Mrs Pynigar’s Class
Working from Home
Monday 13th July - Wednesday 22nd July
Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Working Together
What do you like to do together with your family? Try some activities together that home that incorporate sharing, turn-taking and waiting. Take the opportunity to get outside together and explore some turn taking games – these can all be achieved either with one adult and one child, or all of the family playing and working together. Here are just a few examples:
- Ball Games – engage your child in play where they need to take turns and share – throwing and catching; kicking a ball to each other and back again.
- Skittles – make a big set of skittles together (empty squash or fizzy drink bottles work well, filled with water). Decorate them or put numbers on them together, and take turns at knocking them down and putting them back up again, and sharing the ball.
- Visit the park – take turns at using the equipment, waiting for your turn to use the slide or the swings.
- Take a picnic into the garden or to the park – encourage your child to share the food, for example help them to pass a sandwich to each member of the family then taking their own.
Communication and Language –
Listening and Attention – Freeze Dance! This is a great ‘Stop-Go’ game that everyone in the family can play together, and helps to focus your child’s attention and listening skills. Follow the link below for the ‘Freeze Dance’ video by The Kiboomers. Alternatively, use your own music, giving the commands to stop and go when the music stops and starts again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UcZWXvgMZE
Nursery Rhymes are a great way to encourage both listening and speaking. Here are some examples you could use at home:
Wind the Bobbin Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwdxJnAA6CI
Teddy Bear Teddy Bear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76wc4xdgzGk
It’s Raining, It’s Pouring https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-its-raining-its-pouring/z6hq92p
We also use ‘Singing Hands’ in school to learn new Makaton Signs. Here are some new ‘Singing Hands’ songs to share:
Little Peter Rabbit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iIRpmxkmGE
I am The Music Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdJ51ajsfCc
We’re Going to the Zoo
If your child uses a PECS book at home, remember to continue to encourage them to use it!
Understanding – Play some games that encourage your child to listen to and respond to instructions with some fun games:
- ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ games – Play games such as racing small world cars, running races, rolling a ball, blowing bubbles – encourage your child to wait until you have said ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ to start the activity and repeat – lots of times!
- Day to day routines – encourage your child to listen and respond to simple instructions, for example, if they are going outside, encourage them to find their own coat; at the end of the day, encourage them to help tidy up by asking them to put specific items away – “Car in box”.
Physical Development – Target Practice
Let’s practice our hand-eye co-ordination skills with these activities:
- Splash Buckets – Fill a bucket or tub with water. Encourage your child to throw a ball or small object into the bucket to make a splash. Encourage an under arm throw, to increase accuracy. Show then how to place the ball on the palm of their hand to throw, rather than from above their heads.
- Monster Tunnel – use a big cardboard box to create a monster face. Cut out the monster mouth at the bottom of the face, so that your child can either roll a ball with their hand, or kick a ball into the target.
Literacy
Writing - Experiment with lots of ways of making marks, indoors and out:
- Water painting – outside, fill a bucket with water and use big paintbrushes, sponges and shower scrunchies to ‘paint’ the walls and fences. Indoors, use paintbrushes or cotton buds dipped in water and paint onto black paper.
- Finger painting – dip fingers in paint to make controlled dots and lines
Reading – Continue sharing favourite stories, either online or in books. Encourage your child to look at pictures, name items on the page for them to point to, and encourage them to look at favourite books independently. When reading stories to your child, try adding sound effects to help them to link words to sounds and pictures, and give meaning to the words. The article below gives some useful ideas for sharing stories and adding sound effects –
https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/sound-effects-story/z6377nb
Here are some links to some new stories to share online, that you can add sound effects to -
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell (Singing Hands signed version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoHn8rLj9pc
Dinosaur Roar! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Ozl9a55pM
The Big Red Bath https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnrIu0d4sX8
Maths – Measure – comparing size (big/small; long/short; tall/short) -
- Gather together a selection of objects from home, making sure you have two of each item – for example shoes, socks, teddy bears, cups, balls, toy cars. Can your child match the objects together, matching a big car to a small car, etc. Introduce naming each object with the language of size used too – for example ‘big teddy’ and ‘small teddy’.
- Use an old roll of wallpaper, or backing paper and draw around each member of the family. Who is tall? Can your child see the difference between themselves and an adult? If they don’t want to be drawn around, draw around your hands instead.
- Bake biscuits together – use different cutters, or form them with your hands – talk about big and small when they are baked and you are choosing one to eat.
- Towers – use bricks and building blocks to build towers – who can make the tallest tower?
We love to sing number rhymes in school – here are some more to sing at home:
Here is the Beehive https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-here-is-the-beehive-where-are-the-bees/zntdrj6
Ten Green Bottles https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-ten-green-bottles/zncyt39
Hickory Dickory Dock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbaiPgzKah0
Understanding the World (Science, Geography, History, Technology) – The World:
This week (week beginning 13th July) is ‘Love Parks Week’. This week, our video challenges are based on bears and making a Teddy Bears’ Picnic. If you can, get out and about to a park in your local area, either a favourite place for you to go as a family, or somewhere new. As well as a picnic, try some of these ideas:
Scavenger Hunt – Can you find any natural resources in the park? Collect leaves, sticks, flowers, stones, fir cones, feathers. Use them to sort into groups, to count, or to make pictures and patterns.
Printing – Collect flowers and leaves to take home (just as many as you need). Dip the leaves and flower heads in paint and print with them in your child’s favourite colours.
Picnic Food – Involve your child in creating your picnic – choosing fillings and making sandwiches, baking cakes or biscuits, chopping fruit for a fruit salad.
Stage your own Olympics – The Olympic Games were due to start later this month, but have been postponed until July 2021. Why not make your own Olympics at the park? Have running races together, throwing and catching games, ball games such as football.
Expressive Arts and Design – Being Imaginative
Hand painting – Last week, we made bee hand prints as one of our video challenges. Can you create any other creatures, pictures or patterns using paint?
