparks.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/a-z-science-transformation.html?m=0

Tadpole magnets.

We had some magnets that have a ball and a tail which were great for tadpoles. So this science sctivity is about exploring magnets.

http://littlebrightsparks.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/tadpole?m=0

Table target

2016-06-25T06:50:00.001-07:00

This game was made up by my son.

The chalk and spray were already out and he saw the table folded up and asked if he could use as a target.

So I drew three circles in diode rent colours and he wanted numbered but we just gave each colour a number.

They had to shoot and add up the scores

Then they had to trace the circles to erase them.

I think we will use the table like this again for similar activities .

Dylan 5.7

Zac 2.11

Euro 2016: chalk flags

2016-06-25T06:24:00.001-07:00

In preparation for England's next match we chose England and Iceland's flag to draw.

He used his sticker book to copy the flag.

Dylan even decided to predict 3-0 to England .

He thought it was funny predicting the score .

I had to help with the outline, it would be much easier on a flat surface but the shed is a favourite for chalking on.

He wrote the teams name underneath after but I didn't get a pic of that.

We discussed similarities and differences in the two flags. I think we will have a look at location on a map and size of the country before Monday's match.

We had a water spray bottle and sponge to wipe it off after which was just as much fun .

He thought it was funny to do the opposite of England flag Switzerland .

Number Bonds :10

2016-06-20T12:31:00.001-07:00

My son's homework inspire us to play number bond games.

Abacus number bonds.

He had his rainbow poster for support.

The top line was 0-10 and then 1-9 and so on. I thought he would count each one but he soon realised a pattern and place 1 then 2 then 3 to the left.

I recorded him explaining this process and he was very impressed with himself.

Melissa and Doug number jigsaw dominoes.

First he had to match the number to the picture. Then he arranged them into number bonds. The only problem is number five as there is only one.

Number flash cards

He really liked cards at the moment so he liked this one. Some of them have written numbers on so we matched them too. He was pleasantly surprised how successful he was. ( me too)

Hopefully the activities with numbers displayed will help him learn which way to write the numbers.

I think we are going to try with Lego next time .

Dylan 5.8

Alien Cups

2016-06-14T11:11:00.001-07:00

A story book inspired craft. My boys love this book and had fun making these cup aliens.

My eldest even drew underpants on.

We could made paper pants to stick on

My two year old drew his face on. He also placed the forks and spoons in. I just pierced holes and sellotaped them inside.

We role played with the Aliens when we read the book. The eldest named him

Four eyed spike and Bubba Bob Bob was the name of my two year olds alien.

Dylan 5.7

Zac 2.11

Log Work Station

2016-06-14T04:46:00.001-07:00

Today while his daddy was doing DIY my 2 year old wanted to be like daddy and insisted hammering everywhere in the house so I went to the shed and grabbed a hammer nails, nuts & bolts, Allen key and spanners.

I hammered 5 nails into a log in the garden and encouraged him to hammer them.

I showed him how nuts and bolts work and he placed the nuts on the nails.

We counted the nuts and the washers.

He practised his fine motor skills picking them up and moving them.

We talked about shapes and whether the nuts fit into the spanner.

We talked about which way to screw and unscrew the nuts.

We picked up the nuts, balanced and counted them on the Allen Key.

Nice weather too, good garden fun.

Zac 2.11.

Euro 2016: French Flag activities

2016-06-10T13:26:00.001-07:00

Opening night of Euro 2016 and the host country I search activities to do with the boys .

Here are my favourite ones

French flag mosaic

http://funfamilycrafts.com/french-flag-mosaic/

Food flags

http://hitsharenow.com/18-national-flags-made-from-food/

Minecraft sheep

http://untoldtales.proboards.com/thread/19661/minecraft-sheep-flags

Lego flag

http://www.amomentinourworld.com/2012/09/france-study.html

Fruity French flag

http://lecoindemel.com/french-party-the-food/

Flag toast

http://www.cookinandkickin.com/2012/05/american-flag-toast.html?m=1

French toast kebabs

http://balticmaid.com/2012/07/french-toast-kebabs

Hopefully we will have a go at as many of these as possible.

Virtual book club: Goldilocks and the three dinosaurs

2016-05-22T01:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some ideas I like to go with the book Goldilocks and the three dinosaurs.

