Valentines
Welcome to Valentines Week
This week make fizzy hearts, heart shaped arts and crafts and go outside for some heart themed hopscotch.
Book and Rhyme of the Week
We couldn't resist recommending the bestseller Guess How Much I Love You this week for our themed book.
Sensory Play
For this week's sensory play activity, make fizzy hearts with your toddler. You'll need baking powder and vinegar, plus a mould or cookie cutter and food colouring or paint.
You've got 2 different options for how to make these. We recommend doing the prep with your toddler as they'll get a kick helping you measure out the quantities:
1. Put baking powder into a mould or cookie cutter (the simplest method).
2. Add food colouring and a small amount of water to baking powder. This will spark a chemical reaction so your toddler will enjoy watching it fizz. Put into a mould and put into the freezer to let it set overnight.
Then let your toddler syringe or pour vinegar over the hearts and watch them fizz! If you've opted for plain baking powder you could add some food colouring to your vinegar to get some colours that way! You'll get the best reaction from plain baking powder.
** the science bit **
Vinegar is a diluted solution of acetic acid (CH3-COOH). Baking powder is a solid mixture of sodium carbonate, bicarbonate and a solid weak acid. The first two compounds react with vinegar to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), as well as a salt (sodium acetate) and water.
Arts and Crafts
For this week's arts and crafts make some hearts! Cut a heart shape out of paper or card and get your toddler to paint one side of it. Fold it in half, press it together and see how the paint transfers across to make a perfectly symmetrical shape. Stick small amounts of tissue paper on if you want to decorate it further.
* top tip * don't do this activity on an unprotected table! We have one of these and put it under the heart painting.
Active Play
For this week's active play draw out a heart shaped hopscotch then enjoy having a play with your toddler. You could jump between the hearts, roll a dice and go to the number, throw a beanbag and run to the number. The possibilities are endless!
Next Week's Theme
What You'll Need for Next Week's Theme
Next week you'll need a small cardboard box (to make a posting box), a few pieces of penne pasta and a small amount of red card. And some string!