Sand and water play this week was simple. There were no planned activities- what's the need for planned activities, when children can simply explore and
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Showing posts with label invitation to play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label invitation to play. Show all posts
Simple Sensory
Whether playing outside in nature, playing games, or playing with
experiments, these activities will engage children’s curiosities and
promote creative and critical thinking…mindsets that support children as
they grow into a world that values independent thinking.I love sand and water play. It's not just for the kids, I too feel calm and centered when I immerse my hands in water, or weave my fingers gently in soft sand.
Sand and water play this week was simple. There were no planned activities- what's the need for planned activities, when children can simply explore and
After all, sand and water
provide open-ended play. I have never seen a child look at sand or water
and ask what to do with it; they just know.
Sand and water play this week was simple. There were no planned activities- what's the need for planned activities, when children can simply explore and
B I N G O
We play BINGO a lot in homeschool. We use the game as a tool to learn just about anything, from numbers, colours, and shapes, to expressions and verbs - all in French of course.
Since we are just getting back into the swing of things, the children were happy to enjoy some sweet treats.
For this session we did a quick review of the French numbers from 1-75. It was easy peasy, but it will get more difficult as the weeks go by.
The rules were simple. Each player including WildRose was given 1 mini box of Smarties + a 2 sided bingo sheet that I printed from internet and glued on construction paper.
The objecctive was to mark 5 numbers in a row either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally to get BINGO. Once a player called BINGO and the numbers were verified, (s) he could eat that row of Smarties.
If a player needed more Smarties to fill the board after winning, they were given another box of candies.
During our game the children HAD to speak ONLY french. Moonface is getting there.
In the past we have also used Chex squares, cheerios, Fruit Loops and dimes (which they use to buy any item from our prize shop if they win more than a few games).
I used this site to generate the numbers. I can't believe I used to cut out numbers to make my own bingo balls :(
Rainman won the first game. Moonface won the second, and they both won the third.
WildRose just flies on everyone's raincoats. And if I am not mistaken, she ate a lot of the prizes from our Prize Shop.
We will chat about the Prize Shop in another post.
What kind of games do you use to get the children excited? I'd love to hear your ideas.
Since we are just getting back into the swing of things, the children were happy to enjoy some sweet treats.
For this session we did a quick review of the French numbers from 1-75. It was easy peasy, but it will get more difficult as the weeks go by.
The rules were simple. Each player including WildRose was given 1 mini box of Smarties + a 2 sided bingo sheet that I printed from internet and glued on construction paper.
The objecctive was to mark 5 numbers in a row either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally to get BINGO. Once a player called BINGO and the numbers were verified, (s) he could eat that row of Smarties.
If a player needed more Smarties to fill the board after winning, they were given another box of candies.
During our game the children HAD to speak ONLY french. Moonface is getting there.
In the past we have also used Chex squares, cheerios, Fruit Loops and dimes (which they use to buy any item from our prize shop if they win more than a few games).
I used this site to generate the numbers. I can't believe I used to cut out numbers to make my own bingo balls :(
Rainman won the first game. Moonface won the second, and they both won the third.
WildRose just flies on everyone's raincoats. And if I am not mistaken, she ate a lot of the prizes from our Prize Shop.
We will chat about the Prize Shop in another post.
 |
What kind of games do you use to get the children excited? I'd love to hear your ideas.
Invitation to Play: Harvest Scatter
I really love spending my days with a mixed aged range of children. The results of our activities and explorations are always so much more interesting.
Last week all of our friends were in great health. This means that we got to continue all our explorations.
What they did:
I notice that the children are all very interested in seeing their reflections in various mirrors around the house. I set out this simple exploration with that in mind, but I had zero plans or idea what they would do with the materials.
Items included acrylic leaves
in warm autumn colors (we have been using them for circle time, and arts ad crafts). I also added some acorns
from Amazon. I used our harvest scatter which is also a fun item to add to our sensory bin
, and surprisingly, we have had these for 3 years. I also added a set of our fairy lights, which we also use for various activities and explorations throughout the year.
I love the way the mirror reflects the natural, as well as the fairy lights. The youngest child loved seeing her reflection as well.
I didn't hover as the children got together and explored. I also didn't want to become a member of the paparazzi and snap away as they focused on the task at hand.
I love what they came up with!
Last week all of our friends were in great health. This means that we got to continue all our explorations.
I notice that the children are all very interested in seeing their reflections in various mirrors around the house. I set out this simple exploration with that in mind, but I had zero plans or idea what they would do with the materials.
Items included acrylic leaves
in warm autumn colors (we have been using them for circle time, and arts ad crafts). I also added some acorns from Amazon. I used our harvest scatter which is also a fun item to add to our sensory bin, and surprisingly, we have had these for 3 years. I also added a set of our fairy lights, which we also use for various activities and explorations throughout the year.I love the way the mirror reflects the natural, as well as the fairy lights. The youngest child loved seeing her reflection as well.
I didn't hover as the children got together and explored. I also didn't want to become a member of the paparazzi and snap away as they focused on the task at hand.
I love what they came up with!
