Day Out With The Kids!!

We have heard it said that there isn't much to do with the in Lagos with the Kids Especially during the school holidays. so we have launched Operation Day Out With The Kids!! we will search, find and bring to you all the interesting places and Fun things you can do with the kids all year round!




Look out for our upcoming article on 5 Places to go in Lagos 

Yummy Golden Syrup Flapjacks

Ingredients

• 250g Porridge Oats
• 125g Butter
• 125g Brown Sugar
• 2-3 tbsps Golden Syrup (depends how gooey you want it)

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until fully mixed, but be careful not to overmix making sure the oats keep their texture.
2. Lightly grease a baking tin with butter and spoon in all the mixture.
3. Using the back of a spoon press into the corners so the mixture is flat and score the mixture into 12 squares.
4. Place in the oven and bake on 180 until golden brown (about 20 minutes).

Paper Lantern I

• 12” x 18” construction paper,
• Markers,
• Scissors, stapler or glue stick,
• Hole punch,
• String or yarn string or yarn

1. Decorate paper.
2. Fold in half (hot dog fold). Fold 1” wide section on each long edge so right sides are together.
Unfold the two 1” sections, leaving the paper folded in half folded in half.
3. Make cuts about 1” apart from fold to bottom, stopping cuts at the 1” section foldlines.

4. Open paper, roll into cylinder, glue or staple together at top and bottom, overlapping edges
about 1 about 1”.
5. Punch 4 holes equidistant in top edge of cylinder. Cut four pieces of string. Attach one
piece in each hole, tie all ends together.

Edible Ink

• Empty and clean glue bottles
• 1 small box of jello for each color
• 1/4 cup of boiling water
• 1 small glass bowl for each color
• fork or whisk
• funnel
• Wax paper

We used two different boxes of jello, one blue and one red.  We put 1/4 cup of boiling water into each bowl and very slowly we poured the two boxes of jello into small bowls.  Stir the bowl with a fork or a small whisk non-stop for about a minuet.  You want the jello mix to completely dissolve.

After the bowls are filled with ink, let them sit for another 3 or 4 minuets.  You want it to be cool enough to pour into the glue bottles without melting them.  We waited till it was the temperature of hot bath water.  The ink should also be a touch thicker, similar to the consistency of honey – if it is still watery, stir and wait for it to cool a little longer.  Use your funnel and fill the glue bottles with the jello mixture.

Prepare your canvas:

We cut pieces of wax paper for the kids to squirt their candy ink onto.  They swirled the colors of ink onto the wax paper.  If the ink “puddles” wait a bit longer for the jello to thicken a little more.

We loved the texture of the ink as it came out of the bottle!!  Boy, did it smell good!  It was hard to wait for the art work to cool completely before we taste-tested our creations.

Wait for the ink to completely dry before peeling it from the page and nibbling!

Learning Through Physical Play

Children develop in a holistic manner. Physical development should be seen as being important in
young children’s development as intellectual development. Research has shown that physical activity in young children can enhance concentration, motivation, learning and well-being.
Generally, our lives have become more inactive and our children have less opportunity for physical
activity each day. The reasons for our increased inactivity include:

 • Excessive television viewing
 • Fewer family members to play with
 • Fewer safe outside play areas

Preschools can provide many opportunities for physical play to promote fi ne and gross motor skills
and hand / eye coordination.

Children enjoy physical play, indoors and outdoors. They revel in freedom of movement and in play that is inventive, adventurous and stimulating. Children also learn social skills as they cooperate with one another and show consideration for one another.

Large Muscle Development – gross motor and locomotor skills
• Walk forwards, backwards and sideways
• Walk on tip-toes (balance)
• Running, stopping and starting
• Climb up steps or a ladder with one foot leading
• Pivot around and around on feet
• Jump up and down on the spot on both feet
• Jump a distance
• Balance along a plank 18cms from the ground
• Balance on one leg for 4 seconds
• Crawl through a barrel or tunnel

These basic activities develop body management, balance, bodily co-ordination, strength, agility and
confidence.

