Movable Art

Set up on one of the desks in our study at the moment we have a 'movable art' station. The girls have been enjoying it so much I think it may become permanent, it has been a great way to encourage their spontaneous creativity with minimal mess and wastage.
The idea behind the movable art is to put out jars or containers of all sorts of things - beads, buttons, feathers, ribbons, matchsticks - anything at all your children can use to create pictures and/or words. Also provide a stack of different backgrounds for them to use, which can be anything from coloured paper to fabric swatches or foam sheets. The more textures and colours the better!
Once the pictures are finished we take a photo of their artwork and then all of the materials can be moved to create new art or packed away for the next burst of creativity.
The materials can be used over and over again (and changed often to keep them interesting), there's no build up of paper artwork and we get to enjoy their creativity by way of mini albums made from the printed photos or the digital photo frame.
The best part though is that the lack of need for glue or paint means the girls can do this anytime and we can safely leave it all set up without fear of destroyed walls, carpets or worse.

The girls creating movable art using brown paper bags, paperclips and buttons.

Once the masterpiece is finished we take a photo and we're ready to start again

Play Grow Learn

I don't often promote things on this Blog, but anything cooked up by the brilliant Christie at Childhood 101 has to be wonderful. We were lucky enough to be a small part of their latest project Play Grow Learn.
This amazing magazine contains 62 pages of brilliant play ideas for children from birth to 5 years and can be downloaded for only $4 US.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I checked it out today, the layouts and photos are just stunning, with so many ideas jammed into one issue it is a great read.
Head over to Childhood 101 for a look and download their very first issue.

Repurposed Cot

Recently our little Squeak made the transition from the cot to her first big girl bed. I dutifully moved the cot into our study waiting to be dismantled and either stored or passed on, but kept finding reasons not to do it.
The thing is, I'm certain there will be no more babies for us. Kind of certain. OK, 99.99% certain. But every time I passed the study and saw our empty cot looking back at me forlornly (it really was) I'd procrastinate a little bit more.
So in the end I decided not to take it apart at all... and turn it into a desk. As you do.
It has turned out great and was extremely easy to do without modifying the cot and rendering it unusable once I get the courage to pass it on. Or use it again. Whatever.

WE USED:

* baby cot with a removable drop side
* mdf/particle board cut to mattress size
* blackboard paint

Our drop side had already been removed so all I had to do was adjust the base to the highest newborn setting.

I cut two sheets of thick mdf to fit snugly into the mattress base to provide a table top. I deliberately chose thick strong board to strengthen the desk should any small people climb, sit or stand on it (inevitable in this house).
The boards were painted with blackboard paint to create a chalkboard table top.

It was then easy to use hooks and suction hooks to create storage on the cot sides. I'd love to attach some small shelves for colouring books too.

The paper storage box is made from an empty muesli box, I cut the front to make the paper accessible then primed and painted it before super gluing it to a thick piece of card for extra strength.

On the left hand side we hung Bubble's whiteboard for doing her therapy homework using 3M removable hooks. The white shelves are a spice rack bought from the local Salvo shop for $5 and repainted, this is where we will store our small craft items like glue pots and beads.

The girls have been having a blast with it already :-)

Skewer Snacks

My girls have rather short attention spans and bore easily when it comes to your run of the mill eating utensils. Spoons and forks? Are you kidding? Snorefest.
To keep things interesting and work their fine motor development and co-ordination I often trade their cutlery in for something different;
A set of small tongs.
A pair of chopsticks.
A mini soup ladle.
It's all a bit of fun and also great for hand strength and developing skills such as their pincer grip.
The biggest hit lately has been skewers - the wooden/bamboo type that you get in big packets. I buy the mini sized ones and they are perfect for snacks like berries or fruit (I usually freeze them and then serve them semi thawed), cheese, pieces of bagel or cake; anything soft enough to skewer basically.

WE USED:

* mini bamboo skewers
* soft snack foods
(in this case semi thawed blueberries)

Both girls love the challenge of 'catching' their food.

Please note: I have found that Squeak (2.5) can wield a skewer quite safely, but please use your own discretion about whether or not your child can eat with a sharp utensil and only use them when you can supervise. You may want to blunt the end of the skewer by cutting it with clean scissors or by pressing the tip into a cutting board to flatten it.

Painted Strawberry Pots

Now that we have a backyard the girls have been busy planting herbs and vegetables in pots and learning about how food grows. On a recent visit to our local nursery they honed in on the strawberry plants and "really had to have some", so they chose a plant each and we spent the last few days painting some special pots for them.

WE USED:

* strawberry plants
* soil
* unsealed terracotta pots
(if you can find some shaped like strawberries, even better!)
* acrylic paint (red and black)
* paint brushes
(we used a large and small brush)
* drop sheet or newspaper
* clear sealant/varnish
* face washer (for clean up)

We upended our pots on the drop sheet and the girls used the wider brushes to paint them all over with red acrylic. Then using the smaller brushes they covered their pots with spots using the black acrylic.

We left them to dry and then I painted them with a clear varnish. We then left them to dry thoroughly until the following day.

The girls used their sandpit shovels and a small bag of potting soil to plant their strawberries. We had a good look at their root systems and all the different things we found in the soil.

Our strawberry strawberry pots - very cute (and hopefully in a few months time also delicious) :-)

Laundry Day Sock Sorting

This game is very simple and is one Squeak and I play every time I bring in a load of dry washing. It's a great way of keeping her occupied while I put the clothes away, teaches her the concept of same and different and develops her colour and matching skills. She also loves helping and having a job to do!

Other simple laundry 'games':

* folding items such as tea towels, face washers and pillowcases.
* helping to sort each family members clothes into separate baskets or piles.
* helping to put folded items away.
* handing you each item from the basket and labelling it's colour or what it is used for.
* counting how many of each item there are (how many jumpers? How many socks?)

WE USED:

* loose socks from the laundry basket

Spread one of each sock out on the floor making a stack with the matching socks. We always use a small rug in Bubble's room for this activity to give Squeak a visual boundary.

Your child can then find the pairs by taking socks from the stack and matching them with the ones on the floor.

We usually chat as she plays so we can practice descriptive language such as colours, patterns, characters and who each pair belongs to.

Reflective Collages

Mr Bubble & Squeak is a guy who really likes his snacks, and most of those (pretzels, muesli bars, crackers) come in foil packaging. Since I'm quite partial to shiny things I've been cleaning all the packaging and stashing it in the craft box to use for 'something' and this week we put it to good use.

I'm going to do some more structured activities with the foil later on but this time around the girls just had fun practicing their cutting skills snipping it into little pieces and making reflective collages. This activity had a lot of great sensory elements to it, Squeak in particular loved the crinkly noise some of the foil packets made while she was gluing them to her paper.

WE USED:

* cleaned foil packaging
* scissors
* child friendly glue
* paper or cardboard