Story Stones

I found this idea for story stones here via Pinterest and couldn't resist giving them a go.  They were really easy to make.  Just cover the image with 1 coat of  Modge Podge (I got this from Ebay), I did 2 coats which wasn't the best idea in the world as some of my stones are bubbling.

The idea is that the children use the stones and images on them to create their own stories. I wanted to copy the story stones I had seen on-line as they looked fantastic when made from collage materials, but I wasn't totally convinced that these would attract the attention of the little ones I mind.  I particularly had J in mind when creating these, so needed to find a way of incorporating something that interested her.  Being Fireman Sam's number 1 fan, this seemed my best option!

So I created this set of 'Fireman' themed stones, some made of collage materials and some from images cut from a magazines (my collage skills are very limited:)). 

I made this set from material and string.

These from pictures from magazines.

And these from photographs of the children. I had my daughter beside me as I made these ensuring that I made her the tallest because 'she was the tallest'!  For J I also combined a photo of her with a fireman image.

We've had these out for the last couple of weeks and the children have definitely been interested.  My little man's favourites are the stones that carry photos of the children.  He likes finding them and naming them.

The babies have also been over for a look. (had to remove the very small stones as she is quite partial to eating everything!)

They have found the back of the stones equally as interesting as the front, hmmm I knew my collage skills weren't particularly good:)

And J, well she's had a good look at all of the stones...

...but the Fireman themed stones are definitely her favourite!  She sorts them out from the rest of the stones...

and makes up stories as she plays with them.

She speaks very quietly though, so its really hard to hear what's going on!

I find if I get too close, I interrupt her play and she becomes suspicious as to what I'm up to!

Over at Red Ted's Art Blog the children made their own stones.  I think we might have a go at this next week.

Links to EYFS:

Small World Farm

We visited a local farm last week and the children thoroughly enjoyed seeing and feeding the animals.

As a way of building on our trip and re-living and discussing what we had seen, I provided  a small world farm in the tough spot tray. I added some sensory elements to make the tray a bit more interesting.

I used a type of wood shaving for the sheep's pen.

Straw in with the cows.

Luckily we had some left over chocolate playdough that became mud for the pigs!

And we put some branches in the tray for the goats that liked to climb! 

We also raided the cous cous from the sensory tray which became food for the animals.

J loved it, the pigs and 'mud' were definitely her favourite!

I love listening to the stories children make up as they play.  This story focused around a naughty baby cow that had lost its mummy (no, incase you were wondering this wasn't part of our outing! I managed to bring them all home:))

The younger ones also came over to see what was going on and imitated the play of the older children.  I'll probably leave the tray out for another week as the children still seem to be enjoying it.

Look out for our 'Hide and Sheep' activity that I hope to be doing this week!

Links to EYFS:

CLL: Language for Communication

KUW: Place

CD: Developing Imagination and Imaginative Play

Beach Small World

After our visit to the beach this week, I set up a small world beach in one of our trays.  Initially I set it up in the sand tray, but we encountered a few problems.

Our first problem was the combination of sand and water...

...we found that our beach kept sliding into the sea and and the children spent the majority of their time trying to rescue it. 

 So we replaced the water with laminated blue paper.

The next problem was that some of us still wanted to explore the sand tray in our usual way - digging, grabbing handfuls of sand and watching it fall etc (notice the small hand in the corner!)  This inevitably led to arguements.

So our beach was quickly relocated to one of our sensory trays.

I used; material sample squares for picnic rugs, cut down bamboo skewers and gummed paper to make a wind shield, a water bottle lid for a bucket....

...I made boats from foil and again used gummed paper and cut down bamboo skewers to make a sail (secured with plastercine)...

....I then added plastic shot glasses for shell collecting buckets, large rocks, shells, crabs and duplo figures.

It was fascinating to listen to the stories J developed as she played.

This aroused the interest of the other children who became involved in play.

Anyone else want to join in our picnic!

Couldn't quite hear what the queue was for (probably the toilet!)

As J loves play involving rescuing and saving people, I thought I would add a shark to the tray next week!

Tin Can Drums

We have been busy this week making these cool tin can drums.  I borrowed this fab idea from Jamie as hands on : as we grow. Luckily my can opener leaves a nice smooth edge so I didn't need to tape up the edges before we painted them.  I gave the children lots of different coloured paints and they were off!

I use plastercine to fix them to the table so they didn't move around whilst the children were trying to paint them.

 Look at that concentration!

We used poster paint to paint ours, but we have also used acrylic paint in the past.

Then we just had to wait for them to dry.

Some of us found it difficult to wait until they were dry to give them a go!

Once dry, I cut the thin part off of a balloon and stretch the remaining part across the top of the tin.

With the addition of a stick, we were ready to make music:)

Although they made a reasonable amount of noise when banged with a stick, J found that by stretching the balloon and then releasing it, it made a much cooler sound!

And here are our finished drums.

I think these are so fab that I've have added one to our music wall.

The rest have been taken home for parents to enjoy:))

Links to EYFS:

CLL: Handwriting (showing good control of the paint brush)

CLL: Using Equipment and Materials (demonstrating good hand-eye coordination)

CD: Being Creating Music and Dance (creating sounds by banging / tapping, singing / making up songs, tapping out rhythms, exploring how sounds can be changed)