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I had plans for that piece of guttering but until then the LO has hijacked it for some Autumnal fun. You’ll have to watch the video below to see what he was up to.
Picking fruits are a great way to work on that pincer grip and learn how to successfully take off the fruit from the tree and not the whole branch or bury your family underneath a cascade of falling fruit.
Sounds simple but actually takes a little time.
Of course the reward is to be able to each as many as you like.
My MO has just started full time school. He’s had a few days of this ….and boy is he tired and cranky when he gets home.
It’s been an adjustment from the carefree days of Summer to the careful and deliberate routine we have to maintain during school term.
The MO is adjusting to a whole load of new things apart from school but country, friends, systems and routines. Along with his big brother they are doing so well considering how stressful moving is. Partly I would put it down to how much we’ve played and laughed together as well as the presence of family. Because boy have we needed to laugh at times otherwise I think we’d have been wailing.
I’ve been keen to keep going with our play activities at home but with two in school I guess I’m feeling again what it is like when you go from one child to two children. You think it can’t be that hard and you’re quite surprised at how things don’t just slot into place. I mean you’ve done this school thing before right?
Well what I failed to account for was how much the dynamics had changed. I now have two very hungry and tired souls to take home. Not feeding the monster quickly leads to roaring monster who brings his twin cousins meltdown and mayhem. Nevermind the activity they had picked or you had picked out to do- no one wants anything to do with anyone else.
Then here comes the witching hour. That lovely time before tea. Those activities you worked on before will not be the same now.
There are also the routines for homework, chores and bedtime. Everything needs an overhaul.
I didn’t anticipate that.
So we’re starting this week with an open mind and some new ideas to try to make playtime and family time work together for all of us.
Traveling unsettles children. They are out of their routines and everything is just different. We can’t always bend enough for their needs and that inflexibility leads to conflict.
We’ve just had one of these periods of traveling. Things are not as we expected, which is fine and normal. How would we really know how things would be? We’re adjusting and reformulating plans. Hence my absence from Twitter, Blogging and Podcasting. Trying to get back on track for next week.
One day at a time……….
This is a post I had started for July .
Here are a few toys and ideas to keep them encouraged and positive about the future.
1. World puzzle
Showing them different places in the world.
2. Balls
3.
The boys have taken a keener interest in maps now that their dad is round the other side of the world. So we look at different map types every chance we get. Who can find dad the quickest etc?
Balls are a great way to burn off energy.
I need to talk about Only you another time. But it helps when you feel like another fish in a big pond and you know noone.
Kids act out and play through new situations. What better way than through a pretend play set from the region.
Laughing helps …………..we couldn’t have survived this move or traveling without having lots of opportunities for laughter. While the makers of spinny critters probably wanted matching parts. I know this was a super ice breaker and mood lifter when you showed a mixed up animal. “Horse-o-lion”. OK we loved the jokes
These are some of the things we have done recently. What do you do to prepare your child for long distance travel or moving? Would love to hear.
This is a guest post by Jaime-Ann Laidlaw of Crafts for Kidlets. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.
So I was thinking, when was the last time I let my kids go outside and just have fun playing with things that were not store bought? I mean when I was young the highlight of my week was gathering up cardboard boxes from anything and everything and uses those to make toys. Yeah, cheap thrills! Hehehe!
Here are some fun and purposely messy crafts for toddlers and kids. Oh yeah – and a lot of this stuff is pocket friendly!
Sheet Painting – ages 4+
We all have old mangy looking bed sheets, admit it– time to finally drag one out and let the kids use it for some fun. Grab some spray bottles and fill them with acrylic or tempera paint diluted with water.
Lay the sheet on the ground or grass. If you are able to hang it on a clothesline it could even bring a bit more fun spraying a moving sheet. Let them spray that sheet until their hearts are content!
Once completed the kids can turn this huge art piece into a tent for camping or whatever kids want to use it for. Try not to limit their imaginations or give them instruction on how to express themselves. When it comes to art especially messy projects like this the less direction the better!
Drop-and-Splat Painting – ages 2+
This is an incredibly messy but fun and easy outdoor activity for kids. This is a project for a warm summer day when you can put those little ones in an old bathing suit or clothes that are OK to get messy.
Items:
Plastic cups
Water
Food coloring
Old clothes to wear (staining WILL happen!)
Newspaper>
Paper
Rocks
Straws
Fill old yogurt cups with water (or plastic cups) and set them outside.
Add a few drops of food coloring to each cup to make different colors.
Lay out a sheet of newspaper or paper on the ground. Idea: add rocks to the corners of the newspaper/paper to keep it from flying away!
Put a straw in a cup of colored water, and show your kiddies how to place a thumb or finger over the top end of the straw. This will keep water inside the straw when you remove it from the cup.
Next, lift the straw out of the cup and over the paper and uncover the straw end so the colored water drops onto the paper.
Try experimenting by raising straws full of water to different heights and observing how the height of the drop changes the resulting splat.
Variations: Try soaking cotton balls in the mixture and letting the kids splat them on the paper. You can also experiment with foil balls, rubber band balls, pinecones, and whatever else you can think of.
Some more quick and easy ideas:
Got Extra Kool-Aid?
Painting with Golf Balls
Cut out a large piece of paper and put it in the bottom of a plastic pool. Place golf balls dipped in different paint colors on the paper. Together the children can hold the edges of the pool and roll the golf balls around. This makes a great design when you are done.
Bored with the sandbox?
Give the children spray bottles with colored water. When the children spray the sand it will change color until they shovel it up.
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