Light and Dark

Bubble has been confused about how two colours that look different can still be the same, so we've been trying to exlain to her about light and dark. Today we did an activity that would show her the difference visually to try and help demonstrate the concept. I collected a box of small objects that were half dark blue and half light, then got two peices of paper and wrote the headings 'light' and 'dark' on the tops. I sorted the fist two objects so that Bbble could see the difference, and then she did the rest. She actually picked up the idea straight away and we ended up playing the game over and over with different colours.

Our light and dark objects.

The papers ready for our sorting game.

Time for some green :-)

Saying letters

Squeak is only just a year old but is already interested in letters. She loves it when I line them up across the table or floor and she will pick them up one by one and wait for me to tell her what it is called. She will sometimes try to say it back to me, or at other times will just smile and put it back in line to pick up the next one. Kids are such amazing little sponges for information!

Make opportunites to create

Bubble finds some fine motor tasks like drawing and cutting quite difficult, she enjoys them a lot but usually wont persist with them very long, prefering to scribble and run. To encourage her to practice as much as possible we have drawing stations all around the apartment. They are in places that Squeak cannot reach yet, like up on bookshelves and on the kitchen table, but that are accessible for Bubble any time she feels like it. I try to vary what is at each station by leaving out different kinds of paper and cardboard, small colouring books, stamps, stickers and chalks as well as different kinds of pencil and crayon sets.

Toilet roll playground

Our dollshouse dolls are in the same predicament we are - great place to live but no backyard! :-D I decided to make a playground for the girls to play with:

WE USED:

* toilet roll and paper towel tubes
* electrical tape (any strong tape will do)
* giant popsticks
* wool/string
*scissors
* sand
* empty mini pie pans (pattypans or a container lid would also work)
* mini flowerpots (empty film canisters, matchbox trays, small cups, jelly moulds, mini pattypans etc... would also work)
* cylinder shaped building block
* small cardboard tray (the one I used was from the packing in a box, but a shoebox with the sides cut down would work great. Shoe shops usually have a surplus of shoeboxes if you dont have any at home).
* blutac
* one of the cup sections from an empty egg carton

Seesaw : mini pots blutac'd to either end of a giant popstick, with a cylindrical building block stuck underneath.

Swing: Two toilet rolls on either side, with one across the top. Just cut a small section from the underside at either end of the top roll so it sits on top of the upright tubes and can be taped on easier. Puncture holes in the middle of the top tube to attach the wool/string swing y threading it through. The swing section is a cup cut from an empty egg carton, but any kind of cup would do, even half a balloon would do the trick.

Slide: paper towel tube cut in half resting on top of a toilet roll with a small section cut from the front. Tape together.

The pie pan I just blutac'd to the base of the tray before adding the sand. This can be filled with water to make a pond or swimming pool.

Oat and raisin cookie recipe

The girls both LOVED this recipe from Taste.com.au.


Recipe taken directly from Taste.com.au:

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup malted milk powder
• 1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 2/3 cup raisins

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.

2. Place sugar and butter in a bowl, and beat with electric beaters until light and creamy. Add egg and continue beating until well combined. Fold through milk powder, plain flour, baking powder, rolled oats and raisins. Mix until well combined.

3. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving space for spreading. Cover tray with plastic wrap. Place in the freezer for 5 minutes. Remove from freezer and cook for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool before serving.

Leaf printing

On a walk to the park recently we collected some leaves and weeds to make some prints with when we got home. We used paint rollers to make contrast prints as well as painting the leaves themselves and stamping with them.

WE USED:

* paper
*paper plate
*paint roller
*paint
*leaves and weeds (dandelion flowers)

Backyard Antics

We love apartment living but there is one aspect that makes life with two small people difficult, and that's a lack of a backyard! Because of this I try to make sure we head out at least once a day and run off some steam, and luckily we have plenty of reserves, beaches and playgrounds nearby. We spend hours exploring, finding bugs, collecting leaves and gumnuts, feeding ducks, building sandcastles and people watching. Sometimes it feels like we actually have the biggest backyard in the world :-)

Feeding ducks.

A bit of puddle jumping.

The girls dance anywhere they get a chance!