Enhancing core role play provision #eyfs #roleplayarea #eyfsclassroom #eyfstwitterpals #earlynumber #earlyreading #earlylanguage

Taste safe ice painting. An easy and fun painting idea for kids. Babies, toddlers and preschoolers will love this fun process art technique. Great for winter projects, learning colours, exploring freezing and melting or for playing with outside in the summer.

Today we made our own take on the traditional ring toss game. Bubble enjoyed playing it and Squeak enjoyed pulling the rings on and off. This game worked great for Bubble and Squeak who were throwing close range, but if you wanted the rings to be thrown from a decent distance I think the paper plates were not dense/heavy enough. In this case I'd probably either layer and glue several plates together or wrap them in something like string or twine to weight them. WE USED: * paper plates * paint * scissors * long cardboard tube (from cling wrap, peper towel etc...) * sticky tape Cut the centre from some paper plates to use as your 'rings'. To make the stand I just cut slits in the bottom of the cardboard tube and flattened the ends, then taped it to the reverse side of a plate so it would stand up. “Come over to play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up”

Level 3 Kindermusik classes engage preschoolers’ natural love of music, learn to self-regulate, and activate imaginations while maximizing school readiness.

Here are 30 awesome ways that you can reuse and upcycle your baby wipe containers! Discover new DIY projects today.

Nature truly does give children the most wonderful toys. Each one is unique. Each one smells differently, feels differently; has a different texture, temperature and weight. Each one is a different…

Mother’s Day is coming up and I know that this is one day I lo forward too 😉 I doing crafts with my kids that I can keep by me, on my desk, wall, and even in my journal. It is also fun to make crafts for Grandma’s, Aunt’s, and Friends. Hand Mother’s […]

In honour of world book day here are 15 simple and fun book related activities to try. From arts, crafts, sensory and small world play to chemical reactions, spider web catchers, homemade scarecrow…

Sensory bags are a great way for little ones still in the mouthing stage to explore play materials. Today, I made a few Halloween s...

I sat down to make a sensory board for Buddy last night with an insect theme, and had so much fun making the spider that I decided to make a spiders web for Buddy to play with. After I made this I …

Watch the red man as he wobbles his way down the course. You'll want to see him do it again and again!Made of birch plywood and beechwood. The natural tower has green pegs and a red wobbler figurine.All varnishes are light-fast, water resistant and nontoxic. A recipient of the "Spiel Gut" good toy award.

O drobnih, nestrukturiranih, materialih (angleško "loose parts") še nisem pisala. Predvsem zaradi D-ja (njegove varnosti) sem jih do sedaj ...

O is for Opposites: Learning about wet and dry through sensory play.

Room Reveal!!! Yay! I'm actually doing one this year! Last year I didn't get to do one, so I'm kind of excited about showing you my room this year. (There are some freebies scattered throughout this post, so make sure you read, too!) So, this is my NEW room at my NEW school! The whole set up is completely different than my other school, so I really had to think about how to organize and set everything up the way that would work for me. And I'm sure I'll change it a few times by the end of the year. ha! If you've read the post I did a few posts ago, you saw how my room was when my husband brought the U-Haul and "dumped" everything in the middle of my room. Yeah. The custodians were even doubtful that I could get the room looking good. lol. And today they told a me a FEW times throughout the day how much they loved my room. Um. That's like the best compliment - EVER! These people are serious neat freaks and we get a long great. ha! Just in the few short weeks I've known them I can tell they are some of the best people you could meet. Anyway, let's get started. So here is my "entry" way. I've never had an room with an inside door so I'm super excited about having one right now. I can actually decorate it without worrying about the rain or sun or wind. And when you walk in, this is the immediate view. My whole back wall is windows, and I. LOVE. IT. I love the natural light - I don't have to even turn on the lights during the day! I have to warn you, the pictures do not do it justice. The natural lighting, lights turned off, Enya music playing on the speakers. I almost don't want to go home to my chaotic house loving family! lol You'll see that each team has a rolly cart. The middle drawer only has their math bucket in it right now. But I don't allow them to have their pencil boxes IN their desk; they keep them in the top drawer, so the team leader is in charge of them. On top of the rolly cart is their team bucket. In the bucket, there is another book bin. Here, they'll keep their books (that they borrow from my library), their offices, team folders and the alphabet chart resource. They will also keep their pencils, glue bottle (team bottle), and their behavior card. I'll do a post on "Teams" later and get more into it then. Here is my back wall. I've never had a BIG bulletin board, so I'm excited for this one too. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but for right now, I'm loving my DJInkers bulletin board! (Right, Teeny!?) And then under the board I have the supplies station. I have 2 drawers extra that I'm not sure I what I want in there, so we will see. Then over to the left of that we have the listening station on the small rug and some books displayed. This will be my "Author Study" section. When I do author themes (like Kevin Henkes, Pete the Cat or Frog and Toad) then I will put the books over there. I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing with that bulletin board, but I had to cover the wall. There were disgusting tinted velcro dots stuck all over the wall, so I had to cover them. I will probably be putting up some anchor charts of our skills of the week up there. Same thing with this make-shift bulletin board. I had to cover the ugly velcro dots, so I will probably be using this as our writing anchor chart wall. Right now, there are monthly word cards (from Miss Kindergarten) and file folders (from Kindergarten Smiles) there for the kids to use as writing resources. Underneath this long counter are cubbies. My teammates like to use these for backpacks, but I have so much stuff, that I needed them for storage...for myself! They were a perfect fit for all of my 3-drawer storage bins. ...and all of my shoebox bins filled with "stuff." ....and my holiday book bins. These book bins didn't fit with the rest of the books, so they are off to the side. That's ok. It works. They are actually two rows deep. So, where you see the two August bins? There are two more bins behind them. Yeah. Those are just my holiday books. lol To the left of the counter is the center bins and the "I'm Finished" drawers. The reading buddies are next to the shelf. They will get to use these during our silent reading time at the end of the day. Here is my favorite spot in the room. My area. My chair, rolly cart, calendar, pretty much everything I need. I love my calendar. It's one of my favorite areas. and HERE is my NEWEST favorite thing in my room..... my book bins! This was a labor of love....and I just LOVE how it turned out! They bins come from Steps to Literacy. These are just my fiction books. I have a slight addiction to buying books, you could say. lol Here are my non-fiction books. You can also see my filing cabinet that I will be keeping student tests in and then all of my papers that I need that have been copied off for the year or my "I'll keep this for later" file. And above my desk on top of the cabinets are my monthly bins...for all my activities and centers and such. That book shelf in the right corner...the staggered one? That's my monthly book display....where I'll put that month's or week's theme there. Right now there are some empty space in the shelf because I had their first day packets there for the parents to grab today during our Meet & Greet. Behind my desk are my bins for the week. Right now you can see my Time Capsule activity ready for Monday and in today's bin is the Parent Survey that I handed out (those are the extras). These two things are freebies, grab them HERE. And here is my room from the left side when you walk in. My focus board for this year. I HAD Rowdy in Room 300's Close Reading Board up, but then our admin said that they wanted it a certain way, so I had to change it up a bit. But you should check her board out. I Love it! So here I will type up the focus question for each week/2 weeks of study and put the vocab cards in pocket charts. The spelling and sight words I think I'm going to actually move those over next to my calendar bulletin board so that we can do more with them during our morning meeting. Here is my "In the News" board. I have the schedule posted, our classroom jobs, the calendar I send home (I always staple one up for myself and then I can write on it for appts and such), and the standards will go in the pocket chart that will match up with our focus questions. Here's my bookshelf behind my guided reading table. It's got all kinds of goodies! Most of the things you see, I talked about in my "Guided Reading Tools" post HERE. On my cabinets above my guided reading table (to side) are the Reading Strategies Posters that go with the Beanie Babies you see on the top of the shelf. I don't know whose these are (no name on them..and I've had them for a few years!), but I know my friend over at Teaching with Style just posted some in her store for free that you can snag! And then under the cabinets are my student computers. And that brings us full circle around the room to leave. (sorry about that bad lighting! eek!) I must say, it's probably one of my most favorite rooms I've "made." It's simple, calming, organized. I love it. Hope you found something you liked in it and can take back to your room! I have a few other posts I'm going to do that stem off this post, like a "cameo" post and a "teams" post. Any other "side posts" you would like!? You can get all these labels in my Get Organized pack on TpT!

