E has been in my care a few months now, she has settled really well and makes her way about the house; she knows where the toys are that she can freely access and she does this when she chooses. Each day I get out a different resource for the children to play with to provide variety and interest.
On Tuesday I decided that I would get out the heuristic play objects for E - we were having a morning at home followed by swimming in the early afternoon. As it turned out E slept all morning, only waking in time for a quick lunch and then swimming. After we returned home from swimming E eventually played with the heuristic play objects.
E put virtually everything that she touched into her mouth - this was fine as everything was clean, a large enough size to not pose a choking hazard, and I was supervising her closely. E was particularly drawn to the CDs, she preferred the shiny side and became quite vocal when she was holding them. E also enjoyed banging the metal tins with her hands, creating quite a noise in the process.
I have J and O tomorrow who have never encountered the heuristic play - good job everything is still out in the lounge!!
It has been a while since we have done 'heuristic play', so that is what I planned for this morning.
The babies got stuck in straight away, and it didn't take M long to work out that he could make a VERY loud noise by banging a wooden spoon on a metal tin!
It really was great fun and it made M laugh a lot!
J was engrossed in putting corks and wooden pegs in the top of a long cardboard tube that I balanced at an angle.
And amazingly they came out again at the lower end, but when J tried to push them up the lower end they just fell out again! How clever that J has learnt all about gravity today!
J was quite disappointed that there were no "sweeties" - he kept asking me and then telling me "all gone"! What a mean childminder I am!
Before lunchtime the babies had lost interest so I tidied the heuristic play things away in the corner of the lounge, however I didn't get the time to put them away in the garage. Which turned out to be a good thing, as in the afternoon the older children got everything out all over again and had a wonderful time!
Albie enjoyed putting the rings on the mug holder.
A enjoyed playing the drums and figured out the cardboard box, metal tin and plastic box all made different sounds!
It was a really successful day enjoyed by all, and we will definitely do this again; although I think that some of the success is down to the fact that it has been a while since the children have done this activity, so it was 'new' to them again, and as such we may leave it a few months!
