The Scissor Box - Practise cutting with big boy scissors

The Scissor Box: For cutting practise using Big-boy scissors.

 

 

 The Scissor box is a little tin we have put together that is full of all different materials that can be cut easily.  Dimples has a special pair of 'big boy' scissors to practise with that are always kept in his cutting box.  This is a quick and easy activity that I keep tucked away for special time.  It is easy for me to grab out when we have a little time to calmly focus and pay attention on the task. For now, it remains a special mummy time activity that he can do when I am with him or keeping a close eye on him.  It is still a great incentive for him as it gives him a sense of accomplishment and confidence in using his big boy scissors.

In side Dimples Scissor Box I have a wide range of different papers and materials that are easy to cut. Lots of different shapes, sizes, textures, colours, thicknesses and some printables make it interesting to sort through. He has a small box that sits with it so when he cuts small pieces he can throw them out, and keep all his bigger pieces in the box for another time.

Material Ribbons
Felt squares
Colourful card stock
Crepe Paper
twirling ribbon
cellophane paper
cardboard
wrapping paper
Foam pieces
Metallic papers
Scrap booking papers
Magazine pictures
Vellum transparent paper
& some scissor practise printables.

I have also added some of our own cutting practise lines on the colourful paper. Just grab a ruler and a pencil and do a dotted straight line, maybe a few zig zag ones or a wavy one.  You can also do it on magazine papers or wrapping paper to help your child see where to cut in order to cut out a particular picture. I did this with some cars & Thomas wrapping paper as I knew Dimples would want to cut Thomas and Lightning McQueen out.

Not only does he get some quality time with me and some practise using his big boy scissors, this is also a great way to boost his confidence in his developing skills.  He gains a sense of achievement and his self esteem develops more as he succeeds in the fine motor tasks he is learning to master. It is also a good activity to build up attention span, focus and concentration.

 

Happy Adventures

 



Discover the Seasons ~ I Spy Bottles

We haven't done discovery bottles for a while so this was an easy in door activity that we did on a very windy day.  Previous discovery bottles have been made when dimples was younger for him simply to explore and shake around, so this time we did a little more of a grown up activity 'I spy Bottles'.

 

Dimples said 'why is it winter?' this morning, because the weather doesnt know what it is doing, although it is spring it does feel like winter of a morning.
We went around collecting bits and pieces that represents the seasons and discussed what happens over the course of a year as the weather changes, and why it may still feel like winter but it is actually now spring. We then went on a quick flower hunt and noticed all the new blooms and all the nice smells that Spring brings.



 

 

 

Winter: Some white dusty corn flour, snow flake sequins, thinly cut cellophane, some pearl beads, blue glitter and some pearl blue shaped bunny heads. Symbolising cold, snowy weather during winter. The picture does no justice as you cant see the pretty snow sequins, it does look just like snow with snow flakes.

 

 

Spring: we gathered some lavender, added some bright pretty coloured Pom poms, a fake daisy flower, purple, yellow and aqua coloured rice, a knitted daisy flower, some pink glitter and some green plastic petals.

 

Summer: To us Summer means the beach, so this was easy. Sand from the sand pit, some shells, a plastic sea star, and some blue sparkling jewels.

 

Autumn: In our Autumn Discovery bottle we had some gum nuts and fallen leaves in shades of yellow and red, dimples added some golden decorative stones in it and painted a few leaves in yellow and orange.

 

For older children these discovery bottles are great for I spy games. For younger children and babies they are great for shaking, twisting, switching hands and inspecting.

We did lots of I spy games: I spy games based on what is in it, for example I spy with my little eye, something beginning with S- Sand, sea shell, sea star, Summer. We did some based on colours that were in it and some based on the objects in it and we lined them all up in order. Dimples still enjoyed knocking them around and shaking them as musical maracas.

Happy Adventures

Benefits of Pretend Play

Recently I had the opportinity to do a guest post @ http://positiveparentingconnection.net which resulted in some great comments. So here is an extended version with some additional ideas, links & pictures for the Captain Underpants fans...

