What do you do all day?

Peek-a-boo Mirror

2012-01-21T03:20:00.000-08:00

Mason has been pulling himself up on the Montessori shelves so to give him some encouragement with his cruising and becoming mobile i put up a peek-a-boo mirror on the end of the shelves for him to find.
I simple double sided taped a shatterproof mirror to the shelves and also double sided taped a piece of fabric a little bigger than the mirror over the top.

Watching him explore it and was lovely. His little face lit up when he lifted the flap of fabric. I later had to move it up slightly to encourage him to stand up and balance as at this height it was easier for him to sit while playing.

Strainer/Pipecleaner Activity

2012-01-21T03:07:00.000-08:00

What can you do with a strainer and some pipecleaners? Keep two children interested for hours!
I set this up one night before i went to bed and when they woke up they both sat down and happily threaded,pushed,pulled and picked all morning. Tara had the red one as it was light and she was able to pick it up and thread through both sides with her full length pipecleaners while Mason had a solid one that he used half length pipecleaners to poke through the holes and pull back out.

Fruit Cars

2012-01-21T02:55:00.000-08:00

How adorable are these little fruit cars?? Great morning tea for any little one on the go.
Just slice up an apple or pear into narrow pieces and use toothpicks to add grape or cherry wheels
Remind your little mechanic to take off the toothpick axles before they start munching!

Stacking

2012-01-21T02:35:00.000-08:00

This wooden stacking activity was Tara's favourite when she was around 18 months and it seems Mason enjoys it to. It is the first thing he gravitates to on the Montessori shelves.
So while Mason worked on his stacking and matching Tara got to work on an older version of he stacking activity.
All you need is a ball of play dough, one stick of uncooked spaghetti and a bowl of cheerios

The aim was to keep stacking to the very top while being gentle enough not to snap the pasta.

Waterbead Transferring

2012-01-21T02:25:00.000-08:00

Transferring is a basic Montessori principle that is important for different ages and stages for different reasons. Mason is 12 months here and just manages to pick up these slippery wet Waterbeads and place them in the bowl on his right.
When placing an activity out to a child encourage them to work left to right as this will start the skills towards reading and writing.

Waterbeads in Water

2012-01-21T02:16:00.000-08:00

Our beautiful waterbeads had shrunk into tiny beads and needed to be soaked again to restore that glossy bouncy waterbead goodness that know so may homeschoolers love but someone couldn't wait the 5 hours to let them expand and stuck his hand in early but what a great surprise!
Soaking waterbeads also have a therapeutic sense to them and feel very gentle on little hands. i urge anyone with waterbeads to let the kids play with them while they are soaking as its an amazing experience

Caterpillar Frankfurts

2012-01-21T01:58:00.000-08:00

After a big day of Hungry Caterpillar fun partying, Tara was able to choose what we had for dinner. Her decision was "Caterpillar franks" of course! We thought we would share with you our meal...
First you hold a long Frankfurt steady while you pierce lengths of uncooked spaghetti in it and pull through the other side.Continue this all the way down the Frankfurt. Place the Frankfurt into water and boil until for a few minutes or until pasta is cookedCaterpillars franks ready for the birthday girl....

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Party and how we got there!

2012-01-20T14:51:00.000-08:00

Wow! January has rolled around once again and i find myself going through past years photos of our themed parties we have had for Tara to get some inspiration for this years theme.

Tara's 1st birthday party was a Hawaiian Pool Party

With fresh fruits and Hawaiian pizzas

They all had a turn of the fish pinata

And topped off with a princess style cupcake tower of tiny teddies in bikini's, frangipani's, fish and flip flops.

The adults got the palm tree bottle opener thank you's

And the smaller guests got the Hawaiian rubber duckies

It all seems such a long time ago, how quickly life flies by when they are so young

Tara's 2nd birthday was when we moved to the farm so our theme was easy to choose "Wild Wild West-Cowgirl party"

Thank you's were sheriff badge cookies and art supplies like stickers and pencils

I made the party table from bales of hay, gingham material and each child got a hat to stick with the red and blue theme

With a few little tweaks, i was able to make the dolly cake was made into a cowgirl cake

Our cowgirl with her matching cowgirl cake

Another year flown by and the three musketeers will soon meet another member

And then she was THREE!

The year of the ladybug!

Ladybug Frankfurt's

On the ladybug table

Ladybug cupcakes and ladybug strawberries

Adult ladybug crackers with cherry tomato,cream cheese and an olive

Thank you Ladybug spotty demi tea cups for all the guests

One Ladybug cake sitting on a leaf waiting to be eaten!

And then there were four....Mason was 2 weeks old the day we celebrated Tara's 3rd birthday here

Which brings us to 2012, Our first COMBINED party Mason turning 1 and Tara turning 4.The best theme we could think of for one hungry caterpillar and a beautiful butterfly was ERIC CARLES' "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

The party table for all the hungry caterpillars

And so the story begins..On Monday

On Tuesday...

On Wednesday...

On Thursday...

On Friday....

On Saturday he ate through......

Hungry caterpillar cupcakes

Water for the beautiful butterflies

I hid egg carton caterpillars around our garden and told the children they were eating all the plants so i needed them to collect them for me

Then they had a chance to decorate them with paint, glitter and stickers

While the smaller grubs crawled around and played

All that playing made someone hungry

Mason's 1st birthday cake

Tara's 4th Birthday cake

Time for some "Pin the head on the caterpillar" game

The birthday girl with Mummy

The Awesome Foursome xx

The Birthday boy with Daddy

A beautiful butterfly Pinata

Thank you bags were all themed with worksheets, VHC magnetic wooden puzzles, VHC sticker sheet a popcorn butterfly

And some Hershey kisses VHC style

And that brings us to the end of our party planning adventures for another year, although Tara has already put her request in for next years theme so keep watching this space for upcoming parties!

Our Art Gallery

2011-12-22T04:52:00.000-08:00

Where do you put your child's creative pieces? On the fridge? In folders? In frames in their rooms? In the playroom?
We chose our hall to display our children's work. Yes, our visitors may think we are a little nutty and may prefer to look at a mainstream artists painting but sense of pride Tara feels when she adds another piece to her collection is well worth it. Our hall has been renamed "our art gallery" and we must use quiet voices to discuss any of the artworks. Its a little silly and a little fun but these little choices help build the important self worth of our next generation.

Squeeze painting

2011-12-21T18:04:00.000-08:00

I had been saving these squeeze bottles for a while and couldn't wait to let Tara free with some squeeze paint play.

Firstly i washed the bottles and took off the labels

Then i filled them with about 50ml paint 50mil water and gave them a good shake to mix

With some giant paper and a paint smock, she started her squeeze painting!

What a mess but what fun!

The paint from such a height made some lovely splashes

Once Tara saw the paint puddle she just wanted to get into it...that's what our playing is about!

Bottlebrush Christmas painting

2011-12-18T19:34:00.000-08:00

What says a traditional Aussie Christmas more than bottlebrush with red and green colours?

Painting using a bottlebrush was just another way to reinvent a simple activity into something new. Lovely idea for Christmas paper or cards too!

Reindeer Noses

2011-12-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

Sick of boring candy cane gifts for friends?
Well this year we gave out these cuties!
Made with 8 maltesers and 1 jaffa, they got a smile from all of Tara's classmates. Here is a similar label that the folks at Pigeon have handed out free so print these off as many times as you need and get to work sorting your treats-great activity for the kids to get involved in to practise counting,sorting and of course not EATING!

http://www.pigeonbaby.com.au/pigeon/reindeerNoses.pdf

Tara's Tucker box Christmas style

2011-12-18T18:52:00.001-08:00

Looking for a healthy Christmas lunch idea for the kids? This reindeer sandwich should do the trick!
Toast one slice of bread, while waiting get two slices of bread and make your favourite filling sandwich. Cut off the crusts and round the corners with a knife. With another slice of bread cut out a "B" shape
So starting with the normal square sandwich you made place the "B" shape facing down on the end of the sandwich to act as the cheeks. put a red cherry tomato on top for the nose. Cut out two small cheese slice circles and add olives/sultanas or red grapes as eyes.
The toasted slice of bread are the antlers so once toasted cut using scissors into a twisted antler shape. Add ears by cutting out shape from leftovers and add a coloured spread on top. Lastly the tongue can be made with a cucumber or as we used slice of cabanossi.

Proud as punch of her Christmas lunch!

Object permanence

2011-11-29T01:00:00.000-08:00

Object Permanence is a Montessori principle that is often shown in the 9-12 month age group. Working in child care you often find around this age children become "clingy" or not wanting their caregiver to leave their sight.
Giving Mason the opportunity to explore these Object permanence boxes reinforces that even though you may not see something it is still there.

As he drops the ball into the hole, he looses sight of it and has to open the draw to find it. This focus' on his hand eye coordination,fine motor skills and starts the process of his memory understanding object permanence.

Almond meal tub ideas

2011-11-29T00:32:00.000-08:00

Our almond meal was reused in many other activities. Here Tara made her own desert habitat with seeds and Anamalz.
Not only are these sensory tubs/animal habitats fun to explore they also bring up so many opportunities for language skills. We may never have been to a real desert but we spoke about dunes, made our own in the almond meal and what animals may be there.
Mason also had a go at the desert tub. All the fun and not having to worry if he ate a fist full or two!

This tub was our beach scene. Some paper umbrellas,wooden people and some cool water-made with blue jelly. Talking about swimming in between the flags, keeping out of the sun, digging in the sand to find water, and sea creatures were all topics we spoke about while role playing in our beach!

Montessori Almond Meal Tray

2011-11-23T17:20:00.000-08:00

I found some almond meal in the pantry that was out of date by just a month so i decided instead of throwing it out we would use it in our activities. This was a Montessori sand tray which i made with a baking tray and plain almond meal. I put a pack of flashcards next to Tara and she copied the letter using her finger to move the almond meal.
Almond meal is also known as almond flour or ground almond. It has a similar consistency to sand so works well for this activity.

Rainbow fruit snack

2011-11-23T14:01:00.000-08:00

We were having some guests over for a play date so decided to make a healthy snack to enjoy. Tara cut up all the fruit herself, peeled some mandarins and added some mini marshmellow treats to make....
A stunning fruit rainbow! Great for St Patrick's day or a rainbow party. For a healthier option exchange the marshmellow "pot of gold" for dipping yogurt.

Juice Bar

2011-11-23T02:10:00.000-08:00

The purpose of the exercise was to distinguish different flavours, expand vocab and create a juice that our would delight our taste buds!
I used our juicer to juice up different fruit and vegetables. Each small glass had a separate fruit or vegetable flavour that Tara had a guess at.
As a Montessori principle, when laying out work always encourage starting from left to right. This strategy can lay the pathways for early reading.

Tara tasted each flavour and told me if it was sweet or sour and what she thought it may be

We had Rockmelon, Kale, Pineapple and Carrot

Step 2 of the activity was to tip a little of the flavours in a larger cup and taste test until you get the exact quantities you like for your own juice but Tara insisted she loved them all and mixed them all in.

Juicilious!!!!

Sponge Tower Jenga

2011-11-23T01:05:00.000-08:00

What can you do with a bunch of sponges?????

Sponge towers!! This tower turned into a game of "Colour Jenga". We both had a colour of our choice and the aim was to take out our own colour piece without the tower falling over. Great for hand eye co ordination, fine motor skills and taking turns.

Perfume Water

2011-11-22T23:57:00.000-08:00

I have fond memories of making perfume when i was a little girl so when Tara was choosing Roses to cut i jumped at the chance to show her how to make her own.
After cutting her roses off the bush, we sat down and pulled each petal off the stem and ripped them up to release all the sweet smells.
I filled a glass jar up half way with HOT water. Tara gently placed the all petals into the water and replaced the lid. We let the jar steam for half a day or until the water is cool.
Take off the lid and use a strainer to strain out the rose petals and you are left with sweet rose perfume water

Dab on your wrists and behind your ears to keep you smelling as sweet as a rose!

Glow Water

2011-10-29T05:07:00.000-07:00

Want to make glow water but you don't have a black light?? This method creates a great glow in the dark effect even in daylight. Grab a yellow highlighter and snap it open to reveal the sponge which holds the dye Take this sponge out and cut the plastic open.

Place the sponge in a jar of water, put the lid on and let it soak for 24 hours, shake it every so often. The effect is amazing.It truly glows. The more highlighters we added the more vibrant it became. This glow water is purely water and highlighter ink so it is non toxic to play with and will wash off hands.

The options are endless with glow water,check out our other posts for a few things we created with it

Glow water pouring

2011-10-29T04:44:00.001-07:00

Pouring is a classic Montessori activity but we decided to "spook" it up by using our glow water for Halloween.
Here i have set out a jug filled with glow water and two glasses with lines drawn at different levels. It is importan to use clear glasses to allow the child to see the liquid rising to the line.
Slowly the liquid is poured in and the object is to stop at the line

One is complete and onto the next

Once finished the liquid is poured back into the jug to be used again

Glow dough

2011-10-29T04:28:00.000-07:00

We loved our glow water so much we thought why not try making some playdough with it. Using 1 cup of cornflour and 2 cups of water i mixed it and placed in the microwave for 3 minutes. It became a hard thick layer of dough. I added a touch more glow water and kneaded it until it formed a ball.
Such a simple recipe, no stove top needed and i was really happy with the outcome. Easy to mould and soft enough for little hands

Tara got to work making some glow stars for halloween

Glow Goo

2011-10-29T04:19:00.001-07:00

What do you get when you mix glow water with cornflour? GOOOOO
This recipe was just cornflour with cold glow water stirred until thickened. This was the start of making playdough before i microwaved it but Tara saw that goo and wanted to explore it so we added some spiders and other creepy crawlies and she had a blast.
It is sticky,gooey and gets everywhere but the ingredients are all washable,non toxic and so much fun. Tara made some hand prints on our pavers outside which look super creepy at night!

Glow bottle

2011-10-29T04:04:00.000-07:00

Tara was kind enough to involve her little brother in her Halloween activities by making him his own glow bottle.
With an empty plastic drink bottle, she filled it with some of her glow water, not too full, so then it would make a lovely swishing sound when moved.
Then she searched for some things to put inside it....some green fruit netting off our apples, some coloured balls for rattling and some coloured match sticks

Now Mason can enjoy the fun of Halloween while exploring his own glow bottle

Spider pops

2011-10-29T03:13:00.001-07:00

We saw these spiders creeping around all the social forums so we thought we would give them a go! All you need is black pipe cleaners, googly eyes, a lolly pop and some glue
Cut the pipe cleaners in half for a "mummy" spider or in quarters for a "baby" spider and twist them around the stick. Make sure you have your 8 legs then bend the legs at the end toward the ground. Add your googly eyes and you have a creepy spider ready for your treat or treating guests!

Big or small these are ridiculously cute!

Hang them in some spider web for extra effect!

