Well, the animals were thawed out of their icy prison today. As predicted, there were lots of questions, many lovely little giggles but thankfully, not too much mess.
We got the ice block out this morning at breakfast time and the conversation went a little like this:
Me: "Look Ed, here's the animals we put in the freezer"
Ed: "But how will I play with them now?"
Me: "They've frozen in the ice haven't they? Can you remember what they were in when we put them in the freezer?"
Ed: "No"
Me: "They were in water weren't they. Can you remember what animals we put in there?"
Ed: "A pig, a sheep and a dinosaur"
Me: "Is that one a dinosaur?"
Ed: "No, it's a COW! (giggle, giggle)"
Me: "How do you think we can get them out?"
Ed: "I dunno"
Me: "What if we leave the ice in this bucket, what will happen"
Ed: (giggle with anticipation) "I dunno"
Me: "Do you think the ice will melt?"
Ed: "Yeah it will melt. Ice cream melts mum" (Hooray, this is all starting to make sense)
Me: (very excited) "That's right, the ice melts like ice cream does and then what will the ice turn into?"
Ed: "Water, then I can play with the animals again" (I think the penny has dropped)
We've watched it melting all day and it's almost all thawed out. the animals are free (and are being played with as i write), there is only a tiny bit of ice left in the bucket and best of all, my boy is a little wiser about the workings of the world!
Ice Magic
Ed asked me the other day why I was putting water into ice cube trays. When i explained to him that i was putting the water into the freezer, he asked why i was putting water where the ice needed to go.
When Em was small, I was quite aware of her need to learn about new things and the fact that she didn't (and couldn't) know about things she hadn't experienced yet. I often find myself forgetting this with Ed. It's like I kind of assume that because Em knows things, he should automatically know them as well.
In an attempt to give Ed some of the same experiences I gave Em and to let him discover things about the world for himself, I've set up a little experiment for him that I've done with many of my Kinder kids over the years.
We got a small strawberry punnet without any holes in the bottom and added 3 of our plastic farm animals. Then I 3/4 filled it with water. Ed played for them in the water for a little while, then he helped me put them into the freezer.
When we pull the container out tomorrow, he will see the animals set in ice and then I'll put the animal ice block into a large plastic container so he can watch the ice melt and the animals thaw out and have a better understanding of how the freezer works and what water can do. I'm preparing for lots of questions, quite a few giggles and squeals of delight and probably a little mess, but all in the name of knowledge and good fun!!
When Em was small, I was quite aware of her need to learn about new things and the fact that she didn't (and couldn't) know about things she hadn't experienced yet. I often find myself forgetting this with Ed. It's like I kind of assume that because Em knows things, he should automatically know them as well.
In an attempt to give Ed some of the same experiences I gave Em and to let him discover things about the world for himself, I've set up a little experiment for him that I've done with many of my Kinder kids over the years.
We got a small strawberry punnet without any holes in the bottom and added 3 of our plastic farm animals. Then I 3/4 filled it with water. Ed played for them in the water for a little while, then he helped me put them into the freezer.
When we pull the container out tomorrow, he will see the animals set in ice and then I'll put the animal ice block into a large plastic container so he can watch the ice melt and the animals thaw out and have a better understanding of how the freezer works and what water can do. I'm preparing for lots of questions, quite a few giggles and squeals of delight and probably a little mess, but all in the name of knowledge and good fun!!
Thomas Town
My boy just loves Thomas the Tank Engine, but what 2 year old doesn't?? One of his favourite things to do is to "chuff his trains" (as he likes to call it).
With his big sister heading off to school, he's been a little lost (and wanting his mum to play with him ALL the time!)so in an attempt to keep him busy last week, I set up "Thomas Town" in my lounge room. We used the coffee table to set up the tracks for chuffing. I put a small table alongside the coffee table where we put his wooden garage to act as the "fixing sheds". We put a doll's house on the ground just a little way from the action so that the trains could go home to bed and used his other plastic garage as a bit of a playground (it has a long curly "slide"). I added some buttons as cargo that the trains could transport around and pieces of material as blankets for when they went to bed. You should have heard the squeals of delight as we set it all up!!