In a busy world with what seems to be tireless amounts of chores, it is easy to fall into a cycle of giving your child the same toys to play with each day, using the TV as a baby sitter or saying "maybe next time", "hold on, I just need to finish this first" each time your child comes running to you with underwear on their head exclaiming that they are Captain Underpants requesting that you come play with them.  As parents it is important for us to acknowledge that for a child "Play" is not just leisure but is how they learn.

Captain Underpants flying through the clouds... 

 Of course there are many forms of play and endless ways to engage in play with your child. Dramatic or Pretend Play is just one way that children benefit from immensely that will also give you a chance to positively enhance their learning experiences, their self-esteem but most importantly it can strengthen your relationship with them.

Here are some of the benefits derived from Dramatic / Pretend Play-

• Pretending:  Just the act of pretending is a learning curve for a child. It grants them with an outlet to role play what they have seen in their world. This helps them learn about how the world works and practice how adults interact.
• Social Play: Pretend play encourages negotiation, cooperation, and role playing different situations. Pretend story lines and characters, turn taking, sharing are all great skills to learn.
• Social interaction: Not only does it help with social skills but it encourages a child to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and be empathetic and considerate of others. This gives them a chance to practice behaviour, manners and language that is needed when they interact in real world situations, as well as what behaviour is acceptable in public.
• Language development: Dramatic Pretend play encourages expressive language that would not otherwise be used by the child.  Often through pretend play withdrawn children can first start to express themselves by acting a certain role.  Further, this gives the parent an opportunity to extend on language skills by paraphrasing what the child has said using more descriptive language and exchanging conversations using expressive language examples.
• Imagination: Pretend Dramatic Play is a great for showing how imaginative children are. Imagination is an important building block for learning.  It is not only important in childhood, imagination is crucial for life. Just imagine a world without it, we would not have scientists making new discoveries, artists making new artworks, Santa traditions, award winning stories like Avatar and we would not be able to cognitively process these possibilities or examples.
• Self-esteem: By giving your child complete control in their pretend world and accepting them as a silly character like Captain Underpants you are enhancing their self-esteem. While they use their own initiative to develop story lines, their creative imagination to expand stories and their own personality to choose a character they enjoy, you are enhancing their self-esteem by allowing them complete power in the world & enjoying it with them.
• Motor skills: Playing is very busy work. While pretending to be adults or role playing your child is also fine tuning their motor skills. Mixing, Pouring, scooping, cooking, squatting, lifting, serving, moving around & remaining active.
• Practice: Practice makes perfect, while they are playing & pretending they are practicing all the skills they are going to need as they grow up into adults in the real world. From simple things like dressing, measuring, serving food, cooking skills, to handling money, grocery shopping, going to the doctor, answering the phone and not to mention practicing appropriate manners, behaviours and etiquette.

 

Pretend Play: Eating out at a cafe

Try to provide some Dramatic Props:

Tea sets,
cooking utensils,



Old cooking pots
outdoor mud station mud-is-good-for-you
play kitchen,



Fresh food Shop with trolley, plastic food, food boxes & Cash register



plastic food,
a cash register,
empty food containers,
Real ingredients  eg: worms-eyeballs-goblin-finger-stew



Pretend cooking with Rainbow Spaghetti.
Doll houses,
Telephone, masks,
Dress up accesories,



Flower Stand. Playdough as mud & flower arranging.

pretend money,
wallets & bags,
a pretend shop stand,


Muffin tin, Shaving Cream & real ingredients. pretend-cooking-wild-berry-muffins

play tools,
toy doctor kit,
bandages,

Doctor mask & toy doctor kit

toy animals,
kids tool bench 
building toys
Costumes pirate-party-dress ups
Make Costumes eg: making-robot-suit
Buried Treasure treasure-hunt

By accepting your child in their make believe world you give them complete control not only over the game, but over the 'world' for that short time, this enhances their self-esteem and gives you a chance to engage in their interests and their blooming personality, share in their enjoyments and it strengthens their trust in you and the world around them.

