Playful Learners

Thorpe Park on Review

2013-05-23T03:12:00.001-07:00

Over the last few weeks the children have been very excited over a planned day trip to Thorpe Park. It was an opportunity for a fun day out and a chance to see the children's nan and grandad who live very close by. Thorpe Park is a place filled with childhood memories for me. Having lived only five minutes down the road as a child we would usually visit the park on every school holiday. Our eldest two are now just at the right age to start going to theme parks so on the lead up to our trip I described the park and the rides the used to be my favourite as a child.

The night before the trip the children fell asleep surprisingly quick leaving me lots of time to pack. The weather was forecasts as rain and a little sun shine so I stacked the children's clothes up ready to go including plenty of layers so they could strip off if needed. I made sure we had spare clothes packed for the older two and plenty of extra bits for Tinnie ( for once I managed to remember every thing that we needed).

When we got to the park in the morning G explained the park as 'amazing' and 'just like Disneyland'. She was ready to burst as we came through the dome into the park, she scanned the park and straight away wanted to run off and explore. We waited around a little while for Nanny and Grandad and then we got started working our way around the park.

Favourite Rides:

Before we went to the park we were quite worried Moley (aged 3yrs 8mths) would not have many rides to go on but we were wrong. Once there we were able to measure him against each of the rides and this helped him to understand which rides were OK for him to try. His favourite ride was the X. This involves going on a roller coaster in the dark which is made more exciting by a light and sound show as you whizz round. I spent the whole time on this ride with my eye closed however Moley (who we now know is a real thrill seeker) was crazy about the ride.

G (aged 8) preferred the water rides. To begin with we struggled to convince her to try out the roller coasters but after explaining to her it's best she tried those before Tidal Wave she finally gave them ago. Her favourite ride would have the be Tidal Wave as she loved the huge drop down into the water and getting soaked. After that I would say it was the rapids. Luckily the weather was so nice in the end that we didn't need to use the heated pod's which cost £2 a go but G took any opportunity that should could to get wet even if it meant tricking nanny into getting wet as you can see below on the video.

The grown up's in the family enjoyed the X mainly because it was the biggest of the rides daddy could fit on. Being a strong man definitively has its down side when it comes to family trips involving rides. I think he was more disappointing the he let on but unfortunately he could not close the harness down when sitting in the seats as his shoulders were so big. However even the grown ups had a nice time going on the children's rides and didn't mind being pulled on 4 times in a row and we stayed at the park from 10am until 6pm so there was plenty to do through out the day and I think the children would have happily stayed at the newly opened Crash Pad and done it all on the following day. As you can see from the photo's we had a great time!!

Refreshments:

We took a picnic with us on the day to save on the cost of food. As you go around the park there is a wide variety of places to eat. There are plenty of places to sit around the park and if it rains there's also a few shelters. The food and drink is expensive but no higher priced then I would expect on a day out. When needing to heat up Tinnies bottle we needed to return to the first aid centre to have it heated as the shops are not allowed to do this. It was not too much hassle as we were constantly walking near this area.

Tips:

Don't bother with the lockers these are over priced and there are plenty of places to leave your bags while on the rides.
Parking is costly so make sure you bring some change.
Make sure you do plenty of toilet trips with the little ones, theres nothing worse then getting to the front of a que and then they need the loo.
Take a spare change of clothes or wear layer in case you get wet.
Pack swimming costumes for the mini beach.

Would we go again? Yes definitely!! The park is costly for a day out but there are ways to save money and it really is a great day out.

Looking for ways to save?

Pick up a Frijj to take advantage of a 2-for-1 coupon offer when booking tickets. More information can be found on their Facebook page
Alternatively you can Book tickets 7 days or more in advance to save 30% – adults from £30.24, children from £23.52 (under 12). Handy if your planning for the school holidays in advanced.
Get 2-for-1 tickets courtesy of Coke
If travelling by train, head to South West Trains to get online discounts on entry
Feel like one day isn’t enough? Thorpe Park now offer over-night stays at the park in our newly opened ‘Crash Pad’ accommodation from £64 per person which includes 2 days at the park and breakfast!!

Disclosure: We were sent Thorpe Park Tickets to review however all opinion's are my own.

Making Marks With Play Dough

2013-05-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

We love to play with playdough in our house because it's a great open ended play experience. I make a big batch of easy to make play dough and the children pick out the materials or toys they would like to use with it. I usually make a fresh batch at the beginning of the week and keep it until the following weekend. Its stored in the fridge every night in a plastic container and may just need a little bit of water adding to it each day.

This week Little Man picked red play dough ( this is his favourite colour at the moment) so I made it up and placed out the duplo bricks to get him exploring making marks in play dough. Normally as I said before I would not lead the children's play in picking the resources but mark making is a skill Little Man is just discovering and I thought it would be a fun way to involve mark making.

