Ways with Playdough

 

 Here are some different things to add to playdough if you're tired of rollers and cookie cutters:

• Patty pans, match sticks and plates for birthday parties
• Wooden spoons, mixing bowls, measuring cups and spoons, baking trays and a cardboard box to act as an oven for cooking
• Plates and knives and forks for pretend eating
• Very small branches from shrubs, gumnuts, seed pods, leaves and plastic animals to re-create farm or jungle scenes

 Playdough is a great activity to boost language skills and work on developing those fine motor muscles. Do it outside or in the kitchen or bathroom if you don't like the mess!
 

Something to Make - Shakers

 

My children have had so much fun with these drink bottle shakers. I made them when Em was a baby. So that makes them about 8 years old. They have been in the baby toy basket, the toddler treasure chest and then made their way to the box of musical instruments. They have sure been used.

Here's how to make your own ...

Who can make this?
Anyone from aged 2 onwards

What do you need?
Plastic drink bottles
Something noisy to put inside.
Maybe even some stickers or paint to decorate

What to do? 
Collect up some well washed out plastic drink bottles. The smaller one in the photo is a great size for baby hands. It was made using a bottle collected from a flight back to Adelaide.
Put something noisy inside. This project is one exception to my not playing with food rule. Some great food things to use are lentils, rice, barley and dried beans. It's nice to use different colours and sizes to give different sights and sounds. If you don't like using food in play, you can always fill the bottles with sand, stones, gum nuts and seed pods. Collecting them up is a fun activity on it's own!!

If the shakers are going in a music box, it's great to decorate them with stickers or they can even be painted. Remember to play it safe though. Little children love to put things in their mouths so it's best not o decorate shakers little ones will use. Also, make sure those lids are screwed on tight!

Ways to Play with Aluminium Foil

Aluminium foil (or tin foil for all my US friends!) is relatively inexpensive and its shiny, foily qualities make it a great fun thing to include in play ideas.

We like to:

• Cover blocks and boxes and containers in it to make rockets and robots and spacey play scenes. Building with blocks and creating fun scenarios builds on imagination, creativity, language skills and motor skills.

• Roll it into balls to play with, building on motor skills and eye-hand co-ordination.

• Cut it and tear it because it’s easy to work with and makes a great sound. This works motor skills again and it is also a great way to practice cutting skills. Tearing and crinkling is a great way to explore the senses too.

• Paint onto it to give our paintings a different finish. Painting is a great fun art and craft activity that builds on spatial awareness, creativity, motor skills and knowledge of colours, shapes and patterns.

• Wrap up presents for soft toy birthday parties. Foil folds easily and doesn’t necessarily require sticky tape. Playing party games builds on social skills like empathy, compassion, care and nurturing. Looking after and organizing toys is also a great opportunity to build on language skills.

• Include it in collage crafts. Shiny foil makes a great body for a robot or a magical mermaids tail or bright, sparkly fishy scales. Cut out some squares for a robot or scales for a fish or a long mermaid's tail. Give your child the cut-outs, some glue, some paper to stick the shapes onto and some pens and textas to draw on and around the foil cutout. Crafting builds on motor skills, creativity, imagination, language and spatial awareness.

Have you used foil in your play?

I'm Back - With Something to Make on a Monday

I've finally made my way back to my little blog after a long break. More about that later, I want to get straight back into sharing my ideas ......

If you've read my blog before, you might remember this post about a blanket my boy Ed uses for his cars. This blanket gets a big work out keeping all sorts of friends cosy. It's a regular inclusion in pretend play.




Well, I've had a go at making some of my own. Have you ever tried crocheting? It’s fun and relaxing and easy. I’m a little too impatient to knit or do any of those lovely things, but crocheting, I can manage.

I had a crash course from my visiting mother-in-law a couple of years ago, but I couldn't remember much of it, so I've re-taught myself through online tutorials.

I did make a small mistake of going to Spotlight with Ed and so now I have this basket of wool and a long list of toys to make blankets for with specific details about which toy will like which colour.

I have just started this one for little “toadie”

Would you like to make a blanket for some little friend in your house?

WHO CAN MAKE THIS?
Anyone can have a go from about 8 onwards

WHAT DO YOU NEED?
A crochet hook
Some wool
A little basic crochet know-how

HOW DO YOU DO IT?
To make a blanket like the ones I have, you just need to crochet a giant granny square. I read my first tutorial from some links the lovely Pip shared at "Meet me at Mike's". It's really helpful if you can see the techniques in action, so it's definitely worth watching some tutorials.

My mother-in-law found a great print-out instruction sheet at Squidoo and this has been really useful to have alongside me as I'm working.

The best thing I've found though is to find someone who can show you what to do. There's nothing like sharing a cup of tea and going through a little square step by step.

Hope your little one's have as much fun with their blankets as mine do.


By the way, "everyday play" is finally on facebook. Come and "like"me, please ...

It's Official - I'm Outta Here (until next year anyway!) But Before I Go, Some Tips to Get Ready for School

I thought I'd find some time to post a bit more after that last post I wrote, but I haven't. The lure of not having to juggle is just far too strong at the moment.

My boy Ed starts school at the beginning of next year and I'm going to return to my blog then. When I have no-one at home for hours on end and my kids don't need me quite so much any more - sniff!

