24.04.2020 - stories, mud kitchen and ideas for home.

Hello, I hope you have enjoyed the YouTube videos!  Let us know if you have any special requests.

I know that some of the children have been struggling with the current situation.  Children do not have the words or the understanding to express how they are feeling and this will sometimes result in regression with sleep, behaviour or toileting.  Here are some lovely child friendly stories to share with them.

https://nosycrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Coronavirus_INSwith-cover.pdf

https://youtu.be/PaXYos5T7x4

Here are some more ideas of things to try at home.

Rescue
I tried this one at home and we made some lovely new T-shirts!
T shirt transferWe have a few dinosaur fans!
Free the dinosaursA great way to explore how we are feeling at the moment.
Faces
Sand paint
https://homegrownfriends.com/home/sand-painting/

I know that the children really enjoy being outside and playing in the mud!  Here are a few ideas to make your own 'mud kitchen' at home;
  • A good basic selection of pots and pans, jugs and funnels, bakeware etc
  • An interesting collection of common kitchen utensils, together with a few unusual and intriguing ones, such as an ice-cream scoop

  • Plenty of bowls and containers, again a range of the common ones and a few special ones such as jelly moulds or ice-cube trays
  • Supplies of natural materials in small containers and/or jars (lids that stay attached are ideal as they do not get lost)
  • Plants for picking, mixing and grinding
  • Enhancements for suitable occasions, such as a selection of food colourings, essences, herbs and spices, chalk for grinding and mixing, and ‘special’ ingredients to add the final magical touches to potions and spells
  • A big washing up bowl, especially one sunk into the worktop, is very helpful as part of the play and for washing up afterwards.
More mud!!

Mud Mapping

Find all the muddy places nearby. Look for hidden nooks and crannies between rocks. Check near puddles. Test each mud patch and rate in terms of squelch, ooze and stickiness. Mark each spot on a map with a splodge of mud!

Dinosaur Swamp

If you have a pocketful of dinosaurs then let them hang out in the mud for a while. Like hippos, they enjoy wallowing in mud. Put little twigs, ferns and big leaves sticking upright. This creates a miniature “Jurassic Park.”
Alternatively, take your favourite plastic animals to a watering hole and let them wallow in the nearby mud. Wash well afterwards. Create a mini mud world for them to live in.

Missing Mud

How can you make a patch of mud go away?

Mud Between the Toes

On hot days it can be very cooling to let your feet have a mud bath. Watch them dry and crack in the sun before washing off in a stream or under water. Make muddy footprints.
Find a patch of mud to walk through in your bare feet. How can you make the mud ooze between your toes?

Mud Pie Masterchef

Some make pies. Others make soup. Lots like stew. Whatever you like to eat, it can be made in a mud kitchen. Hot chocolate anyone?

Making Mud

What is the perfect recipe for a batch of mud? One dollop of clay? Add in a scoop of soil, mix well with dripped in water? You decide. Hold a mud making competition.

Drippy Castles

Scoop up a handful of wet, dripping mud. Turn your hand upside down. Let the mud drip through your fingers and thumb to the ground. Soon little mound will form which will grow in size as you add more drippy mud. Real mud experts will be able to create little mud spires and peaks. Make a line or circle of drippy castles.

Flat as a Pancake

Make your mud patch as smooth as a skating rink. Then decide how you are going to mess it up…

Smell Mud

What does mud smell like? Is it possible to change the smell of a batch of mud and how could you do this?

The Stuck in the Mud Stomp

Take your favourite mud song and have a muddy, stompy sing-a-long! Act out the different animals and how they would squelch and squerch in the mud.


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