Everyday Play

 

When the weather gets bleak and your tots venture outdoors less regularly, it can become quite a task to keep the days interesting without reverting to activities which eat into your purse; playcentres, shopping centres, movies, cafes... I'm talking to y'all! So to spread some thrifty fun, here are a few things we did last week to keep cabin fever at bay.

Can You Kazoo?

Hands up if your Munchkin hates to make noise. No hands? Didn't think so.
Nothing screams kids like ... well ... kids! One of my daughters favourite things to do is play with their many percussion instruments, guitars and keyboards (yes, keyboardS as in plural; portable, on a stand with a mic and even one of those giant ones you walk on!) and when those aren't sufficient they improvise. Usually all over the furniture.
Enter kazoos. Easy to make, easy to play and lots of fun into the bargain!
All you need is a toilet paper roll, wax paper or baking paper, a rubber band, and bits and bobs to decorate with.

 

Mess-Less Toddler Paint Bag

Ava (16 months) LOVES to paint. Man oh man, that girl is into all things arty; the messier, the better. Only one small hitch. I hate the clean up. With Eden (3 1/2 years), no problem! She's super neat, so clean up is always minimal. On the other hand, you could give Ava a thimble-full of paint and five minutes later she would have it all over herself, the couch, your clothes, your keys, the fridge and the curtains - that is, if she didn't eat it straight away. 

Solution? A Paint Bag! 

Simply squeeze some non-toxic paint into a ziplock bag, seal with masking tape/duct tape and you're ready to go!

Sorting and Transferring

My little Miss E. is becoming very interested in money lately. I thought I had a few more years at least before she helped herself to my purse... Just kidding! She is fascinated in the different value of coins ("paper money is so boring, Mummy!") and the images on them, and she loves to count and stack any loose change she can get her hands on.

As it happens, we have a vase where we keep all our silver coins - 50 cents and under, for the non-Aussies, - so I hauled it out and gave Eden three containers for her to sort the different denominations into; one each for 5 cents, 10 cents and 20 cents. Eden felt that the dodecagon shape (12-sided) of the fifty cent piece made it special because it wasn't round like the other coins, so she put them in her music box. Ahem. Nice try, honey.

Winter Chalk Art

  

Oh, the limitations of wintry weather! Although my daughters love playing in the rainy weather all geared up in their raincoats and gumboots (Ava would sit in muddy puddles all day if we let her) the parks aren't too much fun with rain-covered slides and swings, and going to playcentres becomes pricey. So, desperate Mumma that I am, I decided to break out the sidewalk chalk and invite my girls to go nuts redecorating our garage door with it. 

Bits N' Pieces Post

Here's a quick look at three simple, quick and cheap activities you can do with your munchkins when time, money and mess are not on the table!

Apology, Announcement, Activity

Apology: We're baaaaack!!! So sorry to all for my long absence, I have been very unwell for the past few weeks and just could not do basics, let along stuff that requires... the thinking... stuff.... hmm. A HUGE thank you to all our friends and family who pulled together to help us get through, and an especially warm, heartfelt thank you to my wonderful parents for their selfless help during the past few weeks - we couldn't have gotten by without you. Dad, thank you for all the 1 1/2 hour round trips back and forth to help us out, the trips to the chemist to get my medication, the grocery stops and lunch pick-ups. Mum, thank you for the sleep overs (which let me sleep in), caring for the girls, driving me to and from the doctor and the hospital, and for all round being the kind of mother to me that I hope to be to my daughters. Love you both ridiculously.

Announcement: All of which leads me to the 'announcement' portion of this post... my husband and I are delighted to announce that we are expecting our third Happy Little Munchkin early next year! We are so excited, and are eagerly anticipating our little bubba's birth - even more than we're anticipating the end of the horrible, horrible morning sickness. All you lovely mums out there, please shoot some advice my way about coping with the nausea. I've (finally) managed to keep down fluids and some foods but it's still touch and go at times, and if you've been there yourself I would love to hear from you. 

Tonnes - sorry - TINS of Fun!

What to do to engage and stimulate your baby when you draw a mental blank? Raid your pantry! That's what I did anyway, and discovered that Ava (1) rather likes it when I do.

I lay out a stainless steel bread box, a small tub, some utensils, a handful of magnets and an armful of tinned food. Who knew that such ordinary items would be such irresistible playthings to my daughter? Ava dove in straight away, first exploring all the items...

Eden the Grocer

To my surprise, a little play scenario which I recently set out for my daughters to keep them busy during cooking-time, ended up being such a success that it was hard to tear them away to have dinner!

Take one kiddie desk and chair, add a cash register toy, calculator, and paper bags and you have a shop. Lay out a cloth with some play fruit and veggies, and you have a greengrocer! Add two little girls, and you have a tonne of fun!

Baby Play: Cotton Wool Balls

Ava (my one year old) is so much fun to watch when she plays. She's such a little explorer! Everything is new and exciting to her and she has no preconceived ideas about how to play. A simple stimulus - such as cotton wool balls and some supplies from around the house - and she's all set.