Little man loved pushing the brick down into the play dough and watching the marks that the different size bricks made. He then began piling the play dough up and seeing what difference this made to his playdough when he pushed the playdough in again. It's lovely to see how he extends his own play by experimenting.

He then rolled out the play dough either side of the pattern he had already made and counted them up to eleven and higher with help. He noticed that the pattern looked like a computer key boards and started playing with it as though it was a computer.

The next time we do mark making with play dough I will try resources like combs, cotton wool buds and plastic knifes.

Development Links

Maths: Looking at shapes and counting with or without assistance.

Physical: Developing gross and fine motor skills through use of tools and manipulative materials.

Creative: Use of imagination in play to mould and adapt into objects for play.

Garden Theme Bedroom Part 1

2013-05-16T04:32:00.003-07:00

We moved around a year ago to the house we're now in and when we first did so I promised my self that I would make this house feel like a home as the last house never truly felt like a home. The most important rooms to me were the children's room's and since the eldest two were sharing I thought I would attack their room first. P and Little man moved into the same bedroom to give Peanut his own room now that he is old enough.

The first thing we needed to do was come up with a theme that they could both agree on and would last until Peanut was old enough to share with his big brother. They decided on the theme of the garden as it is something that could suit both boys and girls. So mini beasts for the boys and butterflies and flowers for the girls.

I think this process will be a long one. The main thing which I wanted to cover was to get the theme clearly seen when you walk through the room and I think we have done that.

The next big important thing to me was that they had enough storage. We used some large box units we already had and then purchased some boxes for inside and on top from Vertbaudet for all of their toys. This is also where we purchased the lovely shaggy pile rug from which makes a great environment for P's fairy play.

A bit of a fuzzy photograph but this beautiful tree was sent to us by Dotty Frog Decor. The lovely tree filled a large section of the main wall in their bedroom. Living in a rented house we are unable to paint the walls, using wall stickers has been a great way for us to put our own touch on the children's room and can be easily removed when we decide to change the room's around again.

We still have a lot more planned for the bedroom including curtains with hand sewn details and art work picture frames so that's why this is only part one. Do you have a beautiful themed children's bedroom? I'd love to see a photo and you can add them to our Facebook page.

Disclosure: Dotty Frog Decor sent us some wall stickers to review however all opinion's are my own.

Making Smoothies With Actimel

2013-05-15T12:23:00.001-07:00

Fruit and Veg has been one of those things that bother me. The whole family completely lack fruit and veg in their diet and I know this lies down to me! So this summer I'm on a mission to squeeze as much of it as I can into every day. Because this is a life style change I plan to introduce it to the children in many ways to get the children learning more about healthy foods. We have started to plant our own veg and will be doing plenty of cooking with the apples which grow in the garden each year.

Last week we were sent a lovely little package of goodies from Actimel. The box was packed with fruit and yogurts from the new Actimel range which we were to use to make a smoothie. I thought this would be a fantastic way to introduce more fruit to the children by using the smoothies as a snack with they could even help make. Actimel comes in a variety of 14 flavours including fat free. Suitable for children from 3, each bottle of Actimel contains at least 10 billion L. Casei live cultures and Vitamins B6 and D - a perfect way to start the day!

So we set up the little smoothie maker and got blending a variety of smoothies using the recipe cards Actimel sent us as inspiration. I say we but Little Man was the chef and took to work excited cutting up the fruit carefully with a safety knife.

As Little Man placed every thing in the smoothie maker we tried the different fruits and discussed their tastes.
We came up with new words for him to descibe foods such as sharp, tangy and smooth. Little man explained that his favourite was a berries and that we needed lots of these in our drink. We went for a tasty smoothie made with banana's, mixed berries, passion fruit, mango and a bottle of Actimel mango and passion fruit.

Once blended down Little man noted the change in colour and was excited to pour it into a cup and give it a try. He described it as tasting like ice cream and I must admit it does remind me of my favourite ice cream. As part of my current diet I drink a smoothie (normally green) every lunch time and this recipe has to be my favourite so far and I'm excited to give the others a go.

Disclosure: Actimel sent us some Actimel drinks, fruit and a blender to create some smoothies with. All opinion's are my own.

Our Garden Wish List

2013-05-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

Looking out the window into the back garden you would think that the house had been abandoned and the garden left to over grow. Our plans for the garden this year do not really seem to be taking off and I really need to get my bum in gear as I won't have time when I return to work. I have pictures in my head of a bright and vibrant garden that's inviting to the children and a great place to entertain friends. So far it is looking like any thing else BUT that. There is a lot of work to do but with the nice weather on and off I can't bring my self to go out there and do gardening.

