Jumble House Challenges, Children, Crafts for kids, Early Learning, Fine Motor Skills, PreSchool

Hands!

Hands may look boring but just look what you can make with them!

Link to video with activities

With a little practice, young children given a chunky pencil, felt tip or crayon can draw around their hand. They will find it even easier to draw round yours.

The outlines can then be coloured or patterned and cut out to,make collages or funny people, creatures, trees or flowers. There’s no end to the creativity.

Older children can be challenged to find a different way to texture each of the fingers.

Progress from drawing round a normal hand-spread to moving some of the fingers to suggest dogs, rabbits etc. Just like when you use your hands to make shadows on the wall.

This is a fun family activity which can be adapted to suit all ages and abilities.

It improves hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills and creative thinking.

Jumble House Learning for young children, parenting, PreSchool, Toddlers

Emotions. Help your child to understand and express.

Feelings. Children often find their feelings confusing. The way our body reacts to our emotions with pounding heads, shivering, hot flushes, fast heart beats can be quite frightening. Sometimes they know what they are feeling and how to tell you but they don’t because they think it’s silly or that only they can feel like this.

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Children need the vocabulary so they can tell us how they feel and the security of knowing we will listen and help. That feelings are normal. They are normal.

Just a simple game is a good way to approach this subject. Because it’s a game then it’s not seen as frightening or intrusive and it’s an opportunity to show them what makes you angry or scared or sad. To show them that even Mums and Dads are human!

Jumble House Art, painting, Printmaking, Modelling for young children, Learning through Play, PreSchool, Science for kids

Raindrops on Puddles Part One

It’s incredible how much can be learnt using raindrops on puddles as inspiration.

Science. Art. Mathematics. Vocabulary. Fine motor skills and lots more.

But to kids it’s all just great fun and that’s what learning should be.

Here are just a few ideas. There will be more in the next few posts.

Jumble House Creativity, Fine Motor Skills, Learning through Play, parenting, PreSchool

Fine Motor Skills 

What are Fine Motor Skills ? 

The term Fine Motor Skills refers to the use and control of all the small movements we do with our hands and fingers (and feet and toes). A new baby has very little control of its hands and fingers but by about five or six months it is able to grasp an object with its whole hand.  At twelve months it will be able to pick up small objects using its thumb and index finger. This is the stage when babies repeatedly  ‘practice’ (often to our annoyance!) picking things up and dropping them. By the age of four most children can use a crayon, stack shapes, turn over pages and cut with scissors.

All these actions require the use of muscles in our hands and fingers.  Generally speaking the stronger the muscles the better are our fine motor skills and as our motor skills develop so does our hand and eye coordination.

In the Kitchen 
There are lots of activities which help to strengthen the muscles of the hand and fingers and also help with coordination and some of the easiest and most fun happen in the kitchen. Children love helping to cook and bake and it is a great way for them to strengthen their hand muscles in addition to absorbing many basic mathematical and scientific concepts.

If you think of all the different ways we use our hands when preparing food. Whisking cream, kneading dough, stirring soup, rolling pastry, spreading butter. The list is endless.

Even picking up small pieces of food involves fine motor skills and the more practice toddlers have the stronger their muscles will become. But we do need to ensure that we demonstrate the correct ‘tripod’ grip. Once children get into a habit of picking things up the wrong way, for example in the fist, it is difficult to correct. 


There are some very ‘fun’ activities involving food. 


Why not make mini fruit and veg or cheese kebabs using straws. The fruit needs to be firm rather than over ripe. Pears, firm bananas and kiwi, apple, Melon and avocado work well and half grapes or cherries or tomatoes can be used as the end pieces. 


Even placing pieces of bread of toast on a plate of scrambled egg to make a fun face is great practice and improves hand-eye coordination.


Playdough is a great medium for strengthening little muscles and for hand-eye coordination.

Practice the tripod grip when pulling pieces apart .


Exercise other muscles by squeezing and rolling and pressing.


One activity I’ve found very popular is illustrated here.  Different types of lines and circles are drawn on sheets of clear plastic. An assortment of wavy and straight lines, long and short lines plus different sizes of circles can also be incorporated into a design or simple picture.

Then pieces of playdough can be made into the correct shape and size to fit over the lines and dots.

Threading beads, pasta, rubber washers infact anything that has a hole and is safe is great fun. I like to have a lidded plastic box full of pasta tubes, beads, washers, together with plastic cord, coloured string, straws and pipe cleaners.


