Thursday, December 12, 2013

Christmas sensory box science ideas.




Our first sensory box for Christmas.

I think we needed a bigger box as it is pretty full but this one is designed more for taking objects out and exploring them .

So what's in the box?


Science link ideas

Pasta classification
Mass of presents
Strength of ribbon/ string
Magnetism
Sink or float
Use objects for shadow puppets
Sort into living or non living 
Measure size of pine cones or pines 
Blindfold smelling/tasting

Numeracy
Counting number of baubles/ icicles/ presents 
Sequencing size of the presents
Balancing objects 

Literacy
Use objects to tell a story 
Use objects to make a letter
Have letters hidden that spell something like Christmas 

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Reindeer treat

I am still not sure which version was the best but I used

Chocolate rice cake
Buttons
Smarties
Jelly beans
Pear drop
Kit kat

There are many alternatives 
For antlers : curly wherly, choc fingers
Nose: strawberries, wine gums
Eyes: marshmallows, grapes, banana 
Mouth: raisins, liquorice , 
Face: chocolate biscuit , pancake

Dylan enjoyed this, wasn't sure if he would like the rice cake but he did. 

We can do this again as a cooking/ following instructions activity.

Dylan 3

A simple Snowman snack


A simple way to make a festive snowman snack my son loved it. I asked him what they were and gd got it in one and the he said well done mommy. Bless him.

What did I use?
Crackers
Spreadable cheese 
Rasins 
Apple
Orange
Fruit laces

I will probably do this again but get him to make them next time  using the picture  I took today.  

Dylan 3

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Baby Sensory C is for Christmas


I had a lovely morning doing a baby sensory session with my two sons (one is a preschooler ) and my bestie and her gorgeous little girl. The two other mom's and babies couldn't come today but are trying their own thing at home. 

Although we did lots in the time it's quite hard to photograph and  participate so not all was recorded.
We started off with the Christmas songs and using the instruments .  Both ba
Noes responded to the music and never minded the loudness (as a result of my elder son ). Zac just wanted to eat the instruments and Harper was just chilling watching her mom do all the work.
We sang jingle bells, when Santayana got stuck up the chimney, Rudolph the red nose reindeer ,  Santa Claus is coming to town.  We did this for about 10mins then off to make the salt dough imprints and cuttings.


We used cinnamon salt dough for extra sensory experience . Plus smell lasts whilst on your tree but bit sure how long. 

Then onto the sensory box

What was in the box ?
Dyed pasta
Pretend presents with reasons in
Real pine needles
Battery Tea lighters
Foil wrapping
Baubles
Snowflakes 
Pine cones
Candy canes
Ribbon
Tissue paper 
( I forgot to put bells in from off the tree)

How did the sensory box go down with the babies. Harper was tired and hungry so watched for a little while her monmy took pic of zac trying to eat them all. He seemed to study the items then out them in his mouth. 

Fan came back to join in this and we left him playing with it while we went back to read some books. 
Smdylan was helping show zac the touchy feely parts of the books. Zac willingly grabbed to book and felt parts. Harper also put her hand out to touch.

Great fun and definatly a success. Very well behaved children.



Thanks to Louise and Harper for joining us . Can't wait until next week. Xx



Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Baby Sensory Club: C is for Christmas- the plan




Planning ahead

What you need you to bring (if you can)
A  Christmas storybook 
A Christmas themed outfit
A Christmas teddy
Any Christmas themed fabrics
Christmas dress up items
An apron
A bumbo chair / mat 

Resources you will use
Paint/paper/ card
Musical instruments
Christmas sensory tub
Salt dough
Cookie cutters
Ribbon


Sensory checklist  

Sight: sensory tub that has lots of vibrant colours. Christmas lights.

Hearing: use of musical instrument and singing. Songs played by Christmas decorations . Listen to Christmas carol cd .

Taste: babies old enough could try Christmas food. The little ones could lick a candy cane, try some chocolate. Although my baby son has a cow's milk allergy so he can't have the chocolate.

Touch: feel the Christmas teddies. Feel the objects in the sensory tub.. Touch paint and print onto paper/ card . Touch cinnamon salt dough. 

