Tag Archives: pre school

Mess Free Painting

March 2, 2012 rightfromthestart 2 Comments

Today we received a very welcome parcel from Baker Ross. Right From the Start has joined their blogger network, they send us lots of goodies and we come up with our own creative projects for using them. The theme of our first parcel is painting.

We love painting. I paint when I find the time and find it very therapeutic. The girls also love to paint, in thesummer we paint outside .The girls enjoy painting on canvases and I display them in our hallway.

Today we went for the mess free option by trying out Colour Me Chubby Water Soluble Markers.

These are perfect for small hands, dry really quickly and don’t make a mess. Even better they are washable, do not stain clothes and don’t dry out if you leave the lid off (although I didn’t tell the children this). The markers are great for an early mark making tool on large pieces of paper, they are sturdy and the paint comes out easily.

canvas painting by 3 year old — My most recent painting

My 7 Year old decided to try them with the wooden sea stencils. These are great for little hands as they have large, chunky handles, meaning that they are easy to hold in place with one hand whilst drawing around them with the other.

This non-messy option was good for the baby too. We did our painting on the floor so that she could move more freely. She loved playing with the lids, taking them on and off and enjoyed painting on the paper although it was sometimes difficult to get them upright enough to make a mark. She decided as all babies do that it would be a good idea to see what the paints tasted like. However, as they are fully washable and non-toxic I didn’t need to worry – a quick wipe removed the orange lipstick.

I was really impressed with the results and when we have limited time and I can’t face the mess involved with painting this is a great alternative.

The Final Results

early education & play, parenting, Uncategorized

Love to Learn on CBeebies

February 17, 2012 rightfromthestart 2 Comments

I don’t generally recommend young children learn by watching television but I am human and like the rest of us appreciate a bit of respite from time to time. Now that my 3 year old no longer naps during the day, after a busy morning at playgroup an hour watching television helps her to relax. I don’t agree with young children watching commercial channels so always put my trust in CBeebies.

The quality of the early learning programming is generally of a high standard and well researched, we particularly like Something Special and Driver Dan’s Storytrain (especially as we are on the lookout for the episodes featuring her big sister).

At the end of February CBeebies are launching a new cluster of programming entitled Love to Learn. This will bring together a number of programmes, which are designed to give the younger members of the CBeebies audience an introduction to literacy and numeracy. Programmes will include the new shows, Numtums and The Lingo Show, alongside new episodes of established favourites Alphablocks and Abadas. These programmes will be scheduled together allowing children to have fun while they learn their letters and get to know their numbers.
The Numtums are cuddly Numbats (rare marsupial, native to Western Australia) each with a number on their tummy. Combining a troop of animated Numtums, children, sing-along songs and a distinctive, mixed-media style, the programme introduces the basics of number recognition and then gently moves on to counting objects and identifying amounts in a variety of fun scenarios. The series is reminiscent of the animated snippets that were a key feature of my favourite children’s programme, Sesame Street. I’m sure these will keep the children engaged and make learning fun.
I’m really looking forward to The Lingo Show . This began life a year ago as an online brand to introduce children to a variety of languages. It is a long time since I visited the CBeebies website, so I wasn’t aware it existed but I was very excited to see that the languages featured include Welsh. Growing up in Wales I have a very basic knowledge of the Welsh language, but my children were captivated. My 7 year old even wrote down a list of words to remember ( we looked at the food section). The variety of languages featured include Polish, Somali and Punjabi and this could be a really useful resource for nursery workers to learn basic vocabulary when teaching children with an additional language. The TV series will continue to introduce children to words in different languages – specifically French, Spanish and Mandarin .
The episodes see host bug Lingo send Mandarin bug Wei, Spanish bug Queso and French bug Jargonaise off into the real world to choose everyday objects and props to include in their grand finale – The Big Bug Show. Each episode focuses on one language, introducing children to six key words, plus examples of everyday vocabulary like ‘hello’, ‘thank you’ and ‘well done’. There are opportunities for children to develop both speaking and listening skills as they are encouraged to repeat words with the bugs, voiced by native speakers of the target language. I’m definitely going to make time to watch this with the kids.

The new episodes of Alphablocks are in a slighter longer format than in the past and will continue to use best-practice phonics teaching to help young children develop engagement and confidence with reading and making words. For those unfamiliar with the series Alphablocks are 26 living letters who fall out of the sky and discover that if they hold hands and make a word, it comes to life.