Smurf village

2011-10-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

A fairy garden has always been on my to do list so when the beautiful spring weather arrived we went planning our garden design, Tara quickly assured me it would be a smurf village not a fairy garden so i followed her lead and she helped me create a one of a kind smurf village. We used a saucer from under a pot plant and rested it on a stump. Make sure the saucer has a draining hole and fill up with soil. We added some ground cover greenery that will hopefully spread and can be cut back with scissors by your little gardener. To create a bridge we used twine to connect some twigs together to form a plank then placed it over some blue gems. Our toadstools are corks painted white/red with puffy paint white spots.
We found a bird nest hut from Bunnings and some coloured bonsai pebbles to add to the village. Tara remembers to water the village every day with a spray bottle i leave next to the garden. Lovely to see her enjoy hours of outside imaginative play together with the Smurfs.

Coffee cup stamping

2011-10-26T17:37:00.000-07:00

A simple takeaway coffee cup can be transformed into a lovely child sized stamp that can create cute patterns and gift wrapping with Christmas around the corner!
Just squeeze the cup into the mould you require. We used a heart and circle but a star or triangle would also work.
The cup is nice and wide for little hands to grip

Just dip and press firmly

And add any finishing touches. Tara's yellow circles reminded her of a sun!

Halloween slime

2011-10-09T02:37:00.001-07:00

Want to give your trick or treaters a healthy and fun alternative this year? why not make a batch of spooky Halloween slime and add some crazy critters. Arrange them in a small container and they are ready to hand out.
Our slime recipe is found at http://superpants.net/slime.html

Shoebox Icecream shop

2011-10-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

I'm always on the hunt to find something to do with toilet rolls so when Tara was asking for a ice cream shop we came up with this. All you need is......
Ripping and scrunching are great activities for little hands so i got Tara to make the ice cream by ripping up tissue paper and scrunching it into balls. We had apple, strawberry, blueberry and vanilla "flavours". The toilet roll cones are just held together with masking tape at the bottom

The shoebox holds the toilet roll cones upright so you can use the tongs to balance the ice cream balls on top of the cones easily.

Add a string around your neck for a walkabout ice cream stall

Halloween-glow bath

2011-10-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

Want a spooky way to clean your self this Halloween??
We made our bathroom as dark as possible with blankets covering all the windows and filled up the bathtub with warm bubbly water and added a handful of thin glow sticks.
We found glow sticks at NYE time at Aldi for $7.99 for a hundred pack and they make for some great spooky adventures!

Best of all the water is still safe for kids of any age to enjoy. When your finished keep the glow sticks in the freezer to increase their glow life and they can be used again the following nights.

Fish Tank Artwork

2011-09-29T17:57:00.001-07:00

How do you display your child's artwork? If your house is like mine we seem to find it hard to find the fridge handle among all the glittery colourful pieces Tara has made especially for us.
One unique way to display a lovely picture is by laminating it in plastic and adding it to your fish tank as a background. We put ours in our actual fish tank so that is why we laminated it first but if you wanted to secure it to the outside of a clear tank with blu tak it would also look just as good
Tara was very proud of her fish picture and seeing it in her own fish tank made her smile. The fish even enjoyed the new decor :p

Marshmellow constructions

2011-09-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

Wind storms are creating havoc around Sydney today so we find ourselves inside making some marshmellow constructions. We find the small marshmellows work best and using toothpicks allows us to create whatever we can imagine Tara making her square cube

Into a mini building...

Fruit Pulp Sensory

2011-09-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

We make our fresh juice with our juicer from home so we are left with this soft, gooey, squishy pulp which i knew would be just perfect for a sensory tub seeing as Mason now 9 months seems to be mouthing everything, i knew it would be safe for him to join in too!
For around 2 months, each time i made juice i gathered the pulp and kept it in a snap lock bag in the freezer and just added to it each time until i had a container full
I added some scooping utensils, play people pegs and let the kids explore it. Please note, this is a non toxic sensory tub but beware of any little scratches or cuts on children's hands as the acid will sting

Tara made some pulp castles and added some sticks to decorate

Then we made some mud pulp pies

Lastly a little pulp chick! Cheap, easy and so much fun!

New Work Area

2011-09-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you haven't read Mariah Bruehl's "Playful learning", you NEED to get yourself a copy. There are so many books on the market now for kids but only a handful that i adore and this is one of them.
Mariah quotes "what i saw when looking into my young daughter's eyes is that the curriculum of life,as experienced by children in their own homes on a daily basis, is the most revolutionary teaching and learning that can take place". Those words truly resonated with me yet i was only on page 2!
The book has inspirational ideas on everything from nurturing young authors to raising citizens of tomorrow. I would recommend this book to any parent or career with a passion for educating.
After reading the first chapter "Learning playful spaces" it got me thinking. Tara's work area was set up as soon as she could sit at a table. A pink table she chose that was used for meal times was now her art table. This table was ready for what ever activity was planned for the day-but creativity is never planned!

I set to work organising a new creative area that Tara can go to when she likes, imagine and create for hours on end(and has she ever!)
Mariah's book gave me some great tips on making everything accessible so instead of spending money on new toys we choose to buy art mediums to explore. I have pastels, watercolours, clay,coloured paper, card stock and charcoal all ready at her fingertips at her desk so she can choose when to create.
Tara is now 3.5 yrs old and i see a real Independence in her now and of course her imagination is amazing so i feel this was a great step for her and for me to step back and let her own a space that she can take care of and call her own.
Mariah Bruehl's ideas will pop up again on my blog, we are currently making our mail center which i will write about soon. Thanks Mariah!

Chalk Waterpaints

2011-09-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

So after grating our chalk to make coloured sand we had some left over and decided to make some paint from it. Tara used the medicine dropper to add water then mixed it until it was thin and runny
Beautiful vibrant colours

Used sparingly, the colours gave a stunning sheen to them on some watercolour paper. So next time you run out paint just grab your chalk and get grating!

Chalk Coloured Sand Artwork

2011-09-16T02:59:00.000-07:00

Coloured sand can be used for many activities and this an easy way to make it and involve children. All you need is a child sized grater,sand and thick coloured chalk......
Start by putting those little finger muscles to work and grating the chalk into bowls keeping each colour separate

The end result will look like this, its fine and powdery

Add your sand into each container and mix thoroughly

Perfect coloured sand so much cheaper to make than buy from craft shops

We used our coloured sand to do sand art pictures. Drawing an outline of your object (Tara chose a sunflower for spring) then paste the inside of the object

Sprinkle on some coloured sand...

And shake off onto a tray..

Magic message bananas

2011-08-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

I usually leave a note in Tara's lunchbox but today i tried something different...
Using a sharp object-i used a corn cob holder, i engraved a message for her, it can hardly be seen here
But wait 5 minutes and the hidden message is revealed! No more wasting paper just write your love note on your banana!

Tara's Tucker box

2011-08-31T16:56:00.000-07:00

I only have two photographed lunches this month as the whole getting out of the house before 8 am with everyone dressed and fed is still a learning experience for me. I have heard mums pack lunches the night before school but for me, nothing is better than a fresh lunch so i quickly whipped these up and got a photo before we headed out to school.
Sultana cup with a panda divider
cheese stick diced with toothpicks and
Sandwich cutters with animal stamps This was a special day out Tara and i had that had a theme about "cars"
milky way car with a tiny teddy and smarties wheels
A boiled egg in a car mould
A cars container filled with cranberries
A car shaped sandwich with toothpick word "cars"
A bear divider with pea flavoured snacks that we pretended were spare tyres!

