Drip, Drip, Drip

If you're looking for an activity to promote fine motor skills and introduce your tot to the concepts of transference and volume, then this is it! It was so easy to set up, and occupied Eden for a solid 45 minutes while I cooked dinner.

Green Day Date has Moved!

Hi all, if you were interested in attending our Green Day themed morning out at Lysterfield Lake, we'll now be holding it on Thursday the 3rd November, same time, same place (see here if you want the details), due to expected rain. Hopefully the weather will be better next week! :D

Reminder: Green Day!

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 25th of October, we will be having a Green Day at Lysterfield Lake in Narre Warren North. See here for full details.
Bring your kids along and check out other parent's ideas. We'll be kitting up in some green gear, reading green books, and I'm preparing some activities for Eden and Ava which involve green things! Should be a great day, come along if you can!

Another Paint Chip Game!

I took eight of our spare paint chips which were the same size but different colours, and drew some basic pictures on them in pairs. I chose pictures that could lead to other activities, like singing or pretending games. We will be laying the paint chips out on the table, coloured side down, and playing the memory game as before. An alternative game is to shuffle the cards, offer them to your child coloured side down, and ask them to pick one. Sing a song that corresponds to the card. 

Our cards have pictures of:

• Rabbits: "Miss Bunny" or "Little Peter Rabbit"
• Ducks: "3 Little Ducks Went Out One Day" or "Ducks Like Rain"
• Frogs: "Mr Frog Went Out" or "Frogs Go 'La De Da De Da'"
• A Face: "Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose" or "If You're Happy and You Know It [touch your eyes/ears/mouth/nose]" - the latter adapted to include facial features

Another idea is to get your child to choose a two different cards, and you make up a (very) simple story about them. For example, your tot chooses a rabbit card and a frog card. You could say, "One day Mrs. Bunny wanted to make a cake, but she didn't have any flour left. So she took her basket and went for a walk to visit her friend, Mr. Ribbity, who lived nearby. Mr. Ribbity said, 'Of course you can borrow some flour, Mrs. Bunny!' Then Mrs. Bunny replied, "Thank you Mr. Ribbity! Would you like to come to my house and share some of the cake with me?" And so, the two friends shared a delicious cake for supper. The end." 

I'm really looking forward to playing these games with Eden. I hope you (whoever you are) are finding these ideas helpful! Ciao for now! ~ L.

Paint Chip Memory Game

I love paint chips, they're so versatile! I won't go into it here, but expect to see a few games/activities in future featuring these chips, 'cause they've got about a dozen uses. Best of all, they're free, and recyclable!
My hubby went to Bunnings and grabbed a stack of various paint chips, and the ones that he got duplicates of, I'm going to use as a memory game. Simply get two or three matching pairs of paint chips, turn them coloured side down, and get your toddler to turn them over two at a time. The aim is to find the matching pairs.

If the game turns into something else (like pretending the paint chips are play money, or cakes, or important paperwork, etc), then go with it. If your child isn't ready to play a memory game, don't push them, as that will only put them off even more. Eden has a memory like a steel trap, so I'm thinking she's ready for this. I'll only start out with two pairs, and go from there.

Colour Day

Last week, I declared that we were having a 'Green Day', and we had so much fun that every morning since, Eden asks me "today is a green day, Mummy?"
This one is great for toddlers, and I reckon it's appropriate for 12 months and over. A one year old may not thoroughly grasp the game, but I think you'll be surprised at how much they understand and file away in those rapidly developing minds of theirs. In any event, it's a lotta fun!
We all wore green clothes and some of Mummy's green jewellery. We had green porridge for brekky (normal porridge with a couple of drops of food colouring in it), ate from green bowls and drank from green cups. Lunch was green apples, yoghurt (another drop of food colouring) and cheese - I know it's not green, two points off for me, and dinner was spinach fettacine with basil pesto (a fave in our house). We read 'Green Eggs and Ham' by Dr. Seuss and 'Where Is the Green Sheep' by Mem Fox. We went for a walk and talked about all the green things we could see. Eden used a green bath crayon in her bath time.We baked gingerbread men wearing green-ish aprons - I don't have any properly green ones. Eden had such a wonderful time, and so did I.
If I had planned it out better, we could have played with playdough in yellow and blue, and mixed it together to make green. Or done the same with paint. I could have made green eggs and ham to eat whilst we read the book. We might have done some pasting with green paper/cellophane/crepe paper.
In future, I'm planning to do another colour day, and - just putting it out there - I thought I'd make it a bit of an event: anyone who's interested can come, we could all meet up at a park for a picnic lunch with our kids, and everyone in the same colour! Lemme know your thoughts, anyone can add a comment. Also, feel free to follow this blog - I love followers! ~ L.