Children will happily play with this assortment oblivious to the fact that they are not only practising fine motor skills and improving hand-eye coordination but are also developing their creativity and learning about texture, colour and even basic number concepts! Not to mention absorbing lots of new vocabulary.

Jumble House Bubbles, Creativity, Early Learning, Free, PreSchool, Science

Learn and have Fun with Bubbles

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Bubbles are so much fun and kids love them. It’s incredible too how often we come into contact with bubbles during our every day lives without even thinking about it. Bread making, whipping up cream, whisking egg whites, fizzy drinks, washing etc etc.

We see them and use them so often that we take them for granted.

But to children , they are MAGIC!

There is so much to be learnt from bubbles but to kids it’s all just good fun. A perfect example of learning through Play.

The theme of one of my learning programmes for preschool children has a theme of Bubbles. If you haven’t watched it yet you can use the link below to view.

BUBBLES. Stories from Jumble House

If you are looking for some more activities on the ‘bubble ‘ theme then here they are! I’ve made short videos on most of the activities so just click on the links to view.

Why are bubbles different colours?
My kids loved this activity!
We half filled a bowl with water and added lots of soap to make masses of strong bubbles. Then we placed our hands under a pile of bubbles and walked around inside and out observing how the colours changed. Children will realise quickly what is happening but they won’t probably know the term ‘reflecting ‘ so this is a good  opportunity to introduce and explain.

Are bubbles always round?



No matter how you try the bubbles you blow will always be round because they are free. There is nothing pushing on them. But, look at the shape of the bubbles on a bubble print. There lots of bubbles are squashed together and so push each other into all kinds of shapes.  Can you make a square bubble?  With a bit of an effort yes!  Learn how on the link below: 

Can you make a square bubble?

Where else do you find bubbles?
Play a game, ‘Spot the Bubbles ‘ . It can last a whole week!
There are bubbles everywhere!

Make some bread.  Yeast produces bubbles when it is given warmth, sugar and liquid. Make some bread using fresh yeast then they can appreciate the process.
Click on the link below the photo to watch how to make delicious ‘ Yummy Srummy Good for my Tummy Bread’!!


Make Bread with Maisie Jumble

Bubbles on the surface of a pond or lake.

Ask questions later like: ‘where do you think they come from?  ‘what is in the water that produces these bubbles? ‘

Click on this link to find out more:  What’s making the bubbles?

Some foods have bubbles.   Just look at a block of Aero chocolate!

Bread. Chocolate Mousse  You can make a fun bubbly jelly too.

So how do we get the air into the liquid?
Here are some good ways to demonstrate this:
Whipping   (cream and egg whites)
Blowing
Steam-like for Cappuccino.
Using a milk frother – .These little milk frothers are really good and providing the milk isn’t too hot Children can make themselves a frothy milk drink.

Bubbles, air and frothy milk 


Early Learning
Of course, while your little ones are discovering bubbles they will also be learning basic scientific and mathematical concepts like temperature, weighing and measuring, density AND accumulating lots of new words.

Jumble House Learning through Play, parenting, Parents, PreSchool

Shopping with young children 


Supermarket Shopping with young children is not easy but I found this activity  helped. In addition it improves observational skills and extends vocabulary and understanding. 

Make a card resource of all your usual supermarket items. 

Prior to going to the shops sit down with your child and make a visual card shopping list. It helps to put the cards in isle order..

As an appropriate isle is reached hand two of three of the cards to your child and challenge them to ‘spot’ the items before you do!   Keeping a score of who is winning also shows children that numbers have a practical side. That they are used in real life. 

Very important! 

It is important to establish ground  ‘rules’ before you go shopping.  The best way to do this is to roleplsy and have a few sessions of ‘going shopping’  games.  Try to include positive rather than negative statements. For example instead of saying ‘You mustn’t run’  say ‘please walk down the isles.’ 

For example:

  •  Please walk down the isles. 
  • Please stay near mummy/daddy
  • We must use out quiet voices.
  • Please wait to be told to take the item off the shelf.
Jumble House Children, Creativity, Early Learning, parenting, PreSchool

Why is it important to develop a child’s creativity? 


Why is it important to develop a child’s creative thinking skills? 

Because creative thinking is probably the most important skill they will ever learn!
Developing creative thinking is about developing self esteem and self confidence. It is about developing a love of learning. Of having the means to deal with the confusion, risks and failures that are part of everyday life. The confidence to lead and to be different from the crowd.

I believe that all children are creative by nature but, unfortunately, many lose their creativity before reaching adulthood. In our education and social system where examination success and conformity reigns supreme, creativity seems to have been forgotten.

Creative thinking is vital in all areas of life. It is a skill which will give your children the edge over others in their chosen career enabling them to be the person who initiates new procedures rather than one of the majority who follow already established routines. It opens the door to new opportunities and new inventions.

It also makes a person interesting! Ensures they are never bored ! Someone who is popular socially and is capable of meaningful and long lasting relationships. 

So how do we recognise a creative thinker? 
A creative thinker is able to think out of the box. They are curious and questioning and not afraid of making crazy suggestions knowing that there may be many possible answers. They make mistakes and learn from these mistakes being happy to try and try again. Creative thinkers don’t feel guilty about daydreaming knowing that often this is when the best ideas are born and when they realise these new ideas they will push them to their limits. They are optimistic, have boundless energy and, despite accomplishing a great deal, still have free time to enjoy their family and hobbies. Last, but not least. They are never bored!

My  Free ‘ Jumble Fun’ learning programme aims at developing creative thinking by: 

Asking Open ended questions

The stories include open ended questions. You are encouraged to ask questions which require more than a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. “What do you think we should use to make …?” “what would happen if …?” “What couid we change…..?

Making choices

The programme encourages children to make their own choices. To make decisions and try them out. If their choices fail to achieve the desired result they are encouraged to try again.  From this they learn to view making mistakes as a new beginning and not as a failure or the end of a 

Story telling and dramatic play

There are opportunities for children to make their own ‘Jumbles’ and to weave stories around them. 

Inventing

The ‘Jumble’ characters enjoy inventing things from well, …… jumble! In other words, from ordinary, everyday household items and objects they can collect in their local environment. Using the characters as inspiration and role models, children will become collectors and inventors, viewing ordinary objects as blank canvasses on which to stamp their own individuality

Fun ! 

The JUMBLES are fun and they encourage your child to have fun being creative and being active rather than passive.  

Enjoy! 

Jumble House Creativity, Early Learning, Education, Learning through Play, Lesson resourceS, PreSchool

It’s FUN learning at JUMBLE HOUSE

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It IS fun learning at JUMBLE HOUSE! There are new learning  activities every week for children from two to seven plus lots of Art and Craft and Science projects for all ages.

The resources are all free and I am very happy for them to be used in nurseries and schools (a nice comment and a ‘follow’ on FaceBook being appreciated in return!)

My Channel has over 150 short videos aimed at motivating children to be proactive rather than passive.  To develop a child’s natural creativity and to encourage a love of learning.

            The Jumble Fun YouTube Channel
The videos are free to watch and  to share but again, if you are using them please subscribe to my channel or comment or drop me an email. 

I love Italy and now spend most of the year there so for Italian children I have set up a separate website and channel containing fun interactive English lessons. 

               Lezioni D’Inglese per Bambini e Ragazzi

Jumble House Early Learning, learning, Learning through Play, nature, PreSchool, Science

Onions! Rooting veg. FUN


Four days ago we made some little rooting containers from plastic water bottle tops stuck onto lids to keep them stable. They work really well!  We put a red onion in one positioned so the base was nearly touching the water. 

Four days later and it looks like this! 


Children of all ages will learn such a lot from just this simple activity but let them find out for themselves by observation and careful questioning. Get them to predict. To investigate. Suggest their own experiments. How far this goes depends on the developmental stage of the child but don’t underestimate. Children are capable of  understanding  and absorbing a lot more than we think! 

Take photos or draw the vegetables at different stages. Take measurements of the shoot and the root and the girth of the onion bulb at the beginnng and every three or four days. Make charts to show the difference.  

Compare the growth of the plant with our growth. What we need to grow. Where we get food from. Where does the food for the plant come from? 
Ask questions and use the question words. What? Where? Why? How? 

What’s happened to the water? The roots? The shoots? The onion bulb ? 

Will this work with other veg.?

With pieces of veg? 

What will happen if we root two of the same veg. but positioned differently.

Ask them to look carefully at the veg. first and to predict where the roots will grow. 

Why do plants grow roots? 

If you turn the onion/potato etc round what will happen to the roots? Try and see. 

Why are roots white and shoots green? 

Do shoots always grow up and roots down? How can we find out? 

Why has the bulb shrunk? 

Now try this! 


Have fun! 

Jumble House Children, Creativity, Kids, PreSchool, Science

Floating Egg Experiment

Why don’t they do this kind of thing at school? By that I mean in  first or primary school.  

If you catch them young so many more children would be interested  in Science! 

Lizzie demonstrates how to make an egg float and delivers a challenge.  

A quick and fun activity to do at home.  Parent supervision is needed. 
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