DIY dressing table

2011-08-31T06:36:00.000-07:00

What can you make with a cardboard box??? Well the talented Christie from Childhood 101 made a dressing table and i thought that was very clever! So i set about making one for Tara
http://childhood101.com/2011/05/diy-kids-play-dressing-table-from-a-cardboard-box/
I wanted ours to be a bit taller so i didn't need a stool so we used a tall moving box that was nice and sturdy. I cut off one side of it and secured it with electrical tape
I used patterned contact to cover it. A circle mirror that is held on by double sided tape and decorated it in fabrics.

Added all of Tara's accessories

Plenty of storage underneath

Functional in her bedroom but also a great excuse to do some role playing

I think she was pleased with the outcome!

Bubble wrap printing

2011-08-31T06:28:00.000-07:00

We had these craft stamps that have chunky handles on them great for little hands so i added bubble wrap over them and secured them with tape. One was a smaller sized bubble wrap and the other had big circle bubble wrap
Tara chose her colour paint and got started printing the different size bubble wrap prints. This made for great wrapping paper

Ice Sensory Tub

2011-08-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

We have been exploring many different sensory tubs this month and i guess its because both children can get involved and it interests them both even with the 3 year age gap!
I made up some star shaped ice cubes and also froze a few of Tara's toy ocean creatures in containers so they were frozen in.
We were a little impatient waiting for the ice to melt and reveal the hidden ocean creature so we found our own chisel and hammer and got to work digging up the fossil.

Finally we found it was a shark

Later in the day we took it outside and let it melt and spoke about ice burgs and did some role playing with the sea creatures and ships.

Homemade Rusks for Baby

2011-08-31T05:54:00.000-07:00

I think getting older siblings hands on and involved in helping with their new little brother or sister is the key to a happy household. Mason is cutting his first teeth right now so Tara made some homemade teething rusks for him to chew on.
If you would like the recipe we used it was very simple and they turned out lovely. Tara used her playdough tools to mould some unique bird,fish and even candy cane rusks for her little brother

1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 cup of dry baby cereal
1 very ripe banana, mashed until smooth
2 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir in flour and cereal. In a small bowl mix in the banana,oil and 2 tbsp water. Add dry ingredients to the wet until you have a soft dough.
Roll dough out onto a lightly floured surface and mould into smooth shapes. Cook for 10-15 minutes then cool. Store in an air tight container.

Magnetic sensory tub

2011-08-31T05:22:00.000-07:00

I had been searching for magnetic wands forever, as i wanted to do a magnetic sensory tub but was sick of using the fishing magnetic rods so when i found CELFkids supplied them i was very excited and for only $4 a wand-Bargain!
http://www.celfkids.com/default.html
We used bird seed as our sensory material, its so relaxing digging your hands into seeds and although it does make a big mess its fine for young children as its harmless to eat.
I gathered a collection of items from around the house, some magnetic and some not then buried them all into the seed.

I wrote on two pieces of paper "magnetic" and "not magnetic" and the kids used their new magnetic wands to search for the buried treasure and categorise them.

Mason enjoying the soothing seeds. Both kids ended up in the tub feet and all and seeds were everywhere but it was a great activity-maybe outside next time!

How far can you step?

2011-08-31T05:07:00.001-07:00

How far can you step?
We have been measuring anything and everything lately and while we were out playing one day Tara decided to step as far as she could and mark it with chalk then measure it.
We both had a go and spoke about how many "bricks" in length our steps were.

Spring onion trees for Dino world

2011-08-31T04:36:00.001-07:00

I remember curling spring onions in my childhood so when we had a spare day i showed Tara how easily it is done..
A bowl of icy cold water and a cutting of spring onion. Tara cut the spring onion length ways a few times
Then placed them in the water

Within seconds the spring onions had curled up!

I had planned on using these in a chicken soup but Tara had other ideas! "They are palm trees mummy!"

So we got started on creating a habitat of trees which led into...

Another Dino land! I'm not quite sure what it is about dinosaurs but they end up in many of our activities

And are hours of fun!

Water Mixing Experiment

2011-08-31T04:17:00.001-07:00

Tara had found one of my books "501 science experiments for kids" on the bookshelf and taken interest in it so we searched through until she found something she thought she could do herself and we came across a mixing experiment.
We filled a bowl of water and added a dropper full of a different liquid to see if it would mix or not mix with the water.
Oil...
Milk...

Dish washing liquid..

Was great to see her really surprised by the outcome. We spoke about hypothesis and conclusions. I'm sure this is the start of many more experiments for us!

Waterbead Sensory

2011-08-31T03:39:00.000-07:00

If you have never experienced water beads, we can tell you they are AMAZING!
We bought ours at Parklea Markets and they are 100% non toxic which is very important when using with children as i hear some brands can be dangerous. Anyone searching for waterbeads, my supplier is happy to send worldwide just email him erkan_syd@hotmail.com and he will send you 3 packets for $12 or 6 packets for $20. Originally they are used as decoration to add to your vases so they are very squishy and they make great sensory additions to a tub.
To make water beads you simply add the beads to 2 ltrs of water and wait...
The beads absorb the water and grow bigger, this is after 4 hours

This is after 8 hours, ready to drain and explore!

They feel smooth and jelly like but will bounce as high as a bouncy ball so beware!

Tara did some transferring practice with her tongs

Her chopsticks proved a little more challenging

But the spoon was perfect! For the cost of waterbeads (we paid $4 a pack and they last for 4 years), They are a great addition to any learning area being non toxic and will grab any childs attention.We look forward to working with them later with more numeracy work.

Homemade Snow Globes

2011-07-31T05:46:00.000-07:00

Snow globes were an activity i had been keeping up my sleeve until winter so last week hit the middle of a very frosty winter here in Sydney so we set about to make our first snow globes.
Tara searched the house for two plastic objects that would fit into the lid of a jar easily. I used superglue to secure them inside the lid. The fairy needed a platform to raise her up so she was visible in the jar so i used plasticine. We waited 24 hours to let them dry.
In the glass jar we filled it with cool boiled water and added a splash of glycerol. If you don't have glycerol you can use clear washing up detergent or baby oil. This will help the glitter and sequence fall gently down.

Our water with glycerol, glitter and sequence

Screw the lid with your plastic object on it and give it a shake

Homemade snow globes!!!

Yogurt finger painting

2011-07-31T05:25:00.000-07:00

We love our Easiyo maker and although some may think of nothing worse than making a mess from head to toe with your food, it is a great learning experience for babies. I made up a batch of Mason's yogurt http://www.goldenglow.com.au/product/EasiYo-Bio-Life-Organic-Unsweetened/378/103
Covered his highchair tray with foil so the white yogurt would be more visible and create a nice shiny picture. Placed some dobs of fresh homemade yogurt and put him in to explore.
Was cautious at first rubbing it through his fingers then squishing it in his hands

Loved it!

Then into a warm tub of water outside to splash away all the mess!

Personalised Guess Who

2011-07-31T05:08:00.000-07:00

Guess who was one of my favourite childhood games and as Tara is getting into playing board games with me I made Tara her own personalised Guess Who with family members and special people in her life. Instead of asking things like "Does your person wear a hat?" or "Does your person have sunglasses? " we used questions like "Is your person an Aunty?" "Does your person live in our house?" "Does your person have an A in their name?"
It was time consuming to make but very easy, just find up close photos of people as well as write names under them and print of three copies. Cut and laminate and superglue them to the flips of the board keeping one set for the cards.

I used the "tinkers" brand from Kmart as it was only $10 and it doesn't have any slots for the cards to fit into you can just glue them onto the flips. Next on my list is to make an animal version as i was going to included our pets to the game for a great fur/skin question but with the amount of pets we have they need their own game!