Small World Sensory Play – Take your child’s favourite small world play models (these may be dinosaurs, small people, farm animals, fairies, vehicles), and use a shallow tray or box to create a small world for them, and build stories as you play. Add sensory materials such as soil, cereals, dried peas and beans, dried pasta, leaves, sticks and stones to create your small worlds. Follow the link below for some great small world ideas:
https://www.teachearlyyears.com/learning-and-development/view/small-world-play
Music Man – Find your child’s favourite songs to play, and provide them with musical instruments, or any objects that make noises that they can play with safely, and make a band. Encourage your child to be creative with the sounds they make, to dance to the music, and to join in with the singing.
FINGER GYM ACTIVITIES
Finger gym involves using short activities to build the strength in our fingers. We do these activities every day in school. They are important to help children build the strength to develop their self-help skills, such as dressing themselves, and their pre-writing skills. Try some of the activities below – most of the resources can be found at home, or be easily substituted by something similar at home. Have fun!
Gross motor movements – Upper body strength, from the shoulders to the finger tips, is really important for developing fine motor skills. Follow the links below for some great, fun songs to move your whole body to:
Boogie Beebies – Pirate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q0diKmWtUE
Boogie Beebies – Hey Monkey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeqFYxfDtio
Pincer movements – Make a collage together. Use items such as small pices of torn paper, material or card, pasta shapes, pompoms – anything that will stick to paper or card. Show your child how to put glue on the paper (pritt sick or similar is easiest), encouraging them to be independent, then to use their thumb and finger to select each object to stick to the page.
Dough Disco – In school we have a ‘Dough Disco’ session every day, using our hands and fingers to roll, pinch, pat and squeeze the dough. Use the link below for a new Doug Disco song:
Down In The Jungle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9D5lfqZF3o
SENSORY PLAY
Sensory Play helps children to engage all of their senses in a safe way to explore the world around them. It really helps their language development too, by adults commenting on what they are doing, or what something smell, feels, tastes, looks or sounds like. Sensory play is often messy, but lots of fun – have a try! Sensory play can be as big or small as you can manage – in a bowl, on a plate, or in a big sand pit tray.
Texture Balloons – Use ordinary party to balloons and fill with different textures, putting something different in each one. Which one does your child prefer to feel? Some ideas for fillings for your sensory balloons – flour, rice, play dough, cotton wool, something slimy, such as hair gel, dried chickpeas, peas or beans. Blow up the balloon first and hold in the air, then let the air out. This will expand the balloon first. Add the filling, and tie.
Sand Foam – A simple mixture to make – just sand mixed with shaving foam. This makes a really different texture to explore, both crunchy and soft.
Monday 29th June - Friday 10th July
Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Me and My Family
Who is in your family?
We would love to hear about you and your family. Try some of these ideas together with your family:
- Make your own family storybook of your child engaging in activities they like to do together – for example, playing football with their sister. Also, take photos of your child engaging in activities that they prefer to play with on their own. You could then make these into a poster together, sticking them to a big sheet of card, or a book, or put them into a bag to pull out individually. Share the photos with your child, pointing to the people and activities and naming them. Your child may like to keep these photos out to indicate to you what or who they would like to play with.
- Make ‘mini me s’ together – cut out a photo of each member of your family – including your child – perhaps also members of your family that you don’t see often. Stick onto a piece of cardboard or building block so that they stand up. When playing with small world activities, 6such as a farm or train set, add the characters into the play, naming them, and seeing if your child can name them too. You could even take them out on an adventure to the park, or the beach.
Communication and Language –
Listening and Attention - Continue to encourage your child to take part in a variety of listening activities, such as sharing stories, both online and in books, and playing with sounds. Here are some examples of listening games to play with your child:
Nursery Rhymes are a great way to encourage both listening and speaking. Here are some examples you could use at home:
Row Row Your Boat https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-row-row-row-your-boat/zjp7kmn
Incy Wincy Spider https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAJynCIsNUg
Humpty Dumpty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrv495corBc
We also use ‘Singing Hands’ in school to learn new Makaton Signs. Here are some new ‘Singing Hands’ songs to share:
Baa Baa Black Sheep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VGsBK94I2U
Old MacDonald https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJvEwjK0lSQ
Three Little Monkeys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZBZ8J1R_yU
If your child uses a PECS book at home, remember to continue to encourage them to use it!
Understanding – Play some games that encourage your child to listen to and respond to instructions with some fun games:
- Dance Freeze (Musical Statues) Put on some of your child’s music to dance to. Use voice commands or visual cues for your child to stop dancing when the music stops, and start dancing when the music starts again.
- ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ games – Play games such as racing small world cars, running races, rolling a ball, blowing bubbles – encourage your child to wait until you have said ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ to start the activity and repeat – lots of times!
Physical Development – Let’s Move!
Let’s get our bodies moving with some of these activities:
- Balloon Keepy Upy – Blow up your balloon, and see how many times you can tap it into the air without it touching the ground – put some music on and dance to make it more difficult! We enjoyed this activity in school for our Sports Relief ‘Game On’ Challenge. If you have a garden, or can go to the park, try this with a ball too.
- Move your whole body – create an obstacle course where your child needs to change level when they are moving. If you have an outside space, use trampolines, slides, blankets and chalk lines to encourage your child to climb, balance and crawl. If you have no outside area, use blankets or large cardboard boxes as tunnels to crawl through.
Literacy
Writing - Experiment with lots of ways of making marks, indoors and out:
- Mark making with your feet – put sheets of paper/cardboard from old cardboard boxes on the floor and use your feet to make footprints. If you have an outside area, tape the card or paper to a wall or fence, or under a table, so that your child can use their feet to print whilst laying down – lots of fun!
- Writing implements – we have explored lots of different ways to make marks. Does your child ever use mark making tools such as felt pens, pencils, charcoal, chalk, pastels, crayons. Give them a big piece of paper and a variety of mark making implements. Which hand do they use? What do they prefer to make marks with? Are they exploring mark making, or can they create shapes such as circles, letter shapes, vertical and horizontal lines? It would be great to see an example of your child’s mark making – please add pictures and videos to the parent portal, or email me so that I can add them to their learning journey.
