Playing With Ice

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On Friday afternoon I was feeling a little low and wishing that I could have gone to the thanksgiving service of a friend, when inspiration hit me. As a former science teacher and co-founder of Science Sparks, Kerry loved making it easier for children to understand science and so I felt what better way to honour that, than get to grips with a science 'experiment' with The Boy.

I'd seen this activity on Pinterest which, while intended for Christmas, gave a great bank of ideas for playing with kitchen and craft materials to see what happens. I prepared the activity while The Boy napped and then we were ready to have fun with some ice!

I used a takeaway container and filled it with water, food colouring, glitter, sand, and sequins and then placed it in the freezer. When it was set I removed it and placed it into a tray, giving The Boy a pot of table salt and rock salt, a spoon and a water spray bottle.

playing with ice 1

He had brilliant fun making holes in the ice block with the salt and the jet of water. After a while the salt dissolved into the water and ran down the side of the block causing channels to be melted in. The Boy spotted these and picked off the ice crystals. The look of wonder on his face when he held the ice crystals in his hand, and they then subsequently melted, was amazing; sheer amazement!

Following on from this we decided to make some coloured ice cubes using food colouring. I used ice cube bags for this as I wanted to try and get the food colouring to slowly merge with the water creating ice cubes of slightly different shades. I filled the ice cube bags with water first, then inserted a straw and poured the food colouring down the straw.

coloured ice cubes

Once these had frozen, I again gave The Boy the tray with the coloured ice cubes, table salt, rock salt and a water spray bottle. The effects were even more immediate because the ice cubes were smaller and therefore melted more quickly.

playing with ice

He was fascinated with the ice crystals that were formed by the salt water solution melting the ice, and kept pouring more and more salt onto one red ice cube to try and create a hole through the middle of it. We discussed what coloured water would appear once the ice melted, and we talked about where the salt had gone. We then discussed the colour of the water once all three different coloured ice cubes had melted and mixed together.

Science Sparks has got a fantastic selection of ice play activities which are great fun for this time of year.

365 #1

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Hello all you lovely photographers out there! Welcome to week 1 of the project 365 linky and I'm looking forward to seeing the photographic diaries of everyone who links up; this project really does turn into a community. We've already got a Facebook group, and now I've created a collaborative Pinterest board (if you'd like to collaborate, let me know and I'll add you).

As ever, this linky only works because of people linking to it and then contributing their thoughts to others' posts. (Well actually there's technical stuff I have to do to make it work, but you know what I mean!)

Join in by entering the URL of your favourite photograph of the week (either a 52 or a 365 photo0 and show some comment love to everyone else in the community.

  1. Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
  2. Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
  3. If you can spare five minutes to comment on a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!
365



(Linky Tools has been misbehaving the last few days, if you can't see the linky then add your URL to the comments box and I'll add it for you when it's decided to stop throwing a strop again!)

Country Kids: New Year's Day On The Beach

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The weather has been foul for the best part of the past fortnight. It managed to not pour down on Christmas Day (which was kind of it), but by and large it's either been pouring down as if Armageddon was about to occur, or it's been devoid of all colour. I'm not sure which I dislike least; I think the incessant rain was preferable as at least then the wellies get used!

It was beginning to feel like we'd never see the sky with any form of vibrancy in it again, until we woke up on New Year's Day to a world of blue skies and brilliant sunshine! As Mr. TBaM said, "It's almost like the weather's trying to make a New Year's Resolution!"

We donned our wellies, coats, scarves, hats and gloves and headed down to Barry Island.

Along with every other person in south Wales!

I seriously cannot remember the last time I saw the island so chockablock with traffic; not even on the hottest day in the Summer was it that bad (and I'd know because I was there then as well!). However we persevered and did actually manage to park on double yellow lines find a parking space quite close to the beach!

The Boy and I set to building a sandcastle, only the little monkey soon demolished it repeatedly at which point we decided to dig a hole instead. It was to be of epic proportions!

new years day 1

We were quite a way up to the top of the beach but as you can see, after a while we hit the water table. Did this stop us? Nope, we kept on digging and in the end The Boy took his bucket down to the water's edge to increase our supply.

new years day 2

It was at this point that I went to get some chips for us. Again, I wasn't the only person with that idea: six chippies on Barry Island and three had run out of chips, with a thirty minute wait in all the others. In the end, thanks to 'Big Dave', we did get our supply and we sat in the car with rosey cheeks and drippy noses munching on big, fat, chips!

