Ideas Bank

Nature Trail

What birds are in your area?

Take a walk around your neighbourhood, local park or just have a look in your garden, what birds can you spot? Here is a checklist of birds you can find in Wales.

What birds can you spot?

Duck Race

Lets have fun outside in the puddles or at bath time.

if you have some bath ducks / floating animals and straws, set up a race and see who wins.

Duck Race Activity

Ready Set Ride

Want ideas to help your child learn to ride a bike, visit British Cycling Ready Set Ride Resource on their website for free, easy games to help your child how to pedal while having lots of fun along the way. Games include balance activities to get your child ready before they try activities with a bike.

Ready Set Ride Resource

Jumping Jade Activity Game

Set out equipment for children to jump over in a variety of ways (i.e. ropes, imaginary puddles, cushions, toys

• Encourage children jump and land with both feet and do a variety of shapes in the air
• Create a jumping path around the house or garden for them to jump around like monkeys / frogs / kangaroos

Jumping Jade

Pebble Plop Fun Activity Game

Pebble plop is a great game to explore throwing various objects at or into various sized targets a set distance away.

• Use different objects in the house as a target such as a bin, shoe box, a mat, hoop etc.
• Set objects at different distances, in a row, or randomly across a room
• Use different object to throw such as a ball, sock, rolled up new paper, bean bag etc.
• Game can be played indoors or outdoors

Pebble Plop Game

Crazy Capers

Is a fun activity game to do indoor and outdoor by

• placing a range of objects e.g. teddies and dolls, bean bags and quoits, vegetables and fruit etc. on the floor.
• your child then pick up one object at a time, carry it and place it in a designated area/hoop on the other side of the room/garden
• return to the start to go again/for next child to go
• your child can run, hop, skip, jump, crawl, etc. and move in different ways to get the objects
• help children to create a points system based on time to complete, accuracy of sorting, etc
• you can also get your child to place the objects in a pram/trolley or cart and then pushing the pram to a designated area, unload the object and then return the pram and then return to the start

Crazy Capers Activity Game

Playing at home guide

Playful Childhoods have a Playing at Home Guide, with fun play ideas to allow children learn and grow and have a happy and healthy childhood. Click below for a look.

Playing at Home Guide

Everyone likes to play with bubbles

Meg our family support officer guide to making bubbles and a bubble wand at home to have fun outside with the family

Click here to find out how to have fun with bubbles

Lets get wet and splash in the muddy puddles

Puddles are a great way for children to have fun

Simply put on some wellies and a coat, take your little ones out to play in the rain, and find some puddles.

Endless fun!

 

Lets go out exploring and head out on a family treasure hunt 

Click below for a great way to explore your village / area and go on a Square Mile Treasure Hunt

Can you find whats in your local area? and tick them off as you go along, a great famliy outing. Enjoy 🙂

Click here for a copy of a family treasure hunt

Have play fun with jelly and lets get messy

For Messy Play with Jelly

• Buy or make some jelly
• Spread the jelly on a tray
• Hide some objects you have at home in the jelly
• You can use anything you can find at home e.g.spoon, toys etc
• Let your little ones enjoy the texture and help develop their fine motor skills by finding the objects in the jelly

 

Story Time with Gaynor from Carmarthenshire Libraries

Listen to Gaynor from Carmarthenshire Libraries, telling the story on My Pet Star by Corrinne Averiss and Rosalind Beardshaw (Booktrust Cymru)

My Pet Star is a tale of friendship and learning to let go: a little girl finds a fallen star and playfully nurses it back to health (Click on the photo to access clip)

For more wonderful story time visit Carmarthenshire Libraries Facebook Page @CarmsLibraries

 

Giraffes Can’t Dance

Giraffes Can’t Dance is a great story time book to read to toddlers and this is a great book that you can bring alive

How to paint Gerald the Giraffe

Click on the link to see a great way to use your hand and paint to create Gerald the Giraffe

 

Using your toys at home to bring a book alive 

How about making story time a bit more exciting by using some toys, food or materials you have around the house that links in with what you’re reading.

If age appropriate you’re child can name the objects or copy you as you name them.

A great way to bring stories alive and read with your child

St David’s Day Resources 

Here are some St David’s Day (March 1st) great resources, have fun with your child/children and create homemade Daffodils Cards, Colour in the Welsh Flag (too print out) and create a Daffodils with your hands. Click on each photo for the instructions/colourings

      

St Dwynwen’s Craft Time

Take a look at a St Dwynwen’s Craft Time, which can be used for Valentine’s day, made by Carmarthenshire Libraries.

 

Snowman craft 

Here is a great snowman craft with some card, paint and pens

Give it a go and enjoy

Click here snowman craft instructions

 

Lets use acorns to practice counting 

During the autumn it’s great to get outside and to look for acorns, you can usually find lots of them!

Collect acorns and use them to help your child learn to count

Click here counting with instructions

 

 

 

Weaning

Take a look at, NHS Wales, Start 4 Life and NHS England for some great weaning tips and Recipes / Meal ideas

• Getting Ready – https://111.wales.nhs.uk/livewell/pregnancy/Weaningsolidfoods/
• What to feed your baby- https://www.nhs.uk/start4life/weaning/what-to-feed-your-baby/around-6-months/
• Safe Weaning – https://www.nhs.uk/start4life/weaning/safe-weaning/ 
• Recipes and Meal ideas – https://www.nhs.uk/start4life/weaning/recipes-and-meal-ideas/

Here are some other links

• BBC Good Food – Weaning recipes – BBC Good Food
• Lidl – Weaning (lidl.co.uk)
• Annabel Karmel – Guide to Weaning | Weaning Tips | Baby Led Weaning |

Santes Dwynwen Biscuits 

Why not bake some tasty biscuits over the weekend to celebrate Dydd Santes Dwynwen, using this resource (in welsh) created by Carmarthenshire Welsh Development Team, click here to follow the instructions

 

 

Veggie Mix 

Using some fridge favourites, from a mix of different vegetables including swede, peas, and carrots, blend to make a baby veggie puree

Simple Veggie Mix Recipe

 

First Fruit Puree Recipe

A simple weaning recipe to try fruit with your baby for the first time

My first fruit puree

Recipe for Fridge Leftovers

Do you find that you have lots of leftovers in the fridge? This is a great recipe for fridge leftover to make for toddlers

Click here for the recipe

 

Cheesy Pasta with hidden vegetables

A quick and simple recipe for the whole family to enjoy

Click here for the recipe

 

Recipe to make pancakes at home 

Everyone loves pancakes… here is a easy recipe to do at home

Click here for the recipe

 

Easter Crafts

Easter is a great time of year to have fun with crafts, take a look at our craft ideas to make Easter Bunnies and Easter Eggs Easter Crafts

Once you have made them, place them in the garden to have a great family fun easter egg hunt –

Enjoy 🙂

Follow the line

Using colourful lines, whether you draw them on paper or use chalk outside, draw as many lines at one, and then get an object and follow the lines with the object and see what patterns have been created. Your child can learn their colours at the same time.

Follow the line activity

Fork Flowers

A great Mother’s Day arts and crafts idea.

Create flowers using paint, a fork and paper/card create your own Mother’s Day cards. This idea could also be used for birthday cards as well.

How to create flowers with forks

Get creative with colorful pipe cleaners

Click here for a great activity with pipe cleaners and craft your own animals