Halloween fun!

We have had so much fun with halloween, mostly creating spooky snacks! But we've also held some creepy crawleys, had some sensory fun with water beads and worms and been dishing out trick or treat pebbles! Looking forward to fireworks now and then dare I say it..... Christmas! Take a look at some of the things we've been up to below....... Happy Halloween to you all

Number Conkers

Quick bit of craft this afternoon and we have some number conkers to play with! I'm looking forward to seeing what George does with these.

Number Pebbles

After making a start on some alphabet pebbles, I decided to have a go at some number pebbles. I've collected lots of different sized pebbles this summer so I already had a few perfect small ones ready to use. So with a few minutes to myself and coffee in hand, I had a go at creating numbers 1 to 3

They are a bit raw at the moment and need some varnish but I'm happy with them.

Pebble Numbers 1, 2, 3

I'd then made numbers 1-10. Later, I will add in mathematical symbols such as - + x  = as he gets older and learns more numeracy and mathematics at school.

So, what are you waiting for, get down the beach and get collecting so you can have a go yourself! All you need is a variety of small (or large if you fancy it) sized pebbles and some paint. If you want them to last then you'll need an acrylic paint and some varnish. If it's a bit cold now for you to go hunting for pebbles on a wet and windy beach, then why not try making some number conkers, I think that might be my next project!

If some peace and quiet in order to do a project like this is something you never get, don't worry. When I was making the alphabet pebbles, I gave George a pebble of his own to decorate and he got stuck in with his project, while I got stuck in to mine. He used felt tips to colour some in and paints to paint some. He made a cute little pebble bug which you can see below, love her eye sticker!

I'll be sure to post some ways that George and I use the pebbles together as soon as they are finished and I have a few more! In the mean time, why not have a go yourself.

PLEASE BE AWARE- If you have a younger child then make sure you collect pebbles that are too big for them to swallow. You can paint simple pictures on them for your baby, such a smiley face :) 

Cinnamon Playdough

Taking inspiration from the blog The Imagination Tree I made some cinnamon playdough (with lots of glitter) collected some pine cones and set it out as a play invitation for George to find!

The idea was for him to use the pine cones to make patterns in the playdough, however, George had an ever better idea and went to get his conker collection so he could make a playdough forest! The pinecones were trees and the conkers were a mix if stones and caves! He even made a path to his forest, which I think is was a fab idea. We talked about forests and woods and the things we can find outside. After lunch George asked if we could go on a nature walk and see what we could find, another fab idea!

So off we went on a nature walk with Daddy. Along the way we jumped in puddles, squelched in mud, blew dandelions, saw some mushrooms, picked some blackberries (ate them along the way) and found an acorn! George was particularly excited about this as his school class are called the 'Acorns' what a Super Sunday!

Cinnamon Sparkle Playdough Invitation

Once George had gone to get his collection of conkers, the creation began!





A close up of the playdough forest



The playdough forest- complete with path leading into it!

George and Daddy squelching through the muddy field



Some Mushrooms we found on our Nature Walk



A beautiful Dandelion, before George picked it a blew it.

Playdough is cheap, easy to make and non toxic so it doesn't matter if your little one eats a bit! George is past the playdough munching stage now but babies and toddlers seem to love to taste the stuff!

Playdough is great for a child's fine motor skills as they manipulate the tools and equipment. It inspires creative development through sensory play and helps to stimulate imaginative play!

Happy Birthday to Me!

George made me a birthday card this year and I just had to share it! On the front is a drawing of Me, George and Jake (the dog) and inside on the left is a rainbow and some hearts! I absolutely love it! :)

Mummy is on the left, George is on the right and Jakey boy is at the bottom!

George wrote 'Mummy' and 'George' himself and drew a beautiful rainbow and some love hearts!

Friday Night Fun

Tonight's Mummy and George Friday Night Fun consisted of eating doughnuts, constructing a Brio track, sorting out toys to go to the charity shop or to be saved for 'the baby' (I must add here that there is no baby, yet, but George is desperate for a baby sister and we have to save everything for her, even his used toothbrushes)!! Once we'd finished our play downstairs we came up for a glitter bubble bath! A glitter bubble bath is basically made using some great bubble bath stuff from Lush. It comes in a block which u take a chunk off of and then run under warm water. It is great because George can be in control of how much, or how little he puts in and its very environmentally friendly as there is no plastic packaging and all the Lush products are free from Animal Testing. When going through his book bag tonight there was a not I there from the teacher to ask us to get George to practise his letters and sounds. There were two more work sheets for him to do over the weekend 1) colour in a picture of a sink and tap for the letter 'g' or the sound 'g g g glug' 2) practise writing the numbers 2 and 3 on an A4 piece of paper. So, not wanting to do 'homework' first thing at the weekend, for his sake as well as mine, I thought I'd help him with his letters and sounds another way. I added glitter letters to bath of the phonics he has learnt already 's' 'a' 't' 'e' 'i' 'p' 'n' 'm' 'd' and 'g'. They quickly sunk to the bottom and then my role was to put my hand in and search for a letter, pull one out and then George would try to tell me the sound it makes! He really liked this activity and I also quite enjoyed it. There is far more to learning letters and sounds than I thought. I think that parents of children in reception class should have a lesson on it first so that they are fully equipped with the knowledge that is needed to enable them to support their children's learning at home!

George has the privilege of looking after Fudge this weekend, the class pet. He has him because he had the neatest handwriting. George is very excited about this (having Fudge to stay, not the handwriting award)! We had to give Fudge his tea, brush his teeth and hair, put him in his pj's and then he had to listen to some bedtime stories. Tonight's story sack was based around Dinosaurs. There were dinosaur books and a selection of dinosaur soft toys, all of which got settled down into our bed for the night along with the rest of his cuddly toys or 'the boys' as he affectionately calls them!

The Glitter Bubble Bath

It creates great Bubbles

Mmmmmmm

Fudge the Class pet ready for a sleepover!

The Dinosaur themed Story Sack

The whole gang ready for a sleepover!

When I came up to bed this was the sight that greeted me, lovely!

I'm loving our 'Friday Night Fun' time. It's not going to be possible to do it every Friday night but i'll try my best. It's so important to spend some special time together. With George at school and both Adam and I working full time the days and weeks just fly by. I can't think of a better way to end my week than with a snuggle next to my little man

xoxo 

All About Me!

George is settling into school a bit better now. His play has been based around the theme 'All About Me'. I thought i'd share a few of the pictures he has done so far, just because i'm a proud Mummy and think they are great!

A Self Portrait Painting

'My House' picture made with shapes

'George's Hand' made with white straws. This picture was inspired by the book 'Funny Bones' by Janet and Allan Ahlberg