Incy Wincy Spider

There can't be a playgroup in the land who has never sang Incy Wincy Spider. 

This Song is certainly a favourite of ours, and surely quite topical, with the the wet weather we've been having this year.

We've made various versions of Incy in the last four or five years, but I think this one is my favourite!

Each one is unique!

Equipment:

• Play dough 

• Googly eyes

• Pipe cleaners

• Paper plates/small pieces of card

• Felt pens

Preparation:

• Make play dough (recipe link*). 

• Cut pipe cleaners in half and then in half again.

Method:

1. Take a small lump of play dough and roll into a ball.

2. Add two googly eyes. We provided a few different sizes, to choose from.

3. Add pipe cleaners as legs. Children may decide to add as few or as many as they like, but that is totally fine!

4. Place on paper plate/card and write name on the side, ready for home time.

* We used the Kids with Food Allergies rice flour recipe, so that it would be suitable for anyone allergic to wheat/gluten. We used black food colouring, to make the spider, but actually your spiders could be quite colourful, if you like! Play dough can be made a few days in advance but will need to be stored in the fridge in a air tight container.

Springtime Daffodils

One activity that always goes down well at playgroup is planting. Usually we'd plant seeds, but this activity coincided with St Patrick's Day, so we decided to opt for daffodils. 

All very well and good, but bulbs actually need planting in November, so we cheated and bought some that were ready sprouted, for the children to plant in their pots!

All potted up!

The question was, what song to sing? Not knowing any St Patrick Day songs, Mary Mary, Quite Contrary, seems a good choice to me!



Equipment:

• Pots of young daffodils (we got ours at Asda*)

• Tuff builder's tray

• Compost

• Plastic trug

• Small trowel/large spoon

• Paper cups (we bought a selction of coloured cups from Baker Ross*)

• Stickers

• Felt Pens

• Washing up bowl with soapy water (for hand washing)

• Towel

Preparation:

• Buy daffodil pots & compost. Open the compost bag and empty into plastic trug.

• Lay out planting equipment on Tuff tray. It makes a good base that will contain some of the mess.

Ready for action

Method:

1. Decorate paper cup with stickers & felt pens.

2. Fill pot halfway with compost.

3. Place bulb in pot.

4. Add more compost around the bulb and press down firmly.

5. Wash hands thoroughly, to make sure all the compost is cleaned off.


*Any indication of where we sourced products is just to help you find suitable products and materials. We are not affiliated to any companies. We do not profit by mentioning them..

Marching Drums

One of the songs our littlies love to sing at playgroup is The Grand Old Duke of York. So it seems only natural to make our own drums, with which to sing along!

Ready to march!

If you need a reminder, the words of the song can be found by following this link.


Equipment:

• Used container with lid

• Coloured paper circles

• Felt pens

• Stickers - we ordered some instrument stickers from Baker Ross*

• PVA glue and spreaders

• Plasticine

• Short sticks

Not that attractive in its original state, you can see why it needed covering!

Preparation:

• Collect suitable tubs/containers.

• Cut coloured paper/light card circles for the top of the tub. You could also do as I did, and cut card to fit the side of the tub, or if you're feeling brave you could use poster paint mixed with PVA glue.

Method:

1. Use PVA glue to stick coloured paper on the tub, to prepare the surface for decoration.OR paint decoration using paint mixed as above.

2. Decorate coloured paper using felt pens & stickers.

3. Roll a ball of plasticine and mould it round the end of a short stick, to form a drumstick.

4. Don't forget to try them out at song time! The children are sure to enjoy marching round with their drums!

*We sourced ours from Baker Ross. We are not affiliated to Baker Ross in any way. We do not profit by mentioning them. Baker Ross are mentioned merely to assist sourcing of materials.