Mechanics Role Play With Real Tools

The children play a lot with the plastic tools and I have noticed recently that they are getting broken as they are used with some force! Also plastic tools don't really 'do' the job that tools are supposed to do they??!! So when we were in Wales at the weekend, I went to 'The Famous £1.20 Shop' (I know, I laugh my socks off every time we go!) and bought some small tools including a double ended spanner set, a ring of Allen keys, a screwdriver and a ratchet set.

 These proved a huge and instantaneous hit and the children set about taking apart the pedal car and were delighted to find that the tools really did undo the nuts and bolts! I have to admit I hadn't anticipated that one and got my husband to side step them by getting them to take apart an old lawn mower instead (under supervision of course!!). It didn't last long though and they were back to the car - sigh!

 So I provided a tub for the small pieces coming off it and hoped that they could remember how to reassemble it!

 The imaginative play was wonderful - they pulled in ideas from all over the place and used some wonderful maths language!

Then the foreman dropped by for a site inspection - and checked the wheel had been put back on properly, tasted the headlamps, tickled Faith's toes that were sticking out from under the chassis......

...... and then moved on to explore other wheels!!

A Valentines Cake Shop

We whipped up a batch of pink play dough and made cakes and biscuits embellished with sequin hearts in little tiny cake cases. After that we sold them to each other in a cake shop. I put out the play panels and together we stuck up the valentine cake shop signs from Primary Treasure Chest. I have discovered this site recently and I'm really impressed! The role play resources are thoughtfully put together, with a small number of different variables that don't overwhelm the children. Some simple 'open' and 'closed' signs plump it out, and literacy and numeracy are neatly catered for with 'order book' signs, a choice of price labels and a clock with movable hands.

There was some great role-play including counting and adding real money, making up cake names, sharing, using 'shop talk' and much more. It lasted a long time all things considered, but the play panels are huge and I've packed them away again for next time!

Playing Christmas!

I have been resisting the 'C' word as hard as possible for weeks. I don't like that the commercial side of it is thrust down our throats for so long, but last Wednesday I could resist no longer as the children were playing 'Christmas Shopping' furtively, worried that I would tell them to stop! I mellowed and provided gift bags that I had stored - for them to put their 'gifts' in once wrapped. They were delighted and it made for hours of happy and imaginative play (and lots of opportunity for counting in fives and tens, and working with money, and writing receipts and signs etc etc). The evil anti-early-Christmas in me found great satisfaction from the amount of learning that took place! This week I am adding in jiffy bags for posting gifts and am going to transform a corner into a post office using some of these resources here, as well as these, whilst I am waiting for the resource pack offered by the Post Office, available here. Now just wondering if we have a box big enough to make a suitable post box?

Here is the post office ready to go, and here are the girls who were so excited they wanted to view it before they went to bed - it met with their approval!! We are going to see if the real post office will let us have some forms and labels and other goodies to plump out the stocks a bit!

Friday's Favourites!

Well it's been a rough old week..... my beloved Granddad died early on Wednesday morning before I could get to see him and it hurts.... a lot.  But I have great family and friends and my life has pottered on gently through the last few days.

Friday's Favourite's this week takes a slightly different format as I've just realised that I put incorrect links to nearly all of the books that I have mentioned (a sign of an amateur blogger indeed!).  To save you slogging back through the posts if you fancied a look at the book and were annoyed with me because it didn't come up I have slogged through on your behalf and here they are:

• Montessori From the Start from Montessori in a Minute; Independence.
• Supporting Children's Creativity Through Music, Dance, Drama and Art.
• Making Things Float and Sink (fun science projects)
• Float and Sink.

As for my favourites this week...... this little boat which will be installed in my garden in the next week or so for the children to play with!! I can't wait to see the games and stories they come up with for it!

And a quote from an e-mail from Bea, a new friend that I have made; we had been chatting about what makes an outstanding childminder in the eyes of Ofsted and I just think she puts this so well.....

"I agree it is definately attitude with an extra dose of understanding (development, meeting children's needs, clear philosophy) that informs provision, without that all the self reflection in the world ain't gonna improve your practice. I think regarding the resources it's not how much you have it's whether you provide the children with the correct resources to support their needs and whether that is evident by their engagement"

Check out her amazing site here, and have a great weekend!!

Writing to Penpals

This is my daughter concentrating on writing a letter to respond to our penpals at 'The Playhouse', set up through the childmindinghelp forum.  We are really enjoying corresponding with them and it is great on so many levels because letter writing is dying out somewhat these days, yet it remains so special to receive a handwritten letter.  If you don't want to write to penpals, you could encourage children to wriet to their parents, or grandparents (especially lovely if they live far away and don't see their grandchild often!)

• PSED - dispositions and attitudes as the children get excited about receiving mail and then replying; making relationships as they work on a reply together and working at making a relationship through writing to new friends; sense of community as they learn about others and how others live and what they like to do.
• CLL - language for communication, linking sounds and letters, reading and writing.
• PSRN - handling money to buy the stamp we need
• KUW - Time as they wait for a reply and think about what others are doing in other places; communities as they become more interested in what people in different palces are doing; talking about how the post works (a bit of history about how post used to work)
• PD - fine motor control drawing pictures and writing words to their friends; using equipment and materials by folding the paper to go in the envelope.
• CD - make a postbox together to add in to role play.

Some other ideas I have tried are to find writing paper that ties in with anything that the children are interested in.... these are quite simple to find through searching google.  We have started a scrap book to keep the letters in and have decorated the front with these realistic stamps.

if there are any readers who would like to team up with other settings to exchange letters, please e-mail me at littleblossomschildminding@googlemail.com and I will try to pair you up!

Making Felt Food

I was tidying the play kitchen today, and as I collected the eggs together and put them back into the box, it set me thinking about what else I could make from felt for the children to enjoy 'cooking' with.  I had a little look around and found some fabulous inspiration here.  I especially like the apple quarters!

I found a tutorial for and made a pitta pocket and crisps, I know the pattern is for a sandwich but I thought that a pitta half woud be easier for the little ones to manage so I adapted it!

I made natural coloured eggs from a fabric egg pattern and they were a real hit!

Here's a list of all the fab felt foods you can make!!!

• 
  
  Ravioli
• 
  
  Pizza
• 
  
  Peas in a pod
• 
  
  Carrots
• 
  
  Banana in peel
• 
  
  Cherry Pie
• 
  
  Strawberries

That should keep you going.... I couldn't find a pattern for apple slices that was free so I'll have a go myself this week and if I can work it out then I will post the pattern and instructions on here!!