Fine Motor Skills

 • Building blocks
 • Assembling construction materials – Duplo etc.
 • Putting Jigsaws together
 • Grip a pencil or paintbrush
 • Hammer shapes into a pegboard
 • Pour water or dry sand from one container to another
 • Thread beads
 • Manipulate Playdough

These activities promote hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, fine motor control, accuracy, two handed coordination and manipulative strength.

Eye – Hand & Eye – Foot Coordination Skills
 • Catch a large ball between extended arms
 • Kick a ball
 • Pedal a tricycle along a straight  line
 • Push a large ball away towards a target
 • Pull an empty truck around obstacles

These activities promote spatial awareness, hand – eye coordination, strength and foot & leg
coordination.

Paint & Junk
 • Holding Brushes, pencils (fine motor skills)
 • Cutting
 • Spreading glue and paint
 • Sprinkling glitter (fine finger movement)

Imaginative Play
 • Manipulating fastenings on dressing up clothes and dolls (fine manipulative skills)
 • Pressing telephone buttons
 • Writing shopping lists
 • Wrapping parcels
 • Using dustpan and brush
 • Coordination in pretend cooking – setting the table

Sand and Water
 • Pouring, filling, stirring, pushing, pulling, moulding, digging, patting (developing fi ne motor skills)
 • Manipulating tools
 • Pouring into containers (Hand – eye coordination)
 • Use equipment with skill

Physical and Outdoor Play
 • Throwing and catching
 • Rolling
 • Carrying and passing
 • Climbing
 • Swinging
 • Sliding
 • Cycling / driving wheeled toys
 • Dancing
 • Moving to action rhymes

Small World
 • Manipulating play people, farm animals, vehicles (fi ne motor skills and coordination)
 • Threading beads
 • Cars into the garage (hand – eye coordination)
 • Putting furniture in the house

Construction Play
 • Manipulate a range of construction equipment (fi ne and large motor skills)
 • Lifting, carrying
 • Develop skills in fitting together and taking apart materials (develop hand – eye coordination and spatial awareness

Practical Play ideas to use at Home with young children

Young children’s joy in movement leads to healthy growth by encouraging them to challenge and
exercise their own bodies. Physical play is fun!

A healthy child has lots of energy. He/she needs opportunities to crawl, run, dance, climb, balance
and these skills help his/her bones and muscles develop.

What we need for physical play is:-

 • SPACE. This could be a park or garden, the beach or field or a playground. Space is run freely.
 • Safe equipment and safe surfaces
 • Large equipment such as climbing frames, see saws, planks, tyres and stepping stones.
 • Small equipment such as balloons, balls, bean bags, hoops, skipping ropes, streamers, trikes,
  bikes and cars.
 • Lots of enthusiasm and energy

Physical activities should not be beyond a child’s capability. We can play simple games of catch with our children – Hop-Scotch, Follow the Leader, Statues, Skipping, Ring-A-Ring-A-Rosie, Throwing and Catching games and Hide-and-Seek.

A great deal rests on the acquisition of fine motor skills. Children need these skills in order to become competent in many areas of life:

 • Writing
 • Handling tools
 • Craft skills
 • Using cutlery
 • Holding brushes
 • Handling delicate things, including living things
 • Turning the pages of books

In order to accomplish these tasks children need lots of help and practice in using the fine muscles of hands, arms and fingers. We can provide many play activities to help stimulate this development.

 • Clay and dough
 • Large beads to thread
 • Cars, farms, doll houses
 • Books with pages to turn, flaps and lift up sections
 • Dressing dolls / action man
 • Paint brushes, crayons and pencils

For further ideas on Learning Through Play, get a copy of our publication “I Want To Play”, available at the Early Years information and resource centre.

EASTER CRAFT: Make a Yarn Art Bunny Silhouette

Summer has been crafting up a storm over at Dollar Store Mom, and she is a master at creating cute decorations for no money. She used some stash yarn to create this cute Easter bunny silhouette decoration! Use this same technique to do woodland animal silhouettes, or maybe your monogram. Find out how easy this project is: [easter bunny yarn art]

Materials:

• Card stock, on hand
• Yarn, on hand
• Glue, on hand

Total: FREE

She used the bunny in the center of an Easter wreath! Cute!

Thanks from http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2014/04/make-a-yarn-art-bunny-silhouette/