After a bit of online browsing I came a cross some gorgeous garden accessories from John Lewis which would really bring our garden come to life!

Wooden planters- we could do with a few of these for the herbs which are currently taking over my flower beds.

A bird bath is some thing we are missing from our nature area. The plan is to grow lots of plants and berries which will attract the birds, bees and maybe even a few squirrels.

Oil cloth bunting

tea light candle holders for when the kids are in bed

Fairy lights would come in handy when we choose to have friends over for a BBQ and would like to stay our there when the sun has gone down.

The collection at John Lewis really gets me in the summer feeling but first I need to go out there and wrestle the weeds and grass before hubby will let me shop for the garden.

Have you started on revamping your garden for the summer?

How To Make Home Made Fudge

2013-05-08T03:16:00.000-07:00

I was told a while ago that fudge was an easy way to bake with the children. I loved the idea of doing this because we usually make biscuits or egg free cakes so this was some thing a little different. Making fudge was a great way for Little Man to discuss the changes he noticed as the ingredients as they were heated through on the hob.

Ingredients:

225ml Water
1kg Sugar
125g Butter (unsalted)
350ml Condensed Milk
1 Teaspoon vanilla essence

Recipe:

1. Place the Water, sugar and butter into a saucepan
2. Boil the ingredients for about 10 minutes on a high heat until the sugar has dissolved

3. Add the condensed milk while continuing to stir every minute.
4. Stop stirring and boiling once the mixture begins to obtain a light brown colour and begins to thicken on the side of the saucepan
5. Add vanilla essence
6. Once cooked poor into shallow baking pan lined with grease proof paper

7. Leave the fudge to set or pop it in the fridge

Product Review: Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game

2013-05-04T01:11:00.000-07:00

Learning Resources manufactures a wide range of award-winning toys and learning aids for children from two to twelve years. The UK based company are passionate about the products they produce in helping children development.

They explain on their site 'during the last 16 years Learning Resources has become The Brand Teachers Trust supplying teachers with educational products for early years education, maths and literacy learning, phonics (letters & sounds), reading, science, personal, social & health education (PSHE), and English as an Additional Language (EAL).' I have to agree with this, as a Nursery Manager the company was also my first point of call when looking for resources.

We were recently asked to review the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game by Learning Resources. We have a lot of board games in our house however most are aimed at school age and Little Man doesn't have many which are age appropriate so I thought this would be great for him.

Learning Resources describe the board game as a 'Distinctive board game helps to develop colour matching, strategic thinking, hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills. Winner of the Good Housekeeping Best Toy Awards 2011 this squirrel themed game is suitable for children over three years and can be played between 2-4 players.' So the game was perfect to help him develop his knowledge of colours and understanding of taking turns and sharing.

To play the game every one is given a log to collect their acorns in. You have to do is take it in turns to spin the spinner if you land on a colour you then use the squirrel to grab the matching colour acorn. The winner is the player who fills the log first. Sounds easy right? But you could also land on the sad squirrel and miss a turn or land on the wind blowing all your acorns back onto the tree.

Since the game arrived it has been Little Man's favourite toy and he has not been able to put it down. His favourite part is using the squirrel to try and pick up the acorn. His able to name all the colours and waits patiently for his turn which he would never have done before.

Not only has this game been great for Little Man but it has worked with P too. I have found lately she has been forgetting to share and play nicely with her brother so this game has been a nice reminder for her too. I have started to try and introduce board games as a way for calming down before bed time and this game is great for that.

So the game is a hit in our house as you can tell. The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game is the perfect educational toy and learning aid for preschoolers and helps to develop colour matching, strategic thinking, hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. The quality of the game is good but not great, the squirrel is very robust and just the the right size for Little Man to use however I have noticed that the paint has started to come off slightly on the acorns.

The game includes a set of Squirrel Squeezers, 20 coloured acorns, 1 game spinner and 4 stumps.

The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel game is available to purchase from the Learning Resources website for £19.99.

You can visit Learning Resources at: www.learningresources.co.uk
You can follow Learning Resources on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LRUK
You can like Learning Resources on Facebook: www.facebook.com/learningresourcesuk Where you will find their latest competitions and offers.

Disclosure: I was sent a Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game for the purpose of this review but all views are honest and my own.

Haba 75th Anniversary Review: Lucky Sock Dip

2013-05-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

The idea of the game is similar to snap, The sock card are scattered over the table and the first player to find 5 match pairs of cards and grab the sock monster is the winner. They are then rewarded with a sock monster card and the game continues until all the sock monster cards are used up and the winner of course is the one with the most sock monster cards.