Reading – Continue sharing favourite stories, either online or in books. Encourage them to look at pictures, name items on the page for them to point to, and encourage them to look at favourite books independently. Last week, we looked at minibeasts in some of our home learning video challenges. Here are some stories that are available online and in book form that your child may enjoy alongside this theme –
Billy’s Beetle by Mick Inkpen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDNGLYYj2Sg
The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdiGEjz5b0Q
Superworm by Julia Donaldson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAu_LsBrQTY
Maths – Money – As an introduction to using money, it’s good to start with the concept of exchanging a token for an item. A good way to begin this is by singing and acting out together the song ‘Five Currant Buns’ –
Five Currant Buns https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-five-currant-buns/zm4nmfr
- Initially, it would be best to use a token rather than an actual penny but you could move on to exploring coins if you feel it is safe for your child to do so.
- Act out the song, either with a currant bun, biscuit, favourite snack or toy.
- Make a simple role play shop, for example with three items – favourite snacks or toys – and model exchanging a coin for an item. Take turns at being the customer and shopkeeper. Visit a shop together, talking about the things you are doing and can see (I would recommend a short visit for one or two items!).
- Make currant buns/cakes for your shop together – you could bake your own, ice and decorate pre-bought cakes or muffins, or make some together from play dough.
We love to sing number rhymes in school – here are some more to sing at home:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I Caught a Fish Alive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ir_l7qTiZ4
The Animals Went In Two By Two https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-the-animals-went-in-two-by-two/zr88bdm
Mr Tumble Nursery Rhymes – Counting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa8ExjxRMB8
Understanding the World (Science, Geography, History, Technology) – The World:
Last Week was ‘National Insect Week’, and we explored some minibeast activities as part of our home learning video challenges. Here are some more activities that you could do together:
Minibeast Hunt – Take a walk around your garden, or the park, and point out any minibeasts that you see. You could take a picture with you, for example of a butterfly or spider, and look just for those.
Minibeast Sensory Tray – Bring the outdoors inside – Collect some natural items from outside – soil or compost, stones, sticks, leaves and flowers such as dandelions or daisies. Put onto a tray or into a tub, and explore the contents with your child – can you find any minibeasts?
Food and Cooking ideas – Have some fun with some of the ideas below to make some insect themed food. There are lots of no cook recipes and ideas, ideal for engaging your child in preparing their lunch and trying new foods too!
Healthy snack ideas https://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/bug-theme-healthy-snacks-kids.html
Get creative and make your own bug biscuits or cakes – you can make or buy the biscuits or cakes, and decorate them together. Here are some ideas:
Expressive Arts and Design – Exploring Media and Materials
The week beginning 29th June is Children’s Art Week. Use some of the ideas below to get creative together:
Shaving foam paint – Make this multi-coloured paint by squirting some shaving foam into a tray, and pouring on some different coloured drops of food colouring. Mix a little with a spoon and you are ready to paint. Use different implements, such as paint brushes, spoons, fingers, sticks and bath lilies to paint with. This paint can be used on paper, or in a separate tray.
Natural Art – Collect leaves, sticks and flowers from outdoors, and use them to create pictures, patterns or arrangements. Keep them loose to use again, or use glue. Such as pritt stick, to stick them down to keep your picture.
Snap and Squeeze Dough – Follow the instructions below to make dough that snaps and squeezes/ Experiment with rolling it and cutting out shapes, or make your own 3D creations.
Take a look at the link below for further fun ideas for insect art:
https://theimaginationtree.com/50-activities-for-playing-and-learning/
FINGER GYM ACTIVITIES
Finger gym involves using short activities to build the strength in our fingers. We do these activities every day in school. They are important to help children build the strength to develop their self-help skills, such as dressing themselves, and their pre-writing skills. Try some of the activities below – most of the resources can be found at home, or be easily substituted by something similar at home. Have fun!
Gross motor movements – Upper body strength, from the shoulders to the finger tips, is really important for developing fine motor skills. Put some lively music on, and hold in each hand some ribbons, or a pillowcase, or something similar to wave (soft fabric is best). IT’s best if the adult and child have a set to wave each, so that the adult can model. As you dance, encourage your child to use both arms to wave their ribbons above their heads, to the side, down to the floor, and in big circular motions. Use a mixture of high and low, fast and slow movements.
Pincer movements – Rescue the animals – Use small world animals (or cars, dolls, balls, dinosaurs, building blocks – whatever your child loves to play with). Tape each one individually to a tray, or the floor, encouraging your child to use their finger and thumb to remove the tape and release the toys. Begin with one piece of tape lightly holding the object down, and progress to two or three pieces of tape pressed down firmly. Can your child use the strength in their fingers to tear and use the tape to fix too?
Dough Disco – In school we have a ‘Dough Disco’ session every day, using our hands and fingers to roll, pinch, pat and squeeze the dough. Use the link below for a new Dough Disco song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOLR3pQt8zg
SENSORY PLAY
Sensory Play helps children to engage all of their senses in a safe way to explore the world around them. It really helps their language development too, by adults commenting on what they are doing, or what something smell, feels, tastes, looks or sounds like. Sensory play is often messy, but lots of fun – have a try! Sensory play can be as big or small as you can manage – in a bowl, on a plate, or in a big sand pit tray.
Ice and Water – It’s a great time to explore some ice and water play in this warm weather, perfect for cooling down. You can use the ice on its own in a tray, or in a tray with water. You can make plain ice cubes in the freezer, or add food colouring to make coloured cubes before freezing. You could also freeze objects such as leaves or flowers in a tub of water, or small world animals or dinosaurs, whatever interests your child.
Crunchy textures – A lot of our sensory play has been water-based, so try some of these ideas in a tray, either as a mixture or separately, for your child to explore different textures – breakfast cereal (rice krispie and shredded wheat type textures are great), pasta, rice, noodles or dried leaves or herbs. Use these with just your fingers, or add small brushes, spoons and small world toys such as dinosaurs.
Monday 15th June - Friday 26th June
Personal, Social and Emotional Development – All About Me at Home
What activities have you enjoyed doing with your family at home?
