Elastic Aeroplanes

My brain was a bit stuck on projectiles last night after making the straw rockets, so I created another little activity for the girls to try out today as well. It was easy to make and a complete blast, and worked even better than I expected; the whole family got involved :-) My siblings and I used to play something similar with folded newspaper, except we used real slingshots!
This would be a great game to play outside using tree branches, and I love the way it could be set up anywhere. I'll be adding it to our little bag of travel games I think!

WE USED:

* craft paper
* texta/pen
* scissors
* glue
* elastic
* childrens table (could use any table or something entirely different!)

Cut a large sheet of paper to a width of about 10cm (I used a piece of scrapbooking paper). Fold down your sheet making the folds about 5cm until you reach the end.

You should have a rolled up piece of paper like this.

Fold it in half as shown.

Cut aeroplane shapes from contrasting paper (maybe get your child to decorate them for some extra fun) and glue the tails to the folded paper as shown. Make sure your aeroplanes are facing towards the 'folded' end, not the 'open' end.

To make our launch pad I turned the girls craft table upside down and used two of the legs to tie across some thick elastic. Make sure it's tied very securely, you dont want it coming undone when it is pulled on.
You could easily tie your elastic across the legs of a dining or kitchen table (right side up of course :-D) or the legs of a heavy chair. Tree branches outside would be fun too - be inventive!

We put down a towel for Bubble to sit on and pretended the table was her pilot seat :-)

Hold your aeroplane so that the elastic runs through the middle folded section as shown above. The open end should be facing your child with the elastic sandwiched in between and the folded end pointing forwards.
The idea is that you pull back till the elastic is taut and then let go so that your plane is launched across the room.

Bubble launching her aeroplanes.

They shot all the way across the room and would have gone much further had we had more space!

Daddy showed Bubble how to change her trajectory each time, so the planes shot up, down and straight depending on how they were angled when she let go. Although Squeak was too little to launch any planes herself she loved watching this activity and laughed at every single take off :-)

Paper Pinwheels

It was really windy today so I made the girls a pin wheel before we headed out for the day. I made a few adjustments to the way they are usually done just to make it a bit safer for little fingers :-)
They were so excited to see it spinning madly in the breeze as we walked along and Bubble was very interested about why it would only turn when she held it in a certain direction. I had to laugh when there was a sudden lull in the wind and the pinwheel stopped turning, Bubble turned to me with a sad face and announced "oh no! Flat batteries!".

WE USED:

* thick scrapbook paper in a square shape
* scissors
* bead head pin
* thick cardboard tube (ours is from inside GladWrap)
* soft plastic lid (we used a milk bottle lid)
* needle nose (or craft/jewellery) pliers

Fold your paper diagonally in both directions to form an 'X' across it.
Using scissors cut along all four lines stopping about 4-5 cm from the centre point.
Using scissors cut the middle circle from the soft plastic in your bottle lid (as in cut off the rim of the lid so you are just left with the disc of soft plastic from the centre). Push your pin through it to make a hole in the middle, then remove pin and put the plastic disc to one side for a moment (you'll need it later).

Take one side of each triangle (the same side on each one) and bend it into the centre point. Use a pin the secure the corners to the centre of the pinwheel. It might help to use your pin to make holes in each corner before bending them in.

Push the pin into the side of the cardboard tube until it goes right through. Pinwheels are usually mounted on straws or wooden sticks, bit I wanted the pin well away from my girls fingers and to make it as secure as possible so it wouldn't be pulled out.

Slide the plastic disc that you cut from the bottle lid earlier onto the pin inside the tube. Then use your pliers to bend the end of the pin over so that it cannot be pulled free from the tube. Make sure you dont make the pin too short where the pinwheel is attached, you want it to be able to turn freely.

Our pinwheel was carted all over the place all day and still made it home in one piece :-)

If my instructions weren't very clear, here is a video tutorial for making pinwheels the traditional way:

WIKIHOW TUTORIAL FOR MAKING PINWHEELS

Triangles and Pyramids

We did a few volcano related activities today, and subsequently learnt about triangles and pyramids as well.

