Each morning the little ones have a one hour themed session. In science they made their own yellow ball from Borax and glue; in art they made some sand pictures; in their explorers class they discovered the joys of a beachy sensory box; during their time as inventors they made a beach in a bottle and finally during their naturalist slot they examined the beach finds with a magnifying glass. All in all a very productive week.
Young Scientists at Play
This week we decided to move on to doing some experiments with Borax. Although safe for little ones to handle it is not edible so keep away from their little mouths! As we were studying Yellow Ball we thought it might be nice to try to make our own home-made one from Borax and glue.
- I gathered up our young scientists:
- They began to mix:
- A teaspoon of the resulting solution was added to the glue mixture:
- Once it had bonded it was removed from the beaker and kneaded:
- The girls then showed off their balls before spending a long time playing with them:
Young Artists at Play
I thought for young artists hour I would cut out some card into ocean themed shapes, pop the sand into bowls on the table with some glue and brushes and let the girls have a bit of fun with some coloured sand art:
And after shaking excess off:
Young Inventors at Play
During our inventors hour we made a beach in bottle. The idea came from the Thai blog .
They are still playing with these a few days later! The older ones love them as well. The sea, sky and sand stay completely separate from each other, not mixing at all. The viscosity of the oil on movement looks very much like waves in the bottle. Very clever – except the shells in the oil sky. Not so clever.
Both girls ended up playing with this for well over an hour and afterwards I left them outside and all five children played with them on and off throughout the week. Such cheap, healthy fun!
Young Naturalists at Play
A really good week, which tied in well with our Yellow Ball, beach themed week!
Hi supermom!I am absolutely hooked on your blog! Took my girls this morning to the beach and we collected items to make a “beach in a bottle” nothing fancy like yours, but they enjoyed the experience. Thank you so much for your ideas and for sharing them! As I said You are a Supermom! Blessings!
Oh, Zee, I’m giggling here at your super mum reference!! My children would fall about on the floor with laughter. I might do lots of activities with the children but I’m that kind of artsy person who MUST CREATE! However, the MUST tidy up part, and PUT AWAY part somehow eludes me!!
Gary never quite knows what he is coming home to, and is more impressed than he should be when I manage to produce lovely home cooked food. Unfortunately we rarely can eat that food at the table because there are inevitably 4 or more projects in various stages of completion on said table! No, super anything I am not! But I really am tickled pink you enjoy my blog- thank you so much!!
What wonderful learning, play and discovery. What fun to be a young child in your house.
Thanks Phyllis!
I’ve never successfully made the rubber ball experiment. Ours just ended up a very sticky mess that we ended up giving up on.
Ours was sticky at the start, but the more you knead it the harder it gets. C10 kneaded hers for so long it really was very bouncy!
…. I want to come play at your house… I have my own labcoat? Seriously! Well done! I love the idea of the plastic box with sea goodies in! Talk about sensory stimulation! You are a wonderful teacher and I love the photos that allow us to share in your girls’ joy and wonder! B2 with the seaweed was beautiful!
I think B2 (having expressed herself with tears for the past two years) is so expressive and it is a complete joy to see her involved, full of wonder and HAPPY!! Her little face shows so clearly what she is feeling, it is very special for me.
Thanks for popping by. When does your husband return from his contract work? It must be hard to be away from him for so long? I do hope he’s home soon!
If any one had come in our back door 5 minutes ago they’d have been sending for the guys in the white coats. I laughed till I cried at B’s face as she looked into the beach box. That is priceless! I see she deciced it was safe anyhow and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. xxxxxxx
It took her a while….and then I couldn’t drag her away. She has to be my most expressive child yet. Her little facial expressions say it all!
Hiding the shells in a bucket was a great idea. What a great way to get them to focus on the shells.
B2 wasn’t at all sure at the start!