Smell: make cinnamon salt dough , put Christmas smelling candles on. Have real pine and other typical Christmas scents like cloves and peppermint. 

Art/craft: hand/footprint xmas cards,  salt dough ornaments

Messy play: painting with pine cones

Role play: dress up as xmas characters

Explore & discover: Christmas objects , smells and songs.

Physical activity: action sounds about xmas, playing instruments

Book club: read xmas books

Follow up ideas- go see Santa 

Sarah 
xxx

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Starting a baby sensory club

My friends and I have decided to make our own baby sensory club. 
The reason for this is that there aren't many classes that focus on all areas. Do there are swimming classes, music, art, tumble classes . We wanted the best of all of them . So here we are!

Getting started
1. Resources/Equipment : we are going to discuss this but I think we will bring stuff we already have or use money we place into a kitty got supplies.
2. Comfort and protection
We definitely will need a craft mat and aprons to protect furniture and clothes.
A seat like a bumbo with a tray will be ideal to place sensory items on or do art projects or messy play. 
3. Memories
We are going to keep a journal and an art folder to record activities as well as photos and video. My out could set up a video recorder on a tripod to record key parts of the session. You may wish to take it in turns taking photos of each other to get the best shots. Obviously you will need a good method of sharing them such as privately on Facebook , boots photo or through iCloud or what's apo.  Not sure how we will probably a mixture.  Video footage you will probably need a hand rive or memory stick to copy it on to.  This can be time consuming so we may do this monthly . 
4. A theme
We decided to go with an Alphabet theme where we take a letter and explore something that begins with that letter. 
So for instance we are doing A is for animals.
5. Timings
Workout a subtable day and time slot to aim for the best experiences. So we decided 10:30 was a good start time as the babies have had early morning bottle and probably a second bottle plus any breakfast. 
6. Scheduled activities
I think it is a good idea to plan exactly what activities you would like to do .  Babies can skip activities if need feeding or grumpy and do them in a different order. Being flexible is the key to getting the most out of the session.
7. Communicate with group members
We discuss ideas and plan ahead. It's a good idea for all of us to know what we aiim to do and how. For example I suggested animal handprint art for our letter A session. So I asked each to suggest the animal they are going to bring and to do the art of. I.searched for examples and sent it to them so they have an idea of how it could look.
8. Location
You could rent somewhere , take it in turns hosting or if not and a person is happy to be the host then have one venue. 
9. Food and drink
Decide on whether you will stay and do lunch after or just have brunch snacks. This could be taken in turns or bring a packed lunchbox of snacks. 
10. Sensory checklist
To make sure slm the sensory bases that can be have been covered use a checklist as you planning tool ie ask yourself of you have an activity that is mostly using touch, hearing, sight etc. 
I would also have art , discovery, physical activity and book club prompts on my checklist.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

VBC: Bear snores on activities



1. Lollipop stick puppets
2. Make a cave model







3. Make a cave picture



4. Make a cave den
5. Gummy bear maths





6. Bear prints playdoh

7. Whiteboard writing

8. Playdoh letter placemats 

9. Sensory tub

9. Playdoh letter etching

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Firework fun: Polystyrene printing


After raiding the arts and craft cupboard I found polystyrene packaging and thought they would be good to paint fireworks with.

Easy to do and makes a great print. Dylan didn't want to stamp he preferred painting with them.

Dylan 3

Firework fun: playdoh pinch


After a hectic couple of days I wanted a mess free firework activity. Dylan loves playdoh so we used that. We rolled a variety of colours  into balls  an then squashed them. I described how to pinch and pull the playdoh . He didn't get it right away he kept pinching it off . 

They looked great on the black shiny folder. 

Dylan 3

Firework fun: pepper printing

I had a clear out ready for a food shop and noticed the peppers not smelling too good so I thought we could use them when we do firework painting on the easel.

We only used the tops of the peppers as the had a handle, next time we will try without. Dylan is a bit funny with things like that. 

Again great picture , this was the third art project and the paints were a bit messy so I think it would have looked a lot different with a fresh paint pallet.

Dylan 3