We're going on a Bear Hunt

One of my favourite books to teach in year one was We're going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury.

It is now one of Hartley's favourite and he already knows all the actions and some of the words!

I decided to take Hartley and his friends on their very own bear hunt.

We're going on a bear hunt

We're going to catch a big one.

We're not scared

Uh-uh! Grass

 Uh-uh! A lake

 

Uh-uh Mud  

Uh-uh! A forest

 

Uh-uh! a snowstorm

 

 Uh-uh! A cave

Can't go over it, can't go under it. We have to go through it!

This was a really simple activity that just took a bit of organising
grass - play tunnel with paper grass but you could use cut up grass or shredded paper.
Forest - i used leaves and twigs but if you were lucky to have a woodland area that would be great or you could use tree stumps.
snow - flour and cotton wool balls but you could use snow or ice in winter, or gloop, or shaving foam anything really

We also made bears from paper plate. This was a really simple and fun activity.

We also made these bear foot prints. Another cute way of using children's footprints. I added the words from the story too.

Train Safari

I have made a few sensory small world tubs before. This time I thought I would add a train track as Hartley loves playing trains at the moment. I decided to make a safari park as we already had lots of animals. 

I separated the tub into different areas and used different materials to make them fun and interesting.

Polar Area

- Silver foil

- blue tinsel

- polar bears, penguins, seals, whales

Lion Rock

Rocks and stones

Plastic lions

Jungle Area

- twigs and branches

- leaves

- fir cones

- green coloured rice

- plastic monkeys and birds

 Savannah and watering hole
-Green paper
- blue tinsel
-  green rice
- elephants, rhinos and zebras

Hartley has loved playing with his train track zoo. He pushes the trains around and moves the animals. He makes the animals noises too.

He has also enjoyed exploring the different materials used. 

Under The Sea

We have had an underwater theme the last few weeks.

 

We played with this favourite activity again. Coloured spaghetti with sealife animals.

Our Under the Sea story tent

We made hanging fish out of cardboard and jelly fish using plastic cups and tissue paper.

 

I hung them up in our tent, I then added stories and musical instruments and blew bubbles.

You could also add underwater sounds to add another sensory element.

Seaside Sand and Water Tray

I put water, sand into the tray. I then added shells, sea animals and a few ice cubes.

 The children had lots of fun exploring the ice, water and sand.

Under the sea Sensory Tub

All the children have enjoyed exploring this. I put silver foil in the tub and then added blue tinsel, plastic fish and sea animals, some real shells and stones.

Summer Fun

It has been a long time since I posted last. I have been so busy childminding and enjoying the sun. Here are a few of things we have been up to:

 Splashing in the paddling pool

Our under the sea story tent

We made a Train

Our Water Wall

Our New Sand Pit

Sand and Water tray with shells, sea animals and ice cubes.

Sensory Noah's Ark

We have been sharing the story of Noah's Ark.

I added some sensory elements to our Noah's Ark to make it even more fun.

I put our Noah's Ark into a tub and then added
some tin foil, but you could use anything shiny. Mirrors would also be great.
Blue tinsel
Real shells and starfish
Pretend fish
wooden rainbow

We then read the story and acted it out using the Ark and some props. 

The children played with Noah's Ark all week. The younger children matched up the animals, made the animal noises, enjoyed the story and signing the songs and explored the sensory tub.

The older children Retold the story and enjoyed acting it out with the props. They also enjoyed exploring the sensory tub and came up with some fab words to describe it.

The story of Noah's ark linked in with our colour week, and we did lots of fun things with rainbows. We also talked a lot about different weathers and all the animals.

Rainbow Rice

We have been doing lots of colour activities this week. One that I was very excited about was Coloured Rice.

How to make coloured rice

You will need

rice

vinegar

food colouring

baking tray

oven

Put the rice into a bowl and add vinegar, I never work in exact amount so just made sure there was enough to cover all the rice.

Add your chosen colour, again just put enough so it colour all the rice in the shade you want.

Then spread over a baking tray and cook for about 30mins at about 120 degrees. 

Repeat with another colour if you wish.

 I decided to do three colours this time. I put the diferent colours into seperate bowls. I put them into a big tube and also included some pots, utensils and funnels.

 The children had lots of fun, pouring out and mixing the colours.

 The children enjoyed poring, scooping, mixing and investigating the rice.

 This activity is also great for mark making. Older children could even write their names in the rice.

 Some of the other activities we have done this week are;

Coloured Spaghetti

 

Frogs in Green Jelly

Coloured pom poms and tubes

 Blue water and blue objects