Top 5 sponsored by Hamilton Hill International Kindergarten*
By Delphine
After an exciting, fun-filled Christmas holiday, it is time to go back to school. What are the best activities that can keep your children interested and excited ? Hamilton Hill International Kindergarten, known for their creative and play-based teaching methods, offers activities that inspire children to think outside the box and keep them excited about learning.
1. Bottle Tops IN THE BATH
It is a simple unstructured and fun sensory play idea using water, bubbles and bottle tops. Just add bottle tops and bubble bath to the tub and let the fun happen! E.g. the bottle top lids could be used as a bowl for serving bubble bath food for imaginary friends in a restaurant.
Benefits:
- Building up their fine motor skills and coordination
- Encourages imagination and creativity
- Developing an understanding and awareness of floating and sinking
- Language development- experimenting with language and trying new words.
- Self-esteem: sensory play offers kids the opportunity for self-expression because there is no right answer and children feel safe to change or experiment with what they are doing.
2. Make your own hanging crystals
Seeing crystals in a cave is an amazing experience for children and it can arouse so much curiosity and questions. The stalactites and stalagmites are formed by water dripping or flowing from fractures on the roof of a cave. We can try and imitate this by setting up an experiment to grow salt crystals hanging from a string of wool. You will only need two jars, a string of wool, water, two paper clips, small plate and bi-carbonate soda.
Process:
Fill two jars with hot water. Stir in about six teaspoons of bicarbonate soda, until no more will dissolve. When a layer forms at the bottom of the jars, this means no more will dissolve. This was fun to watch as the water fizzed and bubbles formed in the jar, a bit like opening a bottle of soft drink. Tie a paper clip to each end of the piece of wool and place each end in each jar. Leave the jars for a week. Crystals will grow along the wool and hang down over the place.
The wool soaks up the mixture. When the water evaporates, all that is left are the bicarbonate soda crystals (Salt). The hanging crystals are formed when the mixture starts to drip from the wool and evaporate. If you’re lucky, you might even get crystals that drip onto the plate and form columns…..like in caves
Benefits:
- Using descriptive words to express ideas and opinions.
- Make connections with real life experiences.
- Promote scientific thinking – predictions, observations, comparison, reasoning, data gathering, experimentation and evaluation.
3. Making Sand Foam
Sand Foam is perfect for sensory exploration. It is made up using only two ingredients, sand and shaving cream. Kids will love running their hands and fingers through the fluffy, textured mixture. You will need clean sand, shaving cream and a large tray or tub.
How?
There is no real defined amounts for the ingredients, the sand and shaving cream amounts can be adjusted until you are happy with the consistency. We started off with 3 cups of sand and 200ml of shaving cream, however, we added another 3 cups of sand to our mixture to explore what would happen. You can add dinosaurs, shells and toy cars to extend the play and encourage imaginative play stories. Hide plastic alphabet letters, numbers or other items to create a hide and seek game. Draw and write in the sand foam tray. You can write your name, letters, numbers, draw shapes and pictures.
4. Winter Play Dough Leaf Prints
You can celebrate the new season with making leaf prints and patterns using real leaves in a Nutmeg Scented Play Dough. To make the leaf prints, using the rolling pin you roll out the play dough flat, then place the leaf rough side down onto the play dough and gently roll the pin over. Lift the leaf to discover the pattern of the leaf remaining.
Benefits:
- Spatial awareness – experimenting with shape and space
- Creative Thinking, imagination and concentration skills
- Building up their fine motor skills and coordination
5. Bubble wrap painting with heart shapes for Valentine’s Day
Kids never get bored with bubble wrap, there is so much fun to be had and so much to explore with it. One of these things to explore is the interesting patterns and shapes it creates with paint. Here we have incorporated bubble wrap painting with a Valentine’s Day theme using cut out heart shapes with bubble wrap.
Benefits:
- Encourages creativity and self-expression
- Sensory – feeling various textures, squishy, bubbly and hearing the popping noise.
- Hand and eye coordination
- Fine motor skills development
- Self-esteem – sense of achievement and pride
- Experimenting with shapes and space
*More information about Hamilton Hill International Kindergarten :
1-3 Ching Wah Street, North Point
Phone (+852) 3461 9750
Email: info@hhik.com
Website: www.hhik.co
Facebook: www.facebook.com/hhik.co
By Delphine
After an exciting, fun-filled Christmas holiday, it is time to go back to school. What are the best activities that can keep your children interested and excited ? Hamilton Hill International Kindergarten, known for their creative and play-based teaching methods, offers activities that inspire children to think outside the box and keep them excited about learning.
