Puzzle MakingMaking your own puzzles encourages children to think about something, whether it is an object, person, memory, etc. that they have an interest in and like and be able to recreate that in a creative way. The activity helps to test your child’s imagination by getting them to think about and plan their puzzle drawing. Your child can develop their fine and gross motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination when cutting; develop on their trip-pod grasp when coloring and fine motor skills when joining the puzzle together. Your child’s communication skills can be supported as they explain what they have chosen to make and why that event or experience is special to them. Your child’s shape recognition skills can also be supported when cutting their puzzle piece shapes, for example if they cut them into squares, triangles or the traditional puzzle shapes. To encourage children’s creativity and give them opportunities to explore new materials you could offer chalk, crayons, pastels, paints or pens to create their puzzle drawing. All that is needed is some card (or paper), pens/pencils or your choosing of medium and some scissors.
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Treasure HuntA treasure hunt is another activity that can be carried out with your children to support their creative and imaginative play. This can be done either inside or outside in the garden… depending on the weather! It is an easy activity to carry out as it needs no setting up; is not a messy activity and all you need is a pen and a treasure hunt sheet. You can either create your own treasure hunt sheet or use one designed by us which can be accessed by clicking on the images to the right. The treasure hunt sheets supports children’s reading skills through reading the names of the different things they are looking for - there are also pictures to accompany the words for children whose reading abilities may be lower. A child's science knowledge is also being developed from exploring different habitats and materials that are both natural and man-made and found in different environments. Treasure hunts link to supporting children’s numeracy skills as they are able to count how many different items they can find from the list, for example 10 windows and 6 doors, or 2 pigeons and 7 feathers. This can be done in pairs, as a family or possibly as a competition which will help build team working skills, resilience and competitiveness. You can add a challenge for your child by removing the pictures, meaning they will have to read the word to identify what it is they need to look for. Another way to adapt this activity to suit your child’s specific interests could be by creating themed treasure hunts such as different birds or types of flowers. This will reflect what is in your garden while supporting their specific knowledge of the world around them that they will be experiencing. Treasure hunts can be a good way of spending time outside with your child while doing something enjoyable, full of conversation about the natural world and what is around them. It also provides children with an opportunity to join in with role play, for example being an explorer or zoologist.
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Easter Rice-Krispies NestsEaster baking is a great activity to do with children, whilst they are having fun and being creative, they can also learn about different religions and world events related to Easter. This can encourage their creative thinking from planning ways to decorate and design their sweet treats. Your child can become a master chef and make some delicious Rice Krispies nests to share. Children’s scientific knowledge is supported as they are learning about cause and effect and what happens when something is heated up or cooled down. For example, how do they heat up the chocolate and what happens to it when it is heated up as well as when it is then allowed to cool again in a different shape. Baking is a good opportunity to develop team working skills, communication skills and have a bit of fun whilst potentially getting messy. To make these sweet treats, you will need Rice Krispies, chocolate, cup-cake cases, bowl, wooden spoon, Easter chicks and mini eggs (the ingredients and recipe can be found by looking up recipes online but also by clicking on the image to the right, you can open a printable PDF of a simple recipe to make these treats). The adult's role throughout this activity is to provide the ingredients that the children need as well as providing support throughout the activity. This recipe requires melting chocolate either in a microwave or over boiling water on a stove which means that there is a risk that the child could burn themselves. This needs careful adult supervision to make sure that the child is being safe when doing this and having help from the adult.
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Sock-Puppet MakingAnother activity that you can carry out with your children that requires a lot of creativity and imagination is through making puppets and a stand to act out scenarios with the puppets in. For the puppet making you will need; socks or another material or fabric, buttons, thread and needle, googly eyes, small scraps of material, scissors and a pen. To make the stand/TV for the puppet shows to take place in, you will need a cardboard box, blanket, scissors or pen knife, pen, some form of strong tape (such as duct tape). There are tutorials online on how to make these puppet theater depending on how you want it to look, you can also click on the image to the right to access a simple version that we have created on how to make these puppets. Puppet making is a fun, creative and imaginative activity as children can create something from their imagination, using their likes, interests and materials provided to create a sock puppet that is from their imagination and special to them. They can then use their imagination to be able to create whole stories and scenarios out of puppets to act out. Puppet making supports children’s physical development, especially their hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills to be able to create their puppets and decorate them. They also can use their gross motor skills when putting their hand inside the puppets to make them move and talk. Another benefit is that your child's language and speaking skills are also being developed as they can create puppet shows and their own scripts of what the puppets will be doing and saying. The adults role throughout this activity is to ensure that the children are being safe with the materials and are also there to provide support for the children when using equipment such as scissors, the needles and possibly glue (if a knife is required to be able to cut the TV shape from the cardboard, this is for the adults to do and not the children).
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