Abadas aims to help children to learn new vocabulary that corresponds to objects they come across in their everyday lives.
The new episodes feature the familiar fun faces of Hari the hippo, Ela the fox and Seren the bat (all with Welsh accents) who come to life when a pop-up book is opened. Once the book is opened, the Abadas’ world comes alive and it’s playtime for the three adventurers. Through these adventures the Abadas encourage the young audience to re-tell a story and be able to ask questions and tell others what they have learned.
The season of programming will also include repeats of the popular numbers series Numberjacks.

I hope that by scheduling these programmes together, children will become naturally inquisitive about letters and numbers. The 5 minute programmes are perfect for young children’s attention spans and this short concentrated burst of literacy and numeracy programmes could serve as a great introduction to other hands on activities. Pre-school children do not need to learn to read, write and count but the programmes could introduce the concepts without any pressure. Take the lead from your child, if they are showing an interest you can develop it further. The Grown Ups section of the CBeebies website has excellent articles about how to support your child’s early learning including phonics , numeracy, story telling and mark making and includes many additional activities. Over the next few weeks I will also be sharing literacy and numeracy ideas here. If there are any particular areas you would like inspiration for add a comment and I will follow it up.

The Love to Learn programmes will be on air from 27th February every weekday on CBeebies. The scheduling is 09:00 Numtums

09:05 Numberjacks

09:20 Alphablocks

09:25 Abadas .

The Lingo Show will air sometime during March.

The timings are perfectly placed just after the school run , before we go out and explore numeracy and literacy in everyday situations.

play, pre schoolers, review, sesame street, technology

Sesame Street Once Upon a Monster on Kinect – A Review

October 13, 2011 rightfromthestart Leave a comment

I have been so excited about the forthcoming release of this game for a number of reasons.

I am a huge Sesame Street fan and think it is the best in pre-school entertainment
I have been waiting for a game that my 3 year old can play easily on Kinect.
It is billed as a co-operative game and I would love to find a game that my children won’t argue over.
I am interested in evaluating its educational merit and whether or not it could be used in a pre-school classroom.

So when I was offered a copy to review I jumped at the chance.

The game centres around a story book ‘ Once Upon a Monster’ that Elmo and Cookie Monster jump into to embark on adventures. As each chapter unfolds they encounter monster friends both new and familiar (Grover and Oscar) and help them to solve problems through a number of fun tasks. The graphics and the story behind the game are captivating and we were all excited to see what would happen next.

The game is designed with drop in/ out co-operative play. It can be played solo or with the help of an adult or sibling, if you decide to join in half way through a small monster appears in the corner of the screen and directs you to wave. This is great for young children as they often decide to wander off in the middle of a game but it doesn’t spoil the game for the other child. The game is only suitable for 2 children which means that it probably wouldn’t be suitable for use in pre-school unless you wanted to use it as an exercise in turn taking. I would like to see it adapted for 3 children, partly because I have 3 children and it would avoid one being left out and partly so that siblings could play with a parent to help if necessary.

With Kinect games I have found that my 3 year old has struggled to keep within the sensor. There is a helpful built in feature with this game in that if the child steps outside of the sensors limits a monster pops up and points in the direction that they need to move.

I had high hopes for this game as a controllorless game that my 3 year old would be able to use easily. However I encountered a few problems which meant that she couldn’t play it independently. To get inside the page of a book the monsters ask you to bring both arms together. This worked really well when my 7 year old or myself did it but it didn’t seem to work for my 3 year old or her friend, even though they were making the correct movements. The other problem is that if you go too close to the sensor (or my one year old runs in the way) a menu pops up . You need to wave on the back button to go back to the game. My girls became frustrated because the sensor found it difficult to pick up which player was trying to direct it.

So far we have played the first of 6 chapters. This centres on cheering up Marco the monster and helping him get to a birthday party. The tasks along the way include running through the woods collecting objects and avoiding obstacles, flying to the tree tops to collect fruit with Grover, choosing outfits for Seamus the monster, drumming and my personal favourite disco dancing with Grover.

The usual response from my 7 year old when playing Kinect is to moan at her younger sister for getting in the way. When she tried to join in yesterday my 7 year old complained and I told her that it was meant to be for 2 players. The mood soon changed to a lovely picture as my 3 year old watched her sister intently and copied her every move. It is certainly fulfilling some of the games aim to foster a social and emotional curriculum in our household.

There could be a few tweaks to make it easier for young children to play but the game is engaging and fun and my high expectations were not disappointed. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the other chapters have in store.