We would love to hear about and see some of the things you have enjoyed doing. Try some of these ideas together with your family:
- Make a collection of things you like at home – you could use objects or photos to put in your own box of things you like. This could be things you like in general, or about specific things, for example, food, indoor activities, outdoor activities, places to visit.
- Make a story photo book of things you like to share with your family. You could photograph together the items, or you using/eating the items.
Watch together this episode of ‘Something Special’, all about things that make us happy:
Communication and Language –
Continue to encourage your child to take part in a variety of listening activities, such as sharing stories, both online and in books, and playing with sounds. Here are some examples of listening games to play with your child:
Nursery Rhymes are a great way to encourage both listening and speaking. Here are some examples you could use at home:
Five Little Speckled Frogs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y91f3KVK9Y
The Grand Old Duke of York https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-the-grand-old-duke-of-york/zrymd6f
This rhyme is great for listening and responding to ‘stop’ and ‘go’ commands, encouraging your child to listen to and respond to instructions.
You could also make your own drums. Here are some ideas for easy drum making:
http://kidscraftzone.com/post/Homemade-Drums.aspx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NHM5JtacKU
We also use ‘Singing Hands’ in school to learn new Makaton Signs. Here are some new ‘Singing Hands’ songs to share:
The Wheels on the Bus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0peZ5AN5vs8
Little Peter Rabbit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iIRpmxkmGE
Row Row Your Boat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2lMJsfoEMw
If your child uses a PECS book at home, remember to continue to encourage them to use it!
Physical Development – Let’s Move!
EVERYBODY loves dancing… put on some of your favourite music and dance together! You may like to use some of these links to engage your child and get them moving:
Baby Shark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7Fji3IgNfw
Milkshake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNL6RwymoNg
Poppin’ Bubbles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdBlXPWM8AI – Put this song on and blow bubbles for your child to pop as they dance!
Literacy – Mark making
Experiment with lots of ways of making marks, indoors and out:
*Pour different coloured paint into a tray – large or small, and put small world vehicles in to make marks in the paint. Put a piece of paper alongside and make paint tracks on it with the vehicles. Use clothes pegs to attach different things to – pompoms, pipe cleaners, leaves, different fabrics, feathers – and use as paintbrushes.
*Sand – pour damp sand into a tub or tray. Use sand moulds, sticks, and your fingers to make different marks in the sand.
Take a look at the links below for lots more mark making ideas:
Mark making ideas https://www.earlyyearscareers.com/eyc/enabling-environment/mark-making-activities-for-younger-children/
Rainbow mark making https://theimaginationtree.com/rainbow-sensory-writing-tray/
Maths – Capacity – filling and emptying. Explore filling and emptying different containers with water, rice, cereal, sand… Talk about ‘full’ and ‘empty’. If you can get outside, take a tray or bowl with lots of containers, and enjoy filling and emptying them.
Musical shakers – fantastic to play with, but even more fun to make together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2Gkf_HFrMM
We love to sing number rhymes in school – here are some new ones to sing at home:
Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-five-little-men-in-a-flying-saucer/z6qgscw
Ten Fat Sausages https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-ten-fat-sausages/z6vh7nb
Five Little Firemen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_I2ysM0w0g
Understanding the World (Science, Geography, History, Technology) – The World:
Let’s explore the world in and around our homes. Create a sensory basket with your child of things to explore. These should not be toys, but ordinary, household or outdoor objects, to help them to associate things that are alike and belong together. These could be based on your child’s interests, or something new to explore alongside learning a new skill, such as washing their hands with more independence. As you explore the basket together, use simple language to name the items your child engages with, use words to describe colour, size and texture. Model how these items can be used – but let your child explore first!
Here are some examples:
Bathroom sensory basket – toothbrush, shower puff, empty shower/bubble bath bottles, that still have the smell of the original product, hairbrush, comb, hand soap pump, sponge, flannel.
Boxes sensory basket – make a collection of different sized boxes. This could be food packaging, packaging from other items, or boxes for storage. Ensure there are different sizes and designs to explore, some with lids, some without. You could additionally provide a basket of items for your child to explore putting in the boxes.
Noisy sensory basket – add everyday items that make noises, such as a bunch of keys, tin foil, tissue paper, a pot containing rice or pasta, an egg/oven timer that beeps, masking tape on a roll.
Natural objects basket – sticks, stones, shells, leaves, flowers, fresh herbs to smell, fir cones.
Follow this link for some more ideas for learning about the world around us:
https://famly.co/blog/inspiration/eyfs-focus-9-activities-to-help-kids-in-understanding-the-world/
Expressive Arts and Design – Exploring Media and Materials
Let’s Explore……. Colour. Use some of these ideas below to explore colour:
Car rolling in paint – use your small world vehicles in a different way! Dip them in paint, and roll them down a slide or, if you have no outdoor space, make a small ramp indoors. This can also be done effectively on a large piece of paper stuck to the floor. This helps children to make links between their movements and the marks they make.
Squishy painting – Squirt some splodges of paint onto a piece of paper. Cover with cling film, and tape the cling film down. Encourage your child to use the tips of their fingers to squash the paint down and make different shapes.
Coloured sensory bottles – Use the link below to help make your own sensory bottles. Use objects such as pompoms, coloured matchsticks, beads, glitter and sequins. You could make rainbow sensory bottles using lots of colours, or bottles in a specific colour – perhaps your child’s favourite.
Sensory bottles - https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-a-161-new-3-ingredient-sensory-bottle
FINGER GYM ACTIVITIES
Finger gym involves using short activities to build the strength in our fingers. We do these activities every day in school. They are important to help children build the strength to develop their self-help skills, such as dressing themselves, and their pre-writing skills. Try some of the activities below – most of the resources can be found at home, or be easily substituted by something similar at home. Have fun!
Gross motor movements – Upper body strength, from the shoulders to the finger tips, is really important for developing fine motor skills. Encourage your child to get out and about and use their whole upper body in activities such as climbing, throwing a ball from above their head, and stretching up to help peg washing on the line.
