Making Vehicle Tracks

We have made this Sidewalk Paint in the past and the kids had lots of fun with it making footprints and handprints .... this time I provided Liam with a range of vehicles so he could make tracks all over the concrete

Sidewalk Paint
1/2 cup Cornflour
1/2 cup of Water
Roughly 6 drops of food colouring

Mix well and then put the sidewalk paint in a large shallow container. I doubled the amount for this activity.

Drive the vehicles through the paint making sure the wheels have a good coating

Make Paint tracks all over the concrete

Liam loved getting his little matchbox car messy and found he could also make tracks through the paint

Don't forget cleaning up afterwards is just as much fun as painting.... my kids love to use the hose.

Playdough Zoo

Originally I set this activity up for Liam but I was meet with a very adamant 'No Mummy make Frosty' he wanted to make playdough snowmen. Lucky for me when Neevah woke from her nap she was more than happy to play with the Playdough Zoo.

Playdough Recipe
2 cups of plain flour
2 tbs Cream of Tartar
2 tbs Cooking Oil
1 cup Salt
2 cups of Water
Food Colouring

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan (except food colouring) stir over medium heat for 3 - 5 mins or until the mixture congeals. Once cool add food colouring.

You will need
Playdough
Craft Sticks
Toy Animals & People

To Make
1. Squash out the playdough for enclosures (not to thin or the sticks will not stand up)
2. Add craft stick fences3. Place the animals into their enclosures
4. Time to play - we had lots of people come and visit the zoo and even some escaping animals

In the background of this photo you can see Neevah bringing an escaped camel back to the zoo

Leaf People

This super simple idea is a continuation from our previous leaf post and is another creative way to use leaves.

You will need
Leaves
Crayon/Markers
Paper
Glue

To Make
1. Glue a leaf in the center of the page (white glue maybe better for this project rather than a glue stick). If using smaller leaves you maybe able to fit 2 or more per page.
2. Turn you leaf into a person by drawing a head, arms & legs
Neevah now wants to make a leaf family so we will be on the search for just the right leaves tomorrow

Leaf Outline Painting

Does your child/children like to collect leaves while out and about? Neevah was getting quite a collection of leaves so we used a few for this painting activity. Although this idea is rather simple it took a few goes before Neevah got into the swing of painting the outline rather than the leaf itself.

You will need
Paper
Paint
Rag or Sponge
Peg
A Range of Leaves
Sticky Tape

To Make
1. Fold up a small rag and pinch with a peg this will be the 'paintbrush' you could also use a sponge
2. Place a leaf onto the paper - you may like to stick it down with a little bit of sticky tape so it doesn't move around to much
3. Dip the rag paintbrush into the paint and then dab it around the edge of the leaf including the stem
4. Carefully lift the leaf off the paper
5. Repeat until the paper is full of leaf outlines or until your child has had enough
6. Let Dry

And The Winner Is .....

Shannon Artz

Comment Number 7 as picked by Random.Org

Congratulations Shannon you have won
A Playschool Colouring & Activity Book
plus
11 Little Star Crayons
please contact me via facebook or email (you can find it by clicking on view complete profile in the right hand column near the top)

A huge big thank you to all our wonderful facebook likers, blog readers & everyone who entered our giveaway
You All Rock!

We Play - Potato Masher Art

If you have a spare Potato Masher (I don't think I would use your good one but ours did wash up fine after it was used) your child can create this fun piece of art. Liam is not known for sitting at the table and painting but this was right up his alley he loved the 'bang' as he stamped the masher onto the paper.

Dip the Masher into the paint
I used a deep container to contain any paint splatter but there wasn't nearly as much mess as I anticipated

Stamp the Masher down on the paper
Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
Liam made 3 new pieces of Art

Don't forget to stop by Childhood 101 We Play where you can find lots of other great play ideas....

Collage Heart

Making a collage heart for Valentines day is hardly a new idea but they turn out so cute and collages are a great way for young children to practice their scissor skills.

You will need
Cardboard
Red Paper (lots of different shades & patterns)
Glue
Scissors
Marker Pen

To Make
1. Cut a heart out from cardboard
2. Cut up all the paper into small pieces suitable for a collage
3. Stick all the paper onto the heart
4. Optional - write a message on the front of the heart Neevah wanted I Love You on hers

Giveaway: Colouring Book & Little Star Crayons

Wahoooo! Yippeee! Happy Dance! We made 350 'likers' on the House of Baby Piranha Facebook Fan Page and to Celebrate we are giving away a Play School Colouring & Activity Book plus a Pack of Little Star Crayons!

Giveaway Now Closed

The Winner Will Receive

A Play School Colouring & Activity Book
it includes all your favourite Play School Characters
such as Big Ted, Little Ted, Humpty & Jemima

the book has lots of pages to colour and fun activities
such as join the dots & spot the difference

You will also receive a pack of 11 Little Star Crayons!
each crayon is 3.5cm in size

Giveaway is open to Australian & New Zealand Residents Only

To Enter
Leave us comment on this post telling us a crayon design you would like to see in the future .... who knows if your choice is popular we just may make it.
Also please include your email address so I can contact you if you are the winner.

Entries must be in before Midnight on Wed 16th of February 2011
Winner will chosen at random (random.org) and will be announced on Thur 17th of February 2011

Toilet Paper Roll Heart Stamping

This idea is really simple and should be fun for a range of age groups. To keep the interest going try giving the kids lots of different colours to paint with or add some sparkle to the hearts with glitter.

You will need
A toilet paper roll
Paint
Paper

To Make
1. Squash one end of your toilet paper roll into a heart shape
2. Put out the paper and paint - we found the best hearts where made when there was a lot of paint to dip the roll into
3. Let the kids stamp hearts all over the paper

Name Twister

Name twister is a take on the traditional game of twister and is a fun way for your child to the learn letters in their name. For this game I used the letters of Neevah's name but you could use any combination of letters that are meaningful to your child or extend the idea to numbers, colours or shapes.

Write each letters of your childs name on a colourful piece of paper, spread them out on the floor and you are ready to play ......

Can you put your bottom on the N

Can you put your feet on the E

Can you put knees on the other E

Can you put your nose on the V

Can you put your elbows on the A

Can you put your hands on the H

We played this game over and over each time changing the order I announced the letters in and the body parts used ... it was lots of fun and as she got better at it I got faster and faster with the instructions

If you are looking for other fun ways for your child to learn the letters of their name have a look at our previous post Name Soup or The Name Song

We Play - Move The Rocks

Liam loves trucks so we used this simple activity to introduce him to new colours and also listening to instructions .....
On the floor I placed 3 coloured pieces of paper (1 he knew and 2 new colours), a dump truck and some rocks it was not long before he came over to play

Loading up the truck
Then I asked can you take the rocks to the Red Paper?

Once he took the truck to the right colour we Cheered 'yay for Red'
and he dumped the rocks out

'yay for Blue'

'yay for yellow'
dump those rocks

Don't forget to stop by Childhood 101 We Play where you can find lots of other great play ideas....