Eye spy with my magnifying glass...

 I started thinking about outdoor activities to do and I like the idea of a nature walk. I thought we could take a bucket collect some bits of 'nature' and look at them. We could also look at insects as Dylan calls every insect he sees a Bee. I bought some magnifying glasses for us to use to look at the objects that we collect and the creepy crawlies.

 So when I spotted a spider in the house I thought why not try them out and gave the magnifying glass and the cup with the spider in to the boys to have a look.

Dylan was curious and wanted to hold it himself. However he then decided to try and squash the spider and bang the magnifying glass so I still think we need to work on animal cruelty and using magnifying glasses.

The theme tune for this activity was obviously Incy Wincy Spider which I found a nice clip of on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBxeKG7_Hq4

I have a set that I bought off ebay at work to make spiders out of pom poms and pipe cleaners which I am going to bring home and make.

The Circle Obsession

From a very early age Dylan has been obsessed with shapes and is now a master at shape sorting. He even likes to show off and plays a game where he tries to put the shape in the wrong slot and then he says no and shakes his head. He does this several times and then congratulates himself when he gets it right. We have been playing a few games with cut out shapes and are going to make a shape garland with them soon. When I first showed him the shapes his response was "wow weee".

 He had fun sorting the shapes, saying the colour and we then matched 2D card shapes to 3D shapes. He loved it.

He is totally obsessed with the circle, he points out circles where ever we go. Whilst drawing today he started using the circle stamps and then he kept saying circle, circle and came up to me. When I looked at the doodle pad he had drawn his first circle. So I took a picture as I was so pleased. I know I'm sad but I am really proud of him. Check it out!


Five things to do with 2D card shapes and 3D shapes .

1. Identify the shape
2. Sort them into piles
3. Identify the colour
4. Pairs/snap (mommy has a circle, can Dylan find a circle? and then say snap)
5. Match 2D shapes to 3D shapes- place them on top of each other. Dylan added to this by building a tower.

Looking forward to the summer holidays.

As a school teacher it gets to this time of year and the end is near. I am particularly excitied for this summer holidays as my son will be approaching 21 months and is such a character that I know we are going to have so much fun. Obviouslty being a teacher it is in my nature to plan ahead and to organise activities for us to do to get the most out of the time. I have searched the internet and found many inspirational people with fantastic ideas to incorporate fun,learning,creative play and science (which is my subject). So I intend to document our adventures and hope to inspire others to do the same. Also our friends and family can have a detailed update of 'The Bright Spark's'(Dylan's) adventures/progress and share their experiences. We have started some ideas already keep an eye out for how we get on. Sarah (The bright spark's Mom)