Discovery Basket: Colours

All primary teachers joke about how half their salaries go to Ikea because of their great range of stuff for the classroom. Be it creative storage solutions or role play Ikea covers it all. I think all teachers who are near a Tiger store will probably now joke about how the other half of their salary is spent in there!

Pocket change stuff covering everything Ikea also does well, storage, creative materials and those odd bits you can't seem to find anywhere else. Anyway, I was in my local store and found some lovely bits and bobs including this fab little basket.

Discovery Basket: Birthday

This post was planned for the week L turned one with a series of other birthday blog posts to follow it. Today as it is my first Monday back blogging we shall have a this playtime blog post even if it's three months out of date for L. And look at how she has changed in three months in the photos below.

I've made a discovery basket of sorts about birthdays and birthday parties. It contains;

A selection of balloons

Birthday cards

Present bags

Soft play cake

A paper candle

Treat bags from party

Tea pot

Tea cups and spoons

Party hats

Two card number 1s

Discovery Basket: threading

A very similar basket as the circular and ring things one I put together a few months ago now has a totally new meaning and a new learning and play opportunity. 

L was recently the subject to an "on a mission dad". He wanted to teach her how to thread onto a counting frame we have had for a while and purchased from Sainsburys. He succeeded and L mastered the skill in a day and would happily sit and concentrate on her threading task. 

On a particularly snoozy and lazy day I managed to cobble together by chance an extended threading activity using avaliable toys and things from our sensory play basket. I was rather pleased with it and so was L!

Our counting tower is joined by the plastic stacking rings toy and the wooden kitchen roll holder. 

In our discovery basket we have the wooden flat beads, the rings, some bangles from my jewelry box and hair rollers from the pound shop. 

It was interesting to watch L figure out that some of the things didn't fit on particular sticks and then change the order of her threading to suit her wants. 

L spent some time putting on and taking off the rollers and bangles and changing the order of then. She watched as the larger bangle went over the holder and the rollers because it was larger. 

L used the counting frame for the rollers as well as the beads. 

L also discovered that the different sized rollers fitted into each other.

This activity is great for hand eye coordination and motor skills. It's a very precise action and the varying sizes of objects to be threaded challenge L to begin thinking of spacial awareness in its most basic and emerging levels. L also began exploring how the rollers threaded inside each other and how the shapes slotted together of the different objects. There was also lots of rich language talk, on, in, on top, inside, small, long, thin, big, fit and thread. 

I was chuffed that on a day fueled by chocolate and caffeine I actually came up with something pretty worthwhile to extend L's play and learning. Also proof that it doesn't take more than five minutes to do something different for your littles ones.  

Discovery Basket: Shiney Things

This was a really fun basket to use with L and one in which we were able to adapt and expand playtime through the week.

It started with a five minute dash around the house looking for shiney things.

Our basket contained

Discovery Basket: Biting Basket

Teething. 

I don't need to talk much more about the dramas of teething infants but I have been trying to help L by providing her with a biting basket.

Ever since L could hold a toy she has been bringing them up to her mouth to suck, lick or chew. The chewing is most constant when we also have red cheeks, ear pulling and 2am wake up calls. 

Discovery Basket: Circular and Ring Things

The discovery basket for this week has been a big hit.

Circular and ring things. This basket contains a mix of toys, like the stacking rings and counting rings, lids from jars, both metal and plastic and a few bangles from my jewellery box.

Emptying Schema

L's current obsession is with emptying baskets or boxes.

She will happily sit and empty her book basket one book at a time, sometimes stopping to flick through a title. Before moving back to the basket to continue emptying it.

Play Space Set Up

As I said in our 3-6 Toybox update we retired our playmat by four months as L took to rolling like a duck to water, she hasn't stopped moving since. 

Instead of setting up L's playmat daily I now had to set up the whole rug space in our living room, not that this has ever really worked to focus L's playing. She much prefers playing with the dirty shoes, trying to get into the kitchen or playing with the wires at our desk. 

This is an example of our daily play set up.

Music Basket