Category: Activities for Kids

Montessori Inspired Activities for Toddlers

Montessori Inspired Activities for Toddlers

Posted on by Rebecca

I’m a huge advocate of Montessori, in particular in the early learning phases of a child’s life. They say people come into your life for a reason and my friend Mandy did just that. A trained Montessori teacher, Mandy opened up my eyes to learning and development in children. We used to have the most fantastic mum and toddler classes all in a Montessori environment and my little one thrived.

I’ve put together my top Practical/ Life Skill Montessori activities. These are specifically tailored for toddlers aged about 15 months to about 3 years old I would say and  have literally saved me on so many occasions, when I just need 10 minutes. My boys really focus and get involved in the tasks. Most of these materials you would already have either in your Kitchen or Bathroom and cleaning up is a breeze (in fact the kids should do the cleaning up through play).

Montessori activities are life-based. They help children build skills for everyday life,  building upon the necessary foundations needed in academia. Most of Montessori activities are done on a tray. The purpose of having a tray is to concentrate the child’s attention on one activity, to isolate distractions and in a typical Montessori school a child will select their own tray from the shelf, and put it back again after.

Here are 5 quick and easy Montessori activities to keep a toddlers learning mind busy. 

Basics you’ll need are:

A large tray/ sensory bin

Two similar sized bowls

Shaving cream

Spray Bottle

An empty bottle

Straws

Kitchen Cloth

Sponge

 

Spray Bottles

These should be a staple in any toddler household. The trigger action is great for development and coordination and the wiping motion helps them cross the midline.  Get your toddler to spray a large window or mirror and wipe it up after. Crossing the body’s mid-line is an important developmental skill needed for many everyday tasks such as writing, hitting a ball with both hands etc.

Shaving Cream Fun

Want to keep a toddler busy for at least 20 minutes? Give them some shaving cream ! The possibilities are endless and as your kids get older it really aids in writing skills as well. I digress, if you have a big window or mirror spray a little cream onto the surface. Taking a plastic fork, or their finger, let your toddler draw designs through the cream. Afterward get them to wipe the surface down with the cloth.

 

 

Sponging and transferring water

Sponging is one of the first basic lessons a child learns in an Early Childhood Montessori classroom.  It works on fine motor development, focus and concentration. They also indirectly learn about absorption. Take two bowls and place a little water into one. Your toddler must place the sponge in the bowl with water and transfer and squeeze the water out into the other bowl until the activity is finished. Then complete moving the other way.

The Spooning Exercise (Transferring)

This activity saves me on a weekly basis. Cooking in the kitchen and have a toddler in your hair? Stick two bowls in front of them and let them work. It develops control and movements in your toddler, learning independence and concentration. ALL toddlers LOVE sorting and I vary this activity with different ingredients. Flour is a favourite but we also use lentils, dry beans and popcorn seeds. In one bowl pour in your ingredient of choice and give your toddler an appropriately sized spoon. My boys are so careful to try and ensure each and every lentil falls into the bowl and they dont stop this activity until each piece has been transferred.

Placing Straws Into A Bottle

This activity is actually perfect from as young as 12 or 14 months old. As your toddler gets older you can also add in a degree of complication by adding in varying factors. For example: Adding in pipe cleaners and sticks to the tray, your toddler must sort them out and ONLY add the straws to the bottle, or get them to list the colour of each straw the place in the bottle. As with each of these activities you’ll have to show your toddler what to do first and then let them take over.

 

Toddlers from about 14 months onward are probably at my favourite age for learning. Everything is fascinating and exciting. These activities are great for calming kids and encourage independent learning. I’ve got a whole lot more to share but I hope these simple activities will inspire you to get your child involved in daily activities around the home. What are your favourite activities?

Ramadan Corner -Ramadan Crafts for Little Ones

Ramadan Corner -Ramadan Crafts for Little Ones

Posted on by Rebecca

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, It is the month in which Muslims around the world fast to commemorate the first revelation of the Holy Quran to the Prophet Muhammad (AWS). It’s a month about learning to exercise self-control and to give charity to those less fortunate. Growing up in a Christian household and having Christmas holds very special memories to me, as a child so much excitement is created and there are endless activities to do as a family. As a revert I want to get my kids just as excited about Ramadan, especially as they are not fasting, getting them involved in activities with the rest of the family. I created a “Ramadan corner”, an area especially for the kids to sit and hear stories and craft.

