Home Learning

Some Leapfrog ideas to try out at home. This will support a positive attitude towards learning, spark curiosity and build confidence.

Funky Fingers

supporting fine motor development

Wrap toys or food objects in pieces of foil, and then play a guessing game to see if someone can guess what you wrapped up! Test different people and see if they can say; what it feels like? What shape it is? If it’s big or small? Try giving people some clues if you get stuck.

Make a low level washing line and peg socks onto it; look for patterns and colours, sequences to explore some maths at the same time too! (Washing the socks in soapy water first and letting them dry is also good fun)

Sound of the week

particularly good if you’re off to school in September

Choose a letter in the alphabet - lets start with 'a'. To reinforce the sound you could always listen to the Jolly phonics song on you tube. Draw all the things you can think of that begin with a, fill a tray with salt and practice writing the letter a using a brush. Repeat weekly with new letters.

Budding Artists

let's try flower painting

Let's go into the garden, find some flowers try drawing and painting them in all different ways. When you’re doing observational painting you have to choose the right colours and look very closely, this is great for concentration skills. If you enjoyed that then have a go at Vincent Van Gogh’s sunflowers too… or practice following instructions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kJESr9CH8w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaiiiKMJ_Ho

A Bear Hunt

our favourite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gyI6ykDwds listen to Michael Rosen read ‘we’re going on a bear hunt’ (often children really enjoy the way he tells stories, so look at some of his poems on youtube too- they are very entertaining) depending on your child’s age you can act out the story on your next walk, draw all the things they see or use the sequencing pictures to order the story, create a bear hunt obstacle course or sensory bottles in the garden.

Check out our gallery page to see the ideas in action!

Picnic time

encourage lots of new vocabulary

Plan and prepare a picnic for who ever lives in your house and some of your favourite teddies or toys! Maybe you’re going to have a dinosaur/ princess picnic. You can send invitations, make the sandwiches and lay out the picnic ready for your guests.

Get Active

lets get physical

Get active and listen to favourite action rhymes and songs and do some exercise with this helpful album… Warm up with the sticky kids – favourite song is ready steady go! (The album is available on Spotify) or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFflzDaxfKM

Maths is everywhere!

have a capacity tea party outside!

Have a ‘Capacity’ tea party outside using water, cups, jugs and spoons etc. If you don’t have a tea set, different sized pots, jugs and bottles will work. Not only fun for imaginary play, especially if the weather is warm, but also good for exploring mathematical language about capacity. Can you pour a really big drink? Which cup has the least in? Which cup is empty/full?

Elmer the elephant

we are special

Listen and watch the Author David Mckee read Elmer the elephant story, or read together if you have it at home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFrD18XLmlM Design your own elephant using a template to help you or draw your own, look up other Elmer crafts, or create a big elephant collage. This is a lovely story for discussing what makes each of us special and unique.

Frozen treasure hunt

get adventurous

Hide and freeze some favourite toys, numbers, letters, fruit (anything really) in a tupperware and then do a treasure hunt explore ways excavating it!

Make a food face

healty eaters

You can do this on a plate, a wrap, toast or a pancake! Be creative, use pasta for hair, grapes for eyes, hula hoops for a smile and olive for a nose! Or just use fruits and veg and eat for a healthy snack. More ideas here… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_i-glwxk7g

Perfect Playdough

for recipe see our blog page

Make some play dough, following our recipe on our blog page. Make a long caterpillar by rolling as, many different sized balls as you can, not only good for developing strength in little hands but good for some mathematical language too.

Hungry Caterpillar

making puppets

Listen or read one of our favourite stories 'The Hungry Caterpillar' and do some fun Caterpillar activities – handprint caterpillar, play dough caterpillar and stick puppets to do your own retelling of the story - see our gallery for inspiration.