Tara's Tucker box

2011-07-31T04:43:00.000-07:00

Starting Tara at preschool one day a week was a lot harder for me than it was for her. The way i hid all my anxiety was to create her a yummy lunch that would bring a smile to her face.
Here are my first few creations

Popcorn butterfly-A simple snap lock bag half filled with popcorn twisted in the middle and secured with a peg. Add pipe cleaner for antennae and googly eyes. Butterfly ham sandwich-used a dollar store sandwich cutter. Apple & strawberry cowgirls-diced fruit threaded onto a cowboy hat toothpick. Bunny boiled egg-Just hard boil an egg and place in egg mould while warm Jam snails with sultana eyes-Use a slice of bread,butter and jam one side then roll it into itself until it forms a roll. Cut 1cm snail portions then add two sultana eyes

Watermelon ball people- using a melon baller make balls of watermelon then add a toothpick Heart tuna sushi-made using a heart shaped sushi mould with soy sauce in Mr penguin, Strawberries cut with toothpick leaves, Sausages cut with animal toothpicks and tomato sauce in the blue piggy square

Tara helped me with this one as she her lunches are now becoming the highlight in preparing for preschool.

Baybel lady - unwrap the baybel wax on one side use a sharp knife to cut out hair design, on a bed of sultanas, strawberry people, gingerbread sandwiches with fruit strap heart or buttons -we used Tara gingerbread cutter from her playdough cutters and Tara's own creation was the pac man rice cake with an apricot eye munching on cabanossi

Gluten free slice with strawberries, seaweed rice dippers with a tuna dip in her square containers

Risotto cake "yum", star jam sandwiches thanks to Tara's playdough cutters, Apple and pear heart made by using a sharp knife to dig out a heart shape in the apple then cut the same design from a pear and place the pear into the apple and push until secure, corn on cob and flower cheese and crackers

Preparing playroom for a crawling baby

2011-07-31T04:15:00.000-07:00

Mason has out grown his play space that i created in this area for him so i turned this part of our playroom into a geography area.
Each few weeks we have a country to discover and this week was The USA
I found some great resources at 1+1+1=1
http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/search/label/America
Colour by number flag and a cute verse about America's currency. Grandma who had visited America bought us back some coins that Tara matched to the verse.
Her VTech globe gets a work out learning the animals and names of surrounding countries.
Our shelving had to be reorganised, as Mason will soon be exploring all of Tara's activities. Montessori shelving is great as the lower shelves can be used for the younger child's work while still having room for the older child on the higher shelves.

Our resource cupboard also was organised to allow Mason to easily find his work on the lower ground and Tara has her work on the middle while i keep all my resources up and away from both. We also added Tara's paint smock(daddy's wedding shirt) on a hook inside the cupboard so she knows where to find it when preparing herself for painting activities.

Drinking glass practice

2011-07-31T03:09:00.000-07:00

Mason has turned 6 months and he has been enjoying meals with us at the table along with practicing his drinking glass. Montessori teach that babies love to imitate their parents and as we are not using sippy cups, babies should be given the opportunity to use child size versions of our utensils.
A shot glass,espresso glass or even an egg cup are a great size cup for babies to learn to drink from. The only problem we have found is the slipperiness of the glass when water is spilt.

To help Mason get a better grasp of the glass i decided to make an anti slip glass holder for his cup with some non slip grip mat

I cut a strip of non slip off the mat and sewed up the ends to create a circle that can wrap around and be taken on and off for washing or when the baby can manage the slipperiness

Funny looking but works a treat!

Egg carton treasure hunt

2011-07-30T20:49:00.000-07:00

We are always looking for ways to use up our egg cartons! Seems we have collected more since having chickens of our own as everyone passes them on for us to use so while the chickens are having a break from laying during the winter we decided to use our cartons for a treasure hunt!
I googled some images of things i knew we had around our yard that Tara could collect. Glued the 12 pictures onto the egg carton and presented it to Tara
She loved it, and set about on her journey to search for her 12 items. This could also be done for a younger child with just a half dozen egg carton as i does take a while to collect all 12 items and all the hard concentrating to work out where they would be.

Grass was the easiest to check off the list first

But eventually she found them all, a shell, feather, stick, bottlebrush, wattle, snail, leaf, spring onion, rock, rose petal, and mint. Talking about where a snail may be hiding or where she has seen wattle growing made for some great memory and problem solving skills.

Smellydough

2011-06-30T05:13:00.000-07:00

I know, i hear you say..."Not another play dough recipe!" But wait, this one is my favourite. Great texture and smells delicious, give it a go!
I found this recipe in a cookbook called "Gifts from the kitchen" by Company's Coming, If you can get your hands on it, its a fabulous book with so many beautiful ideas to make and do
So for this recipe you need
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup salt
1 pack of fruit flavoured drink mix
2 tsp. cream of tatar
1 cup water
1 tbsp oil
Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium saucepan then stir in water and oil. Heat and stir until thickened to the consistency of mashed potatoes. Cool for 5 mins then knead it on a floured surface until dry.

We made a lime and an orange smelly dough and it smelt lovely. We found we didn't need any colouring added to it as the drink mix was vibrant enough but you could add your own colours.

Browning apple experiment

2011-06-30T05:07:00.000-07:00

Tara has had an interest in experiments lately and a fascination about browning fruit so we did a simple little science experiment that she really enjoyed.
She helped cut up two apples and one lemon. We placed the sliced apple onto plates and labeled them "lemon juice" and "no lemon juice". Tara squeezed the lemon juice on the one sliced apple and we waited a day to see the result although she had already had her own hypothesis
Which she proved to be correct. Lemon juice will stop her apple from going brown!

Ladybug play tub

2011-06-30T05:02:00.001-07:00

This sensory play tub was made up of from our previous post when we made a sensory farm. The grass is coloured coconut and i added some wooden ladybugs of varying sizes and some leaves, along with a wooden pond with green frogs.
Making the most of the afternoon sun in the cold winter, sensory tubs are always a hit!

Pom Pom's for Baby

2011-06-30T04:47:00.000-07:00

Mason is now 6 months and really enjoying his play time so Tara decided to make him his first pom pom.
A great soft toy that he can explore and manipulate with his little fingers.
First we needed to make the template which consists of two circles on a thick piece of cardboard. We used a glass for the outer circle and sticky tape roll for the inner circle then cut them out
The template should look similar to this

Now for the fun bit! Cut your wool into strips of about 1 metre or whatever your child can manage, starting from the outside weave the wool into the center and out and around again making sure always to finish your wool length on the outside. Do this until all the cardboard is covered in wool

Next step is to use scissors to cut all around the outside of the circle. It's easiest to keep your scissors tip in between the two pieces of cardboard to guide you through. It will then look like this..

Take a length of wool and wrap it around the centre of the pom pom and knot it as tightly as possible, this is what will keep your pom pom together. Lastly cut through your cardboard disc and removed it completely. Trim your pom pom so it is even and you have a simple, homemade pom pom that will delight your little one!

Nut and Bolt matching

2011-06-30T04:12:00.000-07:00

I have had this on my list to do for a while now and when our easel broke it gave me a perfect piece of wood to use. A few leftover nuts and bolts that hubby no longer needed and we had our own nut and bolt matching activity
I used superglue to keep the bolt in place on the wood and i placed the nuts in a container next to the activity when i presented it to Tara. She chose one nut and guessed which one it would fit until they were all on the correct bolt. Like most Montessori activities this is self correcting so there is no need for the parent to be involved in the activity.