After taking these photos, Ed got out his sister's toy camera and got all his trains involved in a photo shoot too.
He had so much fun with this and it lasted the whole week. Sure, we had to shuffle Thomas Town around at the end of the evening to find enough room to watch TV, but the hours of uninterrupted play time made it very worthwhile!!
With his big sister heading off to school, he's been a little lost (and wanting his mum to play with him ALL the time!)so in an attempt to keep him busy last week, I set up "Thomas Town" in my lounge room. We used the coffee table to set up the tracks for chuffing. I put a small table alongside the coffee table where we put his wooden garage to act as the "fixing sheds". We put a doll's house on the ground just a little way from the action so that the trains could go home to bed and used his other plastic garage as a bit of a playground (it has a long curly "slide"). I added some buttons as cargo that the trains could transport around and pieces of material as blankets for when they went to bed. You should have heard the squeals of delight as we set it all up!!
After taking these photos, Ed got out his sister's toy camera and got all his trains involved in a photo shoot too.
He had so much fun with this and it lasted the whole week. Sure, we had to shuffle Thomas Town around at the end of the evening to find enough room to watch TV, but the hours of uninterrupted play time made it very worthwhile!!
Playdough Recipe
I was asked for a recipe for playdough by the lovely Chris and so I've decided to add it to my website in case others need a recipe too.
This is my absolute favourite one because it lasts for a long time, is a great consistency and the kids can help make it because it doesn't have to be cooked on the stove. You just need to keep the kids back from the bowl when the boiling water is added - obviously! - but it cools really quickly. We like to add the food colouring after the mixture has been kneaded so that we can have a couple of balls of different colours. It makes enough for 2 children quite easily. It could even spread to 4 children if needed. I've included a couple of our favourite playdough pictures as well!
Playdough Recipe
1 cup salt
2 cups flour
4 tblspns cream of tartar
2 tblspns cooking oil
2 cups boiling water
food colouring (optional)
Stir salt, flour and cream of tartar in a large mixing bowl. Mix in oil until combined. Add boiling water and food colouring if using. Mix in bowl with spoon until ingredients start to bind together, then knead in bowl until mixture forms a ball.
This is my absolute favourite one because it lasts for a long time, is a great consistency and the kids can help make it because it doesn't have to be cooked on the stove. You just need to keep the kids back from the bowl when the boiling water is added - obviously! - but it cools really quickly. We like to add the food colouring after the mixture has been kneaded so that we can have a couple of balls of different colours. It makes enough for 2 children quite easily. It could even spread to 4 children if needed. I've included a couple of our favourite playdough pictures as well!
Playdough Recipe
1 cup salt
2 cups flour
4 tblspns cream of tartar
2 tblspns cooking oil
2 cups boiling water
food colouring (optional)
Stir salt, flour and cream of tartar in a large mixing bowl. Mix in oil until combined. Add boiling water and food colouring if using. Mix in bowl with spoon until ingredients start to bind together, then knead in bowl until mixture forms a ball.
Outdoor Imaginative Play Segment
My final segment in the series went to air yesterday - Imaginative Outdoor Play. I love to set up little play scenes for my kids. I find taking just 10 minutes to set up something to inspire their imagination can result in hours of play time - which means a couple of hours to myself - definitely worth the effort.
My girl loves fairies and setting up a tea party is great fun. We always add some fairies or dolls, a small porcelain tea set i bought from KMart for a couple of dollars, some glass stones to act as food, some plastic animals from the $2 shop and some sweet little placemats and pieces of material i pick up from second-hand shops. Em always includes leaves and twigs and dirt she finds in the gardens and Ed's trains and cars usually make an appearance to, but they always have great fun with this activity.
The roadways are a favourite that sometimes even find their way inside. I use those painted planks of wood as roads, ramps and bridges. Ed loves to "brrm" his cars along them and his getting to the age now where he can move things around himself. The plumber's pipe is great to use as a tunnel. We sometimes put these into containers of sand too.
