The Den:
Our apprentice Laney planned and carried out a range of activities around ‘incy-wincy spider’ this week. The children participated in a sensory tray with rice, painting with spiders and water sensory bags.
Characteristics of effective learning:
With the weather being so rainy, Laney decided to follow this theme and plan activities around ‘incy wincy spider’. She created a sensory tray with rice and added cut out spiders and a ‘spout’ made from a a recycled paper towel roll. The children really engaged in the activity with the addition of these props. She encouraged the children to scoop handfuls and pour it from a height, creating ‘rain’ sounds. The children were fascinated when she put rice in one end of the tube and it came out the bottom. They became excited and requested “more”. The children copied this and we saw some lovely imaginative play as they recreated the song with the props.
To extend this further, we made some sensory bags with dyed water and fake spiders. We taped them to the table and encouraged the children to move them around with their hands. The children were fascinated by this and used good control to move the spiders around. Activities like this are great for developing children’s fine motor and hand-eye coordination.
Finally, we created pictures using spiders and white pant to represent a spiders web. The children were encouraged to dip the spider in the paint then onto the paper. This created lots of splattered marks which the children were really intrigued by. I spoke about how spiders ‘scuttle’ to get around and how they are ‘fast’, introducing some new vocabulary.
Parents as partners:
Next week we will be exploring activities related to Valentine’s Day, talking about different colours and new shapes like ‘hearts’.
On Saturday 7th February at the Glasshouse in Gateshead, National Literacy Trust are having a free event for families.
The fun, free event will take place between 11am and 1pm and will involve making some musical rain-makers and using these to participate in an interactive story-telling session.
Each child will be provided with a free book to take home. No booking required, can just show up on the day!
Storytelling Sessions – National Literacy Trust | The Glasshouse