The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

  • Home
  • Welcome
    • About Me
    • Popular Posts
    • Play Challenge
    • Subscribe
  • Age
    • Baby
    • Toddler
    • Preschooler
    • School Age
  • Activities
    • Literacy
    • Numeracy
    • Creativity
    • Physical
    • PHSE
    • Science
  • Resources
    • Spaces
    • Toys
    • Books
  • Contact
  • Kindness Elves

Messy Play: Snakes in Jelly!

October 14, 2011 by Anna Ranson

This is an example of some pure, joyful messy play! Rubber toy snakes set into green jelly to look like glorious slime, resulting in a morning of fun, investigation and PLAY!
First of all, we made the jelly together which was in itself a real hands-on learning experience. We talked about how the jelly felt rubbery and squishy when it was in the cubes and Cakie marvelled when it “disappeared” after adding the boiling water. I asked her to predict what would happen after we refrigerated it, but she couldn’t imagine it!  Great for questioning and thinking skills!

 After she has helped make the jelly I dropped in the rubber snakes secretly so that they would be a real surprise in the morning! They mainly sank to the bottom but as soon as the jelly began to solidify they became suspended exactly where they had fallen. I added a layer of glitter over the top, just for fun!

 The next morning she was delighted with the snakes and immediately plunged her hands in to find them all and start playing! She commented on how “wobbly” and “squiggly” the liquid had become and spent ages running it through her fingers and squeezing it through her fists!

She made up some wonderful stories about the snakes “swimming in their swimming pool together” and later added some plastic toy people to join in the game too. Great for language and literacy skills!

 Little Sister was curious too and was quite taken aback by the cold temperature and the strange feeling of the jelly mix.

 I saw a bag of toy eye-balls in the shop too which would be really disgusting in a big bowl of blackcurrant jelly! Ewww! The mind boggles at the possibilities 🙂

Learning Links:

  • Science (KUW): investigating the change of materials from solid-liquid-solid, questioning and prediction skills
  • Literacy: vocabulary development e.g. squishy, solid, liquid, solidify etc, telling stories using a small works play set up and toys
  • Maths: talk about volume and capacity when making the jelly, measuring amounts
  • Sensory: investigate materials using a range of senses, discuss how things feel and smell
  • Creativity: storytelling, using toys and props to represent other things
Cakie: 37 months
Pop: 18 months

Related Posts

  • Natural Fruit Play Dough RecipesNatural Fruit Play Dough Recipes
  • How to Dye Pasta for Sensory PlayHow to Dye Pasta for Sensory Play
  • Easy Gluten Free Play Dough RecipeEasy Gluten Free Play Dough Recipe
  • Natural Dyes for Play DoughNatural Dyes for Play Dough
  • Best Ever Chocolate Play Dough RecipeBest Ever Chocolate Play Dough Recipe
  • Gingerbread Play Dough RecipeGingerbread Play Dough Recipe

Filed Under: Creativity, Jelly, Messy Play, Sensory, Snakes Tagged With: Sensory Play

« It’s Playtime! Come and Share Your Ideas!
5 – a- Day Books: Wild Animals! »

Comments

  1. Joyce says

    October 14, 2011 at 6:38 pm

    Oh wow, that looks amazingly fun! Did you play with it too? I’m not sure if I could have resisted! Haha. Thank you for sharing!

  2. Kierna C says

    October 14, 2011 at 7:43 pm

    haha i love this – I have used jelly crytals in the water tray before but like the idea of the set jelly AND I have eye balls already for my Hallowe’en witches brew!

  3. pink and green mama MaryLea says

    October 15, 2011 at 1:47 am

    Squeeee!!! : )

  4. Jennifer says

    October 15, 2011 at 3:46 pm

    How did you make the jelly?

  5. northernmum says

    October 15, 2011 at 10:41 pm

    very cool!

  6. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    October 15, 2011 at 10:46 pm

    Jennifer we followed the directions on the packer. It’s Jello in the USA so probably the same type of packet mixes exist? This came in squidgy cubes which we had to dissolve in boiling water, then leave to set in the fridge overnight.

  7. Mrs. McLennan says

    October 16, 2011 at 12:41 am

    What an appealing sensory experience! I would love to do this with our kids at school. I’m thinking we could throw in the plastic spiders the kids are fascinated with right now.

  8. Katie says

    October 16, 2011 at 9:42 pm

    Oh YES! Looks like great fun:-) 🙂

  9. Susan Case says

    November 1, 2011 at 6:52 pm

    Love it! Just makes you want to dig right in. I really like how you post the learning links for your activities for those of us trying to promote play and may need learning justified (sad but true). You are a marvelous teacher and mom. I voted for you on Circle of Moms Top 25 blogs.

  10. School System Occupational Therapist in Virginia says

    March 26, 2013 at 1:51 am

    Oh, how wonderful!

Trackbacks

  1. Messy Play: Jellied Snakes | Edspire says:
    April 4, 2013 at 11:11 pm

    […] Last night I prepared Jelly Mega Bloks with surprise snakes inside and a bowl of Snakes in Slime! […]

The Imagination Tree on FacebookThe Imagination Tree on TwitterThe Imagination Tree on PinterestThe Imagination Tree on G+RSS feed from The Imagination TreeThe Imagination Tree straight to your inbox

Search The Imagination Tree

About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

The Kindness Elves Store
Play Ideas on The Imagination Tree

Create with The Imagination Tree

Makes on The Imagination Tree

Sign up for our FREE emails:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT