Laura Hutchinson

International Literacy Day: Five hands-on activities to support learning at home

Laura Hutchinson Posted On Sep 6, 2017 | National Holidays

This year, International Literacy Day is on the 8th of September and will highlight the challenges and opportunities in promoting literacy in a digital world. As pioneers for rich, hands-on play experiences, we’ve put together five of our favourite activities to support literacy skills at home.

The Alphabet

EI-1917 Playfoam® Shape & Learn Alphabet Set Make letters with Playfoam®! This tactile, mess-free sculpting material is perfect for practising letter formation. Simply pick a colour and sculpt it into your chosen letter or word. The sensory nature of the Playfoam® beads will keep children engaged and build fine motor skills whilst they are learning essential early skills. The Playfoam® Shape and Learn Alphabet Set includes 13 double-sided letter cards that children can use as a guide to construct the letter in easy-to-follow, numbered stages.

"I actually rolled this along the carpet and it didn’t collect anything, lose any stick or stick to the floor. There really is no mess with this.”– Jo, Pickle and Poppet

Phonics

LER 5460 Vowel Owls™ Literacy Sorting Set Phonics teaches children to identify the phonemes that make up each word and is essential for developing reading and spelling skills. Practise phonological awareness at home with Vowel Owls, the literacy sorting set. Complete with 100 picture cards and six vowel owls (five vowels and one blank), there are lots of different activities to play. To differentiate between long and short vowels lay out the ‘a’ vowel owl and the ‘blank’ vowel owl. The ‘a’ will represent the short vowel sound and the ‘blank’ will represent the long vowel sound. Lay out the cards and ask your child to find all of the pictures that have an ‘a’ vowel. Then, work together to sort them into their matching sound owl.

Sight Words and Vocabulary

LSP 8598-UK Sight Word Swat Sight words refer to approximately 150 words that are likely to reappear on almost any page of text. Children are encouraged to memorise them so they can read them without having to use decoding methods. Sight Word Swat brings sight words to life as children use colourful swatters to find and swat fly shaped sight word cards. The words are colour-coded so parents can easily distinguish between different levels of difficulty and pick cards suited to their child’s reading level. The game can be played in a group of up to four people. Read a card aloud and then encourage players to race to find the word and swat it with their swatter! The person who collects the most cards is the winner.

“This game is the most fast-paced sight word game we’ve had, and Big Girl loves it. Sight Word Swat makes it so much more fun and natural for me to talk about sight words at home.”– Tine, Mummy in the City

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

EI-2943 Sentence Building Dominoes Sentences are made up of many parts including nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs and punctuation. Practise parts of speech with Sentence Building Dominoes, a re-usable set that includes 114 double-sided, colour-coded dominoes. Lay the dominoes out and talk through any words that your child doesn’t recognise or finds tricky. Remind them that a sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a punctuation mark and point out those dominoes. Finally, point out the dominoes with the word endings ‘s’, ‘ed’ and ‘ing’. These can be added to others to make new words and change tenses. Challenge your child to create as many sentences as they can!

Creative Writing

LSP 7328-UK Plot Blocks™ Story Building Activity Set Inspire creative writing at home by providing tools for imaginations to run wild! Plot Blocks™ Story Building Activity Set includes different settings, characters, objects and actions to give young learners the confidence to write their own story. 18 picture cubes feature six each of ‘who’ ‘what’ and ‘how’ images and six double-sided setting mats include real-life photography and illustrated scenes. Four transparent mats also allow children to draw their own settings and bring their picture to life. Young learners select two of each of the cubes and a setting mat. Roll each cube before placing it within one of the allocated spaces on the mat. Simply add a little imagination, and let the story begin!

“This resource was so interactive, fun and tactile! A fabulous resource to develop understanding and use of ‘narrative’ and story- telling.”– Belinda, Hitchin Speech Therapy

*For more ideas and inspiration browse our full range of literacy resources on our website!#LiteracyDay#LoveLearning

International Literacy Day: Five hands-on activities to support learning at home This year, International Literacy Day is on the 8th of September and will highlight the challenges and opportunities in promoting literacy in a digital world. As pioneers for rich, hands-on play experiences, we’ve put together five of our favourite activities to support literacy skills at home.

