Alphabet Books

I LOVED this idea when I first saw it on No Time For Flash Cards and I have finally managed to begin Alphabet Books of our own. I got a hold of some scrapbooks, drew block outline uppercase letters on the left hand pages, and the lowercase letters on the right hand pages.
For the letter 'A', we copied the idea from No Time For Flashcards - that is, the girls pasted green pieces of paper into the letter, and then added some white cardboard 'teeth' (cut with pinking shears) and some googly eyes, to create Alligator A's.

Sticky Pics

On one of our many rainy days recently, I blindly (and with no small amount of desperation) plunged my hand into a tub of craft supplies and pulled out a packet of coloured matchsticks. This sort of lucky dip is not uncommon for me, because otherwise my head spins with ideas of things to do with my kids (thank you Pinterest!) and it takes me ages to choose one! My strategy in this situation is to do a lucky dip and we then have to do some sort of activity/game/craft with whatever I pull out.
So, coloured matchsticks...
Um...
Don't you just love it when your mind, which was previously jammed full of ideas, suddenly empties out completely leaving you totally blank? What was I going to do with matchsticks?


Eden solved it for me: "Mum, let's make some sticky pictures!" (meaning pictures with sticks).
We grabbed some construction paper as it's sturdier than normal paper, some PVA glue, and a texta and got to work. I drew some simple shapes under the direction of my daughters, and they outlined the shapes with PVA. Then it was a simple matter of filling the lines in with the matchsticks.

Rainy Day Play: Kiddie Yoga

  

Unless you are blessed with an outdoor undercover area, or unlimited access to a playcentre (or the dosh to go to one a few times a week) keeping active kids ... um, active ... in wet weather can be quite a task. Normally, a few hours at the park or going for a walk with the kids is just the ticket, and a bit of drizzle is no barrier to those activities either, but a downpour? Oy vay. 

Today, I decided to try kids yoga with my girls. In theory, it should stretch their muscles and give them some physical activity in a calming way (instead of an excitable way - like trampolines, or running, etc), and be indoors-friendly. In practice, it was a success! 

Quiet Time Boxes - Friday

 

Welcome to the final instalment of our Quiet Time Boxes Series! As an added bonus, I have also dissected the contents of Ava's Quiet Time Tub for you which is geared towards toddlers (Ava is 2 years old) as opposed to the boxes which are aimed at pre-schoolers (Eden is 4 years old). Here is our final pre-schoolers kit, Friday's box...

Theme: Literacy

Quiet Time Boxes - Thursday

 

Today we were Quiet-Time-less, as we were out until late in the day. However, I had the box ready to go and ready to share with you all, but I will have to wait until next Thursday to report on how it was received by Miss Eden. For now, here is Thursday's Quiet Time Box ...

Theme: Life Skills

Quiet Time Boxes - Wednesday

 

I was not anticipating a win in the Quiet Time Box department today. I felt that I did not have enough in today's box to occupy Eden, and even took an eleventh hour trip to the local Op Shop to see if I could find anything to pad it out. I couldn't. As I said, I was not anticipating a win.
I was wrong.
Apparently, the few items that I provided amounted to "the best box ever, Mummy! Apart from the other boxes, too!" Well said Eden, as only a four-year-old could phrase it. So, what was in Wednesday's box?

Quiet Time Boxes - Tuesday

 

Mothers of little boys, rejoice! After Monday's Girlie Girl Box, todays Quiet Box has unisex appeal! Now, onto Tuesday's Box ...


Theme: Exploration Tub

Contents:

• A File folder activity centred around Baby Animals, from a free download here at 1+1+1=1 (check out the site whilst you're there, it's amazing!)
• Two 'Hunt' books: 'Wild Animal Hunt' and 'Bugs and Reptiles Hunt'. They are available from Kmart at $5 each, and have very cool pages - you stick a 'spotlight' inside a pocket of the picture pages, and it illuminates the images. Eden LOVED these! 

 

• A Baby Animals picture book and sticker pack, which was given as a gift