So next time a screaming Captain underpants runs past you, grab a towel and throw it on as a Super hero cape & go rescue Big Ted from the malicious tornado that’s about to hit your house.

Happy Adventures

Awesome Water Wall - Tree House

How to make an Awesome tree house with a water wall on a budget.

In the weeks leading up to Dimples 3rd Birthday party we put together a tree house. I have wanted to do this for a long time but having a bunch of little kiddies over to Celebrate his Birthday was the perfect excuse to get cracking.  Since then we have made a water wall off the side of it!

For an awesome tree house; All you need is a suitable tree, tools, screws/nails etc, possibly a handy husband (but not necessary), some persuasive people skills & some add on's, like the telescope, steering wheel, sandpit. 

We started with the frame of an unused dog kennel. We took half the roof off and clean it all out then off the side of this we attached a sturdy wood sheet across to the tree. Just a scrap that was left from one of Adventure Dads building projects. Making sure all the materials were weather hardy we used scrap pieces of wood to build a ladder out of the cubby up onto the tree platform.

We put the sand pit underneath, filled with left over treasure from Dimples 3rd Birthday Pirate Party, reused the  "walk the plank" game off the side; it is simply a plank of wood tied up to a crate either side. Then from the local hardware shop, in the kids cubby house section we found a telescope and a steering wheel for the cubby.  Next to tackle the tree house.

Using some wooden Palettes, also free from a local builder  & a local flooring shop, we put several up over suitable sturdy branches as platforms to climb from the trunk of the tree out on to .

Making sure they were reasonable level with either rope, ladders or safe branches to access as handles they work as  "look outs"on what Dimples pretends is his Pirate Ship.

From the local fish co-op, we collected a bunch of rope and fish netting that they were no longer using as it had hole patches in it. They were kind enough to let us help our selves to a mass of thick rope and a huge net that hadn't been used in a long time. It was completely dried out and perfect.

this was strung on the other side of the tree across to various sturdy tree branches and the large thick rope was used, repeatedly to surround the entire tree house, cubby house & large play hammock for added support but also for safety, so that Dimples could use them to hold on to for balance or to pull him self up.

I have to admit, I have been in this before with Dimples more than once. well quite a lot actually.

It is the most beautiful place to relax, its like a HUGE HAMMOCK in a tree canopy.

I often take a bunch of books and lay down in it with him reading but then we just end up laying there staring up at the tree branches above, watching birds and butterflies and listening to all the sounds from the trees. Yesterday we watched a spider high up in the tree, spinning its web- It was pretty cool to see as the sun slightly sparkled through gaps between leaves reflecting off the shiny web!

Most of the materials we got for free as scraps or relatively cheap. The thick rope acts kind of like a support, it keeps all the branches strong to the centre trunk and is a railing around the entire tree house.

Add a Pirate Flag here, there and you have yourself a cool tree house.  Of course everything is screwed or tied down. We refrained from nailing anything actually in to the tree, it might come down one day and we wouldn't want to harm the tree or possibly kill off certain branches that are needed for support so we mainly relied on placement and the rope but everything has been Mummy tested & past with flying colours.

I recently read an article on one of the 'kiddy blogs' on risk taking and I thought it was very relevant to our tree house. I cant find the link for it but it was very interesting!  It discussed risk taking, as a toddler/preschool and the benefits of it. I wish i could find it for you, you may have read it?

The tree house is a perfect example. This encourages safe risk taking, children get to test their ability and know their boundaries. Through this they learn what they are capable of and when they should stop, if they feel they really cant do something they wont attempt it. As long as they know your there to pick them up or help them out if they go past their limits all will be well!

Another thing of interest that was in the article was in regards to the  "be careful" "oh watch out "or "don't do that" phases that we all say. Come on! You have said one of these before....?

 I know I do and I didn't even realise what I was doing, being over protective with lots of warning statements like this conveys the message that we don't trust that the child can do whatever they were about to do. Or that we think they aren't capable, we are putting doubt into their ability & controlling their freedom. This can make them hesitant and hinders their confidence, so I try to bite my tongue now & let Dimples test himself.

