Healey Junior, Infant and Nursery School

Awesome activities you can do with your little ones if you find yourselves having to stay at home over the next few weeks-

• Fill a tray with rice - add scoops and cups for tipping and pouring fun or diggers if you have any!
•  Build a den - blankets, sheets and pegs are all you need.
• Torches - turn all the lights off, shut the curtains and pull spooky faces.
• Colour Baths - go around the house on a colour hunt and then add all of the things that can get wet into the bath (or a basket) to explore them/help your child learnt their colours.
• Car Washing - wash your actual car together, or set up a tray of bubbly warm water with a towel and let your little one wash their toy cars. Add old brushes and sponges.
• Make play dough - see the link shared in comments!
•  Pasta play - use real pans and kitchen utensils to mix, scoop and transport dried pasta.
• Stickers on the wall - put up a big sheet of paper (with numbers, shapes, your child's name or anything relevant written on it) and give your child a packet of dot stickers to stick/trace over the markings.
• Pipettes with food colouring onto a slice of white bread or a piece of kitchen paper.
• Shadow puppets - white sheets and a torch, I’ll say no more.
• Washi tape (could use masking tape) on the floor - think shapes, hot scotch, numbers or letters - can you stand on the hexagon? Can you add your beads to the triangle?
• Mirror play - if you have a safe full length mirror that you can lie down on the floor add glass ornamental beads/shells or pebbles to make patterns/pictures with.
• Making faces - using plates, paper plates or mats provide your child with different food stuffs or materials they can use to make silly faces. Challenge them to make different feelings/emotions.
• Muddy animal wash - a bit messy this one but really fun. Cocoa powder, water and flour combined to make 'mud' and a bowl of warm soapy water for them to wash their animals in. Farm animals and dinosaurs work well!
• Making galaxy bottles/sensory bottles - add baby oil (or vegetable oil), food colouring and anything else you desire to an old plastic bottle. Glue the top down if possible and shake! Recipe to follow.
• Choose your child’s favourite book and see what activities they come up with based on the story e.g. Owl babies - nest making.
• Watercolour painting - if you are lucky enough to have these they provide endless fun. Pre-mixed block watercolours and the correct paper makes all the difference. Watercolour block trays can be picked up for about £3 from your local stationary shop.
• Chalk pens on the window - if you’re not too precious about the walls surrounding them!

If you have ANY outside space no matter how small:

• Chalking
• Squirty bottle filled with water
• Bowl of water with an old paintbrush - you can add very diluted paint but just water alone provides endless fun!
• Sticky back plastic/tape strip on the window - add little treasures to it.
• bubble blowing
• Colour hunt in the garden using leaves, flowers or mud.
• Make stick man/ a character using twigs and leaves from the garden.
• Take about a sheet of foil and press it onto different surfaces (a bit like wax crayon rubbing).
• Andrew Goldsworthy art - google him!