Scavenger hunt

The kids and I like going on Scavenger Hunts around the neighbourhood.

Finn and I decide what we would like to look for on our walks and we write a list together with drawings along side the words.

I find it helps with awareness of surroundings, making observations, using descriptive words and early writing and reading skills.

Nanny McFee

Finn has been enjoying reading chapters from Nurse Matilda before bed at night so we hired him a copy of the DVD Nanny McFee (the movie which is inspired by the book). 

Yesterday he drew a gorgeous illustration of Nanny McFee from memory.

Bottle Top Collection

"Bottle caps, gingersnaps, buttons, or rings, 

You can make families from all sorts of things!"

We've been reading a book called 'All kinds of Families' by Mary Ann Hoberman about collections, which reminded me of Finn's own collection of beer bottle tops. He loves comparing, matching, sorting, making shapes with them.

An Egg Hunt in September

When I was cleaning out the cupboards the other day I came across a stash of plastic eggs that we used for our egg hunt on Easter this year. I thought it would be fun instead of waiting another year- to have another egg hunt with the kids in the garden. I filled the eggs with Tiny Teddy biscuits so there was some sort of chocolate reward! 

   

When Finn and Evie had found and collected the eggs- it was their turn to fill the eggs and hide them.

 We sometimes play a hide-and-seek game with large plastic animals hidden around the garden which is also great fun for the kids.

Money Bags

I know in most houses there are little cups of coins lying around the house, and our house is no exception. We had about 10 years worth of change sitting in tubs, so as part of my spring cleaning process I sat down with the kids and we sorted the change into separate denominations in small zip lock bags bags. The kids have been sick this week, so it was a nice quiet activity for them (just be careful of small children sucking the money).

We then went to the bank and watched the teller weigh the money to add it up, and deposit into our account.  

It is a good activity for teaching children about the basics of money, counting and categorising.