I'm in no way saying throw a 3 year old on a wooden crate high up in a tree & let them swing around on their own all day, but good old outdoor play in nature has so many benefits that are often overlooked, or they are avoided because of safety fears.

Climbing trees, being free in the outdoors and playing in tree houses connects a child to nature and it is quite spiritual and relaxing, not to mention the benefits of it...

Climbing, swinging like a monkey, pulling up on to a branch or balancing on a plank of wood, Playing in a tree house - Everything tree climbing,  aids in:

Upper body strength,

Imaginative play,

Being outdoors & being active

Perseverance

Testing their own limits

Balance

Attention

Stretching

Learning what they are capable of doing

& helping them to rely on their own instincts.

 For an Awesome Water Wall;  You will need a wooden board, some pipe, old bath toys, bottles, funnels and PVC tube cut in half.

This was easy, again using bits and pieces that were scavenged up from around the house, shed and yard and screwed onto a scrap plank of wood.

At the top we screwed on some half bottles that had hoses or pipes attached to the bottom, kind of like a home made funnel. In different directions they lead down to various containers from bath toys that have holes through them, like a shower head.  Down into funnels that are screwed on, a PVC pipe that is cut long ways into 2 gutter like rails, down into more bath toys like the lobster one below that has a spinning pot, pouring the water into the bowl as it fills.

Down in to a little watering can and through more laundry hose. We have many different openings at the top & Dimples has his own little watering can but they all run into one of the 2 bottom bowls that can be tilted to empty back into the watercan.

Dimples has had lots of fun on this and is always so intrigued of which way the water rolls, He tests it out; can he block it off, slow it down or divert it.

While in the making of a water wall you really need to test where the water goes at its limits-

Quite amusing to Dimples & Adventures Dad (who was delivering more screws to us on his lunch break) the first one I drilled on was way off, I was feeling really handy & clever with a tech drill until the water flew down the pipe and missed the next rail by a good 20cm & landed spat on to the grass.  They both had a giggle as my hand went to my forehead "FAIL".  Thank god I tested it before I completed the whole wall, that would have been a process to fix so do test your water flow first or you may have a day long project instead of an hour long easy task :P 

Happy Adventures

Scented Sensory Discovery Bottles

How to Make & Play with Scented Sensory Discovery Bottles.

These are awesome if I may say so my self! 
I often find myself sniffing away at one of them as Dimples plays quietly.
Lately we have been experimenting with smells, different smelling flowers and plants, making the best sensory-cinnamon-playdoh that is still smelling great and getting used.

Dimples first smelt the perfume one & stuck his nose right in, taking a huge whiff! It was quiet funny to see his face & i got it on camera too. It didn't deter him though, he kept going back for more & insisted on taking them to show family & friends to see their facial reactions.

This activity was great to do and the scent bottles are still laying around getting smelled-

What you would need to make them:  Baby bottles without the teats with screw on lids, stocking/pantyhose, your contents (coffee beans, essential oils, small objects, fake flowers, material leaves, pretend flower petals, coloured rice or what ever tickles your fancy).

Im sure you have heard of discovery bottles before?  You can use them for anything & everything, but this is the first time I have tried scented ones.
Discovery bottles are great for developing attention span and they have a relaxing quality to them!
Use your imagination -
All you need to do is have your little one get in & help, use a funnel and let them pour in the ingredients, then pop in the small objects. We all know toddlers and preschoolers love shoving small objects into things, you know...... in ears, noses, pockets, nappies, lounge cushions.  Put all your things is & a few drops of essential oil or whatever scent you are using.
Then place your stocking over the top of the bottle & screw the lid on tight. You could go one step further if you intend to leave them for free play & use a glue gun to stick the stocking & the lid on!
The scent comes up through the stocking BUT they are also great for exploration and making sound, twisting turning & shaking them around to move the objects out into sight.  Also great for igniting all your senses, and sharing them with others to see what their reaction will be.  Dimples had great fun with them.

