Messy play for beginners -part 2 water play

Water you say not overly messy, but I can tell you my little monkeys were soaked head to foot. I had to strip them down before they came in the house. Being a little daring and letting them be free to play how they want outside i filled half the water tray up with water and the other side with the left over foam. 

My main aim of this activity is to try and get son son to like water again, for some reason he has become petrified of water? He shakes at bath time and screams all the time he is in the bath. We do not know what's brought it on but it means his baths last about 10 seconds. Bearing in mind he hates baths he actually loved the water play after a while, he joined in when all the Foam had gone (another thing he is scared of). 

I brought a super cheap teapot and saucer set from tescos I think it was about £2 and let them play with that. ami loved it she pretended to play cafe making me lots of hot chocolate. Son son used the cup to pour water on the floor and on his head. In which they both found hilarious then both started to do it. It wasn't long before all the water was gone and I had to get more.

We counted how many cups the teapot could make and how many cups to fill one side of the water tray. They absolutely loved water play both familiar with water play at nursery it's only their poor mum that isn't so. It was such a success it meant I could sit in the sunshine with a hot, yes hot tea. It was lovely we shall definitely be doing it again, they played for a good 45 mins and the weather wasn't to cold meaning they were happy to play on soaked clothes. This would work well in the summer of em they have the less layers on too.

So here is part 2 to me doing messy play (cries a little). If you have any inspiration for me them please comment below. 

Educational toys for Pre School

Its lovely when your children grow up, you get to see them flourish into who they are meant to be. When Pants was small he had no interest in writing, drawing or anything that involved sitting still and doing something, he was always on the go and still is. Ami is alot different she enjoys sitting down for short periods for craft and puzzles. So with this we want to try and encourage toys that can also help her learn. This I believe will help for when she starts school as they do sit down for long periods so will be helpful in the long run. 

We have been checking out  Junior Scholars an online resource with many different ages ranges. I am looking to buy toys that both the children can play with and enjoy. here is a few of the toys we love and believe will encourage development in many areas. 

Here is the wooden Shape Clock, I like it not only is it attractive to children with the bright colours but can help children learn about time, clolours, numbers and shapes. This toy is not just sutible for preschool but I know my son who is currently in year 2 would enjoy playing with it too. He is currently learning to tell the time so this would benefit a wider range of ages. 

Here is another toy that we love its a wooden whale jigsaw, not only does it look nice on a shelf but also can help children with counting and learning numbers. The peices are made out of wood and are fair trade so would last longer than your usual cardboard ones.

 They do a big range of puzzles some small and some with letters on instead of animals. We like the idea of a small whale and a big whale, my daughter loves to copy her big brother so the idea of the two sitting together doing the puzzles is very sweet. 

They also have a wide range of Orchard toy Games, which create a fun learning environment. This game is called spotty dogs and helps aid numeracy skills by counting and matching numbers.  Both my children love dogs so this game would help then with counting. Ami may be a bit to little for this game but the bright colours and the use of numbers it wont be long before she will be ready to join in. 

Vtexh is another range of education toys they sell. This is the Vtech playtime bus, my son had this when he was a toddler and he played with it for hours. He loves that it had so many buttons and would copy the sounds of the letters and numbers. It has different modes that can help find shapes, numbers and letters. Its a great toy as they can play creatively and learn at the same time. With personal experience of this its a great toy that doesn't come with too many fiddly bits that get lost in the toy box. 

Here is another great toy for learning the stacking train, not only does it have bright colours that are sure to engage young learners but come in many different shapes. My daughter loves stacking things and working out where they went and my son loves timing himself to see how quickly he can sort things out. Not just learning shapes but using logic and developing those fine motor skills. Also which child doesn't like trains. 

Here is just a few exaples of the range of toys they have on Junior scholars, so why not have a look yourself and invest in some good quality learning toys. 

Bath time baby sensory

After seeing many people on their blogs try out thease water beads, I really wanted to try them out! I thought in the bathroom there would be less chance of  me  ami or pants getting them everywhere!

So I was deciding what to do with them and i heard a huge crash Pants had wanted to see what they were and poured them out into the bath as you do!! so i collected them all up (took forever) so just ended up putting them in a tub and running a bath for Ami.

Ami absolutely loved them she like the texture and colour, she did manage to put a few in her mouth but promptly spat them out as they didn't taste of anything! Pants also loved them they were so bouncy he wanted to stay in the bath for ages!!

They were alot of fun and for £1.75 good fun for bath time! although they shrunk 3 days later all went down the plug hole we enjoyed playing with them!!