This pocket sized game was great fun for the children, it's lovely to sit and watch them play this game as the giggles and loud laughter is such delight to hear. It took Little Man a while to get the hang of the game and because his 4 yrs younger than his sister he does tend to loose but with help from mummy or daddy we can make it a lot fairer.

The game has come in very useful for filling the gap before dinner or even when we are out and about as the box is a handy pocket size and doesn't take up much room in my changing bag.

If you'd like to find out more about the HABA toys you can check out their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter .

Haba 75th Anniversary Review: Shopping Net Fruits

2013-05-02T02:54:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the fact that HABA has been around for 75 years, 75 bloggers are taking part in reviewing a selection of HABA products. When we found out that we had been selected as one of their 75 I was very excited to try out their products. When checking out their website the toys seemed to be great quality and there were so many items I knew my three would absolutely love.

The first of the toys we choose to review was the 'Shopping Net Fruits', which is made up of 2 apples, 3 pears, 2 strawberries, 3 plums.

I loved this collection of fruit. The colour's were beautiful and vibrant which excited the children straight away. Being wooden the fruit was nice and robust for when Little Man decided it would be more fun to watch the fruit roll down the stairs then to play shops.

Since having the fruit it has been used to have a picnic in the garden, playing supermarkets and cooking dinner for nanny and grandad. It has since been added to the play food box in the kids room. I have notice a few marks in the paint since we received it where the paint has come off but it still has a lot more use in it.

If you'd like to find out more about the HABA toys you can check out their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter .

Four Maxi Dress Styles to Give Your Summer Wardrobe a Boost

2013-05-02T02:47:00.001-07:00

Flick through the pages of any fashion magazine this summer and you’ll discover that maxi dresses are still big news – and for very good reason. As well as being flattering and fun to wear, maxi dresses strike the perfect balance between modish and modest, which makes them the ideal dress for almost every summer occasion.

Invest in one great maxi dress and you’ll breeze effortlessly through the season, so let’s take a look at four of our favourite ladies’ maxi dress styles that will take pride of place in your summer wardrobe.

Punchy Paisley

Whether it’s a summer wedding or simply Sunday brunch with your friends, a paisley print maxi dress is a fun and fashionable piece that looks great on every woman’s figure. Go bold by the beach with summery shades of cerise and orange, or enjoy muted elegance in the evening with hues of aubergine or teal. Accessorising your paisley print maxi dress is easy too - simply add a smart blazer and open-toed pumps to take your dress through to the evening.

Animal Instincts

Although not for the faint-hearted, animal print maxi dresses are one of the must-have summer looks for this year, and what’s more they’re incredibly easy to wear! Go wild in a flowing leopard print maxi dress or be subtle and sophisticated with David Emanuel’s jungle print maxi dress for Bonmarché . The design combines leopard print and a striking fuschia leaf print in a strapless style with a knotted bust that will flatter all figures, plus the affordable price means it could soon become your favourite summer piece of all!

Long and Ladylike

A floral chiffon maxi tea dress will instantly make any woman feel like a true lady, particularly if you choose one with a pretty pastel floral print or beaded details that will make you wish you were enjoying afternoon tea at the Ritz. If floral prints are too twee for you, look for classic block colours like red or blue and accessorise your tea dress with cork wedge sandals, long necklaces or a chunky belt to help disguise unwanted curves. When the summer weather begins to turn cooler, add a long cardigan over your maxi tea dress to take it through to the next season.

Abstract Accents

A more interesting take on the maxi dress trend are those adorned with abstract prints, which never fail to make a statement, particularly in striking monochrome. Zig-zags and art-inspired patterns were part of almost every designer’s collection on the summer catwalks, but relaxed maxi dresses make them wearable, especially if you accessorise with a block-coloured blazer and a wide belt to break up the silhouette.

Gardening Adventures

2013-05-01T00:30:00.000-07:00

It been a very hectic few weeks here at Playful Learners. We've been concentrating on my hubby's health supplement business and I've been prepping for job interviews for my return to work but the plants are coming on really nicely and this weekend we are preparing to move them all into larger pots before we transfer them to the garden.

Over the next few weeks I plan to make a journal with the children which will incorporate all areas of learning but will also make a lovely record to look back on next year. This month I will be sharing some of the links added for April's Garden Adventures. It was lovely to read what stage every one was at with their gardens and how they involved the children in the gardening.

Brennda Phillips shared their idea for exploring what a plant needs to grow.

KC EDventures linked up 30 ideas for gardening with children from planning how to use their space to recording the plants growth and making a journal

Teach Beside Me shared an idea on how to make your children their own watering can! I love this idea, I'm always looking for ways to use our junk modelling materials in a different way.

Gardening Adventures

On the 1st of every month Playful Learners, And Then All I Thought About Was You and Here Come The Girls will be hosting a Link up where you can add a link to your latest fun garden activity with the children. You can fine this month's linky below.

