Messy play for Daisy regularly involves paint and different papers. She has paint brushes and sponges and sometimes she just enjoys the paint itself, tracing her fingers through the paint. Sometimes I see her 'play' with her food in the same way, running her fingers through the sauce. Daisy's hard at work 'mark making', using… Continue reading Making meaningful marks: getting ready to write
Tag: Fine Motor Skills
Cooking Time with Toddlers; learning in the kitchen
While a lot of Daisy's play and activities centre around toys and play equipment we've recently started to involve her in some basic food preparation activity; encouraging her to join in when we're preparing vegetables for a meal, letting her stir milk into a drink and to use a small butter knife to butter her… Continue reading Cooking Time with Toddlers; learning in the kitchen
From Montessori to today; the enduring learning value of wooden blocks
The first pre-schools and nurseries began to be established in the nineteenth century and all of the children's toys and play equipment in the pre-schools and nurseries were made from natural materials. Plastic toys began to be manufactured in the twentieth century and today our homes and nurseries contain a wealth of toys and play… Continue reading From Montessori to today; the enduring learning value of wooden blocks
Drop Plop Slosh: the security to explore.
In the car as we drove towards the beach I heard Daisy say to her favourite doll, "Look Baby, look! Water!" Daisy had never been to a sandy beach before so I had that deep warm awareness that I was going to experience our granddaughter seeing the sea for the first time. Our granddaughter is… Continue reading Drop Plop Slosh: the security to explore.
Messy play – bubbles and water play at home
'Water Mumma!' 'Bubbles Daddy!' Daisy very clearly asks for different play each morning and she frequently asks for water play; she is content to play with water in a variety of ways. None of the water play ideas needs any special equipment and can be set up indoors or outside. They all provide more messy play… Continue reading Messy play – bubbles and water play at home
Messy play with compost and gardening with Mummy
It's spring time and it's time to take the builder's tray outside for some messy play. Messy play outside is even more fun than messy play indoors. And it's still possible do messy play in a small space outside. For messy play with compost you just need enough room for a few flower pots and… Continue reading Messy play with compost and gardening with Mummy
The Lid on a Teapot: fine motor control, the world around her and early number.
Recently Daisy became really interested and wanted to help whenever Daddy made Mummy a cup of tea. Each time she signs 'Hot', says 'Tea' and 'Stir' as she reaches to help Daddy. So it was an obvious choice to purchase a little tea set for Daisy. Mummy then enhanced the play by making a simple… Continue reading The Lid on a Teapot: fine motor control, the world around her and early number.
Squeezing activities; jumbo pipettes in the bath
On the days that we see her, we're always involved in Daisy's bathtime routine.The bath toys are stacked up at one end of the bath and Daisy chooses what she'd like in the bath (usually that means everything goes into the bath) and she is now being encouraged to help to put the toys back… Continue reading Squeezing activities; jumbo pipettes in the bath
Exploratory play – Touch; Shape and Texture
Sometimes we plan and prepare play with Daisy. Sometimes her play is in an instant, led by her curiosity to find out about the world around her. So when Mummy had some felt to make up the Very Hungry Caterpillar costume, Daisy wanted to have some felt too.Daisy took some of the large pieces and… Continue reading Exploratory play – Touch; Shape and Texture
World Book Day 2018; Nursery and Pre-school Resources
I paid another visit to the World Book Day official website and browsed through the resources for nursery aged children where I found a couple of That's Not My Usborne colouring activity sheets. And there are even more That's Not My..activity sheets on the Usborne website. Daisy's showing an interest in using crayons so I printed off some of… Continue reading World Book Day 2018; Nursery and Pre-school Resources
Granny Smith's Diary 