Tuff Spot: An afternoon in Africa

Sensory play always goes down a storm in my house and I love to explore new ideas. The idea of colouring rice I discovered on the wonderful blog The Imagination Tree. Anna's ideas for play are amazing and I often use her ideas at work.

So in the morning I got to work baking some rice which I had mixed with green food colouring. I kept the oven on 100 degrees so the rice would not burn. It was given a stir every 15 minutes until it was dry again.

The rice turned out great and I left it out to cool down until the afternoon so I could get it ready while the children slept.

The rice, leaves and animals were placed in a large trug. This made it easier for all the children to be able to reach.

The children loved this new idea and were not tempted to place the rice in their mouths because of the colour. A used the leaves as pillows and put the animals to sleep. She is usually scared of animals so I was surprised at how interested she was with this activity.

Once the animals had a good sleep it started to rain and the children came up with the idea of covering their heads with leaves for shelter.

Learning Opportunities:

Physical development- Developing pincer grasp and coordination
Creative development- using object to represent others, using imagination through play.
Mathematical development- Pouring and collecting
KUW development- Learning about animals and their habitat.
CLL development- Learning new vocabulary and communication with others.