Learning how to read and interpret facial expressions and body language is a important social skill. From the very get go, babies begin to look at faces. Did you know that a baby can only see about 30cm in front of them? Coincidentally, that is also the distance from a mother’s breast (where little bubba…
We read a LOT of books. Reading is one of the first things we do in the morning and one of the last things we do each evening before bed. We met young Harry only recently. His love for his dinosaur friends was contagious from the very first reading! We have revisited and joined him…
If there is ever a time when I need to choose a sensory medium that will be the last we will ever have in the world, it would be Oobleck. It is such a captivating medium! I often find myself still running my fingers through it long after the kids have finished. What is Oobleck?…
Sensory play is the best! With little Miss 19m getting involved, I am always trying to keep our play medium taste safe or better yet, edible. Here is a flash back to when she was 15 month old. I had been meaning to write this one up but it got lost in the baby brain…
Today I am feeling grateful to be a part of an amazing community of like minded parents who all love to inspire each other with different play ideas. Yesterday one of the lovely mummies shared a beautiful snap of her little one enjoying an activity using pom poms that I just had to recreate. So…
We all know that daily brushing of our teeth is very important for dental health. The recommended three minutes of brushing twice a day can seem like a lot of work for our little ones. This plaque attack activity was just what we needed! Miss 4 was having one of those days when everything was…
Julia Donaldson is one of our favourite authors. The way she writes is engaging, repetitive and full of vocabulary builders- perfect for our children! ‘A Squash and a Squeeze‘ certainly lived up to expectations set by previous titles we have visited. We meet an old woman who seems to feel like her home is uncomfortably…
The school holidays have began and one of my goals is to up the science play. Mr 10 loves science and is like a sponge for intel around the subject. With the two girl around, I needed to come up with an interesting experiment that was also safe for them to be involved in. Bicarbonate…
Use pasta in sensory play, small world play, craft activities and to create masterpieces! Chunky varieties are perfect for developing hands to practise threading, smaller types make for the perfect substrate for sensory bottles and the long varieties make for popular additions to sensory bins. How can we take such a great resource to the…
Scrolling through social media, I often get caught up in the hype of elaborate activities and play ideas for the kids. While they are still on the cards, today I thought we would bring our play down a notch and ground ourselves with some simplicity. I love offering different experiences for my children and following…
Children are attracted to bright colours. When you think about it, it’s the brightly coloured fruits that are often the sweetest, most ripe and packed with nutrition. While I love natural tones of our environment, these bright colours have been really fun to work with! After colouring our Rainbow Nuts the other day, we have…
Today’s Story Tray was inspired by this week play theme. For the last six days we have been exploring Rainbows! I asked Miss 18m which story she would like us to read. After scanning the shelf, she selected ‘Rainbow Fairy’ by Lee Krutop. This is one of three little Fairy books we found at a…
Create sculptures, press the dough into shapes, letters, and numbers, run toy cars over the play dough to see the tire prints, roll it out to make snakes, bake it to make beads, hide dinosaurs in it pretending they are fossils, press flowers into it to make potion stones, build landscapes that have never seen…
“I wrote to the zoo and they sent me a…” This mornings story was aimed towards Miss 18m. She has been enjoying all things animals so I thought a visit to the zoo would tie in nicely with her current interests. ‘Dear Zoo‘ by Rod Campbell has been a favourite of ours since we got…
Getting dinner ready has become a fine art at our place. Gone are the days when cooking dinner meant just that. It now means, preparing a meal, helping with spelling, after school reading, avoiding the toys scattered across the floor, keeping the toddler out of the pantry (especially the tub that holds the rice- probably…
We had a beautiful spring day yesterday. After a long week of illness, it was lovely to get the girls out in the sunshine at the park while their brother practised riding his bike along the path. We had bought a ball with us however it was quickly neglected in exchange for some nature exploration….
One thing I am trying to instil in my children is gratitude. Gratitude for what we have and what we have access too. Yes, it’s nice to dream, have goals and most definitely important to work hard towards reaching their ambitions but I also feel it is paramount to be grateful for what we have…
Dinosaurs and kids pretty much go hand in hand. I haven’t met many who aren’t keen to start roaring and stomping their feet while showing off a toothy grin. After laminating these dinosaur printables, I thought what better way to introduce them to the kids than by having them create a lovely home for our…
Painting is always a welcomed activity. This quick and easy homemade puff paint recipe can take your arts and crafts to a whole new level with a dash of science- literally! Using ingredients in the kitchen, you can have your very own homemade puff paint made and ready to play in minutes. Puff paint that…
Scanning and searching for patterns, symbols and objects are known as a great pre-reading exercise. These Discovery Bags make learning so interesting and fun! While I feel Miss 18m is well and truly not ready to pick up a book and interpret the words on its pages, there are some pre-literacy skills that I feel…
