Wow. Since I discovered Pinterest, I re-discovered the creativity within. Does that sound cheesy? Apologies if it does, but I really mean it. This weekend I have prepared a range of activities for the toddler to get on with when I really have to get on with other stuff. He is good at playing independently but often needs a little guidance or company. But when he plays by himself he plays for ages and is really happy to do so.
Ok, so Pinterest. It’s taking up a lot of my time lately but it’s all good. This week I discovered a fantastic blog called The Daily Buzz and this recipe for making your own crayons, taken from a blog called Suenos Encantados. So we unwrapped our broken crayons and we melted them into new ones!

Broken crayons in paper cases

Broken crayons in the oven

Rainbow crayons

Next, I have made rainbow rice. This was an idea very kindly given to me by @SebsMummy via twitter. Full instructions on how to do it can be found on her blog, They grow so quickly.

Blue rice

Orange rice

Today, the toddler has been immersed in playing with the rice. He has a bowl full at the moment and is playing with toy soldiers, puppy in my pocket figures and lego… and the rice.
SO it led me to think that Rainbow Week would be a great idea for school.You could pre-make the crayons at home, of course, and the rice, but the result would be just as valuable. The rainbow rice would be fantastic to use in the sand tray and small world; it can also be used to make shakers, rain sticks and other noisy models.
The rainbow crayons can be used to talk about colour mixing and in science you can discuss the changing status of the wax as it melts with heat and hardens as it cools.

Other rainbow ideas include:
singing the rainbow song
learning about the colour wheel
talking about Autumn colours (there is a really cute activity here)
colour sorting
Using prisms to experiment with lights
finger painting
using paint colour charts from B&Q to make collages and pictures
Going on a colour trail to discover what colours are in the local environment

So the toddler and I are going to have a Rainbow Week this week and I hope to do lots of the above activities with him. That’s if I’m not too busy sweeping up colourful grains of rice, that is…