Babies each develop at their own speed and in their own way. However​, parents of preemies will need to adjust their baby's age to get a true sense of where their baby should be in his development. Find more information here.

This template enables educators to write a detailed account of the child's experiences. The Learning Story Scroll Template is used for educators to us...

What is a play 'schema' and why is it useful for new parents to understand these? Simple play ideas to support baby and toddler development. #babydevelopment #playschema #play #earlychildhood #toddlerdevelopment #birthtothree #babyplayideas #toddlerdevelopmentactivities #learnwithless

Create a simple tugging lid for baby to play with. Using a Tupperware lid and ribbon, baby has something to safely pull and chew at while playing.

Sensory bags are so neat, and it seems like everybody's doing them these days, but in the kids activities world, when everyone is doing it, it's usually because it's super cool! I found this list of 40 Fun Sensory Bags from Mama OT and loved so many of the sensory bag ideas on there, as well as the site in general! I decided to try the baby oil sensory bag first. REALLY NEAT results! (please do also read the caution at the bottom of this post) The How To's Just take a ziplock bag and fill it with a bunch of baby oil. Then, add some drops of food coloring. Lastly, add a bit of water. If you want the "lava lamp" looking results like we got, don't put the water in first. Make sure you add the baby oil first, and that you don't add too much water. You can also add small objects as we did. I put a few floral glass gems and a bit of glitter as well. Then, get as much of the air out of the bag as you can and close it. This will help prevent it from popping and also makes it more fun to play with. Use duct tape on the "ziplock" to help prevent leaks. The baby oil bags are cool because the baby oil causes pools of color which can be "broken up" with touch, but will form together again when they pools touch. After a whole lot of shaking and exploring I had a few dollar store Valentine's Day trinkets so I threw those in another bag with some red food coloring added to the baby oil. Simple, cheap, and fun sensory play! Caution Although sealed, the bags can still leak or break! Baby oil (or any oil) can be harmful if ingested or aspirated. Always use proper vigilance and precaution when younger children are exploring with this sensory material, and use your parental discretion when deciding if this or any activity is right for your child based on their age and developmental abilites. If you liked Baby Oil Sensory Bags, check out what else you can make and do with baby oil! (Click the title link) Cloud Dough Beautiful Science More Ways to Follow the Fun!

Mirrors add a magical element to play setups. Here are some ideas for how to use them for play + creating ...Magical mirror play outside with gemstones, flowers & leaves.Mirrors are a fun material to use for play, art and learning! There are many possibilities for the ways they can be used. They also add a sense of awe and wonder to play through experimentation with the reflections created. Keep reading to find out some the ways we have been exploring using mirrors at home.There are 3 types of m

Make that rock collection your kids have into a fun sensory experience this summer! Create ice rocks in this simple toddler and preschooler sensory activity.

I buy more stamp sets that are Christmas-themed than any outher group. The category that comes next is Baby cards. They are just so cute, kind of like baby clothes! Irresistable to look at. The Something for Baby set coming...