Here's what we did;
Dinosaur Coffee Beans-
One of the favourites, I don't even drink that much coffee but the smell of coffee beans is addictive.
This simple one has coffee beans, a small toy dinosaur, and some small tufts of pretend grass that we found in Dimples toy soldier box.

Eucalyptus Snake-
Another favourite, this one has material leaves, a plastic snake, some green dyed rice, and eucalyptus oil with a drop of tea tree & lemon oil.
I think this one would be a good one to make up if Dimples got a cold. It smells great!

Lavender dragonfly-
Fake Lavender flowers & petals. I got a bunch of these at the bargain shop for $1, the leaves got used in the previous one & the petals in this one. Add some Purple dyed rice and a plastic dragonfly (of a contrasting colour) with a few drops of Lavender oil.

Garlic Eye Ball-
Garlic cloves some skinned & squashed,  some still whole, a couple of white material petals, & a creepy eyeball.

Pretties in Perfume-

Using some old jewelry, rice, fake flower petals and perfume.

Easy & very smelly.

What you should do when encouraging your child to play with them is set an example by smelling them, pull some weird funny facials and have a laugh together, then teach them how to move them around to get the objects to position the way you want, twist, turn, gently rattle & shake.

You can also play by smell only. Have your child blindfolded and ask them to identify the smells, purely by smell. This is also great for labelling things and exploring them, for instance Lavender is purple, it is a flower, it is used in cleaning products and in sprays, it helps you relax and is good for sleep.  Eucalyptus, is great for when your sick to help unblock stuffy noses, it grows on trees, koalas like to eat it and so on.

Mud is good for you, right?

Playing in the Mud: Our Mud Pies.

In Australia at the moment we have had a record amount of rain, with no break from the wet for over a week we have been doing lots of things inside and I was slowly running out of ideas and motivation as inside play for so long can become very mentally draining.

I promised Dimples that when the rain stopped we could play in the mud and make mud pies.

When the rain stopped for a short while over the weekend we were straight out there.

I gave dimples a couple of old containers and some digging tools. I put a heap of mud into a container next to his play surface and he got busy making me some mud pies, he put grass sprinkles on top with a few stones. mixed it all up and splatted it around until he found a worm to play with, then he let it go free.

Enough with the tools, he went hands first squishing it in his hands, squeezing it through his closed fist, splatting it into the bowl, tipping it out, mixing it with more water, playing with worms, and burying his hand under the mud. If he found any dirt chunks he made sure they were smoothed right out. It was a lot of fun!

By the end of it he was stomping and jumping in the mud puddle.

To tell you the truth I don't know why we haven't done this before, it was too easy to throw his clothes straight in to the laundry tub for a wash and take him in for a quick warm bath before the rains hit again.

Did you know that playing in the dirt & mud is good for kids.

I think with the modern day plastic toys, cool kids movies and all the stress about cleanliness mothers forget that the most simplest fun can be had with some tools and a bit of dirt.

If you give your child some old pots and plates, cooking utensils and tools with a bucket of wet dirt then let them go without stressing over how dirty their clothes will get or if they will rub mud in their hair you will find quite possibly that they will have fun for hours.

I recently read an article about the benefits of playing in the dirt, a-dirty-kid-is-a-happy-kid and I must admit I was surprised about how good it actually is. I knew it was great for sensory and tactile abilities but did you know that the (good) living bacteria in dirt can help improve mood, has been linked to higher iq's and boosts a child's immune system.  So now you have an excuse to let your kids get dirty and play in the mud!

 

Another thing that I must point out, that i personally think is very important is that this dirty messy fun play builds a stronger bond with nature and the outdoors which is very important in raising the next generation. With all the technology, on line activities, video games, cool kids movies and a million reasons to sit in front of a screen for most of the day parents need to be reminded of how beneficial outdoor play is in the long run, it can influence the health and well being of a little person by reinforcing that being active and outdoors is alot of fun and is really enjoyable.

If you have a chance check out the article above, a dirty kid is a happy kid and this one, let-your-kids-get-dirty. and the mud center for info on the benefits of playing in dirt and some mud ideas.