A2 homemade ice-cream

2011-06-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

We are big fans of A2 milk http://www.a2milk.com.au/
So when i found a simple recipe for homemade ice-cream i thought we would give it a go with our own milk to make A2 Ice-cream!
The recipe is easy...
3/4 cup of A2 milk
1 tablespoon of sugar
A tray of ice-cubes
6 tablespoons of salt
1/2 cup water
powdered flavouring if you wish, milo/nesquik etc
To prepare it...
Combine milk,sugar and flavouring in a small zip lock bag. Seal it and shake it until combined.
In a large zip lock bag place your ice cubes, salt and water.
Put the small zip lock bag into the large zip lock bag and seal.
Gently squish the bags together for 5-10 minutes. This will start to freeze the milk and the longer you do this for the thicker your ice-cream will be...

Yummy homemade A2 strawberry ice-cream!

Geo Matching slab

2011-05-31T03:27:00.000-07:00

I had always wanted to make our own Geo board and to make it one of those activities that can be used in different ways to get its use from it so this is what we came up with-our Geo matching slab!

As we had no spare wood around the house i used some leftover air drying clay that of course got warmed up by Tara and her tools!
After she had finished i just moulded a rectangle slab of clay with some nails pressed into it evenly and let it dry overnight.

When it was dry i added some small markers down the side which i wrote on with whiteboard marker to create a matching game. Tara was working on matching her big and small letters here...

Matching colours here...

You can see how her little hand is using all its muscles to maneuver the elastics around the nails. Fantastic for fine motor and pre writing skills

It can still be used as a classic Geo board with a triangle, square or rectangle shape made...

But whatever the activity is, it always comes back to animals when Tara is involved! hehe now we have a farm with fences.....

Carrot Stamps

2011-05-31T02:37:00.000-07:00

We have tried potato stamps when Tara was younger but now she is older stamping is still a hit but this time we tried carrot stamps!
I top and tailed a few carrots and then carved some shapes and letters on either ends with a sharp knife. Dipped into some paint we had 6 fun stamps to play with
Finished art work..

Baking tray magnets

2011-05-31T02:24:00.000-07:00

Are you magnets on the fridge getting ignored? Grab one of your baking trays out and you will be amazed at the sudden excitement of a 'new' activity!

Sensory baby cloth

2011-05-23T03:33:00.001-07:00

These micro fibre cloths are found very inexpensively from dollar shops. They make great a great sensory toy for infants. Unwrap and give a good wash to ensure all chemicals and dust is out then fold in half length ways. Stitch up both sides to create a pocket shape. You can add rice or seeds if you want a heavier and thicker toy but for young infants leaving it empty will make it a light weight toy they can really get a hold of. Sew up the last edge to make it a completely sealed rectangle.
Soft and furry this texture toy is a favourite of Mason's...

Cheerio bird feeder

2011-05-23T03:22:00.001-07:00

We have plenty of bird life around our area and when we saw a fun way to make bird feeders we thought we should give it a go.
Use a pipe cleaner and thread on some Cheerios's. Threading is a great activity for toddlers as it practices patience,completing a task and the wonderful fine motor skills for writing. Make sure to leave room for a loop or hook so you can hang them
We hung a few from a tree outside

And shared two with our pet "Pete" who nibbled on it all afternoon

Spaghetti Words

2011-05-23T03:07:00.000-07:00

While we don't usually allow playing with food at lunchtime, when i came back to Tara after giving her some spaghetti for lunch and found her name spelt out on the table i had to smile....
We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with our food :)

Letters,numbers,words,shapes, the imagination runs wild.....

Fossicking for gold

2011-05-23T02:44:00.000-07:00

After our Dino land adventure we used the clean up as a fun way to discover the art of "Fossicking"
Sifting through a tub of sand,water and pebbles, Tara separated the heavier pebbles from the soft sand with a strainer, shaking side to side, round and around just like in the gold rush.

Cannelloni sleeping beauties

2011-05-23T02:24:00.001-07:00

Cannelloni sleeping beauties are fun and easy to prepare for your little ones dinner...
Fill your Cannelloni will spinach/ricotta or minced meat and place them laying flat onto a baking tray. Pour over your tomato based sauce and bake for 20 minutes until pasta is soft. While they are cooking get your little helper to peel mushrooms and remove stems for the beauties heads.
Use tiny olive triangles for eyes and tomato skin for smiles.
When Cannelloni is cooked add a row of cheese on top to make it look like a blanket. Place back in the oven just until cheese melts then take out and add your mushroom heads and add some cooked egg noodles for hair.

Decorate with whole olives as feet and use cucumber and carrot for designer hats or hair clips on your sleeping beauties

Packing material play

2011-05-23T01:53:00.000-07:00

We had a parcel arrive full of these packing peanuts that i stored for a rainy day and when Tara found them we got out a mat and started building some structures. If your lucky enough to stumble upon these, with just a touch of glue these make great igloo's or tunnels
Then they were turned into Antarctica with icebergs galore!

We added some ships,submarines and boats and played some great inventive games

Cupcake liner flowers

2011-05-23T01:46:00.000-07:00

What can you make on a rainy day with left over cupcake liners?
.........A cupcake garden!!!
Just use paint or a marker for your stems and glue a cupcake liner on top. These make lovely presents for mums or grandmas for mothers day!

Volcano Dino Land

2011-04-06T02:43:00.001-07:00

Dinosaurs are a popular part of Montessori lesson plans. To engage in some dinosaur discussions i made up this Dino land. The base is a terracotta pot plant saucer which i covered in fish tank pebbles. For the volcano you will need a plastic bottle and some sand. Then add some plastic dinosaurs

For our little science experiment we used a funnel into the plastic bottle and added about 1/2 cup of Bi-carb soda and a squirt of dish washing liquid. Tara also requested red glitter!

Make up a bowl of vinegar mixed with food colouring (we chose red). Use a baster or medicine dropper to add into your volcano and wait for the chemical reaction to start and you have an erupting volcano with bubbly red hot lava

You control the lava with the amount of vinegar you add

For more explosive lava just pour a cup full of the vinegar straight in. Watch out dinosaurs!!!!!!!!!!

Coconut Grass Farm

2011-04-06T02:28:00.000-07:00

This play farm is made with shredded coconut and green food colouring. Use a zip lock bag to put all your coconut in-a great opportunity to practice those transferring skills Add some drops of green food colouring

And squish/pat/rub with your hands until all the coconut is covered

Find a tray with deep sides. Even an oven tray will make do! Lay out the coconut flat and put in the sun to dry for an hour

Set up your farm using animals,tractors,fences and a pond

Have some little rakes and shovels handy so the "farmer" can work on his/her property. Very therapeutic-a new take on a zen garden!

Fruit Loop-Sand Bottle

2011-04-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

My husband and i used coloured sand in our wedding ceremony and kept the huge sand art bottle in our closet and when Tara stumbled across it the other day we decided to make her one of her own. Coloured sand is often quite expensive and hard to come by so why not make your own. Fruit Loops make great sweet smelling sand that has lovely stand out colours! Firstly divide the colours into separate containers then transfer them into a mortar and pestle and grind away until they are as fine as sand. If you don't own a mortar and pestle you can place the fruit loops into a snap lock bag and cover with a facecloth and use a small hammer to squash them. Then grab a small clear bottle and add a funnel to the top and pour in your coloured fruit loop sand, one colour at a time

Always keeping it upright and steady

Place a lid on tightly......

