Day 5

Starter - Chocolate sensory play.

It’s chocolate day! We have provided a guide to sensory activities that can be done with chocolate. They all provide a fantastic sensory learning experience for you and your child and they smell great as well! Although these are sensory activities we know that some of our children cannot resist a taste so for those of you that have dietary concerns the recipes can be adapted with other powders such as milk shake powders. You may even wish to use spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg or leave them out altogether. We would love to see photos of your sensory play times. 

 

Activity 1 – My Independence: Life skills

Hello! Today we will be making a bird feeder. Can you see any birds when you look outside your window? Maybe your feeder will bring more birds for you to see. We would love to know if they do!

Activity 1.            Make your milk bottle bird feeder.

For your bird feeder you will need:

Milk bottle

Scissors

Bird seed

Materials to decorate your feeder (e.g. Paint, sharpies, paper etc.)

Sticks (optional)

Wire or string to hang.

 

Activity 2.            Think about where to hang your bird feeder. What things do you have to consider when you are deciding where to hang your feeder?

 

Activity 3.            Once you have made your feeders hang them in a place that isn’t too covered and hopefully birds will soon visit. See if you can identify them using the bird spotter sheet provided or go to www.rspb.org.uk for more bird spotting ideas and information!

Activity 2 – My Thinking and problem solving – Shape

Today we are looking at shape!

 

First, listen to this song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6eTDfkvPmo 

 

For today’s activity, we are going to build our own shape house. In your pack, you will find a picture of a house. Get your child to cut round the pieces to match to the house picture. This will help them develop their fine motor. Once they have matched all of the shapes look at their house, can they label the picture?

Talk to your child about the house. Is it the same or different to theirs? Can they count the windows their house has? What shapes can they see on their house?

Can they make a picture that looks like their house to send to send to their teacher?

Activity 3 - My Creativity and play–Messy play/fine-motor skills.

In Messy play sessions, we will give you a few options, in case you do not have certain materials at home.  Pick an activity and enjoy!

 

Option 1- Make salt dough. Then dough gym.

Suggested materials needed;

See salt dough recipes in your pack.  You could also use home-made pizza or bread dough too. Ready bought playdough would also work.

Playdough cutters,

Rolling pin.

Activity-Gather your ingredients and explore each one at a time.  How do they feel, smell and taste (where appropriate)? When ingredients are added together, explore how the materials change.  Describe how they feel, (soft, sticky, dry etc) and have fun exploring and getting messy.  If you feel more comfortable getting messy outside, then take the activity into the garden, balcony or a green space if you can.  Show your child how important it is to get messy and how much fun it can be. Follow the saltdough recipe sheet when you help to make the dough.  Use symbols to describe how the dough feels at each stage. 

Extension-Create their name out of the finished dough. 

 

Option 2-Water play.

Suggested materials needed;

Water,

Washing up bowl or water tray,

Washing up liquid or bubble bath,

Water play toys or cups/deep plastic lids etc for pouring,

Food colouring (optional),

Sponge (optional).

Mouldable bath soap (optional).

Activity-Explore water and have fun filling and emptying containers.  Talk about how the water feels, (i.e. wet, cold, warm).  Have fun playing with water and add a sponge if you have any, so they can squeeze the water out and notice what happens.  Mix a magic potion. What is your potion for? Use a measuring jug to measure water.  How much food colouring/ bubble bath do you add?  What happens when you add more? What other ingredients can you add? Take some pictures of your activity, we would love to see them.

Extension-Write instructions for your magic potion.

(Note-Start saving any empty food boxes or containers, cardboard tubes, yoghurt pots etc-for next Monday’s Art session).