Term 1; Week 6

We have had another busy week here at Kidsize. The children have enjoyed a super fun activity that we did on a couple of different days so that children that attend different sessions all got the opportunity to join in. We also did this activity inside and outside so that the children could enjoy it in both settings. The activity we did was for our 'My Universe' topic and it was all about how craters on the moon and planets are formed. The children that engaged with this activity learnt that craters are created by pieces of rock or metal (meteorites) travelling through space and colliding with the surface of a moon or planet. This creates a bowl shaped crater on the surface as the debris caused by the impact explodes outwards. The children also learnt that craters can be thousands of miles long and are also used by scientists to tell how old a planet or moon may be. Lots of children guessed correctly that the Earth even has some craters that were made millions of years ago. To do this activity we used flour and drinking chocolate powder to simulate the surface of a planet or moon. The children would then throw marbles or rocks at the powder which would explode outward upon impact just like when a meteorite strikes. Check out some pictures of the children enjoying this activity.

At Kidsize we recognise the importance of creating engaging play spaces that stimulate development and provide important play opportunities for the children when they attend our club. To help us to improve even more with this we asked the children how they would like the spaces to be set up for them. We asked them to use cut outs of tables and chairs and other objects and to place them around a template of the room so that they could show us how they would like the space to look. It was great to see some of these ideas and we can't wait to try and implement them in the future.

At kidsize we have children that are a range of ages. We know that we need to provide forms of play that stimulate all children at any stage of their development. We are currently working with our children in the P4-7 age range to see what they would like to have at club to play with. We love hearing their great ideas. We already have some great toys that challenge our Kidsizers minds such as the sudoku bear and can't wait to fulfil our kidsizers fantastic requests. Check out some of our older children playing with these items below.

We have also continued to have lots of fun in our outdoor area and the children have enjoyed our new slackline course that can be put up between two trees in our area. This slackline includes a ladder, ropes and hoops to hang onto and a swing. The children have been able to challenge themselves physically as they attempt the course and which contributes to muscle development and increased confidence. The children have also been coming up with new and creative ways to use our loose parts. Such as making their own fence in our sandy area using wooden posts. These kidsizers used spades to hammer the posts into the ground, check out their hard work below.

We have so many kidsizers that love arts and crafts so we always keep our craft box stocked with fun supplies. The children have particularly enjoyed the scratch art cards and have made some beautiful pictures by scraping the black layer off to reveal the rainbow colours below. We are delighted that we can feature these scratch art pictures in our kidsize 'gallery' that hangs on one of our walls. Have a look at their beautiful art work below.