Temperature experiment

http://science-mattersblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/goldilocks-three-bears.html?m=1

Dinosaur cakes

http://jacquelinessweetshop.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/dinosaur-cupcakes.html?m=1

dinosaur face painting ideas

http://www.functionsoffun.com.au/private/face-painting

Dinosaurs hide and seek

http://goexplorenature.com/2011/02/fun-friday-dinosaur-hide-and-seek.html

Dinosaurs mask

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/styracosaurus-mask

Dinosaur track cookies
http://www.moms-heart.com/2012/03/dinosaur-track-cookie.html?m=1

Goldilocks and the three dinosaurs video

Dinosaurs reaction time game

Goldilocks and the three dinosaurs math

Dinosaur feet craft
https://angelicscalliwags.com/2016/02/23/fun-hands-on-dinosaur-unit-study-week-1/

Dinosaur snack plates
http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2015/02/dinosaur-plates-make-snack-time-fun.html

Dinosaur treats
http://www.glorioustreats.com/2012/08/dirt-worms-and-dinosaurs-dessert.html

Dinosaur tails

http://www.running-w-scissors.com/2011/03/dinosaur-tails.html#.VUbgF_mqpBc

STEM Bath time

2016-05-10T14:26:00.001-07:00

We had a set of sprays and plastic test tubes that I filled with different coloured soaps. My son arranged the foam numbers in order and they had to spray the numbers.

My two year old is starting to recognise numbers. My five year old had to spray them number of times on each balloon adding them together.

They mixed potions..

Magnetic objects play

2016-05-10T14:12:00.001-07:00

My son loves the magnets on the fridge and he constantly takes them off. So I got the magnetic whiteboard and the magnetic objects tub and left him to it.

The tub is s mixture of letters , numbers , book magnets and leapfrog magnets.

He enjoyed matching up the vehicles and animals and setting up a digger scene .

Tadpole fishing

2016-05-08T15:13:00.001-07:00

In continuation of our tadpole theme we adapted the fishing game my son came up with to tadpoles instead of fish.

He made a fishing rod and I then made a pond with blue card and added numbers to the Molly mods.

We tried adding magnets to them but they were too heavy for the magnets we had.

He hooked them on and then we used them for number identification of double digits and sums.

We also sequenced them by number and colour.

We also started making shapes with them ( triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, pentagon, hexagon)

I'm sure there are many other activities we could do.

Dylan 5.6

Indoor bean bag game

2016-05-02T07:49:00.001-07:00

There are twelve plates that have numbers upto 12 on.

First we sequenced them and then we tossed on a said number then they jumped , hopped or stepped on them.

Quick indoor activity on a rainy day.

Zac 2.9 Dylan 5.6

Number archery

2016-05-02T06:02:00.001-07:00

We got the foam numbers out, dipped in water and stuck them on the window.

The aim was to hit the desired number

using the bow and arrow.

We then started adding the scores and recording on the chalk board.

They then made double numbers and had to recognise the numbers.

My 2 year old used bean bags as he had difficulty with the bow and arrow.

A-Z Science: Transformation

2016-05-01T13:32:00.001-07:00

The first transformation we are looking at is tadpoles into frogs.

We are doing a series of activities learning about their transformation . Mainly observing and recreating them at each stage .

Printable transform a tadpole into a frog

http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/profbooks/tadpole.pdf

Image from

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=transformation+tadpoles+science+&view=detailv2&&id=24B749E83327933D31EFEFCDC562802E25D99260&selectedIndex=123&ccid=MWxAI1HP&simid=608052681580613118&thid=OIP.M316c402351cf02caa55eb9c9a44af599o0

Check out our tadpole activities that we have done so far.

Another idea would be to look st the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Dragon puppet neighbourhood watch

2016-05-01T11:50:00.001-07:00

The puppet dragons were taken out for a Tour of the neighbourhood.

We took a squirting water bottle to pretend it was fire. They had to squirt letters, numbers, shapes and objects.

Dylan even spotted 3D shapes like a cone and cylinder .

Then a role play with a knight on a 'castle' .

The boys loved this and didn't want to go on for dinner .

Dylan 5.5 and Zac 2.9

Dragon Sock puppets

2016-04-28T13:45:00.001-07:00

Not great pics for this activity. Needed a more hands on role making and my battery was low.