The Alphabet

"I actually rolled this along the carpet and it didn’t collect anything, lose any stick or stick to the floor. There really is no mess with this.”– Jo, Pickle and Poppet

Phonics

Sight Words and Vocabulary

“This game is the most fast-paced sight word game we’ve had, and Big Girl loves it. Sight Word Swat makes it so much more fun and natural for me to talk about sight words at home.”– Tine, Mummy in the City

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar

Creative Writing

“This resource was so interactive, fun and tactile! A fabulous resource to develop understanding and use of ‘narrative’ and story- telling.”– Belinda, Hitchin Speech Therapy

*For more ideas and inspiration browse our full range of literacy resources on our website!#LiteracyDay#LoveLearning READ MORE

Guardians of the Deep: A guest post by Kent Wildlife Trust

Laura Hutchinson Posted On Sep 1, 2017 | Learn

The Guardians of the Deep project aims to involve local people in the protection and monitoring of Kent’s coastal wildlife. It encourages young people to get excited about marine wildlife through a programme of snorkelling activities and practical learning opportunities at coastal sites around the county.Written by: Zoë Stevenson, Guardians of the Deep Project Officer

A few months ago I contacted Learning Resources about our new Guardians of the Deep project and they kindly donated some equipment for us to trial whilst rock pooling. It was the perfect opportunity to encourage some young scientists, so we created a few experiments and questions that could be answered using the equipment and headed off to the shore!The incredible thing about British weather is that it is inevitably terrible on the one day you want it to be good. The days leading up to the event had been warm and sunny, but not so the morning of our activities. Thankfully, some grey skies and the threat of rain didn’t keep away the intrepid future marine biologists who had signed up for our Jr. Marine Biologist event.The resources that we had with us included:

Experiments included:

Testing the differences in temperature between rock pools and the ocean
Drawing barnacles
Studying animal behaviour

We used the GeoSafari Jr. Periscope to hide from gulls, noting any change in their actions between humans being hidden and in full view. This was Peter’s favourite part of the day; he decided that the gulls came closer when we were hidden because they were scared of us.

The GeoSafari Water Adventure Pen was Scarlett’s favourite piece of equipment. She enjoyed learning about the things you could see and find in the sea and rock pools. We used the pen to measure temperature and draw animals that we found on the day. The magnifying glass at the top was also very useful for getting a better look at tiny specimens. Maya’s mum said it was very easy to use for little hands.

The clear favourite of the day was the GeoSafari SeaScope. Everyone really enjoyed getting up close and personal with the rock pool animals.

"I really enjoyed learning interesting facts and names of creatures I’d never seen properly before.” -Evie

Conrad and Leon explored as many different rock pools with the SeaScope as possible. The lights on it were useful for some of the darker pools. The GeoSafari Jr. Aqua Magnifiers were great for giving us a closer look at tiny shrimps and other creatures that lived in the water.

We all agreed that the equipment could be used in other places as well, mostly for things like bugs and other small animals, proving that the equipment is versatile and not just for the shore.Once we had completed all of our experiments we gathered the equipment up and headed off the beach. Just in time too, because as soon as we reached our cars the heavens opened and it began to pour!

Thank you very much to Learning Resources for allowing us to facilitate such a fun event and encourage some future marine biologists! To find out more about Kent Wildlife Trust and their Guardians of the Deep project visit their website!

Our GeoSafari® Jr. products let young explorers curiously investigate using colourful and functional tools and activities that have been designed specially for them. Discover the full range on our website!#LoveLearning

Guardians of the Deep: A guest post by Kent Wildlife Trust The Guardians of the Deep project aims to involve local people in the protection and monitoring of Kent’s coastal wildlife. It encourages young people to get excited about marine wildlife through a programme of snorkelling activities and practical learning opportunities at coastal sites around the county.Written by: Zoë Stevenson, Guardians of the Deep Project Officer Kent Wildlife Trust

Experiments included:

Testing the differences in temperature between rock pools and the ocean
Drawing barnacles
Studying animal behaviour

The clear favourite of the day was the GeoSafari SeaScope. Everyone really enjoyed getting up close and personal with the rock pool animals.