Pincer movements – Make your own paintbrushes using pegs. Attach different things to the ends, such as tin foil, cotton wool, pipe cleaners and feathers. Encourage your child to help make the paintbrushes, and then use them, holding them with their finger and thumb.
Dough Disco – In school we have a ‘Dough Disco’ session every day, using our hands and fingers to roll, pinch, pat and squeeze the dough. Use shape cutters at home to make shapes in dough, encouraging your child to use a rolling pin to roll the dough, and to press on the cutters to make the shapes. You could do this using biscuit dough then bake youre biscuits as a variation!
SENSORY PLAY
Sensory Play helps children to engage all of their senses in a safe way to explore the world around them. It really helps their language development too, by adults commenting on what they are doing, or what something smell, feels, tastes, looks or sounds like. Sensory play is often messy, but lots of fun – have a try! Sensory play can be as big or small as you can manage – in a bowl, on a plate, or in a big sand pit tray.
Shaving foam – Shaving foam squirted into a tray or bowl makes a great sensory experience. You could add glitter or food colouring too. Encourage your child to use their hands, or big spoons and fish slices to splat the shaving foam, or use smaller items and fingers to scoop the foam and make marks.
Bubbles – Most children love playing with bubbles, and this can help their fine motor, gross motor and mouth movement skills. Use small tubs of bubbles to blow and pop individually, or create a bigger mixture using washing up liquid and water in a tray, using larger items such as y shaped sticks, or milk bottles with the bottoms removed to create your own bubble wands.
Monday 1st June - Friday 12th June
Personal, Social and Emotional Development – My Feelings
We know that everybody has been feeling a wide range of emotions at this time – but they are not always easy to identify and talk about. Many children also find it difficult to recognise emotions in other people’s and their own faces, and to name them. Try some of these activities to get talking about our emotions (the easiest to start with are ‘happy’ and ‘sad’, but, if your child has some understanding of these concepts, don’t be afraid to explore other emotions too):
Mirror Play – Practise making different faces in the mirror with your child (happy, sad, scared, angry, excited, surprised, tired) – remember to name the emotion as you make the face.
Emotions songs – Share some of these action songs to encourage using the language of emotion:
The Emotions Hokey Pokey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHS7vCdBeus
If You’re Happy and You Know It https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71hqRT9U0wg
Stories about emotions – these stories are great for talking about being scared:
The Gruffalo https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00pk64x/the-gruffalo
Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1aJimzuzbg
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gyI6ykDwds
Paper plate faces – draw faces together on a paper plate – happy on one side, sad on the other. Name the emotion as you look at each face.
Communication and Language – Encourage your child to name items as they play and look around them. Encourage them to continue signing and learning new Makaton signs – the following resources are useful
Something Special (Mr Tumble) episodes, where you and your child can learn to sign alongside Mr Tumble. Here are some episodes that feature animals:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09vf5ds/something-special-were-all-friends-series-11-23-vets
We also use ‘Singing Hands’ in school to learn new Makaton Signs. Here are some of our favourites to share:
Three Little Monkeys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZBZ8J1R_yU
Old MacDonald https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJvEwjK0lSQ
Listening Games – Games such as ‘Simon Says’ are good for listening skills. Follow the link below for a Simon Says game. To make it easier, just say the key word, such as ‘jump’ or ‘clap’, and see if your child responds appropriately – this is a great game to play as a family, as your child will also have role models to follow if they are unsure.
Musical Statues – This is great for listening skills – put some music on, dance together, and encourage your child to stop when the music stops. Again, fantastic to do as a family.
Moving and Handling – Let’s Dance!
EVERYBODY loves dancing… put on some of your favourite music and dance together! You may like to use some of these links to engage your child and get them moving:
Go Bananas! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfhzSNW0NmE
The Wiggles Monkey Dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdZ-sjwoChI&list=RDjdZ-sjwoChI&start_radio=1&t=0
The Wake Up Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gUbdNbu6ak
Literacy – Mark making
Experiment with lots of ways of making marks, indoors and out:
*Use fingers, brushes and sticks in both dry and wet sand to make different marks
*Fill empty washing up bottles with water to make marks outside on the wall or floor. Use chalk to create lines, shapes and letters for your child to follow and squeeze their water onto
Take a look at the link below for lots more mark making ideas:
Maths – Shapes. Have a look around your home for different shapes – can you make a collection of shapes that are all the same, for example, all things that are triangles. Make a collection of objects of two different shapes, for example squares and triangles. Make a square and a triangle on the floor with masking tape – can your child put the shapes in the correct places?
We love to sing number rhymes in school – here are some new ones to sing at home:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-ten-fat-sausages/z6vh7nb
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-one-tomato-two-tomatoes/zf2kbdm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-1-2-3-4-5-once-i-caught-a-fish-alive/zdy6jhv
Understanding the World (Science, Geography, History, Technology) – The World:
This week is ‘Garden Wildlife Week’, and Saturday 6th June is Butterfly Awareness Day. Let’s all get outside, in the garden or the park, and see what wildlife we can find. Can you find any butterflies? If you do, can your child use a camera, a phone or an ipad to take some photos?
Here are some links to some simple craft activities that you could use to design your own butterflies:
https://iheartcraftythings.com/butterfly-template.html
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/butterfly-crafts-for-kids-4129196
Expressive Arts and Design – Being Imaginative - Let’s Pretend
Let’s explore dressing up – if you don’t have dressing up clothes at home, use anything you have – sheets, hats, blankets. Encourage your child to look at themselves in the mirror at their different looks. Follow the link below to watch the ‘Something Special’ episode about hats.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03tcd7n/something-special-were-all-friends-series-9-13-hats
FINGER GYM ACTIVITIES
Finger gym involves using short activities to build the strength in our fingers. We do these activities every day in school. They are important to help children build the strength to develop their self-help skills, such as dressing themselves, and their pre-writing skills. Try some of the activities below – most of the resources can be found at home, or be easily substituted by something similar at home. Have fun!
Gross motor movements – It’s a great time to get outside and move! Encourage your child to move their whole bodies in different movements, giving them an awareness of the space around them – stretch up tall, run around obstacles, play catching and throwing games.
