Learning about the world

I love to explore with my little one.
It is important to help babies make sense of the world around them and to raise curiosity about things and people around them.
They also love to learn about themselves, which is why they love mirrors.

 Water play doesn't just keep it cool in summer, it also allows a lot of expression for toddlers. It's so much fun splashing it water and it brings out so much emotional development.

 and show the marks their wet footprints make on the floor...                       

 

Learning about the world also involves showing them things in nature,

 introducing them to sounds,

The list is endless :D

We do it everyday of course! The key is not rushing through it but taking a moment to allow your LO take in new things and you point out the names and sounds of things he's interested in

simple science with carrots

I saw so many pictures about growing carrots on pinterest and decided to try it for myself.
The cool thing about a little lesson with carrots is the variety of activities you can plan with them... and that's what I'm writing about.
Top of the list is healthy eating - talk about how fruit and vegetables help us grow strong
You may choose to teach a lesson about colours and shapes as you help the children cut circles from the carrots and of course, there's counting the circles.
We also made prints with the carrot circles with orange paper on a white background.
And when we were done, we 'planted' the carrot heads in a small bowl, put some soil and water every day until we saw little leaves sprout!
The great thing about it is that it takes up very little space...and time!

The jungle...of course!

We all love a bit of 'down in the jungle' every academic year!
Sometimes our classroom space may not allow an elaborate jungle set up, but you can always make the most of what you have.

 In this case, I hung vines down a string. I wrapped brown paper and stuck leaves on. WE added flash cards and sensory pouches at the bottom.
Then I stuck paper leaves and a tree on the wall for a little more 'volume.'
In the scenario below,I had a lot more space to play with so i hung down crepe paper with different patterns for vines. I painted trees and stuck on the window (there's also some yellow and green cellophane sheets for a dim effect), covered the column with brown paper and pinned flowers on.
I hung up a cute soft monkey :D
... and yes, there's the giant foot!

Keeping the little one busy indoors

When you just can't go outside with your little one, you can keep him quite entertained with a little distraction...and some mess (of course)

Ball pits are always a hit (at least for 5 minutes). I just pour a bag of balls into my little ones play pen

 

 rubber light balls when it's dark... i actually like those :)

 And of course, messy paint!

 If you're little one is toddling about. Get a nice walker ;* and let him reach up for things on the fridge. Be sure to put up large plastic fridge magnets.

Make a giant foot in 5 minutes!

What do you do when you have to whip up an enormous foot and there's no time to buy a mesh?
You use all your left over paper :D
... and some tape of course!
So, I started with two hard A3 sheets. I rolled them up into cylinders and just stacked them full of paper.

 Stick the two together with some tape

Next part is a bit tricky, squeeze in and fold the cylinder for the foot and hold it with some brown paint

Paint it, and voila!

Expanding little hand prints

There is so much you can do with handprints, and they are so colourful to have around the classroom. You can also extend your handprint art activity and create so many things from those delightful hands!
Here are some ideas:

 A monkey and bananas, A chicken eating grain, a dinosaur

 This was soo much fun to do!

we love the very hungry caterpillar

This time around, we are reading one from Eric Carle!
Here are a few photos of the display board.  Hope it's helpful!

Would love to see your ideas!

what to do with minibeasts!

I joined my new setting as a trainee in the middle of the school year!
It was quite an experience for me being rushed through all the paperwork ( lots of templates for planning, observations, reporting, assessments) and having to settle into a group of little ones who had never met me...ever!
We had a lovely theme that term: minibeasts.
The age group that  I lead is under 2 years... or just turning 2.
Then it struck me! We love 'incy wincy spider'; why not weave a lesson plan entirely around that nursery rhyme? It worked and we had 12 weeks of learning about the spider and his friends.
Here's a  photo of my planning board with the basic outiline. Later we filled it up with pictures of what we'd done and lots of craft.

We had key questions talking about where incy wincy spider lives, who his friends are, what he eats, what happens when it rains and when the sun comes out. I didn't realize that such a small rhyme could go a long long way!
To all you other teachers working on minibeasts, have fun planning!