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…
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…
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…
Long winters days, tucked up inside often have my kids missing the sunny days of yesterday when they could go outside and play. Over the last summer and spring, we enjoyed playing outside, exploring different sights and smells and lots of water play. We washed the cars (grown up cars and the kids ones!), experimented…
A fun, taste safe activity using only 2 ingredients you probably have at home!
We love playing with water beads at our place however they can be very dangerous if consumed. Miss 4 is old enough to understand the risk and will happily keep them away from her mouth. The same cannot be said for Miss 16m – understandably. The water beads turned into an activity that really only…
The immediate result of giving some plastic straws and pair of scissors to four and nine year old quickly is a whole lot of teeny tiny coloured tubular pieces! To be honest, Miss 4 was being the ultimate pest to everyone in the family and I needed a quick activity that would keep her busy…
One topic that often comes up amongst mummies when we are out and about is getting our love munchkins to eat their food. More often than not, if mummy was to prepare a lovely, healthy, well thought out, well assembled plate of quality nutrition, it seems that it is more common for our children to…
We use our hands, particularly our fingers every day. Whether it be using a spoon while eating breakfast, fastening the button of our jeans or turning the steering wheel of our cars when driving, it goes without question that life would be challenging without being able to use our fingers. Strengthening the small muscles in…
I was a kid who loved science experiments and I still do today. If you have been wanting to do a science experiment with your kids for awhile now, you are going to love the Magic Milk science experiment.Its science that is fun, educational and easy enough that they could help you out too! One…
Miss 15m loves screwing and unscrewing the lids from bottles, containers and little pots. Watching her manipulate her fingers in different positions and strategising how to remove the lid is so rewarding. She is learning to persist through trial and error- a skill that will continue to develop well into adult hood! This morning I…
I have always been a bit hesitant to involve Miss 14 months in our sensory tray activities. She loves putting things in her mouth, like many toddlers. The fear of her choking on the sensory medium, has been the leading factor of leading her to other play opportunities. Yesterday, while we were settling Miss 4…
