Learning Resources Mess Free Play Foam

Blake loves sensory play and also getting messy. He's favourite activities at the moment feature water, kinetic sand or painting. I've realised recently that I haven't had the tuff tray out in awhile, so I've decided during the Easter holidays we are going to have lots of fun getting messy.

Foam and slime tend to be a very popular sensory activity recently which I've seen popping up on social media. We've yet to try these which I feel bad about however when I spotted mess free foam on Amazon I had to get some for Blake.

We decided to do the activity one day after preschool the other week. I had tried the activity with Blake previously however he wasn't interested at the time. However now he is absolutely loving it!

The messy free play foam is from learning resources and you can get various sized packs and I picked up the starter pack with 4 different colours. It's a strange sort of texture as it feels sticky but doesn't stick to hands etc or makes your hands feel sticky after playing.

It's also a non toxic formula that never dries out! It's easy to mould and a great activity to help develop fine motor skills. We love that its mess free and Blake gets really into playing with it and keeps him entertained for a good period of time. 

The only downside I can say is that it doesn't come with a container. However this wasn't too much of a problem as we have quite a few Tupperware boxes so used one to store it in. Amazon do sell a bigger set though that does come with a container which is worth looking out for.

    

Oats & Water Sensory Mash

Quite a few months ago now I purchased a tuff tray so that Blake and I can have lots of fun at home doing sensory/messy play. This will be the second time I've used it for that though as I have also been using it for letting him play with his Mega Bloks in.

In my last post I mentioned that I have been reviewing Twinkl, which is a learning resource site for teachers, childminders and parents. One of the sections I'm loving in the birth to twos resource pack is the sensory activities to aid learning. 

I chose to begin by doing one that was only slightly messy so that Blake can get used to doing this kind of thing. The Oats and Water Sensory Mash looked like a fab one to try out. 

I like that it's edible as at this age children love to put everything in their mouth. 

It's also very simple to do too. 

All you need is: 

- A large container or like me a Tuff tray 

- Oats

- Water

- Kitchen Utensils ( we used a whisk and some of Blake's snack pots) 

- Cinnamon, nutmeg or brown sugar ( we used a small amount of cinnamon) 

To begin with I let Blake play with the oats on just its own with the utensils. I was very proud of him for touching it on his own as usually he doesn't like to touch stuff like this especially as he hates porridge. As you can see below he liked spreading it out in the tuff tray with his hands. 

I then gradually added more water letting him explore each time I added more. 

I did have to encourage him once the oats were wet to actually touch them, but after awhile he was fine and he started to copy me using the whisk and playing with the gooey mixture. 

I added the cinnamon and encouraged him to mix it into the oats which he loved doing.

I love how simple it is to do too although I'm glad that Stuart was around to help with bath time afterwards. I'm looking forward to doing more of the activities with Blake that are in the pack and also coming up with my own ideas too. 

Does your little one love messy/sensory play? 

Amazon Haul

It's time for another haul post, I recently did a spot of shopping on Amazon and

wanted to share with you what I ordered. 

Splash About Baby Wrap Neoprene Wetsuit 

As Blake has swimming classes every Saturday afternoon we use a wrap to keep him 

warm in the pool and this is the second Splash about wrap we have purchased. 

The only fault I find with it is the sizing isn't the best he is 14 months and we are having to put him

in a size 18-30 months wrap as his 6- 18 month one is too small now. 

Other than that we love it, Blake also has the swim nappy and the nappy wrap too. 

Playful Parenting (Book)

I chose this book as I thought it would be a great parenting guide. 

It seems to have good reviews and is about helping your child to develop 

and learn through play. 

The Unmumsy Mum (Book)

The Unmumsy Mum writes candidly about motherhood like it really is: the messy, maddening, hilarious reality, how there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach and how it is sometimes absolutely fine to not know what you are doing. 

I'm really looking forward to reading this it looks like an easy to dip into book for when you have a bit of time to unwind. 

Garland Square Tray

This may sound like an usual purchase since we don't have a garden. 

However we plan to use this for messy play with Blake. 