The first thing I wanted to create and I have seen quite a few of them doing the rounds online was a Ramadan Calendar. My one may be no where NEAR as beautiful as some of the fabric ones I have seen but it was a whole lot cheaper! It’s not perfect, but neither am I 🙂

After much back and forth I settled on making it with a large artists canvas. I painted that and then cut of pieces of felt which I stuck onto the canvas with a hot glue gun. I then painted the numbers onto the pockets with a stencil. Each pocket has a different activity to do inside the relevant days.

I’ve been getting quite a few questions since I posted on my instagram stories on what to include inside my Ramadan Calendar.

Here are a few idea’s to get you started:

 

Bake Ramadan Cookies

Make a Ramadan Banner

Make a treat with dates

Learn a new Surah (verse of the Quran)

Donate two toys to Charity

Donate some clothes to Charity

Make Eid Cards

Make a Masjid out of Card

Read a story on the Prophet Muhammed (AWS)

Read a story on the Prophet Issa (AWS) (Jesus)

Read a story on the Prophet Jonah (AWS) (Jonah) – You get the picture. We try to cover all the Prophets

Learn about how they celebrate Ramadan in another country.

Here are some other craft ideas to include that I have done with the boys so far :

Making a crescent moon out of a paper plate – for some reason my boys loved this activity even though it was the most simple.

Sticking on buttons onto a moon – This is a great fine motor skill for little ones. My youngest loved sticking on each button individually and putting them together like a puzzle.

Moon Sighting binoculars – Easy as pie with two toilet rolls. We decorated ours with star stickers to tie in with the night theme.

Ramadan Lantern – This craft got to me the most. It didn’t come out as neat as I would have liked it too and my control freak kept wanting to interfere with the boys. Anyway – cut down the skyline of mosques and cut out shapes. I took clear coloured paper and stuck that onto the stained glass window. Wrap it around a bottle (I used a 500 ml coke bottle) and put an LED candle inside.

My First Dua Book – I first saw the idea on The Muslimah Guide’s Blog here .This was made using a cut out of the boys hands. On each page, once a week we will try to learn a new Dua (Prayer). Preschoolers can learn simple Dua’s like Giving Salaams, giving thanks to people (Jazak’Allah Khairan) and giving thanks to Allah (Alhumdulilah).

Make your own Sadaqah jar : Giving charity is absolutely essential for Muslims, It is one of our 5 pillars of Islam and is at its core. There are two types of Charity a Muslim should give – Zakat – this is compulsory, and is a set percentage of ones wealth to charity (a bit like Tithing in Christianity). Sadaqah is the voluntary act of Charity for the benefit of Allah (and a person’s soul). Its giving money to the guy on the street, volunteering your time at an orphanage, giving food to the homeless.

We made our own Sadaqah jar for the boys to fill up and give to people after Ramadan. I took a plain tin that cost R8 at flowerspot and painted glitter at the bottom. They decorated it with stickers.

30 date Jar – Children are visual (hence the advent calendar as well). In Islam we break our fast everyday with a date and water. I filled a jar with 30 dates so everyday the boys can take our their date and they can see the jar becoming emptier.

Make a Ramadan Banner – you could go traditional with a bunting style but i cut out circles from paper plates. The boys painted the plates with their rainbow paint set and then i just wrote out Ramadan Mubarak. Punch holes in each circle and string together with twine.

The idea’s are endless really. You can create whatever you want, I like to recreate the stories we tell. For example when telling the Story of the Prophet Yunus (AWS) (Thats Jonah and the Whale in English), we make a whale out of a paper plate to go with the story. Just have fun with your kids and learn as you go. Ramadan is about learning, it’s about family, it’s about coming together and strengthening your faith. For non-Muslims I hope you learnt a little more about our faith from this article and that it helped in some way.

These crafts will help your little ones (and you) understand the traditions, culture, and festivities of Ramadan a bit more and will bring you all together. Do you have any other fun crafts to do ? Id love to hear about them.

Ramadan Mubarak everyone !

 

“Crafting for Mom: 3 DIY Gift Ideas”

“Crafting for Mom: 3 DIY Gift Ideas”

Posted on by Rebecca

May to me is “Mothering Month”; Mothers Day of course, falls in May as well as my own mama’s birthday. While Mums special day may have come and gone, I’m always looking at unique gift ideas to give to the special ladies in my life. There’s something special about a homemade gift to me, the time and effort that goes into it and the fact that it was made just for you, it’s my favourite type of gift to give (and receive). Having two young kids to jump in and help with the crafting is just the cherry on top!