1. Bottle Tops IN THE BATH
It is a simple unstructured and fun sensory play idea using water, bubbles and bottle tops. Just add bottle tops and bubble bath to the tub and let the fun happen! E.g. the bottle top lids could be used as a bowl for serving bubble bath food for imaginary friends in a restaurant.
Benefits:
- Building up their fine motor skills and coordination
- Encourages imagination and creativity
- Developing an understanding and awareness of floating and sinking
- Language development- experimenting with language and trying new words.
- Self-esteem: sensory play offers kids the opportunity for self-expression because there is no right answer and children feel safe to change or experiment with what they are doing.
2. Make your own hanging crystals
Seeing crystals in a cave is an amazing experience for children and it can arouse so much curiosity and questions. The stalactites and stalagmites are formed by water dripping or flowing from fractures on the roof of a cave. We can try and imitate this by setting up an experiment to grow salt crystals hanging from a string of wool. You will only need two jars, a string of wool, water, two paper clips, small plate and bi-carbonate soda.
Process:
Fill two jars with hot water. Stir in about six teaspoons of bicarbonate soda, until no more will dissolve. When a layer forms at the bottom of the jars, this means no more will dissolve. This was fun to watch as the water fizzed and bubbles formed in the jar, a bit like opening a bottle of soft drink. Tie a paper clip to each end of the piece of wool and place each end in each jar. Leave the jars for a week. Crystals will grow along the wool and hang down over the place.
The wool soaks up the mixture. When the water evaporates, all that is left are the bicarbonate soda crystals (Salt). The hanging crystals are formed when the mixture starts to drip from the wool and evaporate. If you’re lucky, you might even get crystals that drip onto the plate and form columns…..like in caves
Benefits:
- Using descriptive words to express ideas and opinions.
- Make connections with real life experiences.
- Promote scientific thinking – predictions, observations, comparison, reasoning, data gathering, experimentation and evaluation.
3. Making Sand Foam
Sand Foam is perfect for sensory exploration. It is made up using only two ingredients, sand and shaving cream. Kids will love running their hands and fingers through the fluffy, textured mixture. You will need clean sand, shaving cream and a large tray or tub.
How?
There is no real defined amounts for the ingredients, the sand and shaving cream amounts can be adjusted until you are happy with the consistency. We started off with 3 cups of sand and 200ml of shaving cream, however, we added another 3 cups of sand to our mixture to explore what would happen. You can add dinosaurs, shells and toy cars to extend the play and encourage imaginative play stories. Hide plastic alphabet letters, numbers or other items to create a hide and seek game. Draw and write in the sand foam tray. You can write your name, letters, numbers, draw shapes and pictures.
4. Winter Play Dough Leaf Prints
You can celebrate the new season with making leaf prints and patterns using real leaves in a Nutmeg Scented Play Dough. To make the leaf prints, using the rolling pin you roll out the play dough flat, then place the leaf rough side down onto the play dough and gently roll the pin over. Lift the leaf to discover the pattern of the leaf remaining.
Benefits:
- Spatial awareness – experimenting with shape and space
- Creative Thinking, imagination and concentration skills
- Building up their fine motor skills and coordination
5. Bubble wrap painting with heart shapes for Valentine’s Day
Kids never get bored with bubble wrap, there is so much fun to be had and so much to explore with it. One of these things to explore is the interesting patterns and shapes it creates with paint. Here we have incorporated bubble wrap painting with a Valentine’s Day theme using cut out heart shapes with bubble wrap.
Benefits:
- Encourages creativity and self-expression
- Sensory – feeling various textures, squishy, bubbly and hearing the popping noise.
- Hand and eye coordination
- Fine motor skills development
- Self-esteem – sense of achievement and pride
- Experimenting with shapes and space
*More information about Hamilton Hill International Kindergarten :
1-3 Ching Wah Street, North Point
Phone (+852) 3461 9750
Email: info@hhik.com
Website: www.hhik.co
Facebook: www.facebook.com/hhik.co