And you have a beautiful sand bottle decoration

Cushie Tushie poppers

2011-04-05T06:39:00.000-07:00

I was given a few Baobag's https://www.facebook.com/baobag.co?ref=ts while pregnant with lots of goodies and samples in it and something that caught my eye was the Cushie Tushie https://www.facebook.com/cushietushies?ref=ts baby with mini cloth nappy on it. These tiny nappies come on and off by little poppers which are great for building muscles in little fingers and fine motor. They certainly get a work out at our house.

Paper Mache Hot Air Balloons

2011-04-05T06:08:00.001-07:00

This project was started last year and had been a work in progress but finally thanks to Easter i was able to find the baskets i was searching for and we could complete it! With some blown up balloons we started paper mache by ripping newspaper strips and dipping them in a flour/water mix then placing them onto the balloon. We did about 4 layers of this It got very messy and turned into an unexpected sensory activity. The final product was left to dry for a few days

Once completely dry Tara painted hers red. We popped the balloon inside and cut around the bottom to allow us to get our hand inside

Then i used a knife to pierce a whole in the center top of the balloon, threaded some fishing wire through and tied it off with a button. This will give the balloon some strength to be able to hang up

At the bottom of the balloon i made 4 holes and threaded some rope though to attach to the basket. These are the baskets i was having trouble finding but check your local shops now and im sure you will find them stocked up for Easter.

My blue one was made slightly different with thin ribbon glued onto the paper mache and attached straight to the basket

And your hot air balloon is ready to take people for rides!

Eventually these will be put in the kids rooms, Easy and cheap room decor!

Bottle & Lid matching

2011-04-05T05:01:00.000-07:00

I had been collecting all my little containers that had tiny lids like the samples you get in hotels or little eye creams. After i washed them all thoroughly i put them in a basket and waited for Tara to notice them on her shelf We placed them into rows of lids and bottles and then she chose a bottle and had to find the matching lid. This activity is self correcting and also helps with those fine motor skills

Fruit loop-Necklace

2011-04-05T04:53:00.001-07:00

An oldie but a goodie! They are great for fine motor and you can keep a colour pattern throughout............ Fruit loop necklaces-Fun to make and fun to eat!!!!!

Easter-Cutter match

2011-04-05T04:49:00.001-07:00

We have an Easter box of craft put away for each year and when i got it down last week i found these cookie cutters. While it isn't close enough yet to get busy baking ,i traced them with thick bold pen onto paper and Tara matched them to the outline You could even fill in the outline to match the "shadow"

Toilet Roll Designer Cuffs

2011-04-05T04:12:00.000-07:00

I'm forever trying to come up with fun things to make with our mountain of toilet rolls so this was just one that kept us busy for an afternoon I set out a tray with paint,gems,stickers and glitter as well as a toilet roll cut in half length ways and sideways and Tara began to decorate......... Designer kids fashion cuffs ready to match to your next outfit!

Newspaper Cubby

2011-03-24T05:06:00.000-07:00

We love cubby houses but sometimes i just need my dining room table for dinner not for bedsheets!
This cubby can be left up to play with for as long as they need!
We saved newspapers for weeks for this!
Lay out your newspaper stack, gather 10 sheets and from one corner use a pencil to help you tightly roll them into tubes using sticky tape to hold. Repeat this 25 times. Use 3 tubes to make a triangle by stapling corners, make 5 triangles all up then make a star with the remanding 5 tubes.
While all this needs to be done by an adult there are plenty of jobs a little helper can do. Ask your child how you would make a triangle with 3 tubes and ask them to count out making sure you have 25 tubes

You may need help joining them all together but in the end it will look like this.. we used masking tape over the staples to give it more stability

Throw a bed sheet over the top and enjoy your cubby however you like

Tara had a lovely afternoon tea party with her friends

Gobbi Mobile

2011-03-24T04:34:00.000-07:00

We don't have much free space in our house but i find it important to use what we have to benefit my children and this area was set aside for Mason in his newborn years to enrich his sensitive learning period of movement and language. I started with a mattress, soft but firm enough to support covered by a clean fitted sheet. A mirror that he can use to see his reflection during tummy time. Eeboo alphabet cards,some black/white books and a basket of sensory items that include silk,metal,wood,wool,plastic,bells,pine cone,feather and a ball. The highlight of this infant environment is the Gobbi Mobile.
While the Gobbi Mobile isn't actually a mobile it does however serve to engage a baby's vision as a mobile does.
Made of polystyrene balls wrapt in gradations of colour it invites an awareness of subtlety.Each sphere is lightweight enough to offer feedback to even the lightest touch or swing of an infants arms or legs while also the right diameter to fit in the palm of a baby's developing grasp

Our Gobbi mobile was handmade with love from the wonderful April from Nashville, U.S.A-check out her store for more Montessori materials
http://www.etsy.com/shop/goosedesigns

From which ever angle Mason loves his Gobbi!

Check out youtube to see a Gobbi in action!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgffB-st6Jg&NR=1

Toothbrush painting

2011-03-24T04:30:00.000-07:00

After a visit to the dentist we swapped our toothbrushes for new ones and decided to use our old toothbrushes for some fun flicking painting.
Using different colours, Tara dabbed the toothbrush into the paint and the used her finger to flick the paint onto the paper. She told me it looked like the night sky-i agree!

Making Crayons

2011-03-24T04:20:00.000-07:00

To make your own crayon designs you start by taking all the paper or labels off your crayons which took very fine motor skills and concentration to do-fabulous activity for busy toddlers!
Cut crayons into "pea" sized bits and place in your favourite moulds. Cheaper crayons work well for this don't waste your washable type crayolas as they seem to leave a oily film layer on top.

Fill them up to 3/4 way to the top and place in oven on 75 degrees Celsius for approx 15 mins or until melted

After they are melted leave them on the bench to cool then put them in the freezer for a few hours. Pop them out of the moulds and you have your own unique crayons, great size for toddlers and fabulous party favours!

Size sequencing fishing

2011-03-24T04:08:00.000-07:00

Did you know pipe cleaners are magnetic? We made this fishing game of all different sized fish that were made by twisting pipe cleaners into a fish shape. Using a magnet rod from a puzzle we had, Tara caught a fish...
Then arranged the fish she caught in order of smallest to biggest

Moon Sand

2011-03-24T03:35:00.001-07:00

We spent a fortune on "moon dough" at Christmas for Tara and was pretty disappointed so when i saw a recipe of moon SAND i thought maybe this will work better so we gave it a go!
Moon sand recipe is
6 cups of sand mixed with 3 cups of cornflour then add 1 and 1/2 cups of water slowly until you get a consistency that is manageable. We added blue colouring to the water as well.
Moon sand is basically soft like sand but wet enough to mould and stay. Great for mud pies and sandcastles!

If it dries out over a few days just top up with water to get it smooth again

Colour-Tak modeling

2011-03-24T03:28:00.000-07:00

Blu-Tack have a great pack that has different colours in it. This was to be used for sticking up art on the wall until i noticed it says its recommended for use as modeling so we gave it a go!
I set up the "colour-tak" and some gems/pom poms/beads and faces and we got to work using our imaginations Tara made a sparkly snake and i made a caterpillar and butterfly. Best thing was i took the beads and sparkles out and it is ready to use when i need to stick up some artwork.

Straw-water transferring

2011-03-24T03:13:00.000-07:00

Water transferring is always a welcomed activity in our house. This time i set up two glasses. One full of coloured water and a drinking draw cut to about 10cm long. I showed Tara how i put the straw into the liquid then placed my finger on the hole at the top, transferred it into the empty glass and let my finger off the hole to release the liquid without spilling a drop. This required concentration and effort to finish the whole activity but it was so interesting she wanted more!