"I really enjoyed learning interesting facts and names of creatures I’d never seen properly before.” -Evie

Building Brain Power with Sensory Play: A Guest post by Jackie Edwards

Laura Hutchinson Posted On Aug 31, 2017 | Early Years

Author: Jackie Edwards from Fractus LearningJackie is a mum of two and an editor, researcher and writer. One of her children is on the autism spectrum and she actively finds ways to help her daughter achieve a sense of peace and freedom. She has carried out a lot of research on the impact of sensory environments on brain development and has teamed up with Learning Resources to share ideas for creating sensory environments at home. Building Brain Power with Sensory PlayWhen you hear the words ‘squashy’, ‘oozy’, ‘scratchy’ and ‘sloppy’, you know that children are fully engaged with their senses. They’re using their hands, eyes, ears, noses and mouths to explore and make sense of the world. Just watch their fascination and concentration as they swirl their wellie-clad feed through wet mud or run cooking ingredients repeatedly through their fingers. You’re observing the power of sensory play in action - a style of play that has enormous developmental potential: it can build connections in the brain and support learning, thought and creativity. Powering up the brainFor over a century, sensory play has been valued by a host of renowned child educationalists such as Dewey and Montessori. Yet it’s only recently that we’ve discovered that sensory play is fundamental for brain development. Scientists have shown that at birth, a multitude of unprogrammed neurons in the brain are awaiting connection. Sensory experiences in early childhood fire up these connections between the neurons. The more sensory experiences, the stronger the connections and the easier it is for us to think, understand and remember.The visible fruits of sensory play

EI-5115 GeoSafari® Jr. Underwater Explorer Boat and Magnifier When a child is engaged in sensory play, not only is the brain undergoing powerful transformations but there are also very visible signs of learning in areas of language, motor skills and social development. Language skillsSensory play can encourage new ways of talking about the world. Not only does it give meaning to descriptive words like smooth and sticky, but it can also prompt further discussions. No longer is water merely just ‘wet’, it’s also ‘runny, ‘ripply’ and ‘splashy’. Motor skillsSensory experiences often demand the use of gross motor skills, such as jumping in puddles or dancing to music, or fine motor skills such as mark-making with sticks in mud or rubbing grainy sand between fingers. Both types of action will help build physical strength. Social and emotional development Besides sensory experiences initiating social interaction, they also provide the ideal setting for independent exploration, testing ideas and problem-solving. How to create sensory environments

EI-9268 Playfoam® Class Set As a parent or teacher, it is important to provide opportunities for sensory learning. Here are a few easy and cost-effective ideas:

Shadow puppets - Simply use a torch and your hands!
Vegetable printing - Slice vegetables in half to create different shape stamps
Flavoured sculpting materials - Use herbs and spices, such as cinnamon and dried mixed herbs
Coloured sand - Mix in grated chalk to give colour to sand
Rose petal perfumes - Add petals to a little water
Frozen small world - Create a mini north pole with ice and arctic figures
Clay faces on trees - Stick modelled clay faces to the trunks of trees

The sponge effect!Children really are like sponges, absorbing vast amounts of information from the stimuli around them. In fact, between birth and 3 years of age, the human brain increases to 80% of its adult size! Whilst pre-schoolers will undoubtedly benefit the most from sensory play, opportunities for development and learning in older children are still apparent. It’s therefore absolutely crucial to maintain these opportunities to enrich learning and promote fun! *For more ideas and inspiration browse our range of sensory resources!#LoveLearning

