Sea Shell Game, Draw and Glow Projector and Measurement Fun!

When we were holidaying in Phuket last year, C was enthralled by the adventure of searching for sea shells by the beach. And the other day, she got so excited when we stumbled upon a box of beautiful sea shells while shopping, we just had to purchase it. I guess the sea shells brought back good memories of our time in Phuket. Anyway, thankfully, we were shopping in Daiso, where everything costs an affordable $2. When we got home, C wanted to play with the sea shells and here's what we came up with:

Sea Shell Game!

It's a board game where the objective is to collect as many sea shells as possible in 3 rounds. Players will take turns rolling dice and moving around the board, performing math, alphabet, shape and action tasks, as seen below:

You will need some sea shells, player tokens
and dice. 

C performing the task of forming the
shape of a HEART with shells!

It was great fun playing a game we came up with together, while C learnt about math and reinforced her knowledge of the alphabet. If you would like to have some fun with this game too, I've included a printable here: Sea Shells by the Beach Game!

Meanwhile, here are a few other activities we have been doing recently:

- Draw and Glow Projector (learning about how Glow in the Dark ink works)
- Concept of Measurement
- Water Play Fun

Draw and Glow Projector

When I was growing up, I used to be really fascinated with those glow in the dark stars we used to stick on our ceilings. C and I were browsing in a bookstore the other day, and we saw this Draw and Glow Projector. I thought it would be fun for C to explore how photoluminescent ink works.

The set comes with:
- a projector,
- six different interchangeable images
- a tube of photolumiscent ink

C tracing the picture projected on the paper.

We added the glow in the dark ink after the drawings were done, and C had fun writing her name with the special ink. She was thrilled to see her own name glow in the dark! :)

Glow in the dark ink works because of phosphors. It is a chemical that absorbs the energy from light sources and re-emits it as visible light. When we shine light on glow in the dark objects, the packets of light excite the phosphor molecules that slowly release the stored energy by giving off a dim glow. It was pretty interesting to understand the science behind some of the things I used to play with during my childhood too!

Measurement 

C absolutely adores Pororo. He's actually a cute little penguin character from a Korean cartoon series. So today, we included him while C was introduced to the concept of measurement.

Pororo the penguin. 7 blocks tall,
and 6 blocks wide.

While playing with some building blocks, C wanted to build Pororo a house. So starting off with the doorway, C measured Pororo's height and width by counting the number of building blocks placed to indicate how tall and how wide he is.

This was a fun and alternative way for C to learn about the importance of measurement, as otherwise Pororo would not be able to fit through his doorway! Haha. :)

Water Play

C loves playing with water, and we do include some things for her to learn while having fun! :)

C practising her pouring skills.

Toys that FLOAT.

Toys that SINK.

Animal shaped sponges that ABSORB water.

Different sized bottles. Measuring cup to learn about
measurement of liquid.

Fishing toys for fishing fun and
practising motor skills!

It's really great to see C learning so much through play, and I am looking forward to more fun activities we can do together! I hope to share even more ideas next time. :)