Home Preschool - Under sea cave hideaway

As part of our Seaside theme that we have been following this summer I decided to create a little under-the-sea cave hideaway for my boys to play in and explore.  

Because we have a ridiculously small house, we don't have enough space for a dedicated corner for something like this so I re-claimed that mostly dead space under the dining room table to create an under-the-sea den.

I simply pinned some grey fabric to the underside of the table (no worries about damaging the table because no one sees the underside anyway), I also pinned some strips of chiffon, some grey netting and some other spangly kind of fabric (I am sure it has a proper name but I have no idea what, it's the sort of thing that people use to make dance outfits).  

I wanted the cave to have a bit of a magical, mystical feel which I hope the chiffon and net etc gives, I chose shades of green to suggest some sort of seaweed. 

Inside I put a big piece of drift wood to start giving it a more coastal feel, I also added three baskets of objects for the boys to explore, one contains pebbles, another shells and the last contains driftwood. 

I also included a little box with a sliding lid (I wanted to use a treasure chest but don't have one) and filled it with some cheap beads and shiny buttons as treasure, I also added a greet bottle containing a treasure map that Boris and I made together in the winter (its even more tatty now so more authentic looking).

Finally I put a basket of sea themed books into the cave, the titles are:

Three by the Sea - Mini Grey,

The Boy on the Beach - Niki Daly,

Don't be Afraid Little Pip - Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman,

Milly and the Mermaids - Maudie Smith and Antonia Woodward,

Mrs Armitage and the Big Wave - Quentin Blake,

Melrose and Croc Beside the Sea - Emma Chichester Clark,

Traction Man and the Beach Odyssey,

Splash Anna Hibiscus - Atinuke and Lauren Tobia.

Give a woman and hand and click on one of my affiliate links if you are interested in any of these books!

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Home Preschool - Sand hand print

Quite often when I come up with an activity for the boys I get caught up in the moment and forget to take photos of the process, sometimes it's only after that I think "Oh I had better take some photos for the blog!"  so please forgive the serious lack of development photos, I will try to describe it as best as I can so you get get the picture. 

Following on with our Seaside theme, and thinking about hand and foot prints in the sand I thought it would be interesting for Boris to help make a permanent memento of his little hands in plaster of Paris, but with a beachy, sandy effect to make you think of holidays on the beach. 

To to do this activity I began with a small plastic bowl that I pressed some sand in to.  I then got Boris to press his hand into the sand and I neatened it up after he took his hand away, I had to press it quite firmly in and press in each finger.  

Next in a separate bowl I mixed up some plaster of Paris by pouring in some water then adding the powder until I got a creamy texture, I got Boris to help me scoop the powder and pour it into the bowl and give it  stir with a wooden spoon.   

Next Boris helped me pour it onto the sand and I gave the bowl a little nudge to get any air bubbles out.  

I left it about 15 minutes to set then carefully tapped it out.  I have it a little brush with a dustpan brush to get the lose sand off, and there you have it!  A lovely sandy hand print. 

Don't forget to stay tuned for my brilliant GIVEAWAY coming soon.

Home Preschool themes - Seaside 1

I have been struggling for a while with coming up with ideas for themes that my children would find fun and interesting, but then the sun really started shining, the shorts were on, the flip flops donned, the sun cream slathered. So The Seaside seemed like an obvious choice, why didn't I think of it sooner. 

I got the water table out (this was a really great buy because it's so versatile): 

and filled it with a scintillating variety of sensory stimulating materials including sand, shaving foam, water beads and hair gel!

The hair gel was just 16p from ASDA!  I used 1 1/2 tubs, the shaving foam was £1 also from ASDA, I got the waterbeads and little animals on line and the sand from our sandpit! It probably cost about £5.15 in total, but of course I can re-use the animals and water table.

I really enjoyed setting it up a little bit secretly then bringing the boys out for the big reveal.  They were very curious and tentative at first, not sure about touching the more slimy materials, but soon getting stuck in and eventually very purposefully smooshing it all though their hair!

I really enjoyed watching them play and mostly left them too it, but could have asked them some open questions to get them thinking such as what does the shaving foam/hair gel/water beads feel like? What are the animals doing/thinking? What creatures do you find at the seaside?  What sort of things do you like to do at the seaside? etc.

Boris even did a bit of imaginative play with the little sea creatures which really thrilled me because has just been getting into it and it's so sweet.  This activity was great for stimulating the senses and relaxing, it was also good for fine motor skills with the boys practising the pincer movement by picking up the animals and water beads, they also had to work on co-operation whilst playing together at the table and taking turns. 

Towards the end it had turned into a bit of a swamp!  But it was fairly easy to clean up.  I scooped out and rinsed the water beads in a colander to use again then just hosed out the table. Good clean fun. 

Check back in a few days time for more seaside related activities for toddlers/preschoolers. And if you have got this far, I will be doing a GIVEAWAY in a few days time so be sure to check back.  You can sign up by email on the right side bar, or you can stay up to date by liking my facebook page.