Here are 3 quick and easy DIY gift ideas to use for your next gift – ALL are kid friendly, in fact my boys did 70% of these and all take no longer than 5 minutes (apart from the drying process).

1.Popsicle Stick Picture Frame

You’ll need:

  1. 4 craft ice cream sticks, in colours of your choice (I got mine from CNA)
  2. Glue Gun
  3. A Magnet
  4. Various decorations of your choice (I used stickers and pom poms)
  5. A picture of your choice

I used a glue gun to stick all four sticks together, i wanted this to be strong so the kids didnt help me here as glue guns can get super hot! Attach the picture to the back of the ice cream sticks.

Using a good quality graft clue (for kids) or a glue gun (for mama), stick on any decor items of your choice. For the first frame i found a gorgeous paper butterfly that I wanted to utilise so I stuck that on the corner and then the kids went crazy with their stickers (a good compromise 🙂 ). For the second I hoped onto the pom pom trend and made another frame with a fiesta feel.

Lastly I took the glue gun again and just put a blob of glue on the back of the photo to attach the magnet to, so it can sit proudly on Grandma’s fridge!

Seriously one of the quickest and most heartfelt gifts you could give, and what kid doesn’t like decorating their own masterpiece?

2. Air Dry Clay Necklace

You’ll Need:

  1. A Packet of Air-Drying Clay (I also got this from CNA) – you could also use Salt Dough, see my previous recipe here – but the Air Dry Clay is easier and more time effective
  2. Paints of your choice
  3. Ribbon/Twine
  4. A straw

Get the kids to knead their clay to a nice soft consistency. Roll it out to the thickness you desire and take your mould, whatever shape it is ( I used cookie cutters). Cut it out and take a the straw or toothpick to make the hole for the chain to string through. Dry your pendants by placing them on a flat tray with some wax paper. Drying time varies, I gave mine 12 hours and it was perfect. Once the clay is dry let your kiddies paint away ! Its quite hard to tell from the picture but the purple heart has the boys thumbprints indented into it. I filled their thumbprints with glitter and now I’ll always remember their little thumbs at 4 and almost 3 years old.

The sky is the limit with this one. The versatility of air dry clay is endless and really with this idea your imagination can take you anywhere. I have seen so many options, you could add beads at each end, stamp an initial for a monogram charm, really do whatever your heart desires.

3. Personalised Mug

You’ll need:

  1. Plain porcelain mug of your choice (I feel white is most effective)
  2. Porcelain pens/oil-based pen markers (Any guesses where I found mine? Yup, CNA is my go to craft shop).
  3. Vinyl stickers – the thicker the better

To start off; make sure your mug is completely grease free. Take a little bit of vinegar on cotton and just wipe your mug down. Once that is prepped use your stickers to spell out whatever you want, or just use a monogram. Give your pen a good shake and press it down on a piece of paper a few times to get the liquid flowing. Next, make dots all around your stickers, you want your dots as close as possible at the start and you can gradually space them out as you move further away from your chosen word. The closer together they are initially, the better your word is formed. You can add in as many colours as you like, or you may even chose just one. You have to let the paint dry before peeling the stickers off. 4 hours is a safe bet. Once dry, preheat your oven to about 160 Degrees Celcious and “bake” your mug for 90 minutes. This sets the paint and ensures it wont come off in the wash. Its best to hand wash these mugs in any case.

Its that easy!! Your Eid/Christmas presents for this year are sorted ! You can personalise a mug for every member of the family. We have literally done this as teachers gifts, Christmas gifts as well as Mothers Day. The boys adore it and in a way, their designs are more effective (they have less patience with the dots and tend to scribble towards the end).

SO there you have it! 3 super quick and easy DIY gift options, perfect for the Mothering month of May.

Sliding Into Fun With Ster-Kinekor’s New Kiddies Cinema

Sliding Into Fun With Ster-Kinekor’s New Kiddies Cinema

Posted on by Rebecca

Sandton City has launched its new family fun level and its made such a huge difference. My issue with Sandton was that it was never really “kid friendly”, Joburg still has a lot to learn in comparison to Cape Town with our Malls here. The shopping centre has launched a new area of the mall being dedicated to family fun, entertainment and food. With it comes a freshly revamped cinema complex, which boasts the second kids’ cinema in the country (the first being in East Rand Mall) additional luxurious Cine Prestige 3D cinemas with their own VIP Lounge area and exclusive catering offers.