Australia Flag Puzzle

Australia Day is just around the corner so I thought it was fitting to do something 'Australian' -

I made up this flag puzzle in a simple manner so that Smiley could see a visual of the Australian flag & play around with it.

First I got a rectangle of blue card stock, this will be the flag.
Then using Microsoft Word & Clip art, I printed a Union Jack and 6 White, blue bordered (7 point) Stars.  Making one slightly larger and one smaller.
First I cut out the front cross from the union jack, then i did the diagonal cross on card stock, glued it to white printing paper & cut that out 2 mm wider. I cut out the stars & put a small piece of blue tack on the back of them. blue tack on the back of the diagonal cross & the large front cross of the union jack.
its hard to explain but was really easy, see below & you will get the drift....


that's it. easy.

Smiley had an Australian flag to go off in the beginning. He did well!
First goes the diagonal cross, then the big cross straight on top. then the large star under neath & the southern cross on the other side of the flag. 


After doing it several times, we added more blue tack to the back & stuck it on the wall for the next fortnight so he can look at it & re-make it whenever he feels fit.

 

Pinecone People for Christmas.

Its a cute Christmas Decoration!

One day, we went on a trip to a nearby town & Smiley spotted some Pine cones that he called 'spikeycones', He happily played with them & asked if we could take one to put eyes on it (after the story stones & his pet rock he asks if we can put eyes on everything) So i stashed a few in my bag for play and craft.
The things mothers do! I am sure the lady at the supermarket later that day thought i was quiet strange when i pulled out 3 pine cones in order to find my wallet.


Eventually I came up with this Christmas decoration idea and thought they would be excellent gifts for Smiley to give to family or to decorate our home for the Christmas season. We tried to use some different techniques while making this as well. . .


So here go,
What you need;  Pine cones, 2 pom poms, 2 craft eyes, 1 pipe cleaner, paint & glitter glue, glue, felt, scissors, a stapler, another pom pom & some time.


We did this in steps as it took a while to dry, ill tell you the way we did it but now that it is done I would have done the eyes last. So you might want to swap the eyes til last but seen as this just came to me as we were making it I worked backwards.


Step 1:  Eyes & arms,  2 pom-poms & a cut pipe cleaner, I got smiley to choose a colour & put glue on 2 pom poms, then asked him to wedge the eyes into the pine cone next to each other. then I put the glue on the craft eyes and got him to put these on top of the pom poms. Cut a pipe cleaner in half and put glue on one side of both halves, entirely, I actually put the tip of the pipe cleaner into the glues tip so that it was covered in glue & got Smiley to insert the arms into the body. Make sure the glue has contact & will set.
drying time.







Step 2: Paint. This is a little different. In order to get some fine motor practise in and let smiley practise manipulating a knife I gave him a small old baby knife that i had. He is so keen to use a knife but is yet to master the skill & the baby safe ones really don't do anything but frustrate him as they don't cut through even the softest of foods, they are a little too safe that they are not functional at all so for him to practice holding & handling a knife with no pressure & no frustration I asked him to use it to "cut" the white paint & feed it to the pine cone, whipping it inside the pine cone section.
Drying time.







Step 3: Hats and boots.
Using felt I cut out a heart shape felt piece that the pine cone will glue onto as feet and I also made a hat from felt by cutting it & rolling it into a cone, I stapled the hat and asked smiley to glue another pom pom on top of the Santa hat and due to the nature of felt I clipped the pom poms on for the drying process so they didn't spring off. If you wanted to go one step further you could sew the hat instead of stapling it :-P




Step 4:
Dust on the glitter glue. Smiley dipped a duster in the glitter glue and dusted the pine cone person with gold glitter glue, just to give it a christmas feel. The idea of the first white paint is to get in to the middle of the pine cone and this step is more to frame the surface with glitter. To "dust" it with glitter so to speak.
drying time.







Step 5: Glue the hat & feet.
I put glue on the tip of the Pine cones head & inside the hat and asked smiley to glue the hat on, then put glue on the felt feet and asked him to place the person on top. Press them on firmly. Then we let it set.

There we have a cute Christmas Pine cone Person Decoration.