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

Firework fun: pipe cleaner printing

I made a pipe cleaner firework printing instrument and the rest was up to Dylan.
He dipped the pipe cleaner brush and printed onto his paper. He made firework noises at the same time.

Picture looks great. I might swap it with one of the pieces in my wall frames.



I made two but the one where I used about four pipe cleaners twisted together was better as it was more sturdy and printed better.

Dylan 3

Bonfire night recall: easel painting



Our local bonfire event was on the 2nd of Nov so we had an oppotunity to recall before bonfire night and we decided to use his new easel. This wasthe first actual picture he has painted. I asked him to paint the grass and he picked the colour.  Then I said what were they burning on the bonfire. He said wood. So I said pick a colour and paint some wood here. He picked brown. Then I asked him what colour the sky was and he said blue and picked a colour to paint. He needed help to avoid other items on the painting. The he added the flames.

He was a little reluctant to paint in specific colours and places but loved showing off his creation.

Dylan 3



Firework fun: contact paper firework collage

I have been meaning to buy some contact paper and I finally noticed some and bought it in preparation for bonfire night. We used Dylan's new easel to attach the paper too ( although we did need to tilt it) I gave him a selection of materials and let him do the creative part.

The pom-poms and pipe cleaners didn't stick as well as I thought they would. Other items include:-
Stars
Shiney ribbon
Flourescent card stars
Lollipop sticks
Cotton buds

It was very easy for Dylan to do and didn't take him very long.
He also kept returning to it and moving them around.

I took a picture for his art album and put the items back in the craft pots.

Dylan 3

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Ten non-carve mess free pumpkin ideas

1. Pumpkin hat parade
2.Googley eyed pumpkin
3. Beaded pumpkin





4. musical pumpkin
5. Chalky pumpkins
6. Bandage and plaster removal













7. Pumpkin plaster 
8. Poorly pumpkin 
9. Polishing pumpkins
10. Pumpkin foam name peel