Shaving Cream Fun

Let's face it, who could really resist not smooshing their hand into a pile of shaving cream? The sprinkles on top just add to the temptation. 

When I asked my mum if we could use her glass table I just accidentally (on purpose) forgot to mention we were going to get my niece and nephew to smear it with shaving cream. They do think I'm slightly crazy but I'm learning to take that as a compliment. LOL 

His face says it all! 

It wasn't long before my niece and nephew began exploring the wonderful texture and spreading the shaving cream over the glass table. Of course this could also be done on a glass window! 

This shaving cream only cost me $2.20 at the supermarket. 
Cheap fun that can be educational!!!

Possum (17 months) wasn't really convinced of this activity and chose to poke at the shaving cream before wanting her hands wiped clean immediately after.

Some children can find such sensory experiences difficult, although I do believe it's important to provide them with the opportunity but not force them to partake. 

Squishing the cream between fingers was lots of fun. 

But...how can we learn from such an activity?

Once the shaving cream was spread out across the table I provided them with some free time. This is really important because it boosts creativity and develops sensory awareness.

MATHEMATICS

Depending on the age of the child you can use shaving cream to help develop many skills needed in number, spacial awareness, measurement and lots, lots more.  For smaller children it is also great for developing greater formation of the written number. 

Here my niece chose to draw me a wonderful cube! 

Questions I followed with were -

"Describe to me the features of a cube"

"How many faces does your cube have?"

"How many points does it have?"

"If I put a cube on the ground and stood above it, what shape would I see?"

"Where might I find a cube in our environment?"

"Can you draw your cube another way?"

Here I asked my nephew to tell me a number that was over 30. He initially chose 33. 

Questions I asked him - 

"What is 10 more than the number you chose? Can you draw it?" (see picture)

"How many bundles of 10 would I need to make the number you have drawn?"

"How many less than 50 is that?"

LITERACY

There are many, many ways that using shaving cream can also develop literacy skills. It's great because any mistakes can be simply wiped away. If the cream begins to stiffen then you just add more! 

Some simple ways shaving cream can help literacy skills - 

• letter formation
• revising spelling words
• name practise
• storytelling through pictures and words
• fill in the missing letters etc

MORE FUN WITH SHAVING CREAM

We have all seen people adding food colouring. It felt a little overdone to me so I chose to add glitter! To be honest, the glitter didn't really look that noticable once it was blended into the cream, however, I liked that it would add a slightly grainy texture to the cream and heighten the sensory awareness of the activities. 

My niece and nephew had done such a great job and they no doubt had fun whilst learning at the same time. This is a great activity to try because it can always end with a game of noughts and crosses.

I hope you and your children enjoy this activity. 

Of course be guided by them and be sure to keep learning fun. 

Kate x

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I'd love to hear any comments you might have. 

Click here for another sensory related activity. 

Edible Finger Paint - Laughing Kids Learn
Cloud Jars - Learn with Play at Home 
Dragon Eggs - Adventures at Home with Mum

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Learning with Leaves

In Australia we have just experienced a really warm Autumn (Fall) season. It is always one of my favourite times of the year because the leaves are always so spectacular and it can feel like they are changing colour right before your eyes. It also opens up doors for great learning opportunities. 

My adorable niece and I thought we would go exploring and find some leaves we thought were particularly beautiful. It was tough because there were so many we could choose from.

Learning involved
Exploring the environment can be a great way to teach children about the changing of seasons and provides children with an opportunity to make observations whilst opening them up to making discussions, which further helps with language development. 

Here is our collection of leaves. My niece notes the various colours, sizes and shapes!

GAMES using LEAVES

It would be easy to turn this into a sorting or classifying game for children. 

• 'How many brown leaves can you collect in 2 minutes' (counting)
• 'Order these leaves from smallest to largest' (ordering and measurement)'
• 'Which leaf would cover the largest/smallest area?' (area)

Here is an example (bottom left) of leaves being used to make a shape of a square. This teaches children to really consider the sides and points of a shape. 

Great questions to ask - 

How many leaves do you need to make a square? 

Is that the same number you'd need to make a triangle? 

How do you know that you have the correct order?

I think it's also important to give children freedom to take their learning where they want it to go. Here I simply supplied my niece with a black pen and allowed her to be creative. 

Just look at her wonderful and creative drawings!! I really love that she has considered the shape of the leaves, using it as a frame for her picture. Brilliant!!!! We extended this activity by using the leaves in imaginative play and writing a stories. 

Here she is tracing over the veins of the leaf. 
"Wow, I can't believe how many veins this leaf has!' said my niece. 

I love when children are surprised by their own discoveries. 