We were invited to a movie at the newly revamped Ster-Kinekor Cinema in Sandton this past weekend. The new layout has an express counter as well as 15 self service terminals where you can not only book your ticket, but order your catering combo as well! This reduces queuing time hugely, perfect for parents not wanting to stand in long lines.

This was the boys very first movie and we were all excited to be a part of the experience. Aadam kept asking me today if we could “pulllleeeeease go to the movies again”. If you’re planning on watching a Kids Movie, there’s an entire “waiting area” to keep little ones busy, with tables filled with colouring pages,  PS4 gaming stations and its very own  snack kiosk section. We watched Sherlock Gnomes which releases in South African on May 11th – Sherlock Gnomes comes together with Garden gnomes, Gnomeo & Juliet, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of other garden ornaments across London.

While the movie  catered to mum and dads sense of humor a little more, the movie house itself is a kids playground, literally. With a slide going down one side of the mall ending with a ball pit, the kids got to slide down the length of the movie house before the show started. There were squeals of delight as they ran up the stairs and slid down the slide again and again, and again! I was a little shocked that they actually sat through the whole movie. The Cinema has Bean bag chairs up in the front for kids, and thankfully, normal comfy leather seats for mum and dad at the back.

We started off the day by sliding into Hamley’s World and then Slid into the movies as well. It was such fun! Almost makes up for the lack of play area that Sandton has always had. After the movies we headed to Hamley’s World (the first ever in Southern Africa), where the boys raced some remote bumper cars and took a trip in a Hot Wheels 3D experience.

The new “family friendly” level in Sandton comes complete with a Halaal Spur, finally one in Joburg with a decent sized play area for the kids. As much as I love Rosebank, the play area in the Spur is just far too small.

Thank you Ster Kinekor for a fun filled morning! I have a feeling this has started something and we will be back many many more times. The good news is, if your are on Discovery Vitality, your child can watch movies for free before 7pm at Ster-Kinekor Cinemas (under the age of 18). Find out more by visiting  www.sterkinekor.com or download the SK App on your smartphone.

 

Disclaimer – We received free movie tickets for this event, but all opinions are my own.

Homemade Bath Bombs

Homemade Bath Bombs

Posted on by Rebecca

I’m jumping on the latest internet craze once again. Its safe to say bath bombs are pretty much everywhere. I was surprised to see how much these balls of scented goodness can retail for. Everyone loves baths, with my boys we often use little fizzies in the bath to colour up the water, and I just use them for their glorious scent and healing properties.

With mothers day coming up they are the perfect gift to give to someone special. You can customize color, scent, and shape to perfectly suit the person, and its a heck of a lot cheaper to make them at home. It was such a fun activity to do and the boys loved watching their balls form.

Ingredients:

1 Cup baking soda (Bicarbonate of Soda)

1/2 cup Epsom salts

1/2 cup Citric acid

2 tsp Essential Oil (I used Lavender)

1 tsp water

3 tsp Coconut Oil

Plastic moulds/ egg shells (I used those little plastic ornament shells for Christmas as well as egg shells). Silicon moulds work really well as well.

All these ingredients are natural so the bath bombs are safe for kids and toddlers. I chose to omit glitter, as pretty as it is, on purpose. Most glitter is made out of plastic and I have become quite conscious of what goes down our drains and into our water system. You can choose to add dried petals, or even those little magic grow beans to hide inside.

  1. In a bowl whisk together the baking soda, citric acid, Epsom Salts.
  2. In a separate small bowl combine the melted coconut oil, water and essential oil
  3. While whisking, very SLOWLY drizzle the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients until well combined. You can choose to do this with a spray bottle. DO NOT be tempted to add more liquid. If the liquid gets too wet it will activate the fizzy part of the bath bomb too soon!
  4. TIGHTLY pack the mixture into each side of the mold then press the two sides together. Ideally let it stay in the mold overnight, then lightly tap around the mold with a spoon to very carefully open and remove bath bomb.

What I learnt:

It is so important to add in the liquid as slowly as possible. I have seen some people using a spray bottle for this step, just to ensure a thin mist. You do not want the Citric Acid to start reacting.

