Christmas Hand Trees

For our Christmas-related activity this week (see here for the Play Time challenge), we made a Christmas tree! First, we traced Eden and Ava's hands onto coloured paper...

PLAY TIME ~ NOV 28th - OCT 4th

This week, make something Christmas-related.

At some point this week, try a game, a craft or an activity with your little one whch you've never done before with a Christmas theme.
Please post your game in the comments attached to this post, so we can inspire other parents with our ideas!

Fingerpainting for Babies

Who says babies can't fingerpaint? A little ingenuity and a willingness to see your child (and floor, and any adjacent surfaces) covered in muck, and you'll have yourself a fun-filled half-hour or so with your little munchkin.
Although non-toxic poster paint/acrylic paint is, well, non-toxic, I still feel apprehensive about letting Ava anywhere near it. Especially whilst she's in the 'how-can-I-fit-everything-in-sight-into-my-mouth' phase. So I mixed a bit of plain flour with some water and food dye, and came up with my own version of fingerpaint which is safe for babies. It's not a substitute for actual fingerpaint though (ie: the stuff you would use for your toddler, or for use on paper), but it served my purposes just fine.

The paint:

Water Play - Baby Version

I wish I had thought of this earlier! On a warm day recently, I put a bit of water into a shallow container, popped baby Ava into her highchair and added some bits and pieces for her to play with: plastic toy food, a rubber sieve, measuring spoons, wooden spoon and a spatula. Then, I stood back and let the splashing begin! 

PLAY TIME ~ NOV 21st - 27th

This week, play with OOBLECK.

Trust me ... you'll love it.
See here for the recipe.
Have fun!

Meat Tray Sewing

I had an absorbing task to do the other day (finishing a painting for a friend's little girl) and I needed to sew some detail onto it. Now, Eden likes to copy everything I do so normally I'd wait until she was asleep to do this. This time, however, I had a different approach: teaching Eden how to sew!

I grabbed a meat tray (side note: keep your meat trays, they're so handy and they make the best paint palettes) and punched a few holes through it with a skewer. Then I threaded a wool needle with some red yarn, tied it off, and handed it to my lil girl. Look at this:

Treasure Baskets Part 3.

Since my now seven-month old is teething and everything goes straight into her mouth, I thought a soft play basket was in order this time.