My kids always go crazy for a cubby house, so i had the idea of making one using the clothesline. Instead of using my sheets, i bought some from the op-shop for just 50c each. These are my play sheets now, we use them for lots of different things and i don't need to worry about them getting ruined. We literally just pegged the sheets to the line to create different rooms and took out some teddies, pillows, blankets and food. The kids enjoyed having a picnic out there after a busy morning of filming.
My girl loves fairies and setting up a tea party is great fun. We always add some fairies or dolls, a small porcelain tea set i bought from KMart for a couple of dollars, some glass stones to act as food, some plastic animals from the $2 shop and some sweet little placemats and pieces of material i pick up from second-hand shops. Em always includes leaves and twigs and dirt she finds in the gardens and Ed's trains and cars usually make an appearance to, but they always have great fun with this activity.
The roadways are a favourite that sometimes even find their way inside. I use those painted planks of wood as roads, ramps and bridges. Ed loves to "brrm" his cars along them and his getting to the age now where he can move things around himself. The plumber's pipe is great to use as a tunnel. We sometimes put these into containers of sand too.
My kids always go crazy for a cubby house, so i had the idea of making one using the clothesline. Instead of using my sheets, i bought some from the op-shop for just 50c each. These are my play sheets now, we use them for lots of different things and i don't need to worry about them getting ruined. We literally just pegged the sheets to the line to create different rooms and took out some teddies, pillows, blankets and food. The kids enjoyed having a picnic out there after a busy morning of filming.
Water Play Segment
My water play segment went to air yesterday (click on the link at the side to go directly to the online video if you would like to see it).
I love getting the kids involved in water play, it's one of my favourite things to do with them. It's such a shame that our kids are growing up in a time when they can't enjoy a simple pleasure like running under a sprinkler. At least letting them play in containers of water gives them some of the benefits without massive amounts of water being wasted.
The activities i talked about in my segment are often done at bath time in our house too. Bath time can be such a chore sometimes but i find if the kids have something fun to do, they are happier to hop in and they're clean before they know it!
Thanks to the people who have emailed me about my segment and website, please feel free to drop me a line.
I love getting the kids involved in water play, it's one of my favourite things to do with them. It's such a shame that our kids are growing up in a time when they can't enjoy a simple pleasure like running under a sprinkler. At least letting them play in containers of water gives them some of the benefits without massive amounts of water being wasted.
The activities i talked about in my segment are often done at bath time in our house too. Bath time can be such a chore sometimes but i find if the kids have something fun to do, they are happier to hop in and they're clean before they know it!
Thanks to the people who have emailed me about my segment and website, please feel free to drop me a line.
Sand Play Segment
My sand play segment went to air on "9am with David and Kim" today. We had so much fun filming it. The kids (Em, Ed, Nic and Matty) were fabulous as they made the most of all the activities I set up. The camera man even got his hands in some of them when we weren't filming. Glad they showed me putting on my dinosaur voices too!!
The dinosaur activity is a really great quiet activity for one child. They can really get their hands into it and feel free to make funny voices and create their own make-believe dinosaur world. It's a real favourite at our house. We've re-created the scene with playdough too, as you can see below
The sand trays by themselves is a great one to do with a couple of children working side by side. The key is to put two of everything into a basket in the middle to stop fights! I use anything i can find in the kitchen and recycling that is good to dig, scoop, pour or stir with. Our favourites are:
Lots of sandy learning and fun!!
The dinosaur activity is a really great quiet activity for one child. They can really get their hands into it and feel free to make funny voices and create their own make-believe dinosaur world. It's a real favourite at our house. We've re-created the scene with playdough too, as you can see below
The sand trays by themselves is a great one to do with a couple of children working side by side. The key is to put two of everything into a basket in the middle to stop fights! I use anything i can find in the kitchen and recycling that is good to dig, scoop, pour or stir with. Our favourites are:
- empty yoghurt and jelly containers
- small plastic teaspoons (from the picnic aisle at the supermarket for just a couple of dollars)
- scoops from powdered laundry detergent boxes
- funnels
- small jugs of water
- chopsticks
- toilet rolls
Lots of sandy learning and fun!!
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