Geo Matching slab

I had always wanted to make our own Geo board and to make it one of those activities that can be used in different ways to get its use from it so this is what we came up with-our Geo matching slab!

As we had no spare wood around the house i used some leftover air drying clay that of course got warmed up by Tara and her tools!
After she had finished i just moulded a rectangle slab of clay with some nails pressed into it evenly and let it dry overnight.

When it was dry i added some small markers down the side which i wrote on with whiteboard marker to create a matching game. Tara was working on matching her big and small letters here...

Matching colours here...

You can see how her little hand is using all its muscles to maneuver the elastics around the nails. Fantastic for fine motor and pre writing skills

It can still be used as a classic Geo board with a triangle, square or rectangle shape made...

But whatever the activity is, it always comes back to animals when Tara is involved! hehe now we have a farm with fences.....

Carrot Stamps

We have tried potato stamps when Tara was younger but now she is older stamping is still a hit but this time we tried carrot stamps!
I top and tailed a few carrots and then carved some shapes and letters on either ends with a sharp knife. Dipped into some paint we had 6 fun stamps to play with
Finished art work..

Baking tray magnets

Are you magnets on the fridge getting ignored? Grab one of your baking trays out and you will be amazed at the sudden excitement of a 'new' activity!

Sensory baby cloth

These micro fibre cloths are found very inexpensively from dollar shops. They make great a great sensory toy for infants. Unwrap and give a good wash to ensure all chemicals and dust is out then fold in half length ways. Stitch up both sides to create a pocket shape. You can add rice or seeds if you want a heavier and thicker toy but for young infants leaving it empty will make it a light weight toy they can really get a hold of. Sew up the last edge to make it a completely sealed rectangle.
Soft and furry this texture toy is a favourite of Mason's...

Cheerio bird feeder

We have plenty of bird life around our area and when we saw a fun way to make bird feeders we thought we should give it a go.
Use a pipe cleaner and thread on some Cheerios's. Threading is a great activity for toddlers as it practices patience,completing a task and the wonderful fine motor skills for writing. Make sure to leave room for a loop or hook so you can hang them
We hung a few from a tree outside

And shared two with our pet "Pete" who nibbled on it all afternoon

Spaghetti Words

While we don't usually allow playing with food at lunchtime, when i came back to Tara after giving her some spaghetti for lunch and found her name spelt out on the table i had to smile....
We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with our food :)

Letters,numbers,words,shapes, the imagination runs wild.....

Fossicking for gold

After our Dino land adventure we used the clean up as a fun way to discover the art of "Fossicking"
Sifting through a tub of sand,water and pebbles, Tara separated the heavier pebbles from the soft sand with a strainer, shaking side to side, round and around just like in the gold rush.

Cannelloni sleeping beauties

Cannelloni sleeping beauties are fun and easy to prepare for your little ones dinner...
Fill your Cannelloni will spinach/ricotta or minced meat and place them laying flat onto a baking tray. Pour over your tomato based sauce and bake for 20 minutes until pasta is soft. While they are cooking get your little helper to peel mushrooms and remove stems for the beauties heads.
Use tiny olive triangles for eyes and tomato skin for smiles.
When Cannelloni is cooked add a row of cheese on top to make it look like a blanket. Place back in the oven just until cheese melts then take out and add your mushroom heads and add some cooked egg noodles for hair.

Decorate with whole olives as feet and use cucumber and carrot for designer hats or hair clips on your sleeping beauties

Packing material play

We had a parcel arrive full of these packing peanuts that i stored for a rainy day and when Tara found them we got out a mat and started building some structures. If your lucky enough to stumble upon these, with just a touch of glue these make great igloo's or tunnels
Then they were turned into Antarctica with icebergs galore!

We added some ships,submarines and boats and played some great inventive games

Cupcake liner flowers

What can you make on a rainy day with left over cupcake liners?
.........A cupcake garden!!!
Just use paint or a marker for your stems and glue a cupcake liner on top. These make lovely presents for mums or grandmas for mothers day!

Volcano Dino Land

Dinosaurs are a popular part of Montessori lesson plans. To engage in some dinosaur discussions i made up this Dino land. The base is a terracotta pot plant saucer which i covered in fish tank pebbles. For the volcano you will need a plastic bottle and some sand. Then add some plastic dinosaurs

For our little science experiment we used a funnel into the plastic bottle and added about 1/2 cup of Bi-carb soda and a squirt of dish washing liquid. Tara also requested red glitter!

Make up a bowl of vinegar mixed with food colouring (we chose red). Use a baster or medicine dropper to add into your volcano and wait for the chemical reaction to start and you have an erupting volcano with bubbly red hot lava

You control the lava with the amount of vinegar you add

For more explosive lava just pour a cup full of the vinegar straight in. Watch out dinosaurs!!!!!!!!!!

Coconut Grass Farm

This play farm is made with shredded coconut and green food colouring. Use a zip lock bag to put all your coconut in-a great opportunity to practice those transferring skills Add some drops of green food colouring

And squish/pat/rub with your hands until all the coconut is covered

Find a tray with deep sides. Even an oven tray will make do! Lay out the coconut flat and put in the sun to dry for an hour

Set up your farm using animals,tractors,fences and a pond

Have some little rakes and shovels handy so the "farmer" can work on his/her property. Very therapeutic-a new take on a zen garden!

Fruit Loop-Sand Bottle

My husband and i used coloured sand in our wedding ceremony and kept the huge sand art bottle in our closet and when Tara stumbled across it the other day we decided to make her one of her own. Coloured sand is often quite expensive and hard to come by so why not make your own. Fruit Loops make great sweet smelling sand that has lovely stand out colours! Firstly divide the colours into separate containers then transfer them into a mortar and pestle and grind away until they are as fine as sand. If you don't own a mortar and pestle you can place the fruit loops into a snap lock bag and cover with a facecloth and use a small hammer to squash them. Then grab a small clear bottle and add a funnel to the top and pour in your coloured fruit loop sand, one colour at a time

Always keeping it upright and steady

Place a lid on tightly......

And you have a beautiful sand bottle decoration

Cushie Tushie poppers

I was given a few Baobag's https://www.facebook.com/baobag.co?ref=ts while pregnant with lots of goodies and samples in it and something that caught my eye was the Cushie Tushie https://www.facebook.com/cushietushies?ref=ts baby with mini cloth nappy on it. These tiny nappies come on and off by little poppers which are great for building muscles in little fingers and fine motor. They certainly get a work out at our house.

Paper Mache Hot Air Balloons

This project was started last year and had been a work in progress but finally thanks to Easter i was able to find the baskets i was searching for and we could complete it! With some blown up balloons we started paper mache by ripping newspaper strips and dipping them in a flour/water mix then placing them onto the balloon. We did about 4 layers of this It got very messy and turned into an unexpected sensory activity. The final product was left to dry for a few days

Once completely dry Tara painted hers red. We popped the balloon inside and cut around the bottom to allow us to get our hand inside

Then i used a knife to pierce a whole in the center top of the balloon, threaded some fishing wire through and tied it off with a button. This will give the balloon some strength to be able to hang up

At the bottom of the balloon i made 4 holes and threaded some rope though to attach to the basket. These are the baskets i was having trouble finding but check your local shops now and im sure you will find them stocked up for Easter.

My blue one was made slightly different with thin ribbon glued onto the paper mache and attached straight to the basket

And your hot air balloon is ready to take people for rides!

Eventually these will be put in the kids rooms, Easy and cheap room decor!