Building Brain Power with Sensory Play: A Guest post by Jackie Edwards Author: Jackie Edwards from Fractus LearningJackie is a mum of two and an editor, researcher and writer. One of her children is on the autism spectrum and she actively finds ways to help her daughter achieve a sense of peace and freedom. She has carried out a lot of research on the impact of sensory environments on brain development and has teamed up with Learning Resources to share ideas for creating sensory environments at home. Building Brain Power with Sensory PlayWhen you hear the words ‘squashy’, ‘oozy’, ‘scratchy’ and ‘sloppy’, you know that children are fully engaged with their senses. They’re using their hands, eyes, ears, noses and mouths to explore and make sense of the world. Just watch their fascination and concentration as they swirl their wellie-clad feed through wet mud or run cooking ingredients repeatedly through their fingers. You’re observing the power of sensory play in action - a style of play that has enormous developmental potential: it can build connections in the brain and support learning, thought and creativity. Powering up the brainFor over a century, sensory play has been valued by a host of renowned child educationalists such as Dewey and Montessori. Yet it’s only recently that we’ve discovered that sensory play is fundamental for brain development. Scientists have shown that at birth, a multitude of unprogrammed neurons in the brain are awaiting connection. Sensory experiences in early childhood fire up these connections between the neurons. The more sensory experiences, the stronger the connections and the easier it is for us to think, understand and remember.The visible fruits of sensory play

EI-9268 Playfoam® Class Set As a parent or teacher, it is important to provide opportunities for sensory learning. Here are a few easy and cost-effective ideas:

Shadow puppets - Simply use a torch and your hands!
Vegetable printing - Slice vegetables in half to create different shape stamps
Flavoured sculpting materials - Use herbs and spices, such as cinnamon and dried mixed herbs
Coloured sand - Mix in grated chalk to give colour to sand
Rose petal perfumes - Add petals to a little water
Frozen small world - Create a mini north pole with ice and arctic figures
Clay faces on trees - Stick modelled clay faces to the trunks of trees

Tried & Tested: GeoSafari® Jr. My First Microscope

Laura Hutchinson Posted On Aug 15, 2017 | Learn

Name: Cassie from Lily’s Little LearnersAge of young learner: 2Product Testing: GeoSafari® Jr. My First Microscope Cassie is a qualified Early Years Practitioner and blogs at Lily’s Little Learners. Her blog shares posts about daily activities, mummy life, toy reviews and learning through play. What were your first thoughts when the toy arrived? It looked fantastic! It looked like it was going to be really easy for Lily to use and very child friendly. We were excited to try it out.

How did you use it? We collected items from outdoors so we could place them under the microscope and learn more about them. I let Lily try it for herself and she really enjoyed looking through the double eye piece to see the items she had found in more detail.

"After we had been through all the objects she decided that she wanted to do it all over again. This time she did it all by herself while I sat back and watched. “

What are the educational benefits? It’s a great start to getting children used to using scientific equipment to help them learn. It promotes an interest in early science and encourages a child to explore nature and learn more about the world around them.

What did you like/dislike about the toy?There wasn’t anything I disliked about the toy! It was very easy to use, the perfect size and the two piece eye viewer meant that Lily didn’t have to close one eye to be able to use it. She could easily turn the wheel to focus the items also.

What is the long term appeal?As Lily grows she will be able to use this to learn more about different objects. As she starts to understand things more she will learn how to describe objects and describe what she can see. Is it unique?I think the fact that it has a two piece eye viewer makes it unique. It’s unique that Learning Resources have made it possible for a child as young as Lily to use something that an adult will use in science. Would you recommend it to a friend? Yes - this set sure has made us get wild about learning! The Final ScoreFun factor: 5/5Educational benefits: 5/5Ease of use: 5/5

*For more fun follow Lily’s Little Learners on Facebook, twitter and Instagram!

Tried & Tested: GeoSafari® Jr. My First Microscope Name: Cassie from Lily’s Little LearnersAge of young learner: 2Product Testing: GeoSafari® Jr. My First Microscope Cassie is a qualified Early Years Practitioner and blogs at Lily’s Little Learners. Her blog shares posts about daily activities, mummy life, toy reviews and learning through play. What were your first thoughts when the toy arrived? It looked fantastic! It looked like it was going to be really easy for Lily to use and very child friendly. We were excited to try it out.

"After we had been through all the objects she decided that she wanted to do it all over again. This time she did it all by herself while I sat back and watched. “

*For more fun follow Lily’s Little Learners on Facebook, twitter and Instagram! GeoSafari Jr

Win a GeoSafari® Jr. Explorers Bundle with Lonely Planet Kids!