Haba 75th Anniversary Review: On The Farm Large Play Set

2013-05-01T00:00:00.001-07:00

To celebrate the fact that HABA has been around for 75 years, 75 bloggers are taking part in reviewing a selection of HABA products. When we found out that we had been selected as one of their 75 I was very excited to try out their products. When checking out their website the toys seemed to be great quality and there were so many items I knew my three would absolutely love.

The first of the toys we choose to review was the 'On The Farm Play Large set'. This was my favourite item of the one's we were sent. The whole set comes in a fold out box which transforms into the farm house. The objects them selves are beautifully painted figures that balance nicely and are just the right size for Little Mans toddlers hands.

When setting the farm up with Little Man I placed a green mat underneath to represent the grass and Little Man placed the animals around the farm using the lovely images to help him work out where they could be placed.

He explained to me that this area was for the animals to eat the grass.

Meanwhile back in the farmers house Little Man put the farmer to bed with his dog and a chicken.

The box its self was filled with beautiful details which he used in his play too. Such as the hose to wash down the very muddy pig who had been rolling in the mud.

If you'd like to find out more about the HABA toys you can check out their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter .

Transporting With Diggers

2013-04-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Last week we were inundated with parcels turning up at the door. Our living room was starting to look like box city which would have been fine if I didn't need the boxes because the children would have had a great time crawling though them. Two of the children we were able to keep were a perfect tray size and low enough for us to use for some play.

Schema's are something I have been meaning to do more research on because I find it really fascinating Little man loves to transport thing from one area to another and also to line things up. The idea with schema's is the once you have recognised that your child has a schema this interest of theirs can then be used to help them learn through play.

This activity was very simple to set up. We used two boxes and filled one with packaging, the other was filled diggers and trucks able to transport the packaging. So I then set Little Man the challenge to move the packaging from one box to the other.

To begin with he played with it for roughly five minutes and then went off to play in the garden but that night he returned to the game and was able to move all the packaging. He was happy making the noises of the trucks or diggers and I used the opportunity to mention simple number by asking how many he had in the digger or how many he could fit in. He mentioned the weight of the packaging and that it would be easy for his trucks to light.

Saving for a rainy day, why is it necessary?

2013-04-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

When I was younger my opinion was always to live in the now and enjoy your money while you can. We would spend our money on days out, take-away's and clothes. To be honest my view hadn't really changed until Little Man was born and we decided I would be come a stay at home mum. By then it was really too late we had no savings and had to manage just on hubby's wages every month regardless of any hiccups along the way. Looking back even now I am disgusted at the amount of money we wasted when putting the money in a cash isa would have meant that we now could have been a lot more comfortable now or in the distant future as we have not even started a pension yet.

In a few months time I am planning to return to the world of working in childcare and I plan to use our money a lot more sensibly. My main priorities is to start the children on swimming lessons, open a cash isa so we have some saving should we need it and save for a mortgage.

Looking back at how we used our money has made me think about the children and after a chat with hubby we have started to give them pocket money. This pocket money is earned by simply doing a chore or two a day, such as making their bed or clearing the table for tea. They will then be encouraged to use this money to save it up in their money box for a toy they would like to buy. The idea behind it of course is to teach them the value of money, with hope that when they get older they will continue to understand this and maybe even continue to save their money for a rainy day.

10 Ideas For Outdoor Play With Toddlers

2013-04-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

With summer soon upon us I've been thinking of how we could use the garden more and have already got a brand new sand pit and sensory tray ready for some exciting outdoor activities. I've been brainstorming what thing's we could try and the children have been helping to come up with activities they would like to do. This year we are planning on planting a lot more vegetable using grow bag so the children have easy access to watch them grow as well as making our own nature area. This years all about getting out of the house for us!!

Last year the children were able to experience their first Summer with their own garden. It was lovely to watch them play outside and Little Man to become the little explorer I knew he would be, digging in the mud and searching for sticks to collect. I thought before it would be a nice to share with you what we got up to last year before this years outdoor play ideas.

Towards the end of the summer we made the children a digging area. Little man loved transforming it into an area for his dinosaur's to live in.

We looked at ways we could help develop P's literacy through out door play, I wrote a post sharing the ideas we implemented many of these were one's which Little Man could join in too.

During the Olympic's we took the paints out side and rolled out a huge roll of paper for printing. The children loved painting on a big scale.

We used plants and objects from around the garden to create an ocean for the children's fish to explore.

On hot days we prepared ice blocks for play to help cool us down. We hid item's in the ice and the children were really excited when the flowers or animals started to brake free from the ice.

