Nursery World - Mini Topic: Laundry tablet bags

Who would have thought that the common laundry tablet bag would prove so versatile? Jean Evans provides plenty of activity ideas

Children love making collections of their treasures in bags of all shapes and sizes. Laundry tablet bags are ideal for holding the tiniest of their trove. They are easy for small fingers to handle and have a satisfying push-button fastener to secure the contents. Ask parents, staff and friends to bring in surplus laundry tablet bags. Once you have built up a supply, try out some of these activity ideas.

Washed out

Talk about what the laundry tablets are used for.

Dissolve one in a transparent jug of warm water. What happens to the tablet? And the water?
Introduce the words 'dissolve', 'transparent', 'clear', 'cloudy', 'solid' and 'liquid'. (Encourage the children to observe and not touch, in case this might trigger any allergies they have).
Compare the tablets with other washing powders and liquids. What do the children see in use at home?

Washing day

Make some washing tablets using salt dough.

Roll out the dough to about 2cm thick and use small square and round pastry cutters to cut out tablet shapes. Bake slowly to harden.
Paint your dough tablets to look the same as real ones.
Place them in an empty tablet box with some net bags and leave beside the 'washing machine' in the home corner. Encourage the children to count out two tablets into a bag for each 'wash'

Use the dough tablets and net bags in a role-play launderette.

Make pictorial signs indicating one tablet for a small load of washing and two tablets for a big load.
Encourage counting skills. How many tablets will be needed for two big loads? And three small loads?

In the balance

Suspend bags from a balance. Place ten beads in one bag and fill the other bag until the two sides balance. Tip out the beads from each side and count them. Are they the same?

Use the bags to encourage number recognition. Tie labels marked with the numbers 1 to 10 to a set of bags. Hang the bags on cup hooks in order along a wall. Place some small items in containers on a table below and ask the children to place the correct number of items in a chosen bag. Younger children will enjoy working with the numbers 1 to 5 and gain greater satisfaction.

Sew the neck of a bag to a thin plastic bracelet and create a fishing net. Catch small numbered plastic fish in the water tray, or simply trawl through and count the number of objects caught.

Up a tree

Put a small cream egg into a bag and hang one for each child on an 'Easter egg tree'.

Ask the children to write their kind deeds on strips of paper and put them in a bag. Hang the bags on a 'kindness tree' during appropriate festivals, such as Wesak. Choose a 'kindness bag' and talk about the message inside.

Make bird cakes by adding melted lard, biscuits, seeds and cake crumbs to a yoghurt pot. Allow them to set and turn the ingredients out. Put the cakes into bags and hang them on a tree outside for the birds to enjoy.

In early spring, hang bags full of nesting materials, such as wool and feathers, in a tree for the birds to find.

Pack your bags

Use the bags for shopping bags, rucksacks and sports bags for dolls.

Create a 'going away' bag for a small teddy and let the children take turns to have the teddy home for the weekend. Put a miniature brush, sponge and square of towelling into the bag along with a tiny toy. Supply a notebook as a diary and ask parents to help record teddy's adventures at the weekend. When teddy returns read the diary and discuss the weekend's adventures.

Big dip

Fill bags with different scraps of recycled materials, such as sponge, towelling or tiny sandpaper strips. See how many different patterns and unusual prints can be created by dipping the bag into thick paint and pressing it on to paper.

Fun and games

Play games to develop children's fine motor skills. Try picking up square beads with tongs and dropping them into a bag. Who can put five beads in first?