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I couldn't end this post without sharing with you a tree that I simply adore. 

It is down at my families holiday house and it warms my heart every time I look at it. It is absolutely massive and when you under it you can't help but feel almost protected. 

Do you have a special place? 

Thanks for reading this post. 

Kate x

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Write in Sand and Learn

LETS WRITE IN SAND!!!! 

Here is a great list of ways your child can have fun and learn by using sand at the beach. 

Developing skills in letter and number formation, building on thinking and creativity skills and sensory awareness is just some of the learning that can be achieved. 

There is just so much I love about children writing in sand. It's so wonderful that I find myself writing my own little 'Kate was here' message for passers by to read. The blank canvas of the sand is so tempting and best of all it requires no setting up! 

MATHS

Using sand to develop Mathematical skills is easy. 

You might like to instruct your child to do the following little activities. 

Number

1. Select a number and they continue on, checking as they go. 

2. Skip counting e.g. 10, 20, 30, 40 or 46, 49, 52

3. Writing as many number '4's and circling the one that they feel was written the best

4. Close their eyes and write a number

5. Write mathematical problems in the sand and solve them

6. Write numbers counting backwards and checking as they go

7. Select a number and they write as many problems as they can to answer that number

Shape

 8. Draw a shape and count the number of sides and corners

9. Draw a 'formal' and 'informal' shape and describe how they are similar and/or different

10. Draw shape patterns in the sand

Measurement

11. Write their name in the sand. How many hand-spans cover it?

12. How many steps from the entrance to the waters edge? Write that number 

I love that when a child makes a correction they are able to simply 

use their fingers to cover the error. 

LITERACY

Using sand to develop literacy skills is easy too! 

You might like to instruct your child to do the following little activities.

1. Write their name in the sand and any family members with you

2. Write and circle a single word before they think of as many rhyming words as they can

3. Write the letters of the alphabet

4. Close their eyes and write the name of their favourite colour

5. Write a story as big/small as they can!

6. Write spelling words

7. Pick an animal and write words to describe it

8. Write their name backwards in the sand

9. Have a go at writing the name of the beach using sound that they hear in the name

10. Write the days of the week or the months of the year

My little girl Possum (16 months) just loves the beach and we are fortunate enough to be able to visit a rather secluded one quite regularly. I love that it's a huge sensory learning experience for her. She loves pinching and squeezing wet sand.

Simple writing tools found at the beach. Gorgeous.

I hope your little one enjoys spending time at the beach and learning at the same time. 

Learning should be fun! 

Kate x

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DIY Woolly Monsters for Imaginative Play

Just have a look at these cute woolly monsters! 

I think they are just so adorable and a great little creature that would be fun for children to use during creative or imaginative play.  School aged children would be able to make many of these in one sitting, possibly a whole family of woolly monsters!  

Imaginative play is so important for a child's development. As a primary school teacher I would always be able to identify those children who were exposed and encouraged to play creatively and use their imaginations in ways that allowed them to go further than what was simply presented to them. 

Here is a great article if you wish to learn more about a child's need to pretend play. 

Before I show you how to make these, I should say that I wondered if I should call these 'monsters'. In the end I came to the conclusions that they could be a great way to take the fear out of the idea of 'monsters' if they were ever a problem for a child. :) 

Let's make some woolly monsters !!!!!

Need

• Wool (6ply or 4ply - preferably colour changing)
• cookie cutter or a fork
• scissors
• googly eyes
• sticky tape or hot glue gun

Begin by using your cookie cutter as a frame and start wrapping your wool. 

I preferred to have a light tension on the wool as I wrapped it. 

I loved watching the colours change as I continually wrapped the wool around the cookie frame. 

Once I had wrapped as much as I felt I could manage, I very carefully slid the wool off and tied a separate piece of wool around the middle of it all. 

Using some sharp scissors I carefully snipped the loops at one end. 

This is similar to how you'd make a pompom. 

The multicoloured wool makes the base of this monster look brilliant!

Using some sticky tape I added googly eyes. To be honest, these didn't stay on very long. 

I would be glueing them with a hot glue gun. 

Making a mini wooly monster

I used a fork and wrapped my wool around it many, many times. 

Ever so carefully I slipped a piece of wool between the prongs of the fork and

tied it tightly together. 

Repeat the same process as described above and your little one is ready 

for some fun and creative imaginative play with their wooly monsters. 

Possum loved playing with the larger woolly monster the most. She was particularly interested in the googly eyes I'd stuck on. After awhile she loved moving the monster about the room like it was jumping from couch to couch. Older children would be able to let their imaginations run wild with these. 

I hope your children have fun with this idea. 

x Kate

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