Ice Cube (Body) Painting

Okay so here was one activity that definitely did not go to plan!  As we finally had some hot weather yesterday I thought we could have a go at  ice cube painting.  So out came the frozen ice cube painst and paper, simple enough?  Well, lets just say we didn't need much of the paper! 

'Look' I said to J, 'we can use the ice cubes to draw on the paper'.  J, however had other ideas! Completely ignoring me, had already discovered that ice cube paints were just perfect for body painting.

Why use paper when you could paint on yourself, and who wouldn't want to cool off with ice cube paint on a hot day!

That lovely combination of paint and cold!

We did eventually get round to using the paper - very briefly.

J experimented, using all the paints at the same time.

Then decided to make a rainbow.

She then discovered that the paints were getting quite crumbly as they began to melt and were much easier to paint with.

Much easier for body painting!



Cloud Dough:))

This week our sensory activity has been Cloud Dough.  Be warned though, there is something a bit addictive about running your fingers through it that you might find it difficult to share it with your little ones!

For Cloud Dough you will only need:
8 cups of flour
1 cup of baby oil







Put the oil and flour into a bowl and mix together
with your hands.

Until you end up with a mixture that resembles
breadcrumbs.  That's it!

So what's so special about Cloud Dough?
Well it has a wonderfully soft texture (hence thename!) but has properties similar to that of wet sand. If you squeeze it together it can be formed into shapes but will then crumble apart again.

Like me, J was perfectly content to explore the dough with his hands.  Watching it fall from his fingers.

Scooping handfuls

Moulding it with his hands

Patting it.

Grabbing armfuls!

Squeezing the dough.

Reeeeaaaallly squeezing the dough - his expression was fantastic (great activity for relieving stress:))

Eventually we got round to adding some equipment to the tray.

We could then scoop and pour.

Fill and Empty

I did make some cloud dough castles, but J was intent on splatting them before I could take pictures!

WARNING: Can be quite messy so probably best to wear an apron!!

Links to EYFS:

PD: Using Equipment and Materials (using scoops, spoons etc to put the dough into containers)

CD: Exploring Media and Materials (exploring the dough with their hands and with the equipment)

Outdoor Kitchen - I have one too now!

I've seen some fantastic outdoor kitchens on the internet and my response has always been, 'wow I'd love one but my garden isn't that big and as it is also my home, I'm not sure it is something I would want to look at when I am not working (imagining how messy it would get!)'.   However, it was a post by Anna at the Imagination Tree that convinced me that I needed one! But where to put it?  I decided on the area to the side of our house which was currently used for storage.  Ideally it would have been better positioned close to the sand and soil, but there just wasn't space (and I didn't want to be looking at it constantly:)).  So I just needed some sort of cupboard or storage unit...  I couldn't find anything suitable at the local tip (this was a project where no expense was going to be spared:)) but did spot these at the carboot sale yesterday.

Okay, so they did look a bit too nice to go in the garden, BUT I got both of them for £4!! bargain, so it didn't really matter.  I have put a piece of plastic across the top to try to protect them a bit.  So then I searched the internet for a bit more inspiration. 

Mud was a definite requirement unsurprisingly! 

I solved this problem by placing a bucket  of mud in the area. They would have to walk the sand across from the sand tray if they wanted that!

Having a nose at Teacher Tom's outdoor kitchen, I pinched his idea and used foam circles for the cooker. 

Then he got me thinking.......as he said, 'outdoor kitchen's need a sink and a tap'.......but how.  The hose pipe?   hmmm we are on a meter, maybe not!  But a camping water storage container might work. I got a couple of these in Poundland a few weeks ago.  I sat one on a few bricks, put a bowl underneath and voila, one sink!

I also managed to get a few saucepans and a teapot at the carboot sale and raided the cupboard for containers, dishes, cups etc. 

We also went to Asda and brought some of their budget cooking utensils (35p each).

So what did they think of it.....

Well they have been very busy!  I think they like it:)  Tea anyone?

Links to EYFS:

Foam Fun!

We were very busy yesterday exploring soap flake foam.  After searching every supermarket I could think of for months, I found soap flakes by accident in the hardware shop at the end of my road, typical  (I was actually looking for liquid starch).  Trying to be organised for once, I started to get this activity ready first thing in the morning and dissolved the soap flakes in some hot water.  Last time, when I had been less prepared, the flakes hadn't dissolved properly and we were left with lumpy foam which wasn't that nice (but maybe thats just me, can't stand liquid with lumps in - yoghurt, lumpy custard/gravy).  So being 'super-organised' my soap flakes were dissolved and ready to explore!

However what I didn't realise was that the dissolved soap flakes would set - like a big jelly! (hmmm maybe it would be better to lie and say I knew this was going to happen and it was part of the exploration:))  So the activity didn't start quite as planned, but this didn't put us off!

We found set soap flake foam, didn't quite feel like jelly.

We found we could press our hands into it and leave imprints.....

....and when we broke pieces off it was quite slimy!

We then set about turning our slime into foam by adding water.

We paused in our water adding to observe the changes....

....and found our slime was starting to get bubbly!

So we set about creating more bubbles, swishing and whisking the soap flakes.

Some of us particularly liked swooshing the soap flakes!

We found that the more we whisked the foamier it became.

We experimented with different whisks, oh yes sorry, this wasn't whisking, this was 'bouncing' (according to J as the whisk was like a big spring!)

As we bounced we found we made big bubbles and tried hard to catch them.

Some of us continued to swoosh!

Time for a song accompanied by drums!

By the afternoon, interest in the soap flakes had wained (typical! just as I had got them really bubbly).  So to revive interest I thought we could add a bit of colour to our foam. 

We used watered down paints (not too much water or the colours are too pale) and pippettes to drop colours onto the foam.....

and gave it a good stir!

Wow we created some fantastic patterns!

So then we added lots of colours......

....and bounced!

J then decided that she wanted to add paint to the 'bouncer'.  It was proving a bit tricky with the pippette so I found her a small paint dabber.

Of course this meant the lids to the paint containers needed to be removed hmmm.....

...which inevitably led to hand painting! But this is the fantastic part.  After J had dabbed red paint onto her hand, she paused and said 'what about if we mix the colours', 'hmmm' I replied 'I wonder what would happen?'  'We'll get  new colours' J replied confidently.  Yay I could sense child initiated learning coming on!  So she mixed blue on top of the red and announced 'I made purple!'  She then went on to create 'a different blue'...

and then a 'different green' (damn another observation to write up!) J obviously found something quite magical about creating new colours as, as she played she announced 'welcome to my magic show....close your eyes I'm going to do magic!'

But what I found really amazing was the children I look after have developed the ability to read my mind!  As I was indoors changing a nappy the thought crossed my mind that this paint / foam exploration was going to take a very long time to clear up.  However I needn't have worried, when I went back outside I found the were busy tidying up!  Don't you just love them! 

Links to EYFS:

CLL: Language for Thinking (Talking about what they are doing / trying to do)

CLL: Handwriting (making marks in the foam with hands / implements)

PD: Using Equipment and Materials (using an assortment of whisks / spoons)

CD: Exploring Media and Materials (exploring the changing states of the soap flakes)

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