Here at my childminding service we LOVE dressing up! Our dressing up box is out on a daily basis at the moment and one or all of the children are often wearing one of the hats, a tutu or a mask.

I have been planning on making some new costumes for a while now but still haven’t quite found the time so I thought I’d share the links to some of the costume ideas in the hope that they may inspire me and you to get making!

First there’s the simple no-sew tutu. There are lots of instructions on the internet to make these but I like this tutorial from Skip to My Lou

(photo from http://www.skiptomylou.org)

For the superheroes in the playroom there’s the simple superhero cape made from one of Dad’s old t-shirts. Again, there are quite a few tutorials available online but I like this one featured on The Southern Institute

(photo from http://thesoutherninstitute.com)

And finally……………… how about a pirate hat? I found this lovely simple tutorial at Simple Simon &  Company which I can’t wait to make for our dressing up box. It has the added bonus that it’s a fold up hat so won’t take up much room in the box either… leaving space for oodles more costumes!

(photo from http://www.simplesimonandco.com)

Hope that these inspire you to have some dressing up fun this week. Even if you don’t have time to make one of these fab costumes why don’t you dig out a few of your old things like hats, scarves and bags….. your little one will love them. Whatever you do… have fun!

PS. Thank  you to everyone who emailed me feedback on last week’s post. If anyone wants a copy of my template for the “About Me” book just drop me an email at: hello@victoriadalechildminding.co.uk and I’ll send you a copy.

Why not pop along to the Tales and Fables Bandstand in the shop in the St. Enochs Centre  from 3pm – 4pm Tuesdays to Fridays and from 1pm – 3pm Saturdays and Sundays and listen to Kurly Kirsty tell you all about a world of imagination and adventure. You may be in luck and meet Hamley and Hattie Bear too!

For more information contact Hamleys Glasgow on: 0871 704 1977

So………….. another week has passed and we have some exciting news at my childminding service. Two of our families have new additions and I am super excited for them. This week I want to share an activity with you that I plan to do with all of my little ones but specifically for the older siblings to help introduce them to their new family member.

We are making little books all about ourselves. I have no pictures to show you as we haven’t done them yet so I will tell you what I have prepared for the children and maybe you can make one at the same time as us!

I had a little think about what should be on the pages and this is what I have come up with:

• A photograph of the child
• A self-portrait of the child (to help them do this I am going to give them a face outline to fill in)
• The child’s handprints/ footprints
• The child’s age (you could get them to colour a big number of their age or you could do a cake with the right amount of candles on top)
• A picture of their favourite toy
• What their favourite food is
• What their favourite book is (you could get your child to describe the story and transcribe what they say)
• Favourite colour/ favourite shape etc
• What they are most excited about at the moment

Once you have all your pages together you can then simply punch holes in them down one side and thread ribbon through to hold the pages together.

I am so excited about this activity as there are many opportunities for the children to use lots of different skills but most importantly for them to talk about themselves and for them to see how important and special they are. Once we have completed them I’ll post up a few pictures to show you how we got on. If you make your own book, have fun!

Head on down to The Riverside Museum on 18th and 19th May  from 10am – 4pm for some unique performance by The Flying Theatre company…. a self-contained, fully functioning theatre on a bus!

The Flying Theatre company are based in France but have toured around Europe over the years and now return to Glasgow with performances throughout the day that you can drop in and see. There will be the unique stories, “Tales of Provence” and “Colours of India”….. did I mention they’ll be on a bus?! Am a little bit excited about this event and hope to make it along myself with my little one! Hope you make it along too!

This week in my childminding service we have been learning a a rhyme all about dancing around a Maypole and we made some May Day flower baskets to give to our friends or family.

If your little one wants to make a basket of flowers then you will need:

• A paper plate (cut in half)
• PVA glue and a glue spreader
• Pieces of paper, tissue paper, feathers and other embellishments
• Double sided sticky tape
• Card (I used an old cereal box)
• Scissors
• Paints
• Paintbrush
• Lolly sticks
• Apron
• Pipe cleaner

Discover! Fitba’ Crazy

On Saturday 4th May and Sunday 5th May you can drop in to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum between 1.30pm and 4pm for an afternoon of games, crafts and activities for all the family all of which will be inspired by the football exhibition that is currently on, “More Than A Game – How Scotland Shaped World Football”

For more information contact Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum on: 0141 276 9599

Today’s post is a continuation of our caterpillar theme but is also covered by “Springtime” and “Things That Grow” which are areas that we have also been looking at here in my childminding service.

Can you guess what we did yet? We made hairy cress caterpillars!

First of all we made our caterpillars and to do this we needed the following:

• An egg carton
• Scissors
• Paint (we used green)
• Paintbrush
• A pipe cleaner
• Foam shapes (2 x ovals and 2 x small circles)
• Glue
• Apron

and we did the following:

• Firstly, I cut up the egg carton into strips of three to make up the caterpillar’s body using the scissors
• I then popped an apron on the little ones and gave them the green paint and a paintbrush/ foam brush each to cover their caterpillars in paint

• Once the caterpillars had dried we made some eyes from the foam shapes by sticking a small circle of foam onto the ovals and then we stuck them in place on the front of our caterpillars
• We then made some antennae out of the pipe cleaners and put these in place by threading them through two small holes above the eyes

We then added our cress and for this we needed the following:

• Cress seeds
• Cotton wool balls

and this is what we did:

• We put a ball of cotton wool in each egg cup of the caterpillar’s body
• We then soaked the cotton wool in water so that it was moist
• We added a pinch of seeds onto each cotton wool ball and then put our caterpillars into a light and sunny spot

We are now watching our caterpillars grow hair and once it has grown we shall be adding it into our sandwiches for lunch! The children are keeping an eye on the cotton wool balls and making sure that they stay moist to let the seeds grow.

This is a great activity to talk to your little one about how things grow and as cress grows so quickly they don’t have to wait too long to see a result.

I hope you have lots of fun creating your own hairy caterpillar!

Join them in their activities to discover the different creatures that live in the rock pools and on the sand.

This event is a drop in event that is FREE (although donations to the RSPB are always welcome) and is meant for all the family.

For more information visit the RSPB website or email: sarah-jayne.forster@rspb.org.uk

How are you? How was your week and weekend? Well, Monday is upon us again…. let’s have some fun!

For today’s post I thought I’d share a very simple activity that my little one got up to at the weekend and that we plan to repeat in the playroom this week as it was so much fun!

All you need for this activity is a box! A nice big box and some scrunched up paper and an excited toddler!

(please check your box for staples before letting your little one play in it)

Activities will start at 11am and the full games start at midday with traditional sports such as  caber tossing, hammer throwing and shot putt and if that wasn’t enough, the Commonwealth Games mascot, Clyde, will be there too! There will also be children’s entertainment and activities, a Farmers’ Market, historical re-enactment, food stalls and an arts and crafts fair… something for all the family and it’s all for FREE!

For more information go to: www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk