Emotions: When I am .....

This is a quick and fun way to talk to your child about different emotions and the way different people react to what they feel.

You will need
Paper
Marker Pens

To Make
1. Draw a Large Circle on a piece of paper and then write When I am I ....
You could also print these out on the computer to make it quicker.
2. Ask your child to draw a face that matches the emotion written on the page

3. Once they have finished drawing ask them to finish the sentence and write down their answer

About Me Poster (body tracing)

My mum gave me a large roll of old wallpaper the other day and I knew exactly what to do with it ...... Body Tracing! It has been on our want to try list for quite awhile. Neevah also wrote things about herself on the poster .

You will need
Paper
Markers or Crayons
Scissors

To Make
1. Roll out the paper and have your child lie on it. Cut the paper off the roll below your child's feet.

2. Trace around their body - I found the head pretty hard but that could be because of all Neevah's hair
3. Let you child draw their their face and colour in their clothes

4. Write things about the child on the poster. I asked questions such as What do you like, What do you not like, What would you like your friends to know about you, What do you like to play etc

On her poster she wrote (with some help)

• I like carrots
• My Favourite colour is red, blue and green
• I do not like knots in my hair
• I am 6
• I like Snakes and Ladders
• I like to play with Liam
• I don't like spiders

Under and Over Obstacle Course

Inside or Outside this obstacle course is easy to setup all you need is chairs, dining room or children's chairs would work. It is also great for revising the words under, over and on as well as practising crawling and climbing.

Setup you obstacle course by putting the chairs into a long line. Time to play ......

 Go under the chair

Go over the chair

Turn around and come back the other way going under and over the chairs

 When you get to the end stand on the chair

 

Ta Da! all done

You could also time your child to see how it takes them to complete the obstacle course and then try the whole course again to see if they can complete it a little bit faster.

Car Painting in a box (like marble painting)

This quick painting idea is much like marble painting but instead of using marbles you use cars. Tip - this can get a little bit messy so have some baby wipes/container of water available for washing hands and cars once the painting is over

You will need
A Box
Paper
Toy Cars
Paint
Paper Paint or similar

To Make
1. Squeeze paint onto the plates
2. Place paper into the bottom of the box
3. Dip cars into the paint and then place into the box

4. Gently tip the box back and forth to create the painting - you may need to add more paint to the car wheels during the activity

 Make sure you have more paper on hand as they may like to try it more than once

 Neevah tried using four cars

Photo Scavenger Hunt - Transport Theme

This is the second photo scavenger hunt we have tried, the first can be seen here. While a scavenger hunt itself is a lot of fun, my kids really like to use the camera and it adds a whole new dimension to the game. For this scavenger hunt I also wrote a list of instructions for Neevah to read out loud (nothing like some sneaky reading practice)

You will need
Camera
Paper
Pen

To Play
1. Write a list of instructions that suit your theme and your children.

2. Read the list together

3. Take photos of everything on your list - please excuse the slightly blurry photos taken by the kids

Our list was:

1. It is black and cars drive on it

2. Something with four wheels

3. They carry people on water

4. Something with two wheels

5. A train with three carriages

Paper Plane Landing Zone

I love this idea but it needs a few tweaks to be great. Neevah and I had a lot of fun but Liam (4) got quickly frustrated. What would I change? If we were going to try this again I would mark out a large landing zone on the ground with chalk or coloured tape rather than using a basket. The high sides on the basket made it hard to get the plane into the landing zone and Liam had to stand quite close and aim downwards to make a successful landing.
I will give instructions for how we played as it would work well for older children but if you are playing with little ones I would recommend tweaking the landing zone to something a bit larger with no sides.

You will need
Paper
Crayons or similar
A Laundry Basket
Marker Pen

What to do
1. Ask you child to colour in or draw a picture on the paper - this helps you to tell the planes apart

2. With the picture side down fold the paper into a paper plane. You can find instructions here

3. Make a sign to say landing zone and attach it to the laundry basket
4. Time to play - Aim of the game is to get your plane in the basket

Lining up to have a turn

Success! Neevah got her plane into the basket

Slide Painting with Cars

This is an idea has been floating around in my head for a very long time and it was inspired by our Jack and Jill nursery rhyme activity from June 2010. Liam took a little bit of convincing that it was okay to put the cars in the paint but once we got started both the kids had a lot of fun!

You will need:
A Slide ( a ramp might also work)
A roll of paper
Paint
Toy Cars
Sticky Tape
Scissors
Paper plates or similar
A Box, Bucket or something to stop the cars at the bottom of the slide


To Play
1. Cover your slide in paper - we used a roll of wrapping paper as the backside was white
2. Squeeze paint onto the plates
3. Place a box or something similar at the end of the slide to stop the cars - this makes it easy for the children to use the same cars over again but it also stops paint going everywhere
4. Dip your car wheels into the paint

5. Hold the car at the top of the slide and then let it go

 let them keep going for as long as they want

 you could try two or more cars at once

Don't forget the clean up can be just as much fun as the activity. Neevah and Liam loved washing the cars and slide after they had finished painting.