Slow cooked Playdough

2011-03-24T02:35:00.000-07:00

This day was a lovely sunny day so we were busy outside but i really wanted to make a batch of play dough to keep for a play date coming up. I figured we would try and cook in the slow cooker so i wouldn't have to watch over it constantly. We used this recipe
2.5 cups of water
1 1/4 cups of salt
1 1/2 tbl cream of tartar
5 tbl of vegetable oil
2.5 cups of flour

I took the insert out of the slow cooker and let Tara do the mixing which in the end looked like this...

Put the lid on a cooked on low for 2 hours stirring once half way through and we got this fluffy consistency. You will know its cooked when it springs back when you touch it.

Divided it up and added our favourite food colourings to them and we were ready to play!

We have started using "play dough mats" which are fantastic. Print them off then put them into a plastic sleeve and you have a rainy day activity to add to your play dough.There are plenty of free ones to download on google. This set got us to make

1 sausage in a pan

2 ice creams on a cone

3 spots on a ladybug

4 petals on a flower

5 balls juggling by a clown

6 apples on the tree

7 fish under the sea

8 legs on an octopus

9 frogs in the pond

10 candles on the cake

Photo stick puzzle

2011-03-24T02:25:00.000-07:00

This puzzle is made up on tongue decompresses found at your chemist though for older children paddle pop sticks would also work. I marked out the thickness of the sticks on the back of a favourite photo of Tara's she picked out then cut them out and glued them onto the sticks. Few minutes later i mixed them up and gave them to her to figure out. It really got her brain ticking! She got a bit confused so i encouraged her to name her features from her forehead down to her chin and she mastered it!

Shaving cream fun

2011-02-28T17:17:00.000-08:00

We started with two bowls of shaving cream and mixed a few drops of food colouring into it ....
And mixed...

Started a shaving cream masterpiece by adding a few drops of glue to the mix the foam sticks to the cardboard. Added some glitter,flowers,toothpicks and ribbons. Just a tip when placing out items to use like glitter, i find using a small container with only the amount needed works much easier than reminding your child to "only use a little bit"

Masterpiece finished and ready to dry...what next?

We couldn't let all that foam go to waste so in a big tub we played with it, squishing it and mixing the colours to make green

Then to finish off the foam we used it to play 'car washing' with Tara's bike. Soaping it up then pouring water over it to rinse and not forgetting to dry it off. Tasks like this are a great way to encourage sticking to a task till its finished in a fun way!

Sandpit treasure hunt

2011-02-28T15:57:00.000-08:00

To make a treasure map we used an A4 sized paper, ripped the edges and scrunched it up to make creases. Using black tea we flattened it out and painted the tea onto the paper. Let it dry overnight or if in a hurry use a hairdryer to dry off the paper
The finished product

This was our sandpit that we made into our land of treasure and Tara used the map to follow the hunt to find the "x"

Tara followed her map and started at the hill top goats and she crossed 3 pebbles...

Made her way over the bridge

Across 5 diamond stones to the gorilla and panda forest

Then over 9 square stones to the crocodile creek

Through the grazing cows and around the 8 triangle corner stones

Up 4 hexagon hill watching out for the mega birds nest on the left

She used her wooden dolls to do the search

Found the "x" marks the spot

Started to dig and she found the treasure box

Full of treasure!

Sensory balloons

2011-02-28T15:41:00.000-08:00

For these you need a balloon,funnel,spoon and whatever sensory item you want to put into your balloon. We used Flour, Rice, Birdseed, Polenta and a flour/water mix
Attach your balloon to your funnel and hold it in place while you use a spoon to transfer your sensory mix into the funnel.

The flour/water mix was the trickiest and messiest to transfer but i like most mums had to remind myself to step back and watch her learn from the process

After i tied them off we sat down and investigated them...how they felt on our feet and in our hands. We named them cranky balls and remembered times when we both felt frustrated and we squeezed them as hard as we could to make us feel better

And we weighed them using scales to see which was heaviest.

Lacing cards

2011-02-28T15:29:00.000-08:00

Lacing is a great first step into sewing and great for those fine motor skills so to make some lacing cards you need old birthday cards or photos and a heap of pipe cleaners,string or rope. The younger your child the thicker the materials need to be.
We laminated our photos and cards to make them stronger and easier to manage then used a hole punch to make holes around the edges
Simply choose your string and weave in and out the holes

Great concentration..

Finished product...a nice gift for someone you love

Princess Goop

2011-02-28T15:06:00.000-08:00

Goop is a fun messy sensory activity that everyone loves but we decided to put a spin on it for all the little princess'
The Goop recipe is an easy one. Mix cornflour and water until it makes a thick enough consistency to handle. We mixed some pink food colouring into it to make it more girly then found some glitter,butterflies,stretchy horses, pink cellophane shapes, heart toothpicks and small pink containers

Squishing it and letting it fall through your fingers is what a sensory tub is all about!

For a spin on tradition mud pies, Tara made her own pink goop heart cupcakes with a sprinkle of glitter to top them off!

Tara used the containers to pour from one to the other. Great messy activity best done outside !

Toilet Roll Racetrack

2011-02-28T14:54:00.000-08:00

Toilet paper rolls are something we always have a stack of so finding an activity to use a few seems like a great idea

I cut them all in half length ways and Tara used tape to join them together making a long track

She made a tunnel by leaving one roll full half way down the track and then we placed them on a basket to make a slope. If you have steps at home they will work better.

And off they go!....so many games were played. Who can come first or second, who's car can reach the furthest distance, and crashing into objects at the end

Hama Beads

2011-02-01T19:42:00.000-08:00

It's not every day that we as busy mums have time to plan and set up an activity that will keep our kids entertained but there are some great products out there that can help us out on those busy days.

On our latest trip to one of our favourite store "IKEA" we found what i remember as Hama beads but ikea call pyssla beads.

They are great for pincer grip practice which helps with writing skills and you can use a set of tweezers to pick them up for a different technique

These are a great time wasting activity that kids of any age enjoy. It does have extremely small parts but under supervision you can let your imagination go wild!

Simply choose your beads and place them on the pegboard then place a sheet of baking paper over your design then use your iron on a low heat setting to melt the beads together.

Tara made a bracelet!

Fishing letter bingo

2011-02-01T19:27:00.001-08:00

The summer has finally hit us so lots of water activities are on our planner! This fishing game i set up for Tara to practice her letters with.
There are milk bottle lids that i have glued a magnet onto (make sure its the inner side of the lid so it floats) and on the outer side used permanent marker to write letters on.
She used a magnetic fishing rod to fish for a lid and then turned it over and told me the letter on it.
I made up some laminated cards with a photo and word on them that were meaningful to Tara and she used the lids to match the letters on her cards.

I played with her with my two cards and she had her two cards and we saw who could finish their card first just like bingo

Pull ring braclets

2011-02-01T19:19:00.001-08:00

We have been saving pull rings from cans for craft and finally decided to start a project. Tara painted her pull rings and let them dry then used a satin ribbon to weave the pull rings in and out the ribbon to make a lovely bracelets for her special friends

And one for herself of course!

Icy cold paints

2011-02-01T19:07:00.001-08:00

With a week of over 40 degree heat in Sydney we have been busy with summer activities and this was one of Tara's favourites

We filled up our ice cube trays with a few drops of food colouring and Tara poured a jug of water evenly in each cube.

Tara then cut drinking straws into smaller sizes and placed one into each cube to use as a handle.

After they were frozen we took them out and painted!