Ice rings

Children can help make an ice ring one session by gathering herbs and flowers, filling a container with water and putting it in the freezer (or just watching), then on another session they can see what has happened to it when it freezes, and then watch what happens over the course of the session as it melts.

Equipment required

• Cake ring
• Water
• Herbs and flowers
• A freezer

What do we do?

• Place herbs and flowers in a cake ring
• Fill with water and place in a freezer overnight (or two)
• In the morning remove from cake tin and hang at child height
• Children can use all their sense to explore the feel, smell and taste of this hanging object, and over time can watch what happens to it as it melts

What are we learning?

• Using all our senses - see, touch, smell, taste (and hearing if there are two rings banging together in the wind)
• Sensory experiences - cold, wet, smell
• What happens when it melts?  Does it melt faster in a sunny area or shaded area?

Links to Te Whaariki

• Strand 5 - Exploration.  Goal 4 - Children experience an environment where they develop working theories for making sense of the natural, social, physical, and material worlds.

Painting tracks with toy cars

Children can create tracks, trails and prints by putting a variety of toys through paint and then putting onto paper.  We usually start of with toy cars being driven through the paint and across the paper to create tyre tracks, but children can experiment with other (washable) toys, for example animal and doll footprints.

Equipment required

• Paint
• Paper
• Toy cars (washable)

What do we do?

• Push the toy car through the paint
• Drive the toy car across the paper

What are we learning?

• Colours and colour mixing
• Patterns
• Fine motor skills

Links to Te Whaariki

• Strand 4 - Communication.  Goal 4 - Children experience an environment where they discover and develop different ways to be creative and expressive.

Golf ball painting

Golf ball painting is the process where children create tracks across paper by rolling a golf ball (or similar) through paint and across the paper.  Several variations exist, e.g. a group project rolling balls across a table as pictured, individual projects using a shoe box or some other container to put the paper and golf ball into, or large scale outdoors using larger balls.

Equipment required

• Paint
• Paper
• Golf balls (or similar)
• Some kind of way to contain the balls and stop them rolling away (e.g. shoe box)
• Some way to pick up the paint covered balls (e.g. spoon or tongs)

What do we do?

• Place paper into shoe box
• Dip balls into different colours of paint
• Using a spoon or tongs or your fingers, place the painted balls into the shoe box on top of the paper
• Tip the box from side to side and watch the golf balls roll around, leaving trails behind them

What are we learning?

• Colour mixing
• Force (gravity in terms of tipping a box, or motion in terms of rolling/pushing balls)
• Fine motor skills (handling the slippery, slimy balls)

Links to Te Whaariki

• Strand 3 - Contribution.  Goal 3 - Children experience an environment where they are encouraged to learn with and alongside others.
• Strand 5 - Exploration.  Goal 2 - Children experience an environment where they gain confidence in and control of their bodies.
• Strand 5 - Exploration.  Goal 4 - Children experience an environment where they develop working theories for making sense of the natural, social, physical, and material worlds.

Bubble prints

Bubble prints are created by blowing bubbles in coloured water and using a piece of heavy paper to take an imprint of the bubbles.  Allows children to experiment with different techniques for creating prints and explore some of science behind making bubbles.

Equipment required

• Cups of watered down paint, dye or food colouring
• Dishwashing liquid
• Straws
• Heavy paper

What do we do?

• Add some dishwashing liquid to a cup of coloured water/paint
• Have the child blow through a straw into the water, creating bubbles
• When the bubbles have reached the top of the cup, place your paper on top to capture the shape of the bubbles

What are we learning?

• To follow a process
• How bubbles can be made
• Transference and mirror images
• Shapes (circles)
• What happens if we make a mistake (tip the cup over, blow too hard/gentle, suck, etc)

Links to Te Whaariki

• Strand 5 - Exploration.  Goal 4 - Children experience an environment where they develop working theories for making sense of the natural, social, physical, and material worlds.
• Strand 1 - Well Being.  Goal 3 - Children experience an environment where they are kept safe from harm.

Bubble wrap printing

Bubble wrap painting allows children to create unique artwork and explore the properties of colour and shapes (circles), while also exploring a different texture and medium.

Equipment required

• Bubble wrap
• Paint
• Paint rollers or brushes

What do we do?

• Tape the bubble wrap to a table with the bubble side facing up
• Use the paint roller or brush to spread paint across the bubble wrap
• Lay your paper on top of the painted bubble wrap to transfer to pattern to your paper

What are we learning?

• Colours and shapes
• Transference and mirror images

Links to Te Whaariki

• Strand 5 - Exploration.  Goal 3 - Children experience an environment where they learn strategies for active exploration, thinking, and reasoning.

Potions

Potion making allows children to experiment with mixing different materials and colours together to discover their own end results.  It allows creative expression and can incorporate elements of fantasy play as children imitate activities they have seen at home (e.g. cooking).

Equipment required:

• Individual containers for all children (we used ice cream containers here)
• A selection of scooping and stirring instruments
• Water
• Liquid dye with droppers
• Foam (not shown in first picture), dishwashing bubbles, or other messy play concoction
• Some kind of plant material (lavender buds are used here, however anything can be used, e.g. grass, petals, leaves, etc)
• The children should be allowed to add any other ingredients they wish (e.g. sand)
• Glitter should be discouraged in case children try to drink their potion

What do we do?

• Allow children to freely experiment with scooping, tipping, mixing, pouring, whichever ingredients they wish.

What are we learning?

• Fine motor skills (holding cup/spoon, stirring, squeezing eye dropper)
• Colour mixing/changing
• Turn taking with other children
• Measurements (full, half full, etc)
• Properties of objects in water (floating, sinking, etc)

Links to Te Whaariki

• Strand 3 - Contribution.  Goal 3 - Children experience an environment where they are encouraged to learn with and alongside others.
• Strand 5 - Exploration.  Goal 2 - Children experience an environment where they gain confidence in and control of their bodies.
• Strand 5 - Exploration.  Goal 4 - Children experience an environment where they develop working theories for making sense of the natural, social, physical, and material worlds.

What is this blog about?

Kia ora and Welcome. The purpose of this blog is to provide our Early Childhood Centre with a database of activities for our tamariki to explore. Activities are tagged by type so that we can easily search for a specific type of activity. For example: water, paint, outdoor, etc.