As some of you may know, I am a primary school teacher. I taught Prep/Kindergarten for two years before I fell pregnant with Lilly and I always loved making a difference in the lives of our little people. Now that I am a stay at home Mummy, I design and create teaching products which I sell over at Little Lifelong Learners. This has just been a little hobby but I'm thinking of taking the leap and turning it into my very own small business very soon!
I decided to make some cute alphabet posters which I shrunk down and laminated for my home office where I spend a lot of my day. Once they were up, we decided to make a little learning corner for Lilly seeing as though she spends some of her day in here with me.
Once the posters were up on the wall, we went to Ikea and got some wooden learning toys. Lilly absolutely loves the abacus and whacks the beads across with a big grin on her face.At Kmart, we got the white bookshelf and the little baskets. I think Lilly actually enjoys playing with the baskets more than she likes the things inside them. They are great for sensory play.
We are using one of the baskets to keep all her board books and touchy feely books in. It's the perfect size for Lilly to be able to reach in and grab what she wants. Read my Books for Babies post to see what our favourites are at the moment.
The next basket is our sensory play / exploration basket. At the moment, it's full of different balls with different textures. Lilly loves to pick them up and throw them so it's no surprise that some have mysteriously disappeared already!
Last but certainly not least, are my sensory play bottles! The first is just cooking oil and coloured water. When Lilly shakes it, the oil and water starts to mix together then separate again. It's more fun for me to watch and play with but I'm sure Lilly will appreciate it soon! The next is just different coloured rice. You pop some rice in a zip lock bag with some food colouring and a splash of white vinegar and shake it up until the rice is dyed. Then you spread it on some cooking paper out in the sun to dry. So easy and so effective!
The others are my rainbow shakers filled with bits and pieces from my craft cupboard. If you don't have a stash, you can grab some bits and pieces from the $2 or junk shop. I used things like feathers, paddle pop sticks, beads, pebbles, pipe cleaners and coloured pasta. So cheap and so much fun!
So there you go! Lilly now has a little space to play and learn in while Mummy works on her business!