Some recipes contain Corn Starch, I chose to omit that on purpose as I wanted the bombs to be as natural as possible. My little guys suffer from Eczema and I didn’t want the corn flour blocking up their pores in any way. I would like to try that recipe in future though.

This is a messy activity so do it somewhere that’s easy to clean up. Citric Acid is easier to find then i thought, i searched Dischem and Clicks and ended up finding it at good old Pick n Pay, right next to the Bicarb.

 

This is one fun activity and now that I have all the ingredients on hand its time to play! I want to try mixing up essential oils and colours. Its a little addictive, and the boys loved it!

Make your own Squishy Balls

Make your own Squishy Balls

Posted on by Rebecca

“Squishy Balls” aka good old stress balls, have had their fair share of You Tube fame recently, the latest trend in the toy world. I’ve been seeing the most amazing tension relieving creations filled with different concoctions and decided I HAD to try this with my boys.

Firstly, Stress balls are hugely beneficial for children and help relieve worry, tension and aid in concentration. They are also advocated by many OT’s as squeezing a stress ball can help to rehabilitate and strengthen your hand. Typically, a child’s hands are weaker, learning to hold a pen or pencil can be tricky. The repetitive action of squeezing the stress ball makes the muscles stronger and aids in writing skills.

I wanted to do a little more than the traditional “flour” or “rice” filled stress balls, and i thought it would be a great experiment for the kids if we compared the different types of fillings and then chose their favourite.

The fillings I chose were:

Water beads (soaked in water overnight)

Floam

Floam mixed with Slime

Plain Slime (You can find my slime recipe here)

Corn Flour and Water

Together with your choice of filling you will need:

Clear, latex Balloons (I got mine from PartySpot)

A few plain coloured balloons (If you choose cornflour and water)

A funnel (I took a 2L Coca-Cola bottle and cut of the neck section, it was the perfect size)

A spoon/long stick for poking the filling through.

Floam filled Squishy Ball

Attach your balloon to the bottom of the funnel, add in your choice of filling, as much as you can. You want a nice rounded shape for your ball. Keep enough space to securely tie the neck of your balloon. Cut off the extra end to make a nice round shape.

If you chose to do the Cornflour and Water (Gloop) mixture, double up two plain coloured balloons. As this mixture is heavier the balloon is more likely to pop so you need to make sure the gloop doesn’t get everywhere. You can also cut the neck off a deflated balloon to “cover” your ball to ensure extra coverage.

Floam mixed with Slime

Have fun with your kids! Our favorites by far were the water beads, purely because it was just so pretty and pretty satisfying, as well as the slime mixed with Floam. They were so successful I decided to create a Clubhouse Adventure with Adventure Clubs with it, showing other kids how to make their own squishy balls.

Waterbeads (Orbeez) filled               Squishy Ball

Have you made your own stress balls before? Do you find them beneficial?

 

Lets get creative {Win a Hot Wheels Hamper worth over R1500}

Lets get creative {Win a Hot Wheels Hamper worth over R1500}

Posted on by Rebecca

Hip Hip Hooraaah ! For most of our kids it’s the first day of the Easter Break, mums’ are worried about what to do with their kids and how to keep them “entertained” for the holidays, I’m here to get your creative juices flowing.

With most children, toys are typically obsessed over for the first week and then thrown into a toy container and “forgotten about”. As parents we should try and re-ignite the imagination, show them different things to do with the toy, different ways to play. Imaginative play allows their minds to develop and think “out of the box” (excuse the pun).

My boys love to play with toy cars, trucks, buses, trains, diggers…. you get the idea. Toy cars can be played with independently, but children also love to race each other! It lets them learn about friendly competition and teaches them negotiation. They learn about cause and effect, what happens if the push or drop the cars from different heights. I love encouraging my boys them to test boundaries and to discover “what if”.

Its no secret I love creating things for the boys, we do this together and they often step in to give me “grand designs” or help with the painting. We love creating things to play with our cars in different ways.

Here’s a few things we have made recently:

A Mini “city” out of an old takealot box, complete with tunnels to drive through.

A parking garage made with crates and PVC piping.

An Outdoor/offroad track driving through “mud” and “rainforests”. This was possibly the biggest hit. Boys and Dirt? Always a winner.

A race track “ramp”, made with cardboard boxes.