We were given a bag filled with brushes of all sizes by our local council on a Childminding Course and these were added to the children's water play box. They loved using these to wash the cars, bikes and windows.

Mark making in the garden added a new way for P to explore her favourite media's, while Little Man was able to work on his hand eye coordination through using larger tools.

At the end of Spring the children helped to plan the flowers we should grow in the garden. We used magazine cuttings to make collages of the colours we wanted to use.

Through out the summer the children played a huge part of what was grown in the garden and this included the planting and watching plants grow.

Alright we didn't quite have ten so here is an activity we did this year. We went around the house and through the recycling bin to find things which we could use as planters. P loved being responsible for washing out the yogurt pots which was a great way to get her involved in the recycling.

So what do we have planned for this year? Wait and see :0)

Revisting Tuff Spot Play: Mash Potato

2013-04-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

Tuff spots are a great way to introduce children to a wide range of materials to help children explore their senses and imagination. Tuff spots can be any thing which is flat and has a low rim to allow children to reach in the tray with ease and explore its contents. In this example we are using a cat litter tray, perfect if you don't have a garden.

This is an idea we thought of a few years back and blogged abut but this has become such an unusual favourite of ours I thought it would be nice to revisit this post. To save on a few pennies we used powder/dried mash potato. We followed to instructions on the back to make the 'Smash' up but you could alternative use fresh potatoes if you do not like the smell.

We raided our crafts cupboard and the children picked out a few things to add to the potato. Each time can be a new experience with mash potato. In this example I have added feathers and glitter but mash could also work great for snow during winter play.

Children love to explore the texture and feel it moving in between their fingers. Smash is a good material because it can be manipulated into different shapes like play dough. P used the mash potato to build it up and make it into a volcano. The feathers were the lava bursting out of the top. Little man on the other hand enjoys making marks out of the mash, he used the end of the feathers to draw a pattern.

Sink or Float

2013-04-18T04:59:00.001-07:00

Have fun with a simple science experiment for preschool children. By collecting items around the house you can help your children to explore which objects will sink or float. Encouraging use of new language, this activity is a great way to get children to describe the objects sing new words.

This activity was brought on by P when she came home from a science day at school. She wanted to do more science experiment's when she got home and we picked this activity as it would be something that would be interesting for both P and Little Man.

So first things first, the children ran around the house collecting a mixture of items they would like to try in the tray of water. These were brought back to the table for use to look at and talk about. This is what they collected:

I wanted to make full use out of the learning opportunities that could be gained from this activity. To do this we followed the scientific process used when doing experiments.

Predicting:
You could make your selves a little chart but as this was an activity being lead by the children, I left it this time round. P and little man divided the toy's into piles of sick or float. P helped Little Man by explaining why she thought some of the items were going to sink, describing them as heavy or big was what made P sure many of the items would sink and not float.

Experimenting:
The children took it in turn to drop an item into the coloured water. They loved to see what would really happen and little man got a little carried away putting the objects in. Once they were all in the water he then decided to try and get the floating items to sink.

Conclusions:
I asked them to look back over the items and check whether they had predicted right or not. We the explored why little man was able to sink to originally floating objects.

We all had great fun with this experiment and I'm planning on doing many more with them over the coming months. Have fun giving this one a go!

Weekend Family Fun

2013-04-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

I know it is a terribly English thing to do, talking about the weather but I am so glad to see the weather is starting to improve. We can finally get out of the house more and the children will start making full use of the garden again. I plan to use opportunity to my advantage and try to limit the time the children are allowed allowed to watch TV and try to keep this to the evening's before their bedtime story.

Last year they choose to watch a Saturday night TV show called 'The Voice'. The show involves singers being selected by judges (Jessie J, Will.i.am, Tom Jones and Danny O'Donoghue), then battling it out to win a singing contract. This year I must admit I'm not particularly keen on the show but the children love it and watch excitedly waiting for the judges to turn around. This tends to be the only part of the show I do enjoy watching and after that I tend to save my sanity by putting on Tea or washing up.

This Saturday we're going to make the show more fun by playing a little bit of bingo with the children. The Voice Bingo Card's are a great way to involve the whole family in some light hearted fun and fingers crossed the children will be able to play it with out arguing.

In association with Ladbrokes Bingo

How to make a Saint George's Day Shield

2013-04-17T02:56:00.001-07:00

Help your children to make their own Knights shield using simple things from your craft box.

Little man has developed an interest in knights since being brought a castle last Christmas. Every so often he would get the castle out of the box and daddy would make it up for him. Now that he is into solders and super hero, the castle has been out a lot more and has it's own little space in the living room. This play I will admit has become a little violent and some to always involve killing some one. The idea behind this play was to encourage Little Man to play 'nicely' in these roles, such as saving a princess, slaying a dragon and riding around on his hobby horse.

