Thinking Day
Hello, my name is Gemma Everson and I am a children’s author, a teacher and also a mum.
Our brains are amazing thinking machines and today we will be exploring maths, science and the world around us through our four activities.
9.30am Activity:
Solving Puzzles – Hidden Jewels
We will start with a maths activity to get our brains thinking! This puzzle is called ‘Hidden Jewels’ and you will need some objects like cotton reels and some bowls to hide them. In this challenge you will be arranging objects into groups and recognising how many there are without counting.
Grown Ups:
This activity teaches your child an important maths skill called ‘subitising’. Our brains can recognise patterns of numbers up to 5 or 6 like on a dice. Any more than this and your brain starts to see them in separate parts e.g. 7 would be a 5 and a 2.
10.30am Activity:
Find things out – Lava Lamp
Now we will be making a lava lamp using some simple household materials. You will need a small empty bottle, water, vegetable oil, food colouring and an effervescent tablet. Follow the instruction on the sheet below to make a marvellous lava lamp and observe what happens.
Grown Ups:
Help your child to observe the changes in this simple experiment. The prompt questions on the bottom of the instructions sheet will promote a discussion which will help your child to think a little deeper about what they can see.
1:30pm Activity:
Finding things – Texture Hunt
Get your wellies on and head outside! We are thinking about textures now such as hard, soft, squishy and stretchy. Send us some photographs of what you find!
Grown Ups:
This activity will help to develop your child’s thinking skills by exploring the world around them. Encourage them to use the vocabulary associated with texture.
2:30pm Activity:
Explain something – feely box
Follow my instructions to make a feely box out of an old box and a T-shirt. Put some objects inside and see if you can think about what they are. Can you describe them to your grown up using the texture words we thought about in Activity Three?
Grown Ups:
This activity will develop your child’s vocabulary and help them to apply it in a different context. Your child will have to think really carefully about what they are holding and touching as they cannot see it so encourage them along the way.
If you've finished these and still have time for fun...
If you would like to do a little bit more, perhaps you might like to learn more about famous thinkers such as Albert Einstein!
Story time:
The Lion and the Fox told By Jude Lennon
Snuggle up for a bedtime tale with Jude, Lamby and Flossie.