A race car slide/ramp made with pool noodles cut in half

So heres the exciting part:

This Easter break I challenge all parents to get creative with their kids and their Hot Wheels®. By sharing your creation you stand a chance of winning a Hot Wheels Hamper worth over R1500

Heres the challenge:

  1. Create a unique way to play with your Hot Wheels Cars. I’m giving you free reign, you can use whatever you want, however you want. Cardboard, metal, real toy tracks, pretend toy tracks, mud, water…whatever your imagination allows.
  2. Post a pic of your creativity and Tag me (across Facebook or Instagram) as well as the Hot Wheels South Africa facebook page using the following : #hotwheels #hotwheelsSA #challengeaccepted
  3. Make sure you like the Hot Wheels SA Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/hotwheels/
  4. Share your creation and tag and challenge a friend to try and top your masterpiece!

By sharing your creations you are not only spending time with your children but are encouraging others to get creative. So start your engines and lets get creative !!

T’s+C’s:

Winners must reside in South Africa.

Competition closes on April 8th at midnight.

Hot Wheels® hamper includes:

Various Hot Wheels® Car packs

Hot Wheels® Track Set

Hot Wheels® Track Builder™ Accessory Pack Assortment

“Egg-cellent” Non Sugar Alternatives for this Easter

“Egg-cellent” Non Sugar Alternatives for this Easter

Posted on by Rebecca

It’s a few days before easter, and as most families will be rushing out to stock pile their chocolate eggs and bunnies, take a moment to think, do I really need ALL of this sugar?

Last year I probably gained about 3 kilograms over the Easter period. I kid you not. We had some friends over on Easter Sunday for a lunch and of course the kids had an egg hunt, the week prior my mum and dad had visited and of course, we had another egg hunt. In addition to the dozens of chocolates the boys received from those activities, my husband is a serial egg addict. It would not be “Easter” without at least two boxes of marshmallow eggs being consumed and at least half a dozen of the white candy chocolate ones. SUGAR OVERLOAD!

So this year, I’m mixing it up.

I’m expecting the boys to receive chocolate from my mum and dad, that’s a given and every grandparents right 🙂 I also do have our iconic Lindt Bunnies adorning the tables, it just wouldnt be easter without them. This year for the boys however, apart from one or two hidden eggs for the hunt, we are largely going sugar free.

This year for our “hunt” I’m going back to old school. We get so caught up in the consumer trap and we wonder why our kids end up with diabetes, obesity and other diseases. The excessive lifestyle just gets worse every year. I always notice if the boys eat too many sugary treats that we often end up sick afterward. Sugar = Inflamation so I like to mix it up a bit.

 

Here are my top tips to do Easter, sugar free:

For our table decorations/activity/egg hunt I’m using good old hard boiled eggs. Soaking them in vinegar and painting our own little creations. What a perfect way to keep kids entertained. I’ll be hiding some of those in the garden too. Remember, the reward of the hunt is not “sugar”. Kids LOVE a treasure hunt regardless of what the treasure is! Its about the adventure, the challenge. Im also giving out cute little “carrot” playdoughs that I made up (using playdough and small piping bags). They make a gorgeous addition to the table and keep the kids entertained at the same time.

The base of our hunt is going to be the plastic eggs that are easily available at Westpack Lifestyle or Plastic land. They range from R3 to R12 per egg dependent on the size.  We also use these for sensory play and to make musical instruments so they dont get wasted at all!

I’m filling these with a number of “candy free” options, such as:

1.Hair clips/ties

2.Stickers

3.Slime (homemade or store bought)

4.Coins (as in money) – My boys are obsessed with money, the joy on their faces if they were to find eggs with actual money in would be second to none.

5.Mini erasers

6.Mini “Tickets” – You can create vouchers such as “Trip to the Zoo” or “Movie night”

7.Finger puppets

8.Lip Balm

9.Mini soldiers/ cars

10.Arts and Crafts Supplies

11.Seeds (if you had a mini gardener), the kits from my ecosprout are a great idea!

12.Bouncy Balls

13.Spin tops

14.Little Pet Shop toys

15.Lego

16.Magic grow animals

17.Magic grow beans

18.Bath fizz bombs, we made our own here

19.Dried fruit

20.Marbles

 

 

 

As you can see the possibilities are endless, a perfect way to eliminate some of the unnecessary chocolate and candy, although we need a little, in moderation of course 🙂 If you have a child with allergies, this list is invaluable ! All of these items are available from the local China Mall/ Dollar store.

