Week 4 - 27th April 2020

Weekly inspiration for you at home

Exploring and Using Materials   

  • Make and fly a kite! Using paper, sellotape and string or thread you can create this fabulous kite that will fly without any wind - you just need to pull the string and it will get airborne.
  • Make a bug hotel. An amazing follow up to the bug hunt, why not make this simple bug hotel and pop it somewhere in your garden/yard/balcony? You just need a plastic drinks bottle, some string and some sticks and twigs. You could even put in some cardboard and leaves.
  • Bark Rubbing - take paper and pencils & crayons, make rubbings of the textures of different trees in the garden. You could also find other surfaces to rub, such as bricks, drainpipes, paving stones and sheds.
  • Make a sun catcher to stick on a window. You could use baking or tracing paper with felt-tips or paints to create a design, and cardboard to make a frame around the picture. Try to stick this up on a window that catches the sun so you can see the colourful patterns on your wall or floor during the day.
  • Make some noise! Musical options outdoors are great, find a stick and see what makes a noise, make a natural shaker from an old bottle and fill it with nuts, twigs etc. You can even make a sound wall in your garden out of old objects from your house like saucepan lids! 



Literacy

    • Recreate your favourite book outside. Can you build the woods from ‘The Gruffalo’ and hide the owl, the fox, the snake and the Gruffalo? Or maybe you can use tin foil for snow and make a ‘Frozen’ castle out of a cardboard box and cotton wool? 
    • Can you build a book den? You can make a den outside and then take your favourite books and snacks in when you’re finished! There are some great den-building tips here.
    • Role play school by being a teacher and teach your toys about your favourite letter! You can show them how to draw it and go and help them find things that begin with that letter or show them the letter in your favourite books. 

    Numeracy

    • Cooking is a great way to practise your counting. Mummy or daddy could help you to write a simple recipe for a fruit salad or a smoothie and you can count each of the fruit in. 
    • How tall is everyone in your family? You can start by measuring each member of your family but then you could measure how tall your toys are or measuring parts of your bodies like everyone’s hands or feet. 
    • Use beads, buttons or stones to make clay/dough numbers and decorate them with the correct number of items like in the picture. 
    • Make a number chain with beads and a string like the one below. Use these number tags to count each group of beads.


    Understanding The World

    • Look at the clouds – can you find one that looks like an animal/ can you paint some clouds? Do yours look like animals? What do yours look like?
    • Sort out some recycling with your mummy or daddy and discuss what can be recycled, or reused and which bin it goes in.
    • Can you feed the birds? Make popcorn strings and place on your balcony, your window or in your garden. Which birds visit? Make a tally chart to see which are the most popular birds.
    • Make land air and water jars as seen in the picture below. Collect items from outdoors or sort animals or transportation that live or travel by land, air, or water.
    • Did you know you can grow vegetable scraps and plant them again? Try different vegetables and see which ones grow best! Make a vegetable scrap garden to enjoy as a family.


    Physical Development

    • Can you draw or make a collage of a food rainbow like ours at Montessori? You could add foods you eat each day to see if you’re eating a rainbow to keep your body strong and healthy. 
    • What could you use in your garden to practise your balance? Could you make a balance beam? A maze? A hopping obstacle course? Maybe you could use rope to pretend you’re a tight rope walker?