Red and blue food colouring
2 clear plastic cups
2 stalks of celery
Water
Magnifying Glass

Adult Guided Activity

Trim the bottom and top of the celery (adult only)
Put a small amount of food colouring in each of the plastic cups and fill them with water
Place a celery stalk in each cup and leave in a warm place overnight

Developing Investigation and Enquiry

Talk about what has happened to the celery stalks

• Why do you think it has started to change colour?


• How did the celery 'drink' the water?


• How did the water get up the celery stalk?


• Can you see the tiny tubes in the celery?

Keeping Everyone Safe

Role model safe cutting when using a sharp knife to cut celery.

A silky fabric scarf, fabric napkin or a tea towel
A selection of favourite toys

This is best done sitting in front of your baby either on the floor or when your baby is seated in a highchair. Pop the scarf, tea towel or napkin over your face then pull it away quickly and say “Peek-a-Boo”. Repeat again and then invite your baby to pull the scarf, tea towel or napkin off to reveal your face. This becomes a game of great anticipation and fun as your baby discovers that you’ve not disappeared. Switch the game round and pop the scarf, tea towel or napkin over your baby’s face and say “Where’s ……. gone”? Watch as baby pulls the fabric away to reveal that they have not disappeared.

Extend the game by hiding a favourite object, such as a teddy, under the scarf, tea towel or napkin and saying “where’s Teddy gone”? As baby pulls the scarf, tea towel or napkin away to reveal teddy say “there’s Teddy”! This fun game of hide and seek is a great way to help develop the connection of the object and object name as you reinforce the name of the object by saying “where has ……. gone” and “there is ……”

Babies learn through repetition so don’t be surprised if this becomes a game that your baby indicates they want more of it!

Object Permanence

Object permanence is about understanding that when something disappears it has not gone forever and tends to begin to develop between 4-8 months of age. Before a baby begins to understands this concept, things that disappear from her view, such as something falls off the high chair tray or is covered over with an upside down bowl, are gone. Quite literally out of sight and out of mind. Developing object permanence is an important cognitive milestone. It is an essential foundation to learning for symbolic understanding (which a baby needs to develop language, pretend play, and exploration) and helps babies work through separation anxiety.

Sand - or a sunny beach
A stick or index finger

Use a stick to make marks in the sand - vertical and horizontal lines, circles and crosses are good to start with.
Encourage your child to copy you then ask him/her to make marks for you to copy.
Talk about the marks and letters you make and the movements you do to make them. “I’m starting here, then going down, then stop”. “I’m starting here then going round and round and round”. “I’m going to make M for Mummy”

This helps your child develop skills and confidence in forming and connecting the curves, vertical, horizontal and zig-zag lines that form the bias of letter shapes.
Starting big then gradually working down to smaller develops as your child’s hand and eye co-ordination skills and manual dexterity skills mature and integrate.
As your child associates the language of the mark or letter shape with the action of forming these, he/she will be getting kinesthetic feedback which is essential for any motor action.
Kinesthesia is the knowledge of where each body part is and direction in which it is moving.
It is an important component of motor control for legible handwriting.

A note pad
A pen or pencil

When you sit down to write your shopping list provide your child with a shopping list note pad and pen and sit together writing your lists.
As you write talk about what you are writing down “We need more milk”. “I need some tomatoes”. Ask your child to write down what he/she thinks you need to buy.
Take your shopping lists with you when you go shopping and refer to them as you go round the supermarket. “This says I need to get some tomatoes”. “What does your list tell you to get”.
Don’t worry if your child’s marks and squiggles don’t look like words, your child will be able to recall what his or her marks mean.

When children see adults writing they perceive that writing is important. This this creates a inspiration to be a writer and to be part of this fascinating world of writing and reading.
By sitting at your elbow as you write, your child will see how spoken words are converted to words and will imitate what you are doing. This is an important element of creating a desire to write for a purpose.
This activity will help your child develop an understanding of the instrumental function of writing and how it helps to him/her to obtain goods and services.

Bean bag

Chalk

Draw your basic hopscotch grid, then the first player throws a marker, such as a bean bag, into box 1.

The player hops on one foot (or alternating feet) all the to the last box and back, stopping to pick up the marker on the way.

Players take turns trying to throw in each box in order (1, 2, 3, etc.).

A simpler way to play is to follow the instructions above, but only to hop to the first square, pick up the marker, and return.

This game encourages hand/eye coordination and balance.

Why not ask your child to draw out the hopscotch board and to write the numbers, supporting their mathematical graphics.