What other non candy/chocolate idea’s would you do?

Edible Sensory Play – Chocolate mud

Edible Sensory Play – Chocolate mud

Posted on by Rebecca

I’ve been dealing with a bit of “mommy guilt” the past two weeks, feeling like I hadn’t given the boys any fun activities to play or do, though I am an advocate of “let them be bored”.

My eldest is going through a HUGE “arts and crafts” spree and every morning wakes up asking to make some creative concoction. We haven’t done a sensory play activity In so long and I’ve been wanting to do “edible mud” for quite some time. This “Mud” is fantastic for younger kids, all ingredients are edible, in fact they taste quiet good!

It’s a great “taste-safe” play idea and even more effective when paired with a little themed book or song.

Having boys I was so tempted to chuck in some spaghetti worms, or sweet snakes, but decided to go with more interactive toys. We did two set ups, one “farm yard” and one “digger yard”.

All the recipes I found online for this include syrup and sugar, I have no idea why but if my intention was certainly not for my kids to find it “tasty”, so I omitted that.

Ingredients:

I started off with about 1.5 cups of flour

1.5 cups of cornflour

1 cup cocoa

Water to mix.

 

I added and mixed as I went along, until I got a nice thick consistency. I wanted it to be a Newtonian fluid, that became solid as they played.

We kept a water station close by so they could wash their figurines straight after, and we also did this right before bath time 🙂

I am such an avid supporter of sensory play activities like this one as they learn about “clean and dirty”, they learnt about all the different farm animals and where they normally lived, textures and role play.

My youngest was so confused, he kept saying “Its yucky mud” but it smells like cake !

Happy playing!

DIY storage solution for Hot Wheels cars

DIY storage solution for Hot Wheels cars

Posted on by Rebecca

Any mom of boys will relate to the frustration of finding little “Hot Wheels” or dinky cars lying about absolutely everywhere. Pick any one of my handbags and I can guarantee you will find a car of some sort in it. I find them everywhere, in my car, my bed side drawer, my under wear cupboard. We have dozens of the, yet at the same time, because they are all scattered everywhere you can never find them !

Hot Wheels® vehicles have been an ongoing favorite of collectors, car enthusiasts and racing fans of all ages. The brand is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, remains the number one selling toy brand in the world with more than 5 billion Hot Wheels® cars produced and 2 cars sold every second! I can officially say I have contributed to a large share of that with my boys 🙂

Typically I hold their toys and cars in your standard large plastic storage boxes from a Plastic Land but I absolutely hate digging to find the smaller cars in amongst the sea of other toys. I have been wanting to create a storage solution for their cars for a while. Naturally on google, there are endless storage solutions for these little matchbox sized cars. I loved some of the book shelf styled ones, where the cars are displayed up on the wall, but i wanted something slightly more interactive. I was particularly drawn to the one created by Frugal Fun for boys as it doubles up as a “play station” as well as a storage solution. It’s also darn easy to make.

You can make it out of three things:

Toilet paper rolls, mailing tubes or PVC piping as I did.

Initially I started off collecting the toilet roll inners but along the way i decided i wanted something a little more sturdy. I headed off to my nearest Mica and got 3 metres of PVC piping cut up for me it about 10cm sections. It literally cost me all of about R50 !

Using an old crate that I already had, I positioned the pipe pieces into the crate. If your crate is to deep for your pipe pieces you could easily attach a backing board into it to ensure the pipes all come out level and the cars don’t fall out the back.

I washed and lightly smoothed out the pipes with a soft sand paper (there were a few rough edges) and glued the pipes into the crate. I then made a super quick sign out of cardboard and nailed it into the top of the crate.

 

The entire project took me less than 20 minutes, to add in a little extra storage, we all know I am always extra, i glued a magnetic strip down the side of the crate. I had read somewhere that some hot wheels (with the metal bottoms) could stick to magnets. This didn’t work however so i cut small strips of magnetic tape and glued that to the bottom of some of the cars so they could stick to the strip, to increase the storage space.

 

 

Et Voila ! A super easy storage solution of all of your Hot Wheels ! Do you see the magnetic strip down the side? I love that part 🙂 Now i could really get fancy and spray paint it black and silver i guess, but lets me honest, “ain’t no body got time for that” 🙂