Full Of Beans

After two days of Grandma's Nursery, Rosie and I seem to be surviving. She was so excited by having her own desk, and she loves putting the name of the day and the weather details on the chart each morning. Having activities listed on the Velcro strip is useful too. 

On Monday afternoon we did role play, using the Sylvanian stable and ponies which belonged to Liz when she was in Early Years. Rosie had not seen these before, they have been in the loft. She was delighted with them and started making up stories and scenarios, including a flying pony. I introduced her to the idea of Pegasus - and we found a story online. I had already intended Tuesday to be Shapes Day - but I modified my plans a little...

We used the six pieces of pony fencing to make shapes - and Rosie made the square, triangle and rectangle with no problem. We arranged them in a ring, and I was informed "It's not a proper circle, it's a hexagon Grandma" [that's me told, then]

One item I don't have with me is a ball of any sort. I thought I would make a bean bag or two, then decided Rosie could help me at the sewing machine.

Making a bean bag is a brilliant activity for discussing shapes.

Quick tutorial [I tried to draw an instruction sheet tutorial, but it was taking too long]

1. Cut out a piece of fabric 11cm x 22cm. This is a rectangle
2. Fold it in half to make a piece 11cm x 11cm. This is a square
3. Put the folded edge to the left, and sew down the right side with a narrow seam. Still a square.
4. Open up and flatten with the seam now running down the centre front. Still a square
5. Sew a seam along the bottom edge to make a bag. Still a square
6. Open the top of the bag, flatten the other way, so that the 1st seam is to the left edge. Sew a seam along the top, stopping halfway.
7. Turn the bag inside out through the hole, pushing out the corners with blunt end of a pencil.
8. Flatten the bag, it will be a sort of triangle shape.
9. Fill the bag with uncooked dried beans, sweetcorn or rice. Sew the hole up tightly.
10. You have a pyramid shaped beanbag

Rosie is holding our two beanbags in the bottom left picture. They are really good for throwing practice, they do not bounce wildly. We threw to one another and into a plastic bowl. I impressed Rosie by juggling two bags at once. No, I cannot juggle three, perhaps I should make a third beanbag, and use lockdown time to learn a new skill. On second thoughts, I will follow everyone's instructions to rest in the evenings.