When I set out a few bowls, a mini sieve, a spoon and cotton wool balls for her, she got so excited! Her little face lit up, and I swear it was as if she was thinking "I know what to do here!"

Nature Collages

We're loving the beautiful Autumnal weather around here! Where we live, there are lots of Oaks, Maples and Elm trees shedding their glorious golden leaves and we can't help but bring some home.
On a recent picnic with my girls to a local park...

... Miss Eden collected various bits and pieces: leaves, of course, but also clovers, flowers, tree bark, gumnuts and twigs. What to do with them? We made a collage!

Chef or Pharmacist?

Eden loves to cook, in both the real sense and the play sense. The other day she asked if I could make her a kitchen outside so that she could cook like Mummy. Five minutes later and she was all set up!

Sticky Marshy Fun!

If you're a frequent flyer here at HLM, you may have heard me wax lyrical about open-ended activities. If not, here's a quick recap: open-ended activities are those with no set purpose in mind which offer your child the opportunity to create their own play/learning experience. For example, giving your child a stack of boxes, tennis balls and rubber bands and seeing what they do with them is an open-ended activity. As is painting, or playing with wooden blocks, or a dress-up box, etc. Crafts are not open-ended. They're great - but just not open-ended.
I am always amazed by what my daughters come up with when I give them these opportunities! I once gave Eden a pile of empty tissue boxes, and she put them on her hands and feet and declared herself Princess Tissue-Box Robot!
In this vein, I set out a tray with a bowl of marshmallows and a handful of toothpicks for Eden, and this is what she did with them:

Lego Rubbings

Do you remember discovering crayon rubbings as a kid? I remember being in Primary School when my teacher gave us all licence to take crayons and paper and do rubbings of whatever we wanted, inside and outside. We loved exploring textures and discovering that some things made interesting rubbings (leaves, concrete, etc) and others... not so much (tabletops, vinyl floor, etc).
With a view to introducing Eden to this same type of texture exploration, I thought I'd introduce her to the world of crayon rubbings with a Lego board.

Leafy Business

Autumn has arrived in Australia (nearly two months ago, but let's not nitpick) and the trees have shed their leaves and transformed our local parks into bronze and gold wonderlands. If I sound a bit whimsical, I LOVE AUTUMN! True, I say that about every season, but for now, I LOVE AUTUMN!

On a recent stroll through the park, Eden collected a tidy pile of leaves, sticks, bark and gumnuts which she later deposited on our dining table with a proud "There you go, Mummy! It's for our art time!" Naturally, I had to find some sort of activity that would utilise the art provisions to her satisfaction.
Rummaging through my supplies, I stumbled upon some wax paper, and it was decided. We were going to make our own wrapping paper!

Just While I Cook Dinner....

How often do you wish that your precious child could keep themselves busy just so you can cook dinner in peace? My daughter (3yrs) can play by herself quite happily for decent stretches of time, but for some reason that ability seems to evaporate whenever I begin to cook. Whenever I can, I involve her in the cooking/food preparation, but this is not always an option and I often find myself trying to scrounge up an interesting activity whilst at the same time trying to keep dinner from becoming charcoal.

Never Too Early To Learn: Washing Clothes

Living in Australia should mean that we enjoy glorious sunshiney summers, but for us Aussies living in Melbourne it actually means that the weather runs the full gamut each and every day. So it was some surprise that we enjoyed a full week of ridiculously gorgeous weather last week. Time to go outside!

Like many of her tot peers, Miss Eden (3) likes to mimic everything I do, and LOVES helping me around the house. So, I thought she may enjoy doing the laundry for her dollies whilst I did the real deal.

Happy Australia Day!

To my fellow Aussies:
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!
[Oi! Oi! Oi!]
... Just one of the gems I taught my daughter today. Others include "how's the serenity" (although she says "how senity" - just remember, she's three!), "bonza" and "maaaaaaate"! Couldn't help myself.

To my non-Aussie friends:


Today was Australia day, a national holiday celebrating what it means to be Australian and how fortunate we are to live in our amazing country. Now that we're on the same page, here's how we incorporated a bit of Aus into Eden's day (Ava's a tad small to appreciate Australia Day, she's 9 months old)....

Sorting - Baby Style

I stumbled across this idea a while ago on The Imagination Tree, and thought I'd give it a go now that little Miss Ava is 9 months old, in the hope that she would not just put everything straight into her mouth.
The activity is to cut up a cardboard cylinder into chunky pieces, lay out a muffin tray, and let your littlie go to town filling and emptying the tray with the cylinders.

One for the Girls

Yesterday, I did the unthinkable. I let my toddler do my make up. Alarming, I know. However, I was exhausted (having only three hours of sleep can do that to you, I'm told) and desperate for something to occupy Eden which required minimal effort on my part (either set up or clean up), which we could do together, and importantly, which she would enjoy.
Enter, make up.
Eden loves all things girly. I mean, my child will rough and tumble and get muddy and rambunctious with the best of them, but give her make up/jewellery/shoes/bags and she is in mini-princess heaven. So, when I said the magic words "Mummy's make-up" she beat me to my bathroom and had my make up out before I was even in the room! No exaggeration!