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.

    

Festive Sensory Tuff Spot

I'm not sure why but I've not really shared activities that I do with Blake that often on here. We have a tuff tray and my aim is for next year to use it a lot more and share with you some ideas. On December 1st I decided that I wanted to put our tree up but than I came up with an idea of a festive sensory tuff spot first. So I delayed putting the tree up and let him explore some Christmas decorations as we have quite a few with different textures etc. 

Here is what I included:

- Tinsel 

- Faux mistletoe

- Different tree decorations in shapes and sizes

- Mini Christmas tree

- Bell tree decoration 

- Felt Christmas tree pen

What Did The Caterpillar Eat? Sensory Bag

One of our favorite books to read to Blake is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Its a book that I think most children have had read to them, and one that i can vaguely remember being read to when I was little. Its one of Blake's first books that we purchased for him and he loves it. 

So when I was looking through the fab resources for newborn- two years from Twinkl and came across some The Very Hungry Caterpillar activities, one of them I knew I had to do was the What did the Caterpillar  eat? Sensory bag. 

Its so easy to make and Blake has had lots of fun with it too. 

You can find the resources and how to make this activity here. 

Blake still is at an age where he can still have fun with activities like this but as he gets older he will start to understand and engage more so this activity will really help with is learning. 

I am going to also do this activity again with him when he is a little older as at the moment its all about the sensory aspect rather than learning about food names etc. 

As a parent, sometimes messy activities can be a pain to do. This activity is non messy and and because its easy to make and do its not time consuming either. The only thing is that you will need a laminater which in my opinion is an investment to have if you love doing loads of activities at home. Because the items are laminated you can clean them and resuse them  so that you wont have to print them off again. Once you have finished the activity all you have to do is remove the laminated bits and pop the ziplock bag straight in the bin. 

What do you think of this sensory bag activity do you think your little one would love to do this? 

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? 

Blake's First Halloween

So yesterday was Blake's first Halloween, now originally we weren't planning to do anything with regards to it. 

This is because we aren't really big on Halloween so don't in general tend to do anything for it. 

The initial plan was that we would wait for Blake to be a little older to participate in Halloween and dressing up

but in the end we changed our mind.

I had found out that the NCT were holding a Halloween fun morning at a local School with sensory activities etc so we booked tickets as thought it would make a change to do something different on a Saturday morning. 

I am so glad we changed our mind and actually did do something for Halloween even though Blake won't remember a thing it's still something to look back on. 

For Blake's costume we chose to dress him as a pumpkin. 

We already had a black top and black trousers so it was pretty simple we found this 

pumpkin top for £1 in Wilko to go over his black long sleeve top. 

At the event there was a few bits to do that were suitable for his age our favorite is the sensory tray. 

The trays each had uncooked red lentils with pumpkins of different shapes and sizes with spoons etc so that they could have a play about. Some of the trays also had cooked spaghetti that had been colored, shaving foam, pine cones and other various sensory bits and bobs. 

There was also a musical session with Halloween songs and music which Blake also loved.

I hope you all had a lovely Halloween?

 I'd love to know what you all got up to and what you or any children you have dressed up as.

comment below. 

Paddy's Bathroom

Blake loves bath time and we love trying out new bath products for him. 

We try and bath Blake every two days, every three days at a stretch. 

Sometimes he has to have an emergency bath after a poo explosion which is happening a lot less these days. 

Paddy's Bathroom sent us a range of yummy, fruity smelling products for Blake to try at bath time! 

Paddy's Bathroom has launched a NEW range of certified organic and natural  toiletries especially for little ones. 

Created by Ella's Kitchen brand founder Paul Lindley, Paddy's Bathroom toiletries have as much natural and organic stuff as possible in them. 

They are super gentle and sting free protecting little one's eyes.

Paddy's bathroom is on a mission to make bath time fun with playful textures, heavenly smells, squirty bottles and loads of bubbles. 

Two of the Paddy's bath room items that we have been sent is the squirty stuff.

The squirty stuff are foamy hair and body wash and comes in "smells like squishy mango's" and "smells like juicy pineapples".

The foamy stuff is also a hair and body wash and comes in "smells like rosy apples" ideal for making bubble beards. 

The Bubbly stuff "smells like tangy tangerines" is a scrummy smelling bubble bath which makes lots of bubbles. 

The stuff for shiny hair "smells like squeezy lemon's" is a lemony shampoo that is kind to little eyes. 

Last of all is the stuff for hands "smells like squeeky clean lemons" is a fun foam hand wash. 

I have put this hand wash to the side for when Blake is a little older and is able to wash his hands himself as 

I know this will make hand washing much more fun. 

We were also sent a little set of bubbles which Blake loves and also a cute little turtle bath toy which both Stuart and I love squirting Blake with on his belly at bath time. 

We are huge fans of Paddy's bathroom range even mummy has secretly been using the shampoo and one of the body washes herself ;). 

All products retail at £4.49 each except for the bubble bath which is £5.99.

They are available from selected Tesco, Asda and Boots stores and online on Ocado so for a fun and sensory bath time experience purchase Paddy's bath time products today. 

What are your favorite bath time toiletries for your baby and/or children?

comment below.