Category Archives: water play

active learning, art, early education & play, education, outdoor play, play, snow, water play

A Step by Step Guide to Making Ice Ornaments

February 8, 2019 rightfromthestart Leave a comment

It isn’t often we get a cold spell long enough to make ice ornaments, but with freezing temperatures set to last, we made a few batches to hang on our bushes. They look really beautiful, but also provide lots of opportunity to learn about ice, freezing and melting. A few years ago we made some and shared our learning story, as we watched them melt and freeze.

How to Make an Ice Ornament

You will need

Baking trays
Ribbon or string
Food colouring (optional)

Step 1.

Choose a baking /cup cake tray and fill each hole with cold water.

Step 2

Add a drop of food colouring – mix or leave to mix itself which can leave a marbled effect.

Step 3

Snip pieces of ribbon or string and submerge one end in the water, making sure the other end is free. You could loop the string but I prefer to leave it as it makes it easier to tie to larger branches. I usually do this part outside to avoid spilling when you move them to freeze.

Step 4

Leave outside overnight to freeze (or put the tray in your freezer).

Step 5

Hang on a bush or tree. If there is snow on the ground the food colouring will drip onto the snow as they melt. If there are prolonged freezing temperatures the ornaments will melt slightly and form icicles as they re-freeze.

I wasn’t sure how easily the hearts come out of the tins but they came out without any trouble. If they need a little help, bring them inside for a few minutes or run some warm water on the base of the tin. Alternatively, you could use a silicone mould.

The second batch also included owls and bears. We made half of the owls clear, to see how they would look without colour, but kept the colour in the bears, because my daughter thought they would look like gummy bears.

childhood, days out, early education & play, learning environnments, outdoor play, parenting, parents, play, risk taking, water play

You’re My Kind of Mum Friend Because…..

Image March 23, 2016 rightfromthestart 20 Comments

A few weeks ago I went for a walk to the park with my daughter. She likes to climb to the top of the climbing frame and play pirates. The game involves roaming the edges of the park for interesting treasures and on this day, she discovered big rocks. She proceeded to pick them up and roll them down the bank, watching them crash at the bottom. The only other child at the park was a little younger than my daughter and after observing her for a while, she found her own rock. She used all of her efforts to lift the rock and proudly show it to her mum. At which point, she was greeted with a look of horror and her mum quickly took the rock away and ushered her to ‘more suitable’ pursuits.

This kind of reaction is very familiar. When my children were toddlers, other parents would often ask me if my children were okay when they climbed a ladder and slid down the longest slide, as I observed from a distance. I have never been a parent to shadow my child’s every move and rarely feel the need to step in.

It is always refreshing to find a parent who shares my attitude. On a recent trip to the park with a friend, I was so happy to find someone who not only didn’t bat an eyelid when my eldest started paddling barefooted in the cold wet mud but actively encouraged the others to join in. When the children threw rocks on the ground to see if they would break , she gave them advice on how to do it safely, rather than stopping them because it was too dangerous.

You are my kind of mum friend because you let all these experiences happen.

FullSizeRender [345550] — It’s fun to stand on the roundabout, when we fell, we worked out how we needed to balance to stay on.

WP_20160322_003 1 — When you are 5 you can climb a big rock without any help.

WP_20151130_001 — I can test the ice if I stand on the edge and throw sticks to see if it will break.

WP_20151124_005 — I explore the size of the ripples as I throw stones into the pond. If I get too close I might get wet and the water is cold!

WP_20151113_002 1 — Mud is good – the squishier the better!

WP_20140501_005 — We don’t need a swimming costume to get wet.

WP_20140123_008 (1) — Who can find the biggest branch?

WP_20130619_011 — Don’t tell me it’s cold, I need to feel it!

FullSizeRender [345562] — It’s okay to play – even when you’re almost 12.

FullSizeRender [345556] — If I ride on my coat, I go faster.

FullSizeRender [345552] — It’s okay to remove your shoes and coat when it isn’t quite Spring.

blossom — Take off your shirt and play with a stick.

getting wet — I’m going to have a shower. I’m getting very wet, now the rain is staying on me.

And when you let these things happen, with a little bit of support they will have the courage to jump.

art and crafts, childhood, early education & play, imagination, music education, outdoor play, play, pre schoolers, singing, Uncategorized, water play

Pirate Play

Image August 12, 2014 rightfromthestart 4 Comments

In the hot sunshine the girls don’t really need a lot of encouragement to play with water. When I suggested we set up their pirate ship in the garden and make a plank that they could jump from into the paddling pool, they thought it was a great idea.

To make it truly authentic, we made pirate swords so they could push each other off the plank in true pirate fashion. They coloured them with chubbie paint markers before adding jewels.

We emptied the paddling pool to clean it, leaving water on the lawn. The girls decided that this should be a swamp where crocodiles lived. They collected branches to lay across it so that they could cross the swamp.

branches to cover a swamp — Leaves are the only thing that works to help us cross the swamp, everything else sinks.

They then went on the lookout for something to use as a plank and decided on a large branch that had been pruned from our maple.

I had been changing the words to songs to fit a pirate themed music class. ‘If you’re a pirate and you know it say aaarh’, ‘1 little, 2 little, 3 little pirates’ and , ‘there were 10 in the ship and the pirate said walk the plank’. The girls made up songs of their own, counting down as the pirates walked the plank one-by-one.

Next they set out on a pirate treasure hunt. One of the girls hid the treasure and made an X from sticks to mark where it was. My eldest made a map and clues for the girls to follow.

Now we need to go this way towards the den.

Open the chest with the magic key. Wow, look at the treasure!

More Pirate Play Ideas

Winter Pirates

Quills

Pirate Phonics

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. Some of the art materials were gifted for trial purposes.

early education & play, holidays, outdoor play, play, pre schoolers, Uncategorized, water play

9 Water Gun Activities for Summer Fun

July 18, 2014 rightfromthestart 6 Comments

We recently acquired a set of water guns because the girls love a water fight. On a hot day a water fight is great fun but it isn’t always warm enough. When a water fight isn’t the best option, here are some other water gun activities you could try.

1. Ping-Pong Blast

Line up golf tees with ping-pong balls placed on top.

Ready, Steady, Blast…….

How many can you knock down?

2. Fireworks Display

“Come outside, we’ve got something to show you”, the girls called out one evening, shortly after July 4th. They treated us to a watery firework display, creating shapes with their water guns and giving each one a different name.

3. Skittles/Bowling

Using a set of garden skittles (or in our case bottles, tin cans and cups) line them up and see how many you can knock down by squirting water at them.

4. Ball push

Lay out different types of balls.

Which ones do you think you can move with the water gun?

5. Duck Race

Race ducks in the paddling pool, using the water gun to move them from one side to the other.

6. Ring the Bell

Hang a bell , saucepan lid or other metallic object from a bush and investigate the sound it makes if you squirt it. You could try a variety of objects and listen to the different sounds.

7. Trampoline Splash

My youngest decided to spray the trampoline and invited me to bounce. As we bounced the water splashed into the air like jumping in a puddle. Great for bouncing on a hot day.