Front and Back - Speech Activity

This activity is taken directly from Bubble's speech therapy where we are working on joining words and increasing her sentence structure.
We use the instructions "at the front" and "at the back" because our goal is to increase speech not teach the concept of prepositions but the wording can easily be changed to "in front" and "behind" to teach these instead.
You could also create boxes to the sides to teach left and right, beside or next to. Make a row of boxes to teach first, second/middle and last.

WE USED:

* electrical tape
(masking or painters tape would work great too, I just couldn't find any)
* scissors
* small objects
* toy with a clear front and back
* paper and pen/marker

Using electrical tape we made two squares on our rug with space in between for our chosen toy.

I then gave Bubble verbal instructions one by one about where to put each of the sorting items (in the front or back). I encouraged her to verbalise as she placed each one.
We used wooden threading beads as our objects so I could add in some incidental learning.
For example instead of "put this in the front" I could say "put the blue dog in the front". It also gave us more to work with later when we did the game expressively.

If your child is finding the concept you are teaching a bit tricky you could use different coloured tape for each square to make the difference in position more visual, then change to the same coloured tape once they have the hang of it.

TO PLAY THIS GAME RECEPTIVELY:
Give your child the sorting pieces and verbal instructions (you could use paper and markers to make visual cues in the form of written words or pictures if these would help).
For example "put the orange cow at the back", "put the yellow duck at the front".
Encourage your child to verbalise what they are doing if they want to, but don't force it.
Alternate between front and back randomly so your child cannot establish a predictable pattern.

TO PLAY THIS GAME EXPRESSIVELY:

Once all of the pieces are sorted ask them "where is the orange cow?" and encourage them to verbalise ("the orange cow is at the back").
Start small and slowly expand their sentences. For example begin with "at the back", progressing to "the cow is at the back", to "the orange cow is at the back", then "the orange cow is at the back of the dog" etc...

Glow In The Dark Ring Toss

Glow sticks are big in this house, it's a rare week where they don't feature at some stage, usually in the form of Moon Balloons or Glow Stick Hide & Seek. Tonight we tried something different and created a glow in the dark ring toss game, which also proved quite popular!

WE USED:

* glow sticks and joiners
(the joiners usually come in the packs if you get the bracelet ones)
* clear tape
* play dough (could also use blutack or similar)
* shallow plastic tray
* lightweight ruler

First the girls made some rings using connectors and two glow sticks joined together in a loop. They made four each which left four glow sticks for the ring toss stand.

To make the stand we used clear tape to attach some glow sticks (already activated) to the top end of a ruler.

Then we secured it in the centre of the tray with some play dough.

Once the lights were turned off...

The stand was clearly visible in the dark.

The girls had heaps of fun throwing their rings and trying to loop them over the stand. The tray meant that even if they missed (which Squeak did most of the time being only 2) they still 'scored' because their rings were collected.

Sorry there are no action shots, they all look like this! :

Crayon Scratch Pictures

We took this activity to the park with us today while we enjoyed the increasingly warm weather (yay for sunshine, we've missed you!). The girls enjoyed crayon scratching but not as much as I thought they would, Squeak (2) was initially interested but after a little scribble wandered off to follow some ducks. Bubble (4) was into it for longer but still only wanted to do one picture.
We will be doing this again for sure, but next time we will try colouring the back ground with the other crayons before going over the top with black and seeing how that works out. We'll also be doing it at home without the distractions of waddling birds and climbing frames!

WE USED:

* coloured paper
(you can use white as well though)
* black crayon
(the softer crayons work the best)
* wooden skewers
(you could use anything from sticks to forks for the scratching part, we just used skewers because they were on hand)

Cover your sheet of paper with a layer of black crayon making it as dark as you can. The lighter coloured paper will show through better but any type (except black) should work.

Use your scratching utensil (in our case skewers) to make pictures and patterns. The coloured background will show through as the crayon is scraped away.

