We love the story of the Rainbow Fish, and with spring and World Book Day coming up we're thinking about all things books and rainbows!  So we've put together a list of the top ten Rainbow Fish activities for kids!



We recently made a Rainbow Fish story sack to further explore the book.  It's a great way to really get to know the characters and extend the story with lots of fun and discussion.



And if you're looking for an adorable Rainbow Fish Costume then you've got to see this cute one from Here Come the Girls, it doesn't even look that difficult to make, perfect for World Book Day!



This post is part of a rainbow blog hop of top ten lists, there are literally hundreds of fantastic rainbow ideas here!





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Today we played with bubble wrap!  What a fantastic material for exploring.  I got some in a package the other day and knew it was worth saving.  I taped it to the floor so that Ethan could walk, jump, crawl, pinch and bounce his ball on it, fantastic for his Physical Development.



Ethan loved it!  As it was a rainy day today we set it up as a whole course for him to go through.  I had his ball pit tent set up, the tunnel attached then the bubble wrap floor at the end of the tunnel.  Ethan crawled through and found this surprise!



He started walking on it and heard the 'pop' then wanted to do it more and more!  We experimented with different ways of walking, jumping and stomping his feet, then moved onto pinching, patting and squishing with fingers.  Then Ethan started going back and forth through the tunnel, bringing balls back with him.  


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Today we planted seeds in our window box!  As Nana's visiting (and she has much more of a green thumb than Mommy) we took this opportunity to do some gardening.  Planting seeds and watching them grow is a fantastic way of expanding Knowledge and Understanding of the World.  Especially as we've planted a few different vegetables that we will (hopefully) be able to eat when they're fully grown.



The first thing that we did was make signs for our plants.  Download our plant signs template.

Then we put soil in the window box, mixed it around and broke up the clumps, put the different seeds in, covered them up and then put the signs in.  Ethan loved playing with the soil, he could have happily sat and scooped the soil from the window box into the other plant pots for ages.  He was also really good at placing the tiny little seeds exactly where Nana was asking him to put them (she was very impressed!)  I wish that we had a big garden where Ethan could do this sort of thing more often, but living in London, our little window box will just have to do for now.  Now to wait for them to grow!

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Today I compiled a box of toys; some that Ethan knows how to say the word (or sound it makes), some that he has said before but doesn't always say, and some that he doesn't yet know how to say.  I thought this would be great language practice for his Communication, Language and Literacy development as he is learning new words everyday (and I'm almost losing track of them all!)



Watching Ethan learn new words has been an incredible experience.  I can't believe that just a couple of months ago I was so worried that he wasn't saying enough words.  Now I am absolutely loving his progress and trying to keep track of every single new word as he learns it.  The best part is how adorably he says the words in his own unique way, so the selfish part of this game is that I'm trying to make a video of Ethan saying all of his words so that I never forget how sweetly he said 'ot' for hot, 'butt' for button, 'ap' for apple, 'nana' for banana, 'ehm' for Elmo, etc, etc. 

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Today I thought it was time for some messy play, so we made cornflour goop!  I used 1 cup of cornflour and 1/2 cup of water and some green food colouring.  The idea is to make a fascinating substance that is both liquid and solid and you can scrape around it with spoons and make patterns with your fingers.  It's a great activity for Knowledge and Understanding of the World as children learn about changing states of matter and explore this very strange goop.



Today may not have been the best day to do this particular activity in our house.  Ethan is teething and has a cold, so he's a bit miserable.  We made the goop together, I put some some cornflour in a big tray and then added some water and we stirred it around together.  There didn't seem to be enough water so I added some more (this is where I went wrong) so the goop became too runny.  It was still fun to play with, but it splashed around quite easily (especially when Mr Tantrum decided to throw the spoons around after I told him he couldn't eat the goop) and the kitchen is now covered in goop.  Ethan definitely enjoyed this activity (pre tantrum) and we'll have to try it again, but maybe we'll wait until we can do it outside in the garden (or at someone else's house!)

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Today we had a tea party in Ethan's play tent with some of his toys and teddies.  The honoured guests were Elmo and Scout, Ethan's favourites.



Ethan helped me to gather up all of the teddies and then to set up the tea pot, cups and play food.  He stirred the tea and poured it into the cups and then fed it to his guests.  He was very sweet and gentle when he fed the teddies, it was lovely to watch.  An excellent activity for his Personal, Social and Emotional Development as he learns to be kind and gentle to others and to share.

