These Little Fingers

Geo-Lastic Art Hi everyone. I found this awesome manipulative toy, from my local toy library. The Geoboard . It is a great tool for exploring mathematical concepts. I let my son (nearly 3) stretch bands around pegs to form line segments and create shapes, alphabet and numbers. My older kids(8,6) joined in the fun too. The Geolastic Number Board comes  with alphabets and number visual cues, therefore children could copy them on the board. I helped my son  copy the shape made by his his sister. He really liked it. Making shapes on Geoboard, could  help improve his fine motor skill s . The virtual version  of Geoboards can be found below in the following links, where older kids/school aged kids could have ample fun: Math Playground- http://www.mathplayground.com/geoboard.html Geoboard,  by The Math Learning Center  Have fun making shapes , alphabets, numbers and geometrical  shaped pictures too.

  I have been setting up sensory bins for my son . I am a bit afraid of mess; but I use it as an opportunity to teach about cleaning up! We talked about colours, shapes and textures . We tried sorting objects by  colour. We scooped out all the blue objects out of the bin! When children are playing with sand, rice and so on they are learning to experiment. I use common household objects like spoon,forks,lids ....they are great learning tools. Messy sensory play with sand ,water,fingerpaint or dirt gives your child the chance to play alone  observe,copy others,initiate new ideas and use words and gestures to express.. We tried playing a game: number of the day... Add numbers in to your sensory bin (it can be foam numbers or plastic number magnets) I love those little craft foam numbers! Get your child pick/scoop or help him use a tong to pick all the "Number of the Day ".., Why not, Letter of the day? , Shape of the day ? By

I  made these cute fairy-breads just to put a smile on my little ones' faces.     Slice your bread and butter them,  then coat the buttered slice with Hundreds and Thousands . Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and place them on top of the hundreds and thousand s of coated slices! Have fun!

Chocolate Brownies These  "chocolatey " treats which I baked over the weekend, were super soft and wonderfully moist , Not too fudgy or cakey... they just melt in your mouth, I loved the beautiful dry cracked crust which formed onto the top of these brownies! Thanks to my sister, who persuaded me into baking these lovelies ..obviously her pics did... Here is the recipe : 150g semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chopped 1/2 cup (1 stick) (113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces 2 tablespoons (15 grams) cocoa powder 1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 3 large eggs 3/4 cup (95 grams) all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup chopped cashew nuts 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).  2. Butter (or spray with a nonstick cooking spray) an 8-inch (20 cm) square pan, and line the bottom of the pan with a baking sheet. 3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a large stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of si

My son really enjoys painting. We have painted on all sorts of things;  paper, boxes, egg cartons and so on.  Here is an activity that develops fine motor skills. A creative way to enjoy painting on a 3D object. I blew up a few balloons and got my son to paint it with cotton tips/Q-tips.  Painting with cotton tips on a Balloon is a great way to help little ones develop their fine motor skills and pencil grip! Here's what you will need, Some Balloons to blow up. Some Paint Cotton tips or Q-tips Get ready for some mess....(protect your table and clothes) outdoors suit better. Here in Australia, it's winter so we decided to stay indoors. Blow some balloons and let your kid paint his/her balloons using Q-tips. My son wanted to use only blue...  I was thinking that he was going to go "spot, spot, spot..."  as we have painted spotty pictures before... But he surprised me by doodling a  smiley face on the balloon...     Try this inexpe