Sesame Street Once Upon a Monster is released on 14th October

early education & play, play, pre schoolers, review

Fisher-Price Red Rover Game – A Review

October 4, 2011 rightfromthestart Leave a comment

My middle daughter is 3 next week and she has just become interested in games. We have found some that occupy her and her friend but I am always on the lookout for more.

Today Red Rover arrived at our door. This is a new Pre-school game by Fisher-Price that teaches colours, shapes, numbers and letters in a fun way.

My first pleasant surprise was to find that gone are the hours of removing fiddly packaging. The security tabs have been redesigned so that they are quick and easy to remove.

Red Rover the dog is sturdy and compact and wears a backpack to store all the bones that form part of the game. This will make it easy to store and to put away without losing all the pieces.

The game begins by placing all the bones face down around the floor. Each bone has a colour and a shape, number or letter on it. You then press Red Rover’s nose to choose easy level (colour only), or hard which includes all the attributes. Press Red Rover’s nose and he calls out a colour to find. The children run around the room turning over the bones until they find the correct one. Once they have found it they put it into Red Rover’s mouth and he tells them if they are correct. If it is the wrong colour he says ‘Yeuchh’ which we thought was very cute. If they find the right one they get to keep that bone and the game continues. If the correct bone is not found within a specific time the children are directed to return to Red Rover and he chooses another. The object of the game is to collect the most bones.

My kids loved it. I had to encourage my 7 year old to let her younger sister find a few bones when she got a little competitive, but they had fun together. I think I might give them a bag each next time as it was easy to forget the bones you had collected when engrossed in the fun of the game. I love that it is an active game and it kept my lively pre-schooler engrossed. I envisage a few tears as the children compete to be the first to find a bone, but they’re all valuable lessons.

There were a couple of down sides. As with many electronic toys the accent is American and American phrases such as two times rather than twice are used. I would have preferred Red Rover to have had a British accent but it didn’t distract from the fun of the game. The other point is that the letters on the bones were upper case. I always teach lower case letters first and often wonder why toy manufacturers tend to use capitals. Is it to familiarise children with the initial letter of their names?

My daughter is having a small 3rd birthday party next week and I will add this game to the list of party games. A great fun way to encourage children to learn shapes, colours, numbers and letters.

pre schoolers, review, toddlers

Little Princess – I Want to Play iApp

August 2, 2011 rightfromthestart Leave a comment

I’ve been given the chance to try out the new Little Princess I Want to Play iApp. As I am always on the lookout for good apps for pre-schoolers, especially those of an educational nature I thought I would give it a try.

My first impressions were favourable – the Tony Ross illustrations are as vibrant as those in the books and there is a selection of 4 games to play. The games are simple enough for young children to play, are very visual and have nice sound effects. The instructions for the games are written on the screen. As an app designed for pre-school children I feel it would be very helpful if they were also explained in audio, although once the rules are explained by an adult they are very easy to follow.

My 2 year old absolutely loved this app. She made her way through each of the games starting with pairs as this is familiar from many other apps. The cards are touched to reveal characters from the Little Princess stories and the object is to reveal all the matching pairs.

The dressing up game was a firm favourite, a selection of clothes and accessories are dragged onto the princess until she is dressed, you can then take a picture of your chosen outfit. My daughter was a little disappointed that when she dressed the princess in her swimming costume complete with armbands, goggles, flippers and rubber ring, the princess did not go off for a swim. Perhaps this could be an added feature? A helpful arrow appears to show where the accessories should be placed on the princess, helping to avoid unnecessary frustrations.

Bath Time was another popular choice, Puss and Scruff need to be cleaned. To begin with you rub the animals to lather them up (an arrow appears to tell you if you have missed a bit) and once they are covered in soap, bubbles appear . The object is to pop all the bubbles in the shortest space of time. Even my 9 month old enjoyed playing this one (much to the annoyance of her sister).

The final game is bunny bop. Rabbits appear from rabbit holes and the object is to bop as many as possible on the head in the alloted time. If you bop Puss or Scruff points are deducted ( this didn’t deter my 2 year old who prefered to bop the cat and dog – clearly not as competitive as her dad then).

The app was a huge success with my 2 year old and my 7 year old enjoyed it too. I wouldn’t say it has any particular educational value but is a very good entertainment app for under 5’s.

The Little Princess I Want to Play iApp is available to buy for £1.99. Money well spent I would say.

This app was tested on the iPad.