These Little Fingers

 Here's an activity which  can  help kids get excited about shapes!  You will need  some plastic  straws or, toothpicks, matchsticks/crafts sticks. And then get your child create shapes and pictures out of them. This  activity could be  used with 7-year-olds and upwards.   Through this activity,  children will learn how two or more geometrical shapes can be used together to form a new geometrical shape or design. This activity helps children improve hand eye coordination and lays and a great foundation for mastering geometrical shapes. Older children will be able to create 3D shapes. You could also extend this activity by having your children tessellate the geometrical shapes they create. Well, this activity kept my children busy for a good hour or so.

  Let's go hunting for shapes! Hi everyone, here's an activity to help your  little ones with shape recognition! Like most children, my son has mastered names of shapes and numbers through various resources,  but also  not to mention with various digital games and apps. So I went on to  help him recognise shapes in everday objects using the device he likes to use.  Well, grab a Smart phone or  any other digital device and get your child hunt for various shapes. Once  you and your child start hunting for shapes together , your little one will recognise that shapes and patterns are all around us: on clocks, on his bicycle, his plate and so on . Thus, t his activity will help children reinforce names of geometrical shapes and help visualise  existence of them in everyday objects. You could also have the captured pictures printed out in order to make a "My Shapes Book" for your child to enjoy. You could also get your child trace over the shapes using the pict

  THE FOUR SEASONS Diorama Here 's how we went about doing our school project; the four seasons. YOU WILL NEED: A sturdy board for the base . Styrofoam  Brown paper /bag Coloured paper Cotton wool PVA Glue Glue gun Some paint B egin by fixing the Styrofoam on the sturdy board.  Use your glue gun to glue it  in place. Paint the backgrounds; Spring -green, Autumn -yellow brown and orange , Summer- yellow and blue.,winter we left it white/ silver. We used the brown paper to make the trees. Cut out flowers and leaves out of colored paper. We glued the trees, leaves flowers and cotton balls-use your glue gun for this. SPRING AUTUMN WINTER Cut out few slits to form branches twist the slits... Finally,  glue the Arctic Hare in each season and show how they adopt to each season!.

Geo-Lastic Art Hi everyone. I found this awesome manipulative toy, from my local toy library. The Geoboard . It is a great tool for exploring mathematical concepts. I let my son (nearly 3) stretch bands around pegs to form line segments and create shapes, alphabet and numbers. My older kids(8,6) joined in the fun too. The Geolastic Number Board comes  with alphabets and number visual cues, therefore children could copy them on the board. I helped my son  copy the shape made by his his sister. He really liked it. Making shapes on Geoboard, could  help improve his fine motor skill s . The virtual version  of Geoboards can be found below in the following links, where older kids/school aged kids could have ample fun: Math Playground- http://www.mathplayground.com/geoboard.html Geoboard,  by The Math Learning Center  Have fun making shapes , alphabets, numbers and geometrical  shaped pictures too.

  I have been setting up sensory bins for my son . I am a bit afraid of mess; but I use it as an opportunity to teach about cleaning up! We talked about colours, shapes and textures . We tried sorting objects by  colour. We scooped out all the blue objects out of the bin! When children are playing with sand, rice and so on they are learning to experiment. I use common household objects like spoon,forks,lids ....they are great learning tools. Messy sensory play with sand ,water,fingerpaint or dirt gives your child the chance to play alone  observe,copy others,initiate new ideas and use words and gestures to express.. We tried playing a game: number of the day... Add numbers in to your sensory bin (it can be foam numbers or plastic number magnets) I love those little craft foam numbers! Get your child pick/scoop or help him use a tong to pick all the "Number of the Day ".., Why not, Letter of the day? , Shape of the day ? By

My son really enjoys painting. We have painted on all sorts of things;  paper, boxes, egg cartons and so on.  Here is an activity that develops fine motor skills. A creative way to enjoy painting on a 3D object. I blew up a few balloons and got my son to paint it with cotton tips/Q-tips.  Painting with cotton tips on a Balloon is a great way to help little ones develop their fine motor skills and pencil grip! Here's what you will need, Some Balloons to blow up. Some Paint Cotton tips or Q-tips Get ready for some mess....(protect your table and clothes) outdoors suit better. Here in Australia, it's winter so we decided to stay indoors. Blow some balloons and let your kid paint his/her balloons using Q-tips. My son wanted to use only blue...  I was thinking that he was going to go "spot, spot, spot..."  as we have painted spotty pictures before... But he surprised me by doodling a  smiley face on the balloon...     Try this inexpe

Color Sorting Activity I tried this activity with my toddler(2 1/2years old ) and he really enjoyed. It is really easy and inexpensive to set  up! Here's how you set this up,  What you will need,  Brightly coloured  toy bits(you can find these around your house).  You could use pom- poms, Lego bricks, magnetic letters, little critters, tiny cars, buttons, pegs and so on . A muffin/cupcake baking tray. Have your toddler sort the bits of toys by colour! For beginners , pick only two to three colours to start sorting with.   And always be sure to monitor. You could color  code the muffin tray using patty pans(muffin cases) or  by adding  dot stickers. Set up a  sorting game by rolling a colour coded dice. (you could make a color dice by adding dot stickrs on to a regular dice)    1. Roll the colour coded  dice.  2 .Help  fill the muffin tray by the color that your toddler rolls out. There you go.. Have fun!

Match the Objects With the outline I love to watch how children learn with play ... Here is a simple activity you can set up for your toddler or preschooler. My son really enjoyed this activity! Preschoolers can play with puzzles without even realizing how many skills they are developing. This activity can  help your preschooler develop visual spatial awareness because of the many colors, shapes and themes. This simple activity can also teach children to develop fine motor skills important to daily life. They learn to grasp large and small pieces, pick them up and to place them where they belong by manipulation.  This activity is a great way to develop had /eye coordination Playing with puzzles requires your preschooler to manipulate the pieces in order to place them in the correct  slot. He sees a piece, picks it up and attempts to make it fit. If it doesn't, he puts that piece aside and starts the process over again until he has chosen the correct one.