—

coombe mill

Also linked up to No Such Thing As Bad Weather's Outdoor Play Party

Learning for Life

Orchard Toys: Shopping List

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If you don't have a copy of one of the most popular Orchard Toys games ever made then you need to get it. And soon.

Shopping List is an essential game for children aged 3-7 years because of the way that it takes an everyday situation that children are incredibly familiar with, and provides them with the opportunity to play it at home learning about the different foods available.

Orchard Toys Shopping List

The original game (for there are two booster packs) contains:

  • four cardboard trolleys;
  • four shopping lists with pictures and written names of groceries;
  • 32 grocery cards

The basic idea of the game is that each player takes a trolley, chooses a shopping list and then must fill it with the relevant items on their shopping list, taking it in turns to find them from the muddled, upside-down pile in the middle of all the players. If the grocery item card they pick up is one of theirs they can put it in their trolley, if not the must return it to the middle for someone else to take it. Play continues until one person has filled their trolley.

orchard toys shopping list

Only because we have a three year old who likes everyone to win (you just either win first, second or third) then we play it that rather than return it to the middle, we give it to whoever has it on their list. And yes, it does work which is the beauty of Orchard Toys games, they are adaptable for the needs of the child.

There are two Booster Sets available:

  1. Fruit & Veg
    • Containing two trolleys and shopping lists, there are 16 grocery cards each with an item of fruit or vegetable on it. The fruit and vegetables chosen show a range of everyday foods that the children should be familiar with: pears, potatoes, leeks, melons, cherries, kiwi fruits, asparagus, etc. This is a great opportunity to discuss healthy eating options and where the foods come from or how they grew.
  2. Clothes
    • Like the Fruit & Veg pack, this Booster Pack is designed for two players, this time containing 16 clothes cards showing clothes from different seasons like; shorts, vest top, watch, scarf, flip flops, trainers, jumpers, sunglasses, etc. It provides an opportunity to discuss the clothes that are worn at different seasons (or in this country, the same season but different days!)

Whenever we go away for the weekend this is the one Orchard Toys game that comes with us, having carefully selected the lists we The Boy wants to take; the booster packs are interchangeable with the main game. We've had this game for quite some time now (I'm ashamed to admit how long) and it is the single most played game in the house!

Educational guide:

  • encourage observational and memory skills
  • develop personal and social skills through role-playing and questioning
  • language development (modelling questioning and discussion)
  • healthy eating – PSHE

Shopping List is priced at £7.50 and each of the Booster Packs are priced at £4.50 each.

'Dear Zoo' (Review)

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A few months ago, the wonderful children's modern classic 'Dear Zoo' by Rod Campbell celebrated its 30th anniversary. I am of the age group that would have only just missed this enchanting book when it was first published, however it very firmly sits in my Listography of Top 5 Children's Books and I defy any parent of a toddler to resist it. As it has sold over five million copies in the past thirty years, I'm pretty sure not many parents do resist it!

There are a number of different variants of the classic book in the 'Dear Zoo' range, including an Animal Shapes 'buggy' book, a Little Library, a pop-up version, a Noisy Book and even an iPad app, but I want to share two new additions:

Dear Zoo Touch and Feel

This is a brilliant version of the book for the younger child who is still discovering the world through touch. With a range of different textures throughout, the materials definitely help to make it more of a sensory book to explore. (RRP £7.99)

The Dear Zoo Activity Book

This activity book (priced at £3.99) has a huge range of activities which I feel are best suited to children aged four years and over. The activities encourage fine motor skill development through dot-dot and follow the line, and for the younger reader there are sticker activities. However quite a lot of the activities involve some degree of reading or writing which children younger than four are almost certainly not capable of. For someone who has treasured the book then this won't daunt them.

I was sent these products for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Barefoot Books (Review)

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The Boy has recently been sent two books from Barefoot Books to review. Barefoot Books publish books celebrating art and stories from a range of different cultures, sharing the world's diversity.

The Beeman (by Laurie Krebs and Valeria Cis)

In 'The Beeman', a young boy explains about his Grandpa and his hobby of keeping bees. Using prose, it explains the different clothing needed and how Grandpa looks after his beehives in order for them to produce honey which is then sold to the people of the town. At the end of the book is a visual glossary explaining some of the different processes and terms used throughout the book.

