Twig and Toadstool: Butterfly Finger Puppets. With spring seemingly unwilling to show it's face and snow still surrounding us, we decided to take matters into our own hands and bring spring to us.
What speaks spring more than butterflies and flowers?! Here is our spring inspired solution... Flower-filled butterflies to conjure up spring's warmth and new life. To create you will need: flowers (pressed flowers work best for the longest lasting collage) sheet of colored construction paper tape mactac (also know as contact paper) To begin: Cut out your butterfly and then cut out the insides of the wings. Gather up you flowers. Cut out two squares of mactac a little larger than your butterfly. Peel the backing off one of the squares of mactac and place the butterfly on top of the sticky side. Now for the *FUN* part. Fill the wings with flowers to make the butterflies come alive with color and beauty! Cut off the excess edges around your butterfly. There you have it. When it was done we couldn't resist placing in in a sunny window for a bit to admire. Patterns in Nature Scavenger Hunt (+ printable)
“Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.” - William Wordsworth Monique of Green Acorns is with us today to share a captivating outdoor experience—finding patterns in nature… As humans, we tend to look for similarities amongst the things in our world.
Perhaps it is a way to help us make sense of such diversity. Helps us understand how everything is connected and where we fit in. We love to find patterns, don’t we? Mariah’s eLesson: Backyard Science Investigations, beautifully explains the stages of engaging with nature that children experience and how important it is for children to be able to make connections between the things in their world. If you would like to explore nature’s patterns with your child, reading some books together is a great place to start. Once your child has had an introduction to different types of patterns, head outside with this scavenger hunt (see below) and see what you can find.
30 Playful Ways to Teach Young Kids About Rocks. A Mandala Kids Can Make. Sand Footprint Craft - Full DIY instructions! - Summer is my family’s favourite time of year – we’re very blessed to live 5mins away from many beautiful beaches.
It’s not surprising to know we spend nearly every weekend during summer at the beach. I wanted to do a beach themed craft to celebrate the amazing summer we’ve just had. I thought it would be cool to do something that could mark this particular summer and try to ‘freeze it in time’. This is what I came up with – Sand Footprint moulds – using just a Photo frame, sand, plaster of paris and some shells for extra decoration.
Exactly what you’ll need – an old sheet or plastic tablecloth (to protect your work surface).A photo frame big enough to fit the number of prints you wish to use. Start by covering your work surface with something to catch the sand and any drips of plaster – we used an old tarp. Remove the cardboard backing off the frame and carefully discard the glass from the frame (this will not be needed). How to prep your frame. 3 easy steps… Hanging on our wall :). Nature Play Ideas - only nature needed. So, the Summer Holidays are upon us.
The long warm days stretch ahead of us and the kids will be running riot. On our last holiday, we decided to take some books, pens & notebad, a pack of cards and nothing else. Our kids are 6yrs and 4yrs old. We brought no toys. We decided that we wouldn’t need any. There are huge educational benefits from these nature play ideas… * Exploring nature (yes, obvious I know) * Looking at textures * Discussing weight and size and how things balance * Agility and gross motor skills * Fine motor skills * Problem solving skills For the majority of our nature play ideas, I have photographs, but I have added a few more to complete the list!
Counting and sorting Cairn Building - great for any age group Land Art – explore Andy Goldsworthy Art… - great for any age group Treasure Hunt – any age group Pinecone Bowling Construct Challenge Creative Play Let’s Make Music.