WE USED:

* paper
* pencil
* ruler
* scissors
* cardboard (we used a opened up cereal box)
* sticky tape
* textas/colour pencils

Draw a triangle on your piece of paper making sure each side is the same length. I made our triangle 5cm on each side and ensured they were even using the following method:
Draw a line for the base of your triangle to the length you want.
Use a ruler to measure and mark the central point on your line. Draw a line straight up from this central point (make this line longer than your chosen dimensions).
Using the ruler again draw your side lines using the central line as a guide. Make sure the end of your ruler is fixed at the end of the base line and then adjust the other end of the ruler along the central line until it sits on your chosen measurement.
You'll now have a perfect triangle with equal sides.

Use your triangle template to make the outline pictured above on your card. To draw the square just make sure each side is the same length as those on the triangles.

Cut your shape out.

Use your ruler to bend along each fold line.

Once all of the lines are folded over it should easily form a pyramid. Draw on your details with texta and pencils before taping up. I made three of these and hid Bubble's afternoon tea inside them (blueberries, rice wheels and a babybel cheese) before we went to the park - she loved discovering what was inside her "canos" :-)

Triangles and Pyramids (Part 2)

Another volcano/pyramid activity, this time using straws. This was lots of fun, we'll be doing it again tomorrow and trying out other 3D shapes, like cubes and maybe a sphere if we get very ambitious!

WE USED:

* straws
* scissors
* ruler
* marker
* blutac (could also use plastacine or playdough)

Cut some straws into equal lengths. To make the job a bit easier I laid our straws along a strip of blutac on the table, measured along them in 5 cm increments and then drew a line across with permanent marker.

Using the pen lines as guides Bubble and I then easily cut the straws to the right length without having to measure each one.

Roll some balls of blutac.

You can now use your straws and tac to create 3D shapes. Bubble was fascinated by the triangles in the pyramid and counted them all.

Bubble making her own volcano structure.

Looks like an active volcano to me - so very cute :-)

Puzzle Mix Up

This is a great way to make puzzles that have become a bit boring or easy to do more fun to play with again, and also one of my favourite ways to get ten minutes to load the dishwasher in peace.

WE USED:

* various puzzle boards
* big bowl or box

Take all of your puzzle pieces and mix them up in a big bowl or box.

Arrange the boards so your child has access to all of them.

For older children use a timer and see how fast they can complete all of the puzzle boards.

Beach treasure hunt

Bubble and Squeak have both been into pirates lately; Bubble gets around singing a pirate song she learnt from one of her favourite dvd's and wearing a pirate hat, and Squeak toddles along behind saying "ahhhrrr!". So today we headed down the beach to have our very own treasure hunt, it was easy and so much fun we will be doing it many times I think!

WE USED:
* small shovels
* small toys from a dollar store (it cost only $9 for all of the ones we used on our treasure hunt; two sea animal toys, a whistle, some sea slime with a whale toy inside, a set of rings bangles and gloves and some plastic bead necklaces)
* small plastic bags (ziplock would be best) or paper bags
* peg basket

I placed each of the little toys into a plastic bag to protect it from the sand, and then while Bubble explored the rocks I quickly buried them in different spots, marking each with a big 'X'. Squeak had fallen asleep during our walk to the beach, but Bubble had a ball discovering the crosses and digging up each treasure like a real pirate.

Other ideas:
You could make your treasures to fit a theme, or create pirate maps to show where the treasures are buried. The treasure doesn't have to be toys, it could be beautiful shells or maybe pieces to a puzzle that the kids can put together at the end of the hunt.

Please Note:
it's really important that you make sure everything you bury is dug up again, and nothing is left behind. If you have a lot of items to bury then mark where they are clearly and keep count so nothing gets missed. Also check the time of day that you are digging so you aren't taken by surprise by an incoming tide :-)

We used the peg basket to sift the sand and find shells and rocks. We also used it to carry our treasure once it was dug up.

Bubble digging up treasure.

Her first find, some play sea animals.

Some sea slime and a toy whale.

It wouldn't be a treasure hunt without something sparkly :-)

More sparkly treasures.