Crafting with petals

Crafting with natural materials can be great fun. The summer months are fantastic for being able to get outside and get creative (although the spring, autumn and winter months are too as long as you are appropriately dressed!).

I'd love to take the credit for this craft but it is entirely the invention of The Fairy and one of her friends. Whilst her friends mum and I were enjoying a cuppa they were quietly playing out side. When we went to check on them they asked for some extra 'making equipment', they wanted to make with some petals they had found fallen on the ground.

They had spontaneously created a selection of flowers. Lots of creative thinking, planning and experimenting went on as well as practising fine motor skills. Obviously petal art only lasts as long as the flowers but they had fun.

Playdough mini beasts (bugs)

The Fairy loves hunting for mini beasts (bugs). The other day when it was too rainy to go outside and hunt, she wanted to make some playdough mini beasts.

We took a rainbow full of dough

We rolled

pressed

and created some fabulous mini beasts (with the addition of some pipe cleaner decoration).

Amazingly pretty much as soon as we finished the mini beasts making, the sun came out. So we popped over to Grandmas garden for a bug hunt. Look what we found...

a caterpillar sunbathing on a sundial,

a worm on a leaf

a butterfly visiting a flower

a buzzy bee

a 'stripy worm'.

What's your favourite thing to make out of playdough? Do you like hunting for mini beasts (bugs)?

Collecting flowers

'The Fairy' loves gathering and transporting  things... I'm forever finding little bags filled with pebbles and hair clips or pots with shells and bricks (it worries me that she may develop a habit of collecting things like her Papa - but that's a whole other story!) Because of this I try to provide her with a range of collecting receptacles (old handbags/ purses/ pots/muffin and bun tins etc)

Today I wasn't feeling very well so I was relived that she was busy occupying her self. I thought I should probably check that she was OK and I found her collecting and sorting flowers and leaves with 'her' bun tin (and one she had 'borrowed' from the kitchen!)

I asked her to 'tell me about them' (I once went on a training course that suggested to ask a child this rather than 'What are you making/doing?' as 'can you tell me all about it' was more open ended and encouraged communication).

'I'm collecting flowers for my Mum, just like Goldilocks... they are decorations'. She must have noticed I was feeling poorly! As I've already blogged we are trying to expand our Spanish/ English book selection and have recently borrowed this great book from the library. It starts with Goldilocks collecting flowers in the wood before discovering the house of the 3 bears. I also love it because it rhymes (in English). Developing rhyming skills are important in developing early language and literacy skills.

We brought them inside and she used her small world people to 'have a party' (we've had lots of birthday parties lately so obviously a theme on her mind currently!)

Language Focus:
Vocabulary: prepositions (in)
Other rhyme (if you read the lovely Goldilocks book!)