Gruffalo Toddler Activity

OH HELP, OH NO, IT'S THE ....

GRUFFALO!!

This week was Gruffalo week, it's another one of our favourite stories here. We've read the story time and time again, so the children here (aged, 18m, 2y, 2.5y and 3y) all know this by heart!

First of all we went on a woodland walk, using our imaginations, we found a log pile house, a treetop house and fox prints. I hid the gruffalo teddy in a tree towards the end of the walk for the children to find - which they weren't expecting so was a nice surprise! 

Then, throughout the week we made and ate food from the book! Gruffalo crumble, owl icecream, roasted fox and scrambled snake....

Roasted Fox = chicken tikka and chorizo

owl ice cream = vanilla ice cream cone with banana eyes and pineapple beak

gruffalo crumble - recipe on gruffalo.com

scrambled snake = dyed green spaghetti  and scrambled egg

The children always eat more when the food is fun !

we also made gruffalo masks, but as we have a child here who is scared of masks, we did not wear them, just stuck them on the patio doors so we could look through the eye holes.

And, I made a cosy gruffalo corner - with the books and all of our related toys. :) 

Eliza also completed the jigsaw, all by herself! Look how pleased she is!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Sensory Fun

VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR 

These activities have to be my favourite, anything involving food is always a winner!

This one is really easy, read the story and eat the food along with the caterpillar, along the way talk about healthy and unhealthy options, talk about texture, taste and colour of the food.

Next - I got the sensory box out, I love sensory boxes, this one is especially good for getting the children to retell the story in their own words, see what they can remember. The box contains: 

• dyed green rice
• coloured cups for scooping
• coloured lolly sticks
• cardboard tubes 
• coloured ribbon
• green pipe cleaners
• brown socks - to act as the cocoon 
• leaves from the tomato plant
• wooden and plastic fruit, cakes, ice creams and other food items from the story
• a few real satsumas for a real sensory experience!
• a Very Hungry Caterpillar butterfly toy
• a Very Hungry Caterpillar toy
• a copy of the book 

 It can have such a calming effect and is very therapeutic at the end of a hectic day she the kids are cranky and tired.

BUG AND BEE THEMED ACTIVITIES AND SENSORY PLAY

I have decided to start sharing some of the activities I do here. For those who don't know I am a childminder to 4 toddlers one of which is my own monster - 2 year old Eliza Daphne - aka Effie. 

So, this week is bug week. After reading a book about bee's, focussing on the bit that explains that bee's make honey by collecting nectar from flowers, i set up this activity :

We have coloured water in cups with flowers, a few pipettes and an empty egg carton to act as the bee hive. 
The children used the pipette to collect the coloured water and took it back to their bee hive. 

Not only did this activity really help the children understand what bee's do, they also noticed that mixing colours made new colours. They mixed yellow and blue water to make green water and red and blue water to make purple - and all the colours to make, well, a brown mess! 

The children (aged 2, 2.5 and 3.5) all loved this game, they were there playing for around 35 minutes - which is a life time in toddler world!! After they had finished we chowed down on honey and bread - yum yum!!


I also made a sensory box - i love sensory boxes. Young children learn about their world by exploring and experimenting using their senses, everything ends up in their mouths and being banged etc. Sensory boxes are a a great way for children to learn using all off their senses. 

This is a photo of our bug box - 

This box is full of mud, with small plastic bugs hidden. I have also added rakes, tweezers and magnifying glasses to encourage exploring!

The children (Aged 2.5, 2 and 19 months) all commented on the mud, one said it was cold, another said it was squidgy and another simply said 'yuk!'

They were all so pleased with themselves when they found a bug and even more happy when they used the tweezers. The 2 and 2.5 year olds liked looking through the magnifying glasses and both realised it made things bigger.

Will share more of my sensory boxes soon - I am a little obsessed with them!!

I am pretty sure my baby is a genius!

Here is a short video of my very clever 12.5 month old daughter. Not only does she know where her body parts are, but she also hardly sleeps at all..... Now, I realise that this doesn't  sound like a good thing, but great people in history did sleep less. Leonardo Da Vinci slept for 1.5 hours per day, Nikola Tesla for 2 and Issac Newton for 3. So, the evidence suggests that Eliza is a genius in the making! Maybe she'll invent a remedy that would cure all diseases, and prolong life or a  transatlantic tunnel that could link North America and Europe  or some sort of Wizard Of Oz shoes that makes you go home asap when you click the heels...OK, so probably not, but this thought will keep me going during my many sleepless nights.....No pressure Eliza!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPD3DJhIicE&feature=g-upl&context=G2836cb5AUAAAAAAAAAA