Movable Art

Set up on one of the desks in our study at the moment we have a 'movable art' station. The girls have been enjoying it so much I think it may become permanent, it has been a great way to encourage their spontaneous creativity with minimal mess and wastage.
The idea behind the movable art is to put out jars or containers of all sorts of things - beads, buttons, feathers, ribbons, matchsticks - anything at all your children can use to create pictures and/or words. Also provide a stack of different backgrounds for them to use, which can be anything from coloured paper to fabric swatches or foam sheets. The more textures and colours the better!
Once the pictures are finished we take a photo of their artwork and then all of the materials can be moved to create new art or packed away for the next burst of creativity.
The materials can be used over and over again (and changed often to keep them interesting), there's no build up of paper artwork and we get to enjoy their creativity by way of mini albums made from the printed photos or the digital photo frame.
The best part though is that the lack of need for glue or paint means the girls can do this anytime and we can safely leave it all set up without fear of destroyed walls, carpets or worse.

The girls creating movable art using brown paper bags, paperclips and buttons.

Once the masterpiece is finished we take a photo and we're ready to start again

Play Grow Learn

I don't often promote things on this Blog, but anything cooked up by the brilliant Christie at Childhood 101 has to be wonderful. We were lucky enough to be a small part of their latest project Play Grow Learn.
This amazing magazine contains 62 pages of brilliant play ideas for children from birth to 5 years and can be downloaded for only $4 US.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I checked it out today, the layouts and photos are just stunning, with so many ideas jammed into one issue it is a great read.
Head over to Childhood 101 for a look and download their very first issue.

Repurposed Cot

Recently our little Squeak made the transition from the cot to her first big girl bed. I dutifully moved the cot into our study waiting to be dismantled and either stored or passed on, but kept finding reasons not to do it.
The thing is, I'm certain there will be no more babies for us. Kind of certain. OK, 99.99% certain. But every time I passed the study and saw our empty cot looking back at me forlornly (it really was) I'd procrastinate a little bit more.
So in the end I decided not to take it apart at all... and turn it into a desk. As you do.
It has turned out great and was extremely easy to do without modifying the cot and rendering it unusable once I get the courage to pass it on. Or use it again. Whatever.

WE USED:

* baby cot with a removable drop side
* mdf/particle board cut to mattress size
* blackboard paint

Our drop side had already been removed so all I had to do was adjust the base to the highest newborn setting.

I cut two sheets of thick mdf to fit snugly into the mattress base to provide a table top. I deliberately chose thick strong board to strengthen the desk should any small people climb, sit or stand on it (inevitable in this house).
The boards were painted with blackboard paint to create a chalkboard table top.

It was then easy to use hooks and suction hooks to create storage on the cot sides. I'd love to attach some small shelves for colouring books too.

The paper storage box is made from an empty muesli box, I cut the front to make the paper accessible then primed and painted it before super gluing it to a thick piece of card for extra strength.

On the left hand side we hung Bubble's whiteboard for doing her therapy homework using 3M removable hooks. The white shelves are a spice rack bought from the local Salvo shop for $5 and repainted, this is where we will store our small craft items like glue pots and beads.

The girls have been having a blast with it already :-)

Skewer Snacks

My girls have rather short attention spans and bore easily when it comes to your run of the mill eating utensils. Spoons and forks? Are you kidding? Snorefest.
To keep things interesting and work their fine motor development and co-ordination I often trade their cutlery in for something different;
A set of small tongs.
A pair of chopsticks.
A mini soup ladle.
It's all a bit of fun and also great for hand strength and developing skills such as their pincer grip.
The biggest hit lately has been skewers - the wooden/bamboo type that you get in big packets. I buy the mini sized ones and they are perfect for snacks like berries or fruit (I usually freeze them and then serve them semi thawed), cheese, pieces of bagel or cake; anything soft enough to skewer basically.

WE USED:

* mini bamboo skewers
* soft snack foods
(in this case semi thawed blueberries)

Both girls love the challenge of 'catching' their food.

Please note: I have found that Squeak (2.5) can wield a skewer quite safely, but please use your own discretion about whether or not your child can eat with a sharp utensil and only use them when you can supervise. You may want to blunt the end of the skewer by cutting it with clean scissors or by pressing the tip into a cutting board to flatten it.