I just wanted to make it official just in case there is any one popping in, wondering when and if I'll ever be back. I do have an article in January's Practical Parenting if you'd like something to read before then.

In the meantime, I'll be getting ready for my little boy to start school (amongst other things). If you have a little one starting school too, my best advice would be:

• Start them doing as much as they can for themselves. Really encourage as much independence as possible. Get your child to look after her belongings, dress and undress herself, manage her own toileting and feed herself.
  
• Focus on language. Encourage your child to speak slowly and clearly, pronouncing sounds as best he can. Actively listen to what he's saying by making eye contact and repeating back bits of what he's said eg. "Mum can I have a drink" "You'd like a drink would you?). Also play lots of silly word games, making up rhymes and riddles as well as singing songs, saying nursery rhymes and reading stories.
  
• Visit the school. Go to all the transition sessions you can make it to and play on the playground after hours if possible.
• Set up a school play corner at home. Include pens, paper, a whiteboard if you can and your child's uniform and school bag. Don't forget to include soft toys, they make great imaginary pupils.
• Talk about what happens at school. Ask your child what they think will happen. Talk about the routine and recess and lunch. Get your child to use a toilet cublicle on her own like she'll have to at school. Often little things like getting stuck in the toilet or not knowing where her lunch or jacket might be or where she'll eat lunch or how she'll find her friends can be the biggest causes of anxiety. Talk things over giving your child jsut a little bit of information at a time and let her ask lots of questions.
  
• Wind back all the activities you can now and SPEND AS MUCH TIME WITH THEM AS POSSIBLE. This makes them feel loved and safe and secure and ready to meet challenges. It also lets you drink up those last lovely moments of together time which come fewer and further between when school starts.

That's what I'm off to do now. Merry Xmas to every one and enjoy safe, happy holidays!

Belinda x

Where Have I Been?

Well, I wasn't back on October 10 with another "Play Moment Monday", was I?

I enjoyed my bloggy break way too much. Life is just so simple when I only have to think about family and friends and housework and cooking and gardening. It's a little 1950s I know, but since I've had kids, I've really let go of the desire to "have it all".

Studying feminist politics at uni did make me want it all and made me believe it was possible. But now, I don't "want it all", I just want the time and space to enjoy what I've got, and I'm a lucky, lucky girl. I've got a lot.

The truth is, there will always be writing, but my kids will only be little for such a short amount of time and I don't want to miss a second.

My best memories as a child are when people took the time to really see me and listen to me and value me. I want to give my children as many of those memories as possible.

Sure, it's important I take time for myself too and I know that. It makes me feel stronger and re-charged and in the end it makes me a better mum. I'm actually heading to Adelaide tomorrow for two nights by myself for the first time and I'll miss the kids terribly, but I know it will be great for all of us.

And I'm so grateful for the work I've done over the last few years and the friends I've made through my blog. There are so many wonderful women out there with an amazing amount of knowledge and ideas. I like that in a small way I'm contributing to that.

But when I feel pulled and tugged in different directions, and I'm tired and snappy and not giving the kids the attention and time they deserve, when I can't be in the moment with them and enjoy all of their lovely ways, it's time to pull back on everything else and get those wonderful, warm, mindful, mummy feelings again.

So, I did take a long break and I might again. You'll have to forgive me, but I hope you'll keep on reading. Ed heads off to school next year, so who knows what adventures that may bring, but the kids will keep coming first, I'm the only mum they've got, they have to.

Ways to Play Together

It's school holidays here in Victoria and all over the state, children of different ages are coming together to play. I like to have lots of time at home while the kids are on holidays and love to find ways to get my two kids happily and busily playing together. Here are some of my best 'play together' ideas:

Find a common interest - my two just love to play games with their soft toys. So, I have all they need for their imaginative play games available to them always. That way, they can play as the mood strikes them and cater their play to the interest thay have at the time. They have their school, beds, clothes, food, textas, paper, pens all tucked away neatly in these baskets so they can pull them out whenever they like (without involving me - yipee!)




Like I said, my kids love tehir soft toys, but these baskets could be easily filled with rocks, animals, cars, blocks, rockets or dress-ups.

I like to set things up for them too. Sometimes it can take just 5 minutes to throw an open-ended activity together that the kids will play with for hours.

Our favourites are

Painting

I pour out some colours, put out brushes and a few other painting utensils, paper and a drying rack and leave them to it. Sometimes we use cardboard cut-outs we even like to use canvases sometimes too.




Building

I've written about this before, but just taking a bit of time to set up Lego for 2 or 3 or 4 can make a big difference to how long children will play there. Of course this works well for all types of building materials



Sensory Play

We love water play here, but these containers could just as easily be filled with sand or mud or coloured cornflour and water. Now that the kids are bigger, I'll just pull out the container of water toys and plonk them in the middle. They need a bit more space now too, so I like to give them a couple of different areas to play in. It makes the play a little more elaborate and so keeps them busy for longer.

Dramatic Play

I think it's great to sacrifice a small area of lounge room to make a dramatic play space that can stay set up too. Our favourites are a zoo, a restaurant, a cafe, a doctors surgery a shop and of course, good old home corner! (my apologies for the grainy photos, but you get the idea!)





I'm going to take a little bloggy break for the rest of the holidays. I'll be back on October 10 with another "Play Moment Monday". In the meantime, Happy Playing!

Belinda x