Pincer movements – It’s just the right time of year for planting seeds – plans some seeds together, for example broad beans or sunflower seeds. Encourage your child to pick the seeds up carefully between their thumb and finger to place them in the soil.
Dough Disco – In school we have a ‘Dough Disco’ session every day, using our hands and fingers to roll, pinch, pat and squeeze the dough. Follow this link for ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ Dough Disco:
SENSORY PLAY
Sensory Play helps children to engage all of their senses in a safe way to explore the world around them. It really helps their language development too, by adults commenting on what they are doing, or what something smell, feels, tastes, looks or sounds like. Sensory play is often messy, but lots of fun – have a try! Sensory play can be as big or small as you can manage – in a bowl, on a plate, or in a big sand pit tray.
Sand – if you have sand at home, try using it in different ways – explore how you can change the shape of the sand when it is wet and dry. Use sieves, buckets and sticks to make different marks and shapes in the sand.
Water Play – Children love water play, and you can explore this from using a washing up bowl to a paddling pool. Try adding food colouring to the water, or bubbles. Can your child blow bubbles on their own
Monday 18th May - Friday 29th May
Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Encourage your child to keep up with those hand washing routines... you could use one of the links below to engage them with a song while they wash:
Baby Shark Hand Washing Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L89nN03pBzI
NHS Hand Washing Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9VjeIWLnEghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC7JnSkeyLM
Happy Birthday Hand Washing Song
Communication and Language – Engage in play activities with your child, narrating and commenting their play. Encourage their own use of language as they play. Can they name the object they are playing with? Encourage them to make noises, such as car and train sounds as they play. If your child uses a PECs book, please continue to use it at home. Sing some songs and nursery rhymes together. Encourage your child to join in with the actions and words. Here are some ideas:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-baa-baa-black-sheep/znbbpg8
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-the-grand-old-duke-of-york/zrymd6f
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-heads-shoulders-knees-and-toes/zd9f6v4
Moving and Handling – Ball skills and hand-eye co-ordination:
Challenge your child this week to some hand-eye co-ordination games with a ball. You could:
*Play catch, using a large ball close together, progressing to moving further apart or using a small er ball
*Throwing a ball into the air – can your child follow the path of the ball from your hand to where it lands on the floor?
*Football games – kicking a ball to each other, or towards a target.
It is possible now to go to the park to play these sports and games with members of your household. If that’s not possible for you, you can play smaller versions of these games indoors, using balloons or a rolled up ball made from socks.
Watch the video below for some ball game ideas, that can be adapted to use with any resources you have at home:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSIbihmxiYI
Literacy – Mark making –
Experiment with lots of ways of making marks, indoors and out:
*Using paper (large and small, on the table and on the floor) with pens, pencils, crayons
*Paint – paint using brushes, fingers, whole hands…. Maybe even your feet!
*Chalk outside, or on black paper
*Vertical ‘painting’ – use a bucket of water to dip big paintbrushes in to paint the walls or path outside
Maths – Capacity – filling and emptying containers – use containers and things such as water, rice, pasta, small toys, to fill different containers – including plastic bottles, tins, boxes, cups – use language such as ‘full’, ‘empty’ and ‘more’.
We love to sing number rhymes in school – here are some that we like to sing together in school:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-five-little-men-in-a-flying-saucer/z6qgscw
Understanding the World (Science, Geography, History, Technology) – Technology:
*Look together for things that require technology to work in your home (including mobile phones, ipads, the fridge, washing machine, tv, doorbell). Where age appropriate, can your child operate or help to operate any of these things? If not, can you teach them? For example, can they use the doorbell? Do they recognise the cause and effect of pushing the button and making a sound?
Expressive Arts and Design – Let’s Build!
*Can you build towers, houses, enclosed spaces using building bricks, construction kits, or boxes together? Try introducing small world figures, such as animals, people and trains, and make a story together.
FINGER GYM ACTIVITIES
Finger gym involves using short activities to build the strength in our fingers. We do these activities every day in school. They are important to help children build the strength to develop their self-help skills, such as dressing themselves, and their pre-writing skills. Try some of the activities below – most of the resources can be found at home, or be easily substituted by something similar at home. Have fun!
Gross motor movements – use some material in each hand, for example flags, or a tea towel or pillowcase. Model waving them in different ways – stretching tall with your hands in the air and moving them slowly or quickly to the ground and back up again, to make vertical movements. Hold both hands in front of you with a piece of material in each hand and make big circular movements, clockwise and anticlockwise. Try both of these using both hands, then one at a time, both with your dominant and non-dominant hand. Does your child have a preference?
Threading – Look at this video for a great threading activity with pasta:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF0Rsa2Mu5k
Pincer movements – Peg the washing – encourage your child to use clothes pegs, using just their thumb and index finger to open and close them. Can they peg the pegs onto pieces of card, or help to peg out the washing?
Watch the video below for a great clothes washing and clothesline pegging activity to make those hand muscles work hard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O2qmtDvenM
Dough Disco – In school we have a ‘Dough Disco’ session every day, using our hands and fingers to roll, pinch, pat and squeeze the dough. Follow this link for ‘If You’re Happy And You Know It’ Dough Disco:
SENSORY PLAY
Sensory Play helps children to engage all of their senses in a safe way to explore the world around them. It really helps their language development too, by adults commenting on what they are doing, or what something smell, feels, tastes, looks or sounds like. Sensory play is often messy, but lots of fun – have a try! Sensory play can be as big or small as you can manage – in a bowl, on a plate, or in a big sand pit tray.
Moon Sand – mix flour, baby oil or cooking oil, and some food colouring to create this great textured ‘sand’. If you squeeze it, it keeps its shape for a while, and can be used with biscuit cutters or small tubs to create different shapes. See the recipe tip below.
Cereal – Any cereal will do in a small, lunchbox sized tub. In school, we like to use ‘Rice Krispie’ type cereals, that are great for squeezing and crushing between our hands and fingers. Try adding toy cars, a small brush such as a toothbrush, or toy animals.
