Mapping Tasmania

We have just spent two weeks in Tasmania. A lot of those days we were able to get out and see things but some of them we were stuck in a little holiday house. I had taken a few things with us but, with limited resources, Lamb and I decided to make a map of Tasmania....

His version was one big wobbly circle.

We plotted the points of places we had been and from the few scrapbooking things I had taken to do on the trip, we found something to use for the boat and a car. The four different coloured pegs on the car are the members of our family and we reenacted our travels around the island.

The sense of smell

For the sense of smell we had two great books.

This one if relatively basic most of the way through but it does introduce the olfactory bulb and sending messages from senses to the brain. Lamb was a bit weirded out as the olfactory bulb in the picture looks like a slater!

Lamb loved this book and we have had many conversations about allergies since. It probably goes into too much detail regarding synapses for a three and a half year old but you can skip that. It contains images from under a microscope of all of the allergens it discusses.

Both are available at Amazon Books.

We used the second as the basis for what we filled our squares with on our 5 senses chart.

Lamb drew pictures of flowers as the book discusses pollen as an allergen, we did little dots for pepper, he drew a dust mite, I drew a mushroom for mould as it's a fungi while Lamb insisted on attempting to draw the mildew as it appears in the book and we stuck a guinea fowl feather on as the book discusses down in pillows as an allergen.

Our 5 senses chart

As part of our journey through the five senses I decided to make up a chart so that we could document our observations and have it on the wall as a conversation starter whenever Lamb felt the need.

So we glued sandpaper on for 'rough', seaweed that we collected on a trip to the beach for 'slimy' (though it didn't stay that way when it dried of course), some shells for 'smooth', cotton wool for 'soft' and glitter on glue for 'gritty'.

Matisse's Snail Trail

We found this book at the library and Lamb loves it!

It's available at Amazon Books.

 I printed off some Matisse art cards from 'Montessori Print Shop' to go with it.

And we did our own collage snail!

Lamb cut all of his own pieces of paper and glued them into position.

17 month old activities

Some of the things I have been doing with Cherry over the last month or so...

I was so excited when this set arrived...for Lamb who has not shown any interest in making pictures with the blocks. He wants to work out how many diamonds or triangles make up a hexagon which has worked out to be a fabulous precursor for fractions.

Cherry on the other hand loves to match the blocks up helping her learn to identify colours and shapes.

Putting popsicle sticks into a cannister that I cut a popsicle stick sized slot in the top of. She loves this and did it every day for the first couple of weeks.

Making some scones with Mum. She is very good at stirring but wasn't interested in pressing the dough. She gave it one try before exclaiming "Dirty! Hands?" while holding her hands out for me to wipe them!

Spooning rice from one cup to the other...we're getting there. She tries very hard and gently tut tuts herself when she drops it.

Squeezing lemons though she kept taking the squeezer out of the bowl and licking the lemon!

Salt Dough Hands

In theme of our first 'sense', the sense of touch', I decided we should make some hands from salt dough (recipe is at the bottom)

Rolling out the salt dough

Following which Lamb and Cherry held very still while I traced around their hands. We baked them in the oven.

So now we play 'the hand game'..."Can you touch something that is smooth? dry? sticky? starts with 't'"...whatever it might be. Lamb has to think for a while on some of them and Cherry just wombles along following Lamb. Funnily enough without the little hands to use this would be a game I would struggle to get them to play along with!

SALT DOUGH RECIPE

100 grams of plain flour

50 grams of salt

1 teaspoon of cooking oil

80 mls of water

I doubled this and we made some beads at the same time that Lamb ran a toothpick through. We'll paint them up later and use them for threading.

The sense of touch

I decided it would be a great idea to delve a little more deeply into the five senses.

Lamb knows what they are and the body part responsible of course but I thought it might present an opportunity to hone those senses by isolating them and doing activities associated with them.

Cherry is also at the age where she is fascinated to learn and repeat the names of body parts.

Starting with the sense of touch I made up a puzzle of the bones in the hand from cardboard

The labels are obviously quite involved so it becomes a lesson in remembering the names of the bones and then finding the first letter of that word in order to 'label' them. He was quite cross about the word 'phalanges' to start with because of course that starts with 'ph' not 'f'. I explained to him that I would have to teach him the blends and now when he does the puzzle he leaves it until last then states that I still have to teach him the blends.

I also printed up some body part three part cards.

This is the first time I have given Lamb three part cards. I think at present he works out which label goes where based on the first letter again.

I also printed out some digit cards and we've been number ordering and 'adding' with them.