Bubbles - Part 2

After our recent bubble activity, Gina at Play-based Classroom shared her own fantastic bubble activity.  She got me thinking, that maybe my own activity had been too structured and the children would have enjoyed the opportunity to freely explore the bubbles more.  Bring on Bubbles part 2!

I laid large sheets of card out across the garden and got out the bubble mixture.  As I thought it was quite likely that the children would get covered in the bubbles we used bubble bath instead of washing-up liquid.  This time the children could explore the bubbles as they wished. 

Initially they blew bubbles and we explored the patterns made by the bubbles on the paper.

We found we could pop the bubbles with our straws...

.....and with our hands if we pressed down on them.

We found we could pick up the bubbles if we were careful.

And we explored how they felt.

And if bubbles can be explored with your hands, they can also be explored with your feet!

The children participated in this activity for far longer than the first one and as predicted, did get very bubbly:)

My daughter (aged 7) continued to explore the bubbles long after the younger children had lost interest.

So this time there was no end product to take home, but on reflection, I think the children enjoyed the process of making the bubbles far more.

In the afternoon we went on to explore BIG bubbles.  I found this recipe on the Its Playtime link-up:

12 cups of water

1 cup of washing-up liquid

2 tbsp baking powder

1 cup of cornflour

Pretty impressive!

Even I was surprised by the size of these bubbles!

The younger ones were keen to have a go (infact so keen, that they didn't have time to put all their clothes on after coming out the pool!)

Some were happy to just watch, fascinated.

The children almost managed to make a bubble around each other but it always popped at this point!

This is one activity that I'm sure we will do again!

Links to EYFS:

Bubbles!

We've been having great fun with bubbles over the last week.  It started when I noticed that the children were particularly fascinated with the bubbles whilst we were playing with Soap Flake Foam.  Building on this interest I decided to get the bubble mixture out. 

The children love this and it is always popular, but it tends to be one of those activities that I forget to do!  Anyway, being on-the-ball this week, out came the bubbles.  Its surprising how many aspects of physical development are covered by such a simple activity:

There's the obvious, blowing!

Though this can be quite tricky - particularly resisting the urge to place the bubble wand on your lips!

It also provides lots of opportunities for stretching and jumping as you try to reach those pesky bubbles that are always just out of reach!

Also hand-eye coordination.

And then there's coordination - coordinating your actions so you can avoid crashing into each other as you both head for same bubble! (some of us are good at this : some are still oblivious to others!)

So with the interest still going strong and the additional knowledge that both little ones can 'blow' I thought we would try some bubble blowing painting.

I must admit I haven't had much success with this activity in the past.  Usually you can barely see the bubbles or they pop before we have had a chance to print them.   However with a little bit of experimenting I think I have got it right - see there are even learning opportunities for me!

Usually we use shallowish tins or trays.  This appears to have been my first mistake.  Small pots definitely work better.  I experimented with different quantities of washing-up liquid, paint and water and found that 4 tablespoons of paint, 1 tablespoon of good quality washing-up liquid (I used Fairy) and 30ml of water produced good prints, any less paint and they were too faint. 

So we blew....

and blew....ok I think that's enough we can print now

...no, okay maybe a bit more blowing (I think the process it more fun than the end product!)

and finally printing!

And then back to blowing!

Some of us, who were new to this did occasionally suck. Yuk!

We created some pretty impressive results! 

So what next.....well I've found this recipe for giant bubble that I can wait to try for the children to try.  And then there's blow painting or maybe we could try blowing ping pong ball through paint!  I just need more time in the week:)

Links to EYFS:

PD: Using Equipment and Materials (using the bubble wands and straws to blow)

CLL: Language for Communication (following instructions to blow and not suck!)

KUW: Exploration and Investigation (I get this one - learning how to make bubble mixture through experimenting!)

PD: Movement and Space (managing body to create intended movements - jumping, stretching etc.)

Shared at:

Assault Course

Back in half term, my older children set up an assault course for the younger children I look after.  They loved it and spent the afternoon crawling through a tunnel made from a table and the trampoline cover,

balancing along plank between crates,

stepping over stepping stone foam discs

and crawling through another tunnel. 

I think half the appeal was that play involved the older children. 
Well tonight as I sat at the table, trying to catch up on all my childminding paperwork, I noticed this out of the window. 

Wow, with toys lined up like this my first thought was, damn, this looked liked schema behaviour and I had managed to miss it!  But no, it was infact another assault course, big children style!
As I went into the garden to have a closer look, I was met with shouts of 'we'll tidy it up!'  My poor kids, their home isn't really their own on Monday to Wednesdays when I am childminding, but when considering the safety of the little ones, I do have to be quite careful what I let them get up to.  However, as everyone had gone home for the evening I was happy for them to play.
Well the first part of the assault course I witnessed didn't look too bad....

....however as it turned out, this was the end.  It seemed they had something of an easy time if they survived the first half which consisted of this...

climbing onto the quad bike and shuffling it forward......

..leaping onto the coupe car and propelling this forward.....

...and then clambering over big and small chairs....ah well at least they weren't sat in front of the t.v. ......I'm sure A&E must be quite quiet on a Tuesday evening should I neeed it!

Music Wall

I've seen quite alot of info on the web about music walls, but nothing had inspired me to create my own until I read Jenny's post at Let the Children Play and followed the links she had provided (also I had a panel left over from the water wall that would be just perfect!) So after visiting Poundland, the local carboot sale and of course my garage, I got busy!  It's been a bit of a 'work in progress' over the last few weeks (you may have caught glimpses of it in the background of some of my other posts) but now I'm happy its more or less finished - for the time being!  So what does my wall consist of;

Buttons threaded on strings for rattling.

Saucepan for banging and metal rack.

Plastic bottle filled with rice and beans for spinning. A metal flask for banging.

A banana slicer (much better use for it) and a plastic tray for banging.

A hard plastic container with elastic bands (I melted small grooves into the container to stop the elastic bands moving)

metal wind chimes and giant bamboo wind chimes

And a metal tray.

The instruments have been attached to the frame my husband made me (see water wall) and two radiator airers that I got from Poundland.

But what did the children think of it......

Well its been thoroughly explored.  The metal tray was definitely their favourite!  Though this part does have to be removed at times to save relations with the neighbours!

They demonstrated creativity in the ways they tried to get sounds from the instruments.

They added their own additions!

And a few more!

They added their own voices.

I think they like it!