Ring-a-ring a Rosie Perfume Making
This activity might take you back to your own childhood, making potions in the backyard! Gather bunches of herbs and flowers for children to grind up in mortar and pestles. They can then mix in water or herbal teas and pour their finished ‘perfumes’ into jars. It’s basically just fragrant, messy fun!
Hey Diddle Diddle Decorated Dishes
These dishes are a beautiful keepsake. Children used ceramic markers to decorate their dish with cats, fiddles, cows, moons, little dogs etc. Exact instructions are on the marker pen packet, but after 30 minutes in a 120 degree oven the dishes should be ready for use!
Pat-a-Cake Playdough
For one of our most popular play dough tables ever we prepared several balls of brightly coloured play dough and set out birthday candles and reusable silicon patty pans. Mini rolling pins, wooden knives and chef’s hats were also added to the playspace. As the rhyme suggests, this could be a great activity for the letter ‘B’!
Jack be Nimble
Draw invisible pictures with a wax candle then paint with dye wash to bring them to life – a magical art experience for the little ones!
Jack and Jill Hospital
Set up your dramatic playspace as a hospital using doll’s beds, bandages, doctor’s kits and medicine bottles. We used puppets as Jack and Jill, but Humpty Dumpty and Miss Polly’s dollies could also make a visit.
Lavender’s Blue
Use sprigs of lavender as paint brushes in lavender scented purple paint. The result could make beautiful wrapping paper.
Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater
Help to decorate Peter’s wife’s house! Such a simple, yet engaging art activity, with the bonus of washing off the paint at the end of the session and turning the pumpkin into soup! Or, for a less messy alternative, have children hammer in colourful thumb tacks or golf tees.
King of the Castle Nature Crowns
This activity was a favourite amongst our little ones during our Nursery Rhymes workshop and resulted in some stunning headwear. We set out scissors, textas, pre-cut cardboard crowns, washi tapes, greenery and flowers and let them get to work designing and decorating their crowns to show off to the dirty rascal.
Oranges and Lemons Threading
The smell of dehydrating oranges and lemons wafting through the house is well worth the effort of slicing and drying. We filled baskets with these delicious, dried-out citrus rounds and sourced some little golden bells with holes for threading. The children threaded these along florist wire to make necklaces or ornaments. Twine and plastic needles can also be used for garland making.
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