Rainbow Party Playdate

Bubble had one of her friends over for a play date today and she was very excited about it. I asked her yesterday what she would like to do for the day and she answered with "a rainbow party" (rainbows are a bit of a big deal around here at the moment). At first I was going to say no, parties are for birthdays not for playdates, but then I thought ... well, why not? Not a presents and cake all out type party, but why not put up some decorations, pick a theme and do some special activities?
So a rainbow party day is what we had and all three of the girls had an absolute ball. I put up some tissue paper poms that were left over from a BBQ at the park, blew up some coloured balloons and put some rainbow themed activities in the middle of the table. We made coloured salt dough necklaces and colourful bead bracelets, dressed up as butterflies, drank fruit milkshakes and made some rainbow cookies. We then headed to the park and blew bubbles and made some brightly coloured dancing wands. It didn't hurt that the weather today was so beautiful too, just perfect for a happy little rainbow celebration.

These poms are so easy to make and the bright colours were perfect for our rainbow party today.
For instructions on making your own check out this link.

I made up some simple salt dough from this recipe and created some bright colours for the girls to use. We used playdough utensils and skewers for making the necklace holes in the top.

Bubble made a handprint with some of her dough.

One of the baked salt dough necklaces - I overcooked them a tad but they still looked pretty good luckily!

Milkshake time - the girls made their own using colourful fruit, yoghurt and milk.

Yum!

We played a game with some colourful pompoms - using masking tape we made a start and finsh line on the floor. The girls loved using straws to have races blowing them across the tiles.
Game inspired by this post on House Of Baby Piranha.

The girls enjoyed dressing up in wings and jewellery, as well as anything else they could dig out of the dress up boxes!

The balloons were a hit (when are they not :-D).

The girls made colourful bead bracelets while we waited for our cookies to bake.

I followed this recipe to make rainbow cookie dough and the girls created their own colourful masterpieces to bake. They were really yummy!

Chasing bubbles at the park.

I asked the girls to collect a stick each so that we could make some dancing wands. They took their time finding just the 'right one' :-)

We used some reels of ribbon and a pack of colourful clips from the dollar shop to make our wands with.

We simply attached the clips to the end of our sticks and tied the lengths of coloured ribbon to them. Easy and fun!

Bubble taking her rainbow dancing stick for a spin.

“Come over to play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up”

Matching Objects By Function

Apologies for the lack of posts this month, we're still in holiday mode and have been travelling around visiting family and enjoying the warm weather outside. I've also been spending my nights watching the ongoing coverage from the Qld floods, captivating and heartbreaking as it is.
One of the activities we did this week was a matching objects by function game; I found ten pairs of objects that 'go together' and spread one of each across the mat, then gave Bubble the matching items one at a time asking her what other item she thought it went with. I thought it would be quite easy but it was a bit of a challenge for her after being so used to matching games that use a visual similarity (colour, shape etc...) and she really had to think about the function of each object. Some she found simple (ie; toothbrush and toothpaste) and others she had to think about for a moment (ie; letter and envelope).
There is no end of combinations you could use for this game and it could be designed to fit certain themes (rooms of the house, inside and outside objects, things found at school etc).

WE USED:
Objects to represent:
sock and shoe, purse and money, screw and screwdriver, pencil and sharpener, paint box and paintbrush, toothbrush and toothpaste, letter and envelope, knife and fork, glove and hand, toast/bread and toaster.

Flood Appeal Sale

Here in Australia we are facing floods in the state of Queensland, a lot of you may have seen the horrifying footage from the flash floods in Toowoomba and the continued flooding in other regions which unfortunately looks set to continue and even worsen. While those in Queensland are displaying bravery and resilience that is simply awe inspiring, the rest of us are all trying to find a way to help any way we can. One Queensland business The Toy Bug is offering their generous support by holding a toy sale with all profits going to the Flood Relief Appeal, please head on over and take a look or spread the word.
Anyone with links to other fundraisers feel free to put them in comments and I will add them here.
Goodluck to those affected in Queensland, we're all thinking of you and hoping for the best xxx

Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal
The Toy Bug Flood Appeal Sale
Family Capers Flood Appeal post
Appliances Online Flood Relief Pledge
Bing Lee Facebook Flood Relief Pledge

Using Rulers - Part 2

Last week we started learning about rulers and this week we've been practicing using them to measure things around the house. Bubble is very 'into' numbers so she found these activities very interesting.

WE USED:

* paper
* markers
* ruler
* tape measure
* household objects/furniture

On a large piece of paper I drew some pictures of objects from around the house for us to measure. We took our measurements to the nearest cm so it was simpler for Bubble to read. Older children could take more prescise measurements using mm as well as cm/metres.

Counting the increments.

We used a ruler for smaller objects and a tape measure for larger things like bookshelves.

Bubble recorded our measurements on the sheet and we talked about which things were tallest.

Cardboard Box Butterfly Wings

I recently bought new chairs for Bubble and Squeak's activity table and had two decent sized boxes left from the packaging. Today we took to them with scissors and created some giant butterfly wings which the girls painted and decorated themselves.
Just as a side note though for anyone who has a go at making these - grocery shopping with small people dressed as big cardboard butterflies is hazardous, best keep out of any isles containing glass jars :-D

WE USED:

* large cardboard boxes
(tall wide and shallow boxes work best)
* scissors
* pencil or texta for marking the outline
* masking tape and craft split pins (or wool/string/twine)
* craft knife or similar for punching holes
* old stockings (or you could use thick elastic)
* things for decorating wings - paint, glitter glue, stickers, stamps etc..

First I cut open the boxes on one side and laid them flat. Using a texta I drew a wing on one side and cut it out.

Then I used the offcuts from the first wing to form a template for the second wing so that they matched. You could also just fold the first wing over to trace around if you aren't leaving a centre panel in like we did.

Ready to decorate. I cut two sets of wings, one from each box.

We spread a plastic picnic sheet over the outdoor playmat and the girls got busy painting, gluing and decorating their wings.

Bubble worked on hers for a long time :-)

Bubble's butterfly - I love the happy face.

Squeak's butterfly - I helped her paint the outline and the dots of course! She really enjoyed using the stickers.

Once the butterflies were dry I made holes down either side of the middle panel for the ties to go through. Four at the top at shoulder height (pictured) and two more at waist height so I could make a belt tie as well to make the wings more stable.

Then I just threaded some old stockings through to use as ties. You could also use string, wool or thick elastic but I thought the stockings would be more comfortable and stretchy.

The stockings threaded through the wings - I just tied the ends on the other side to create arm loops, then tied the loose ends across the girls chests once they had them on for extra comfort and stability.

On the top corner of the underside of each wing I also made a hand grip using masking tape and split pins so that the girls could 'flap' their wings. Just lay a shortish piece of tape sticky side up on the table, cover with a longer piece sticky side down and then stick to the wings to create a handle. I used extra tape and then the split pins to secure them.
Alternatively you could just punch some holes and thread through string, wool or more stocking to create a loop to hold onto.

In this picture you can see the holes for the arm ties and the waist tie. Sorry I dont have a photo of the otherside but Bubble insisted on wearing her wings sans clothing to begin with! The tie just came around the shoulders and the waist, kind of like a backpack.

Bubble flapping her 'wings'.

No photos of Squeak wearing hers because she didn't want to leave them on lol, she just wanted to stand on them and jump on all the painted bits! :-D Bubble on the other hand loved her butterfly wings, our only problems were a) getting them off her at bathtime, and b) convincing her that she couldn't actually fly like a real butterfly :-)