But basically socks, glue, scissors and foam.

We made them for St George's day.

The boys were impressed with them and wanted to take them out.

Tadpole sock puppet

2016-04-21T13:13:00.001-07:00

As you can see from the pictures this is one of my 2 year olds favourite Tadpole activity so far.

Easy to do get a sock, some PVA glue and googley eyes.

We used a cotton bud to apply the glue.

Zac was very independent and wanted to do it himself whilst on his hand.

He then used it to talk to the real tadpoles.

We talked about the pond weed and he asked for some for his tadpole.

So I got him s selection of green items such as string , pipe cleaners and foam.

Zac 2.9 yrs

Pom Pom Tadpoles

2016-04-21T13:03:00.001-07:00

We got a black Pom Pom , black pipe cleaner and googley eyes. Then wrapped pipe cleaner around the Pom Pom and glued eyes on.

Magnet Tadpoles

2016-04-20T11:58:00.001-07:00

We am continued out tadpole topic using magnets.

They are idea as they are comprised of a ball and a tube magnet. so a head and a body .

We matched colours, made various length tadpoles and then counted how many tubes we added and sequenced them.

We many as many tadpole as we could and role played with them. He quickly worked out that the two like poles would repel and he needed to change the end to attract.

We also used it as a measuring tool to measure the tadpole vase.

Lovely preschool STEM activity.

Zac 2.9 enjoyed the magnets

Pebble tadpoles

2016-04-19T13:59:00.001-07:00

My neighbour has a pond and I decided to ask him for some tadpoles for a science lesson I was doing at my sons school. So I got two tall jars and filled with pond water, pond weed and tadpoles. So after the visit /lesson we had them. The boys were so enthusiastic about them that they have stayed. I am going to return them just as they transform into frogs.

They have been moved from jars to a vase.

I added some pebbles so they can hide too.

We got a chalkboard , pebbles and chalk. He used the tadpoles in the vase for observation . He held the pebble and drew a tail . He then drew eyes on the pebbles.

We discussed colours of the chalk and shape of the pebble could also be mentioned.

This was a quick activity on our tadpole Tuesday .

Zac talked to the pebble tadpoles , such imagination.

Zac 2.9 months

No Dylan today he was at school

Spider-Man, Batman and Hulk Duplo DIY

2016-04-18T12:10:00.001-07:00

I remember seeing a post about this before and told my husband who decided to attend the challenge.

So he made Spider-Man, batman and hulk and was very pleased when they were recognised by our son.

I suoppose it depends on the blocks that you have really.

They stayed in the window sill for a while as my husband didn't want them breaking just yet.

Penguins and igloos snow play

2016-04-07T07:45:00.001-07:00

My son's school topic of animals had a focus on the Arctic and Antarctic, one suggestion was to make an igloo.

I remembered that at xmas I brought artificial snow .

We followed the instructions that were basically add water to the powder.

Soon we had a tub full of artificial snow.

We coloured the snow with food dye.

They used diggers and tubs to play.

The tubs were ideal for snow castles : igloos.

They observed wind up penguins and how they moved on the snow.

The penguins were from crackers and are number which we used to race and add up. Identified odds and evens.

The snow lasted for well over 10 days. In the fridge and out of the fridge. I think it would last much longer.

We had something like this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00GL5LNDG/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?qid=1460040263&sr=8-6&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=artificial+snow+magic&dpPl=1&dpID=51ngPbo856L&ref=plSrch

DIY Playdoh Town: Castle

2016-04-07T02:00:00.001-07:00

The boys love the idea of a Playdoh town and I asked them what kind of town we should make and a Castle was the answer from my knight loving 2.7 year old.

So... There was a castle with people (from ELC) some Playdoh , animal props and then we used pasta and tools to create more animals / dragons / monsters.

We acted out a typical 'damsel in distress' story .

We used the animals to copy and make Playdoh versions.

We used imagination to create our own monsters/ dragons. Giving them names and using them in the role play.

They still talk about our Playdoh town weeks later and will definitely make a different town using toys and Playdoh .

We will probably recreate for St George's day.

You could easily incorporate more learning such as numeracy

Counting, adding/subtracting animals and alphabet by putting a letter by each object indicating what they start with.