Resources:

Paint,

Card,

Scissors,

Masking tape,

Paint Brushes

We started off by looking at pictures of Shields on Google and decided to make one's with the St George's shield as it is coming up to St George's day. They both choose to do the top's differently and helped to cut out the card using safety scissors.

We then used a picture of the shield as an example of how to paint it but your children could make up their own too.

With little man we spoke about the colour's we were using and the painting also helped to develop his grip. P and I had a discussion about how some Knights would have a family Crest on their Shields and she described what our family shield would look like, so that may be another post to come soon.

Once the paint had dried out we turned the shield over and added straps for their arm to go through. The straps were cut out of another piece of card and then fixed to the shield using masking tape.

Product Review- Leapster GS

2013-04-14T01:10:00.000-07:00

Last Christmas we decided we would buy each of the children a tablet. Christmas day the children spent the day exploring their new toys and by boxing day I was already finding P's new tablet laying around on the floor. Within a couple of weeks P's tablet had decided to give up and would no longer charge. I don't think it was her fault but it did help my to decide that she was not ready for a grown up tablet and needed something a little bit more robust.

Lucky we were offered to review a Leapster GS which was great timing since I was sending off P's tablet to be fixed. We have quite a few of the Leapfrog baby toys from when Little Man was little and these are all tucked away in the loft for when Peanut is old enough to play with them. I have always loved Leapfrog toys since my nursery work days and find their toys to be greatly educational and robust.

When the GS Explorer turned up both of the children were excited to have a play and see what games were on it. The game console is design for children aged 4-9 so I was a little worried that G would become easily bored by the games but I was very wrong. It didn't take her long to find her way around and she was excited to find that once the console was registered she had three different games already on there to play with.

Little man was lucky enough that she was happy to share the console occasionally and even though he is 3 he found the console easy to use. His favourite bits was watching the trailers because he thought he was playing the games. The stylus is attached to the Leapster so when he is playing with it I don't need to worry about the stylus going missing.

Features:
The Leapster GS Explorer comes with:

- 2GB of memory, a camera and inbuilt video capabilities
- Motion-based play
- In-built microphone
- Stylus is attached to system which helps to develop co-ordination.
- Three extra apps from the online library of 300 is also included. (prices range from approx. £4 - £25). P has chosen to save up her pocket money to buy the Brave game.

- Having registered P's Leapster GS online I am able to keep an eye on her progress and see where she may need more support.

- The games are great as you can adjust the difficulty according to your children's ability so the more confident they get you can u the difficulty levels.

Disclosure: LeapFrog sent me the Leapster GS for the purposes of this review.

If Only I'd Known....

2013-04-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

When we found out we were pregnant with our third little one it was a shock to say the least! Poor Peanut was not planned but as soon as the shock had died down we could not have been more excited! If only we had known we were going to be having a third I would not have ebayed all our pregnancy books and baby things.

Being pregnant for a third time you would think I had every experience and step of pregnancy stored in my brain. But I didn't it was like some one had popped in my brain and taken out all those experiences of sickness, back ache and swollen ankles out of my head and just left me with all the lovely thoughts. I found my self questioning every movement he made and every twinge. My midwife was very patient as was my BDT friends who I seemed to pester every five minutes but they are used to my moans and groans.

Instead of buying new books for the sake of just one pregnancy I relied on phone apps and pregnancy sites such as Aptaclub. If only I had known they did an app too hey! Things seem a lot calmer now Peanut is a shocking four months old and I'm finally getting back into the swing of things. The new hurdle is more managing the three of them. I'm a very disorganised person so it's really testing me but I must admit I'm enjoying every second of it and would not trade my babies for the world. Being their mum is truly a wonderful gift!

This post is Playful Learners entry into the Aptaclub ‘If Only I’d Known…’ competition

Product Review- Plan Toys 60 Construction Set

2013-04-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

Since giving up work to stay at home my thoughts on toys have changed. There was a time where P was spoilt rotten and had all the latest toys. Now I'm at home with the children more often I look for toys which encourage the children to use their imagination for open ended play a lot more rather than depending on a toy to do it for them.

We were recently asked to review a construction set for Plan Toys. Little man has many construction sets, in fact after a count I was surprised to find 8 different types of construction toys. However none of which were wooden so I was happily accepted and waited for the parcel to arrive.

Plan Toys only use Rubber wood, which is preservative free and naturally processed. They were the first company to use recycled Rubber wood! Plan Toys only uses water-based colours and non-toxic glues so it is safe for children to put them in their mouth.

When the pack arrived I loved the quality of the toys and the children jumped at the chance to start making with toys. P straight away got little man organised and started to lay the pieces out in piles to start constructing their first model using the instructions. Within ten minutes I was asked if I could build them a fire engine as they were struggling so we built it together.