Drums – use anything you can find in your home that won’t break to make a drum kit and beaters and make different sounds. Saucepans, plastic tubs, spoons and wooden kitchen utensils are great for this.
SIMPLE MOON SAND RECIPE
Moon Sand is great for both finger gym and sensory play – click on the link below for a really simple way to make your own Moon Sand at home:
Monday 4th May - Friday 15th May
Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Encourage your child’s independence and ‘working together’ skills at mealtimes. Can they find one plate, one knife and one fork for each person? Can they pour their own drink into their cup?
Communication and Language – Engage in play activities with your child, narrating and commenting their play. Encourage their own use of language as they play. Can they name the object they are playing with? Encourage them to make noises, such as car and train sounds as they play. If your child uses a PECs book, please continue to use it at home. Sing some songs and nursery rhymes together. Here are some ideas:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-dinosaurs/zv7rf4j
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-down-at-the-station/zdy28xs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-down-in-the-jungle/zfqgscw
Moving and Handling – Getting out and about for some exercise is really important. If you have a garden, make a simple obstacle course to complete together – can you find something to crawl under, climb, balance on and throw? For example:
Crawl under the blanket………… climb up the steps…………. Balance on the box……… throw the ball (to somebody else, or into a target, such as a big box or container.
Literacy – Share some favourite stories together, either in books or online. Do you have a favourite story? Encourage your child to find and point to objects in the pictures, to turn the pages on their own, and to make sound effects, such as barking like a dog.
Maths – Counting together – count bricks as you build a tower, stairs as you climb them, teddies or toy cars. Write down the number as you say it – encourage your child to make marks on the paper too.
We love to sing number rhymes in school – here are some new ones that you may like to learn together:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-one-big-hippo-balancing/zkfxwty
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-one-finger-one-thumb-keep-moving/zbtj47h
Understanding the World (Science, Geography, History, Technology) – On Friday 8th May, it is VE Day, and lots of people had planned to have street parties to celebrate? Can you wear something red, blue and white, and have a celebration picnic together, indoors or outdoors? Perhaps you could make sandwiches or bake cakes together for the picnic.
Expressive Arts and Design – Alongside the VE Day theme, can you be creative with the colours red, white and blue? You could make a collection of things of the same colour, or mark make, colour or paint only using these colours. Maybe you could cut coloured paper together to make your own bunting, or blow up balloons together.
FINGER GYM ACTIVITIES
Finger gym involves using short activities to build the strength in our fingers. We do these activities every day in school. They are important to help children build the strength to develop their self-help skills, such as dressing themselves, and their pre-writing skills. Try some of the activities below – most of the resources can be found at home, or be easily substituted by something similar at home. Have fun!
Gross motor movements – fill a bucket with water, and use paintbrushes (big and small) to ‘paint’ outside, creating big up and down and circular movements.
Threading – use pasta tubes, buttons, cheerios to thread onto a piece of string to make a necklce or a snake. How long can you make it? If you’re feeling creative, you could paint it too – cotton buds make great mini paintbrushes – encourage your child to hold the cotton bud or paintbrush between their thumb and index finger.
Pincer movements – Find small items around the home (edible ones are best!) such as frozen peas, raisins, pasta shapes, to pick up with tweezers and put into a bowl. If you have no tweezers,you’re your thumb and index finger to pick up each item, one at a time.
Dough Disco – In school we have a ‘Dough Disco’ session every day, using our hands and fingers to roll, pinch, pat and squeeze the dough. Follow this link for ‘Incy Wincy Spider’s’ Dough Disco:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K-CQrjI0uY&list=PLtw-7Jf06an2kfRMTdYqf21GkM0YT2HaP&index=2
SENSORY PLAY
Sensory Play helps children to engage all of their senses in a safe way to explore the world around them. It really helps their language development too, by adults commenting on what they are doing, or what something smell, feels, tastes, looks or sounds like. Sensory play is often messy, but lots of fun – have a try! Sensory play can be as big or small as you can manage – in a bowl, on a plate, or in a big sand pit tray.
Custard – mix custard powder with cold water into your tray. It’s very sticky, but children enjoy the smell as well as the texture as it runs through their hands! Use spoons to scoop the custard into pots too.
Gloop – this is a mixture of cornflour and water – it has a fantastic texture that can be squeezed almost into a solid, then drips slowly into a liquid again – it’s one of our favourites in our classroom.
Sensory sound shakers – you will need a clear plastic bottle or tub with a tight fitting lid. Find things in your home that will make different noises in your sound shaker – for example rice, pasta, coins, cereal. If you can make more than one together, you can explore the different sounds they make.
SIMPLE PLAYDOUGH RECIPE
Playdough is great for both finger gym and sensory play – click on the link below for a really simple way to make your own playdough at home:
Monday 20th April - Friday 1st May
Let’s Find Out About……. People Who Help Us
Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Encourage your child’s skills and independence with dressing, putting their toys away, and carrying out family routines, such as bedtime, with increasing independence. Encourage them to become more independent in self-care routines, such as washing their hands and brushing their hair and teeth. The following Something Special episodes would be good to watch and reinforce this:
Communication and Language – Engage in play activities with your child, narrating their play. If your child uses a PECs book, please continue to use it at home. Watch episodes of ‘Something Special’ (Mr Tumble) and encourage your child to sign along.
Moving and Handling – Here are some ideas for sensory play in a tray, which will help to develop your child’s fine motor and mark-making skills:
Soapy water or bubble solution
Dried rice
Different coloured paint
Sand
Add tools to the tray such as spoons, paintbrushes, sticks, brushes, bubble wands, pots and sponges to make different marks, or to fill and empty containers
An easy moon sand recipe:
4 cups of flour
½ cup of baby oil or vegetable oil
Food colour (optional)
Food flavouring, for the smell, such as vanilla (optional)
Put the flour in a bowl, and add the oil and colour/flavouring and mix together with your hands until the ingredients are well distributed and mixed together. The mixture should hold its shape if you squeeze it together. This is a no cook recipe, so you could make the sand together.
