December 30th, 2008 Unplugged: Wrapping paper Posted by Melitsa in Homemade, Seasonal play, Sites to visit, play activities

We thought we’d try another attempt at the unplugged project. We had so much fun the last time even though the outcome wasn’t what we expected.

We collected all the wrapping paper into a massive trash bag.  I had planned on an activity where you screw up the paper and throw it into a box. It’s one of our favourite rainy day activities with scrap paper. Get’s rid of some of the energy. What was I thinking? Under wrapping paper will be presents so stopping to do something with the paper and discard the present. That was not happening.

A few days later, I’m learning, we updated a previous craft. Remember this autumn day? We decided to create a winter version.

Here’s how they did it.

Stick to contact paper

Realise that maybe that’s not enough. This is what I love about projects. Problems naturally come up that can be solved by the little ones. I didn’t say a word.

The MO cut off a snowman’s head early on so was too mad to cut anymore for some time. His temperament fit very well with tearing when he came back and he produced this placemat a lot later.

The final results- excuse the glare.

Both placemats have been in heavy use. The Autumnal ones have been retired, temporarily.

What’s playing on Play-activities radio?

Why Are Some Kids Smarter?

Rae Pica and Dr.David Perlmutter

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December 26th, 2008 Brain building fun Posted by Melitsa in Education, Media, Roundups, Sites to visit, Thought of the week, play activities

Advances in neuroscience give Drs a unique perspective on what’s going on inside there. There have always been lots of theories about how children learn and the best way to nurture and raise theme especially during the early years. Science is showing us the answers.

However there is the constant problem of what is good brain nurturing fun and what’s just hype? Where do you get advice that is scientifically based and not mere marketing hype.

Dr Jane Healy’s recent presentation, “Your Child’s Growing Mind: How Families that Play Together, Build Brains Together” at the DuPageChildren’s museum provides a practical resource for parents and educators.

Grab your favourite drink and a Christmas cookie. Dive into this most fascinating lecture.

Don’t forget to let us know what you think and how it’s changing your thinking?

Well done DuPage Children’s museum for providing such lectures so parents AND educators can discuss and implement ideas. Thanks.

Technorati Tags: Jane Healy, DuPageChildren’s museum

December 23rd, 2008 Unplugged project: Dark/light Posted by Melitsa in Homemade, Seasonal play, play activities

With the holidays it seem like the perfect time to complete a project together…

Unplug your kids have a weekly unplugged project that you can join in by adding to their Mr. Linky. You can go see all the other unplugged projects. It’s a lot of fun to come up with a project on a theme for your little one.

My initial thought was some painting as we hadn’t done that for a while. Then I remembered we’d tried some crayon resist before with some success. We looked out the window at all the snow. The middle one suggested we paint a snowman.

Alas this time our ideas didn’t work out. We were trying to reproduce a snowman at night time( dark) and during a blizzard( light).

MO working on snowman. Star to right and full moon to left

BO’s snowman is on a hill

After pressing hard with the dark crayon. We mixed up the watercoloured paint and painted.

Even though we can see the snowman scene that’s just the flash working. It was much harder to see where to paint and draw. They held it up to the light a lot.

Repeat on white paper with white crayon.

Although we didn’t get the crayon resist we were hoping for we had fun drawing our magic pictures and playing around with the paint. If you’d like to try your own crayon resist try here for a better result.

Next weekly unplugged project: Wrapping paper.

Technorati Tags: unplugged project, crayon resist, snowman

December 19th, 2008 Book review: Too many toys Posted by Melitsa in book review, language, play activities

What could be better than a book that does the telling for you… The middle one just had his 3rd birthday and his little brother bought him this book.

“…Have you ever stepped on a Lego piece in your bare feet? Or a Jack? Well, it really hurts!”

Too many toys by David Shannon

Spencer is the boy who has lots of toys.  In fact the house he lives in is overflowing with toys. After a particularly bad day his mother decides the toys have to go.

Have you ever tried to reason toys away from your child? Spencer is the master.

Who’ll win ? There’s an unexpected twist that I won’t spoil at the end that would make any mum proud.

The illustrations are great. The close ups of Spencer show his emotions really clearly. I’ve already caught my 3 yr old trying to imitate them. Reading the story makes me smile as Spencer could be my son or your son. When have we not had conversations like these and reactions and actions like Spencer and his mum. The universality of these scenes means most parents can relate and kids too.

We like playing I spy with the toys in the picture as we read. Each time we find different toys to find. Also, we like to find our toys.

If we wanted to push the point home for the older child we might talk about Spencer’s predicament.. Which toys to give up and why it’s so hard? It’s a good opportunity to start the conversation about your own toys; giving toys away or throwing old ones away. Or you might just want the story to be the story and leave the message to ring through.

This picture book is a fun read with a good message. The pictures engage my preschooler to flip through and try and tell the story himself.

Love book reviews? You should listen to Just one more book?

 Hear my review of  Too many toys

Have you read any other David Shannon books? What’s your family favourite book right now? Would love to hear.

Technorati Tags: Too many toys, David Shannon