While building the fire engine Little Man was encouraged to help and find the pieces I was after. I asked him to find pieces with two or three holes or looking for certain colours. This kept him interested and engaged in the activity.

After ten minutes of building we came up with this. It was quite wobbly but still moved a long the floor fine. Little Man favourite part was taking the toy apart again using the tools. Because we found the instructions hard to follow we have instead decided to build our own things and this is much more fun.

The tools are a great way to help little ones work on their grip and coordination. Making their own objects allows them to stretch their imagination and work together with siblings developing their communication skills.

For more great toys from the Plan Toys check out their website HERE.

Mini Beast Parade

2013-04-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

Let the kids make their own mini beast parade by using a variety of collage materials to decorate card cut in a variety of shapes. Let their imaginations run a away with them as they come up with their own mini beast ready to parade around the house.

Today was one of those days where we have needed to stay in the house for one reason or another. This resulted in the children having terrible cabin fever and running round like crazy so in the afternoon I decided that I would try to control the madness with some crafts. I laid out a large boxes filled with the collage materials and cut some shapes out of card ready for them to play. I then invited the children to come up to the table and help me decorate the shape and make them into insects.

They got straight work. Little man wanted lots of legs so we cut up lots of red pipe cleaners, this is his favourite colour at the moment. Every thing has to be red! P on the other hand measured her pipe cleaners and counted up the exact amount for an ant.

Little man also had a chance to practice his drawing and grip by drawing stripes on his ant.

So here are some of the insects taking part in our Mini Beast Parade for you all the see. The children are very proud of them and spent 2 and a half hours making them and perfecting their little legs. They then sent the rest of the afternoon playing with them.

Little Man Ant

P's Ant

P's Bee

P's worm with bunches

Little mans caterpillar.

I'm planning on a lot more free play with the collage box. P has always enjoyed making up her own craft projects and this is something we have stopped doing over the last year or so.

Gardening Adventures: 5 Ideas For Recycled Plant Pots

2013-04-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

This week the weather has started to improve and we finally got round to potting our seeds. We have been saving up our yogurt pots for some time for exactly this reason and have quite a collection. We divided the pots up and worked out we could plant eight different types of seeds at the moment and once these have taken we will do some more.

Little man of course loved getting covered in mud and pouring on the water to feed each seed. I let P lead this time and explain to Little man what she was doing. She explained to him about making a hole for the seeds and why we gave them water once they were covered up. It was lovely to take a step back and watch them work together.

Planting seeds in recycled containers has really opened my eye's to just how many ways there are you can recycle through gardening and it's an added bonus that the children love to recycle containers in a way they can continue to see their use. Here are some ideas we have found on our eco hunt.

We used orange cartons for our flower seeds.

We used little yogurt pots and these lovely large ones which have lids to help the seeds growth.

News Paper Pots- Make your own news paper planters using this great video from Maggy at Red Ted Art

http://cdn.homedit.com/top-30-planters-diy-and-recycled/

Wellies are a great resource. We grow out of two pairs of wellies every year so we could easily add a pair or two to the garden.

http://craftingcreatures.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/pallet-garden/

We have two crete's in the garden which have been sitting there all winter so what better than turning them into a lovely planter.

Gardening Adventures

Once a month the (1st of the month from May) Playful Learners, And Then All I Thought About Was You and Here Come The Girls will be hosting a Link up where you can add a link to your latest fun garden activity with the children. I'm also hoping to have a little badge to share when the Linky next goes up on the 1st May. You can fine this month's linky below.

Small World Play: Fairies Nature Mat

2013-04-09T05:50:00.001-07:00

Usually this is the sort of play I would place in our sensory tray but I wanted to give the children more room to play and move around the small world we were going to create. Instead we used a green mat to represent the grass and I left some blue material on the side in case they wanted to create another type of environment.

My lovely husband recently brought me some roses and yesterday I decided they were looking a little sorry for themselves so instead I took off the petals and P used them in her small world play. We set the petals around the outside of the hide away and P explained that their magic would only work in the circle of petals.

We made fairy bed's out of the large shells

and stools out of the smaller ones to sit around the bonfire.

We then made a shelter for when it rains out of drift wood which was raised up using shells.

P loved playing with her fairies in a different way and using the rose petals made the play extra special. The play went on all afternoon and it was lovely to see how her imaginary play is still developing even at 8 years old. The fairies had job's, family lives and enjoyed partying with their friends under the stars. Lately there have been a lot of arguments between her and her friends at school. I put this down to her growing her own opinions and becoming a little lady. I find that making small world play experiences for her allows her to get out her feelings and work things out her self which may have caused an argument earlier in the day.