Literacy – We are learning about the letters l, b, j, qu, v, w, x, y and z. Watch together episodes of: Alphablocks; Jolly Phonics Alphabet Song (You Tube); Bounce Patrol Alphabet Songs. Read to your child every day, encouraging them to join in with turning the pages, holding the book carefully and choosing favourite stories to share. Use your child’s Reading Eggs password to access Reading Eggs.
Maths – We love singing number rhymes in school. Some of our favourites are Five Little Ducks, Five Little Monkeys, Five Little Speckled Frogs and Ten in the Bed. Here is a link to ‘Simple Songs’ on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrAtBtQnvCE
We also enjoy watching Numberblocks on BBC iplayer – take a look and watch some episodes together. Here’s an example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkufsme9qiA
Understanding the World (Science, Geography, History, Technology) – Encourage your child to use technology for a purpose – accessing and using age appropriate apps, using cameras, operating toys with switches.
Finding out about ‘People Who Help Us’ – Here is an episode of Peppa Pig going to the dentist. Encourage your child to become familiar with the word ‘help’, asking them to help, or if they need help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-jrs5KQ3aA
Expressive Arts and Design – Do you have any small world toy cars/ambulances/fire engines? Or dressing up clothes for people who help us? Create some stories together around them.
Monday 6th April - Friday 17th April
Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Encourage your child’s skills and independence with dressing, putting their toys away, and carrying out family routines, such as bedtime, with increasing independence.
Communication and Language – Engage in play activities with your child, narrating their play. If your child uses a PECs book, please continue to use it at home. Watch episodes of ‘Something Special’ (Mr Tumble) and encourage your child to sign along. Follow the link below for Mr Tumble’s Spring Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRr_XxIFdOg
Moving and Handling – Here are some ideas for sensory play in a tray, which will help to develop your child’s fine motor and mark-making skills:
Shaving foam
Icing sugar
Flour
Gloop (A mixture of cornflour and water)
Jelly
Add tools to the tray such as spoons, paintbrushes, sticks, brushes and sponges to make different marks
An easy playdough recipe:
1 cup of flour
½ cup of salt
½ cup of water
Mix together in a bowl. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour, if it’s too dry, add more water. Once you have made the dough, you can add food colouring or paint for colour, or spices, such as cinnamon, to add smell. This is a no cook recipe, so you could make the dough together.
Easter fun – have an egg and spoon race together! This will help with hand-eye co-ordination and encourage movement and exercise. You could hard boil the eggs to make it less messy, or use chocolate eggs, or even a ball to balance. Everyone in the family can join in – who will win?
Literacy – We are learning about the letters l, b, j, qu, v, w, x, y and z. Watch together episodes of: Alphablocks; Jolly Phonics Alphabet Song (You Tube); Bounce Patrol Alphabet Songs. Read to your child every day, encouraging them to join in with turning the pages, holding the book carefully and choosing favourite stories to share. Use your child’s Reading Eggs password to access Reading Eggs.
One of our favourite stories to listen to is ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Follow the link below to watch online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75NQK-Sm1YY
Maths – We love singing number rhymes in school. Some of our favourites are Five Little Ducks, Five Little Monkeys, Five Little Speckled Frogs and Ten in the Bed. Here is a link to ‘Simple Songs’ on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrAtBtQnvCE
Understanding the World (Science, Geography, History, Technology) – Encourage your child to use technology for a purpose – accessing and using age appropriate apps, using cameras, operating toys with switches. If possible, go for a walk in the garden or locally together and look for signs of spring.
Expressive Arts and Design – Lots of people are drawing, painting and colouring pictures of rainbows to put up in their windows. Can you make one too to put in your window?
Easter fun – Have an Easter Egg hunt – you can do this indoors or in the garden, with chocolate eggs, or pictures of eggs – how many can you collect? Can you count how many eggs you have?
Monday 23rd March - Friday 3rd April
Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Encourage your child’s skills and independence with dressing and putting their toys away.
Communication and Language – Engage in play activities with your child, narrating their play. If your child uses a PECs book, please continue to use it at home. Watch episodes of ‘Something Special’ (Mr Tumble) and encourage your child to sign along.
Moving and Handling – Practise fine motor skills – anything that requires using fingers to pick up or manipulate small objects – using scissors, hole punches, tweezers. Using playdough to roll, pat, pinch, prod, stretch and squeeze. Cook/bake together, encouraging your child to mix, stir, scoop, spoon and spread food, for example helping to make their own sandwiches. Complete puzzles together. Use pens, pencils, paintbrushes to mark make. Encourage good hygiene routines, encouraging your child to help and gain independence in toileting, hand washing, tooth brushing etc.
Literacy – We are learning about the letters l, b, j, qu, v, w, x, y and z. Watch together episodes of: Alphablocks; Jolly Phonics Alphabet Song (You Tube); Bounce Patrol Alphabet Songs. Read to your child every day, encouraging them to join in with turning the pages, holding the book carefully and choosing favourite stories to share. Use your child’s Reading Eggs password to access Reading Eggs.
Maths – We are learning about the numbers 0-20. Encourage your child to look for, name, match and order numbers in the environment, and count objects together. Look online for number rhymes to sing together, such as ‘Five Little Ducks’ and ‘Ten in the Bed’. Look at and explore 2D shapes at home (circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, hexagons). Use building blocks to explore shapes through sorting and building.
Understanding the World (Science, Geography, History, Technology) – Encourage your child to use technology for a purpose – accessing and using age appropriate apps, using cameras, operating toys with switches. If possible, grow some seeds together – cress is good to grow on wet cotton wool. We have been learning about ‘Growing’ this half term – look together at different plants, using language about height – tall, small, little, big. Share stories about growing, for example ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, ‘The Enormous Turnip’, Jasper’s Beanstalk’.
Expressive Arts and Design – Encourage your child to use any materials you have at home to create pictures, patterns and marks, for example using colours to paint or colour, glue to stick to make collages. Make and play musical instruments to play together, for example tins and saucepans to make drums, empty cartons with different objects inside to make shakers. Play with small world activities, such as cars, dolls houses, train sets, together, commenting on what your child is doing, naming objects or making up stories.