Laura Hutchinson Posted On Aug 8, 2017

This week, we have launched a very exciting competition in collaboration with Lonely Planet Kids! Perfect for young explorers, the competition challenges children to design and name their very own bug.The winner’s creation will be published on the Lonely Planet Kids blog. They will also receive a selection of Lonely Planet Kids books and a GeoSafari® Jr. Explorers Bundle worth over £100 including:

GeoSafari Jr products let young explorers curiously investigate using colourful and functional tools and activities that have been designed specifically for them. Discover the full range on our website. To find out more head over to the Lonely Planet Kids blog or simply download an entry pack now!

Lonely Planet Kids aim to kick-start the travel bug and open kids’ eyes and minds to the world around them. Their focus is on showcasing the quirky facts, amusing tales and inspiring stories that bring our planet to life.#LoveLearning

Win a GeoSafari® Jr. Explorers Bundle with Lonely Planet Kids! This week, we have launched a very exciting competition in collaboration with Lonely Planet Kids! Perfect for young explorers, the competition challenges children to design and name their very own bug.The winner’s creation will be published on the Lonely Planet Kids blog. They will also receive a selection of Lonely Planet Kids books and a GeoSafari® Jr. Explorers Bundle worth over £100 including:

How to use Hot Dots® to support learning phonics at home!

Laura Hutchinson Posted On Jul 26, 2017 | Seasonal Fun

We're on a mission to help support learning phonics at home, keep children's brains engaged, and develop skills in important learning areas. We've teamed up with Kerri Hibberd, a teacher and phonics coordinator with over 10 years experience, to find out more about phonics and how to support this area of learning at home.

Download your free Hot Dots printable worksheets on our home learning page.

What is Phonics?Words are made up of small units of sound called phonemes. Phonics teaches children to listen carefully and identify the phonemes that make up each word. This helps children learn to read and spell words. As the English language is so tricky and complex it could be referred to as a code. Phonics teaches children how to break this code by learning the easier bits first, before progressing onto the more complex phonemes and sounds.

There has been a huge shift in the past few years in how we teach reading in UK schools. This is having a significant impact and helping many children learn to read and spell. Phonics is recommended as the first strategy that children should be taught in helping them learn to read. It runs alongside other teaching methods such as guided reading and shared reading that help children develop all the other vital reading skills, while hopefully giving them a real love of reading.

What is blending?We teach children to read by teaching them how to blend. This is when children say the sounds that make up a word and are able to merge these sounds together until they can hear what the word is. This skill is vital in learning to read and is the skill that is tested during the phonics screening test at the end of Year 1 at school.

How can I help my child with learning phonics at home?

The best way to practise phonics with your children at home is to make learning fun and ensure they know and can pronounce all their phonemes and sounds correctly. Learning Resources have some fantastic products to support learning through play that I myself am using with my own daughter. Hot Dots Let's Learn! Jolly Phonics Set is a self-checking activity that your child can use independently.

Image: Learning Resources Hot Dots Let's Learn! Jolly Phonics Set

What is Hot Dots?Hot Dots is a unique self-checking system designed to build children’s confidence and support classroom learning. Sets cover maths and phonics. Just press the Hot Dots pen to the answer dot on the activity card for an immediate response including colourful lights, fun phrases and even silly sounds! The pen flashes green lights with encouraging sounds and phrases for correct answers and red lights with gentle redirection for incorrect answers.

Images: Learning Resources Original Talking Hot Dots Pen and Hot Dots Jr Ace the Talking, Teaching Dog Pen

Hot Dots Jolly PhonicsThis phonics specific product has been developed in collaboration with Jolly Learning, the founding company of Jolly Phonics teaching framework. It has a fun and child-centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. The set features engaging cards with colourful illustrations of familiar characters.

Hot Dots® Jr.Introduce key early learning skills with these colourful activity sets. Each set includes double-sided cards with self-checking activities that help to develop age-appropriate skills from problem solving to the alphabet and phonics.