Also, as a side note, there has been a bit in the news about gender stereotyping toys.  It can be quite frustrating as a parent when you want your child to just have the freedom to choose to play with anything they like.  Ethan absolutely loves playing with tea sets and play cooking sets, and I do find that a lot of them are classified as 'girls' toys.  Today we proudly play with our tea set, and who knows, maybe tomorrow we'll be playing with dolls in prams :)

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Today we took Ethan's scooter out for his first scoot in the park!  We've had the scooter for a few months now (we got him the Mini Micro Scooter with the seat for Christmas) and have been letting him get used to it in the house, but as it was a beautiful day today and he's getting much better at scooting around, we thought it was time to give it a whirl outside.



Ethan was so happy to have his scooter outside, he starting playing with it in the grass while we were still having our picnic!  Of course the grass was quite tricky to scoot around on, so after our picnic we moved over to the pathway.  Ethan was whizzing around straight away, he's figured out how to sit on the seat and move his feet to push forwards, but is finding steering quite difficult.  He did get frustrated sometimes when he would end up in the grass or at the fence, but he was happy to be steered along and always gave it another try.  A great toy for Ethan's Physical Development as he learns about balance and moving his feet in a purposeful way (and eventually steering!)

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It's May Day!  So today we made our own May Pole!  I used the roll from wrapping paper, made a small hole in the top with a hole punch to put the ribbons through, tied them on and then held up the pole by putting it on the base of our stacking rings.



At first Ethan had no idea what I was doing, and when i handed him a ribbon he would just pull it or drop it.  But then I put some music on and started walking around the pole with my ribbon, saying 'round and round' and he followed me!  We ended up having so much fun, we got very dizzy, and our May pole may not have been pretty in the end, but it was all about the experience!  A great activity for Ethan's Physical Development as he watched my actions and followed along.

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Today we were talking about all the fun that we had at the farm yesterday!  So we looked at the book Baby Touch - Farm saying all of the animals names and making their sounds.  Then we sang Old MacDonald Had a Farm as we turned the pages of the book and pointed to the animals as we sang about them.



This is a lovely book, because it's so simple you really can just focus on the animal names and sounds.  Ethan is coming on really well with his language now, it's so exciting to hear all of the new words that he can say.  He is also absolutely loving books, so today's activity was perfect for him.  We'll try it again in a few days and see which animal names he's remembered as part of the speaking and listening element of his Communication, Language and Literacy development.

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Today was Ethan's first football class!  Incredibly at 18 months old they can start, so it seemed like the perfect thing for us to do over the summer.  We go to a class with Kiddikicks, they run termly classes so ours started today and goes on throughout the summer.



It was so much fun to watch Ethan running around and kicking the ball with the other little kids his age.  They did a variety of different activities using the footballs and other equipment.  These kids certainly won't be playing a proper football game any time soon, but they're learning all of the skills that they need so that they eventually can.  They lead the kids in all sorts of great activities for their Physical Development, they were kicking, balancing, throwing and stretching. It is also a great way to build on Ethan's Personal, Social and Emotional Development as he learns to follow instructions and to play alongside other children.

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Today I took Ethan to his first art class!  We already go to Gymboree for gym classes (play and learn) but Ethan is finally old enough to try out the art classes (18 months old).  


It was very different to the gym classes, which was a bit of an adjustment for Ethan at first, but he was so good and really interested in everything that was happening.  They started out with a few songs, then onto playdough (with tools just like we used at home the other day, so he was a bit of a pro) then onto the main activity of making a paper plate caterpillar.  Ethan got a bit distracted (the chairs were very fun to play with) but we got his interest back with the next activity, squishing paint around a ladybird laminating sheet (fun and messy!)  After that the kids got to play with maracas, this was perfect as it was just what Ethan needed after sitting still for so long (they even did the freeze song, his favourite!) and finished off with the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (to go with the activity) and goodbye songs.  We absolutely loved it, I got to be the proud Mommy bringing home a piece of Ethan's artwork, and he was able to work on his Creative Development with other children around to learn from.  We will definitely be going back for more art classes.

Today I was inspired by the stack of cardboard boxes in the recycling, so I headed over to Pinterest to find something to make with them.  I found a few different ways of making marble runs, including a very simple looking one on Red Ted Art.  I made a ball run instead, as marbles are still a bit of a choking hazard for Ethan's age.  I used a cardboard box, with the flaps as ramps, cutting a hole in each level big enough for the ball to go through.  I had an extra flap so I used it on the top, just as something extra for Ethan to do by lifting it up to put the ball through.



I have to say I was quite proud of the finished product, and it was simple to use, so Ethan figured it out straight away.  He was soon lifting the flap and dropping the balls through, helping them along if they got stuck and catching them at the bottom.  He also started looking for other toys that could fit through the hole, soon discovered that most of his cars were too big, but that he could fit his toy trains through.  A great activity for Knowledge and Understanding of the World as Ethan watched as I made this toy from a cardboard box and as he learned what he had to do to make it work.

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