The illustrations in this book are full colour with soft tones used in every picture. Every page is adorned with beautiful drawings and they really engage the reader, and the child. I liked that the story was written in simple rhyming prose, which made it more interesting to read and listen to. The visual glossary at the back is a good idea but more suited to older children than The Boy at three and a half years.

'Driving My Tractor' (by Jan Dobbins and David Sim)

'Driving My Tractor' is a delightful book with an accompanying CD, which tells the story of a farmer who drives around his farm collecting the animals up on the back of his trailer. As he moves from page to page, the seasons change which provides a brilliant opportunity to discuss seasonal change and look for the similarities and differences in nature.

The book also allows for mathematical development through the progressive number of animals that need to be collected. At the very end of the book is a visual glossary to help explain some of the machinery and crops that can be found on a farm.

Both books are very appropriate for under-fives; 'The Beeman' shows life in another country (albeit in a familiar style), but 'Driving My Tractor' is the one that most children in the UK can equate to as many will have visited a farm and it therefore draws on experience to help explain.

I was sent these products for the purpose of this review, my opinions are honest and unbiased.

Project 365: A New Year

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I spent the last month or so alternating between;

"NEVER, EVER AGAIN!"

and;

"But it's my thing and I won't not be able to!"

So here I am, about to enter into my third year of taking a photograph every day. I tend to take a lot more than that but to concentrate on one that is technically good is hard work; the trick is not to make your child want to shove the camera lens into the nearest mound of playdough.

There's a lot of interest in the project at the moment and so I'm going to answer some FAQs and set out some guidelines here:

  • Project 365 involves taking one photograph a day, every day, for a year. It's your project and therefore it should be youtaking the photograph.
  • The photographs can be uploaded to either a blog (daily or weekly), Instagram, Tumblr, Posterous or 365project.org (the official and original site). I've done two years of blogging it daily and I'm losing the will to live, therefore I'm going to put the images together into a weekly collage (using Picmonkey.com) and blog it on a Saturday.
  • Each weekend I run a linky for the community. The point is to share either one favourite photo of the week in the linky or, if like me it's going to be a weekly collage, then the link to that round-up post. It is possible to link up Instagram images by finding the web version and using that URL. The linky can be found over on the 365 tab of my blog. It opens at 8pm on a Saturday evening and closes at 11.59 on Sunday night.
  • I ask that you include my 365 badge onto either the linked blog post or in a sidebar wherever the pictures are hosted (if possible). Not because I'm precious and want the information spread around, but because it means that people can find the linky more easily to see other entries and join in on the community.
  • There is a Facebook group here, it's private and you'll need to request access. As long as it's obvious to me that you're taking part in the project then you're in!
  • There's also a collaborative Pinterest board I've set up to share images. If you'd like to join then please let me know.

Here's the badge for the project, you can find the html code underneath in a nifty box thing done by Mr. TBaM.

See you on Saturday!

ShowOff ShowCase

'New Year's Eve' DVD

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And so at 11pm on New Year's Eve, 2012 I am about to settle down with Mr. TBaM to watch a DVD, mainly because there's nothing on television (what a surprise), but also because I can't think of a better time to watch a film called, fittingly, 'New Year's Eve'!

I have traditional films that I like to watch over the festive period, some of them are schmaltzy, American, Hallmark style films, but the main one is 'Love, Actually'. I adore this film, not only because of the brilliant storyline and clever writing, but because of the plethora of celebrities throughout and trying to work out how their stories tie together. Another film which is good at linking many people's lives together is 'Valentine's Day,' and 'New Year's Eve' has been created by the same people.

With a huge ensemble cast (Halle Berry, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Katherine Heigl, Jessica Biel, Ashton Kutchen, Hector Elizondo, Robert de Niro, Jon Bon Jovi, Zac Effron, and oodles more) and the promise of Times Square on the biggest night of the year, what's not to love?

Amendment (New Year's Day):

We thorougly enjoyed this DVD. 'Valentine's Day' was a little bit of a let down, a touch too schmaltzy and the storyline was predicatable. However, the acting and storyline in 'New Year's Eve' was a lot stronger; less predictable and not everything turns out happy and twee. The acting from Robert de Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer is clearly strong, Hilary Swank is a bonus addition, and the male leads are not the main focus. I think the production team have learnt from 'Valentine's Day' and this film is a lot more memorable.

I was sent these product for the purpose of this post.