Since we went to a messy play class when Stuart was off work we decided that 

we wanted to do messy play at home with Blake. 

At the group they had these trays to put all kinds of messy activities in and

I also know nurseries use them not just for messy play but for

playing with toys such as Lego. 

Splash Mat 

The blue splash mat underneath the tray goes hand in hand with messy 

play as it means we can keep the floors cleaner.

I then purchased some books to help come up with some ideas of play. 

365 things to make and do

I love Usborne books and this one is fab it has so many great activity ideas. 

I do feel that most of them will be better for when Blake is older though. 

With some of the activities I feel I can adapt them slightly so that they are more age appropriate for him now such as the hand printing ideas. 

101 things for kids to do outside

Another fab book that has a wide range of activities and can be adapted to suit 

the age of your child. 

I love the idea of this book as we don't have a garden and I find it hard to come

up with ideas of what we can do outside. 

The great thing is that this book has activities for all seasons so that I can find something for us to do no matter the weather.

Little book of messy play

The title of the book says it all. 

A book filled with messy play ideas. I think these were the little

 books I used in college when studying in childcare to come up with activities for when 

I was at my placement. 

What do you think of my haul?

Do you own any of these items?

Messy Play,Afternoon Tea, Car Seat Shopping

Last week Stuart had booked a week off work and we made use of his time off with spending time as a family. 

On Monday 1st February we went to a new group in our local area called Splat! Messy Play. 

Blake had lots of fun there and we will definitely be going again. 

It's £4 for one adult and one child and as we went with Stuart it was £5 for the 3 of us.

Each week has a different theme and last weeks theme was winter. 

Here is the list of activities that were there: 

• Faux Snow (and baby taste-safe alternative)

• Hot chocolate sensory tray

• Mashed potato and beans (comfort food)

• Snowman cotton bud printing / painting

• Frozen oobleck 

• Mittens colouring and free drawing paper roll

• Taste-safe cloud dough 

• Winter Soup (sensory water play)

Blake really enjoyed playing with the hot chocolate sensory tray but wasn't too keen on the mash potato and beans tray. 

We have decided to go once every 4 weeks and the other times I am planning on messy play at home with him. 

Tuesday was a rather relaxed day we went out to town to get mine and Blake's 

passport photos sorted out ready for our holiday later this year. We then just had time at home

relaxing and Blake enjoyed playing with his toys, listening to stories and watching a bit of Cbeebies. 

Wednesday Stuart and I spent the afternoon out whilst my in laws looked after Blake. 

As our wedding anniversary was the next day we went out to the cinema and saw Room 

followed by a lovely 3 course meal at Chimmichanga's in Milton Keynes. 

Blake had lots of fun over at Granny and Grandpa's which included watching 

In The Night Garden. 

Thursday was our anniversary and we went out for Afternoon tea at a little cafe called Sorelli. 

This was the first time I had ever had afternoon tea and I loved it! 

We both had coffee I had a latte and Stuart had a cappuccino. 

We have been to Sorelli before for coffee and cake so knew that the food was going to be lovely. 

Sandwiches:

- Egg and Mayo 

- Tuna and Mayo 

- Mature Cheddar Cheese

- Ham 

and

- Salmon 

Cakes: 

- Mini Victoria sponge

- Mini Carrot cake

- Mini Black Forrest cake

- Scones with Jam and Cream 

The three of us had such a lovely time. 

On Friday we went out and got Blake a new car seat we went to our local In Car Safety Centre to make sure that

the one we got would fit the car/s it would need to go in. 

The lady we spoke to was really helpful and knew what she was talking about. 

Originally we wanted Blake to stay rear facing for longer and was looking at the Joie stages

car seat as it can be used both rear and forward facing however we found that in the car it wasn't really

suitable as it wasn't very stable and kept moving around and Blake looked very uncomfortable. 

We decided to in the end go for the forward facing Britax Duo Plus and Blake seems happy and comfortable in

it and as it can fit in both cars we need it to it is ideal as one car has ISOFIX and the other doesn't.