Jumble House celebrations, crafts, Creativity, Early Learning, Easter, Learning through Play

Easter from JUMBLE HOUSE

Learning for Under Fives

Today’s programme introduces the letter Ee, the colour white and number 5.

There is also a guest! A Jumble Tuft Easter Bunny who brings lots of Easter Eggs.

Lizzie shows you how to make some rather cool eggs and also a delicious quick and easy desert.

Lots of extension activities.

This link takes you to today’s programme.

Don’t forget there are lots of Lizzie Witch and Jumbles  Books to enjoy . See the ‘books’ page on this site or copy and paste this into your browser: amazon.com/author/judibrereton

Some of the books are also available on Amazon as ebooks.

Don’t miss: More Easter Crafts here.

Happy Easter from Jumble House!

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

Fun shape Art and Maths activity

Young children are naturally creative and love drawing and painting and making things.

They will enjoy the activity shown in the video above and learn some new shape and size  vocabulary at the same time.,

Recognising shapes within objects  improves observational skills and is a good grounding for drawing and sketching.

Although designed for preschool aged children this activity can be adapted to suit any age depending on the chosen object.

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

Balloons Preschool Learning from Jumble House

It’s FUN learning at Jumble House so come on in! (The link below will take you to the programme)

Thematic Preschool Learning. Short programmes (typically around 6/7 minutes) for 3 to 5 year olds. Phonics, Number, Art and Science connected to a central topic.

The programmes are presented by Lizzie Witch and friends!

Designed as a ‘ Watch with,Mum, Dad, Auntie, each programme suggests follow-up activities.

The introduction to each programme is the same encouraging interaction and learning of rhyme and numbers to 10.

BALLOONS. It’s fun learning at Jumble House

Today the theme is balloons

The letter is: Pp

The number is: 3

The colour is green .

And the narrated story is all about PEDRO PEAR and the folk who live on FIVE A DAY HILL.

Jumble House Jumble House, Learning through Play

MULTI COLOURS. Fun learning at Jumble House. 

This is the fourth  programme for under-fives from JUMBLE HOUSE.

the number is 5.  The letter is M.  The theme is ‘MULTICOLOURS’  

All activities are designed for under fives and to be shared with an adult. The Art activities can be adapted to suit older children. 

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Jumble House Creativity, Learning through Play, Science

Why is science important?

Why?


Because young children are naturally curious and science investigations stimulate this natural curiosity.

Because science answers all those tricky questions about the world around them.

Because it encourages children to problem solve. To be creative thinkers. To develop a love of learning.

Because it motivates children to be active not passive.

Because by engaging in science investigations children learn to challenge what they see and hear rather just accepting.

Because they learn that making mistakes is the way to learn.

Because children learn best through doing. Through play.

Because it’s FUN!

You don’t need to be a teacher or have a science degree to engage in science investigations. ‘ Jumble Fun’ has made Science easy and fun.

Resources have been kept to a minimum and can usually be found in your kitchen or bathroom. We suggest watching a programme yourself prior to viewing with your child then you can easily gather the resources together in a bag

The short programmes not only show fun science investigations but suggest ways to adapt the investigation plus extension activities plus it’s all free.

        Click here to go to the FUN SCIENCE playlist

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 Children, Early Learning, Education, parenting, Science, toys

Why Science for young children ? 

Why is science important?  

Because it answers all the questions that kids ask like ‘what are clouds?’ and ‘Why is the sky blue’ and ‘Why do bubbles pop?’ 

Because it explains how the world works. Why earthquakes happen. Why we have thunder and lightening. Why we sprinkle salt on icy paths. Why food goes bad. 

Because science helps kids learn to predict, to problem solve, to research. To persevere and be patient. They learn that not everything works first time and that you learn from your mistakes. 

Because they develop their own opinions rather than being contented accepting those of others. 

Through science children learn to think about the outcome of their actions. The possible results. It motivates them to problem solve. To come up with new ideas and maybe new inventions when they grow up. It also gives them a head start in the future since creative thinkers are sought after in every field of work.

Do you like science? Are you interested in science? Do you enjoy helping your child find out the scientific answers behind his questions? Can you think of fun, practical ways to do this ? If your answer is ‘No’ then it’s probably because you had a bad experience in your early years. Perhaps you didn’t enjoy science at school?  

Primary school teachers have a huge responsibility. It is SO important that they are not just confident in their scientific knowledge but that they are really interested in science. If children are taught by people who don’t have a passion for a subject then unfortunately it is very likely that this negativity will be passed on to their young pupils. 

Research shows that children have formed either a positive or negative opinion about science by the time they are seven or eight. Once formed its very difficult to change that opinion. 

This is so sad because all children are born as creative thinkers. As scientists! They are naturally inquisitive. They want find out about the world around them. Through their play children are discovering and problem solving every minute. For them science is exciting and fun! 

So what can we, as parents do? Well, it’s unlikely you will be able to change your child’s teacher! It’s also unlikely that you will be aware of how they are influencing your child. But nurturing a child’s interest in science begins well before they go to school and once established should see them through any negativity. 

After all science is just part of our every day life. Opportunities arise every time you make bread or dry the clothes or make ice cubes or boil an egg or put soap in the bath or wipe condensation off the windows.  


Children are never too young to investigate. Watch them playing in water, in sand, with play dough, colour mixing,  building towers with bricks. Without realising they are testing volume, density, diffusion, balance, temperature, weight and so much more. This is why hands-on play is so important.   

With support and guidance and motivation a pre school child will enjoy trying to find out the answers to their own questions rather than relying and trusting the answers of others. 

But what if you are not interested in science or unsure how to help. If you can’t think of open ended questions or activities which will stimulate their interest? 

There are plenty of books and science kits and internet sites available but beware of those which require buying specialised equipment. There is no need! You probably already have everything you require in your cupboards! Also be wary of any which simply demonstrate how to carry out an investigation and provides the answer! 

Children require programmes to make them think and question.  The link below will take you to a site which does just this. 

            FUN SCIENCE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN