DIY - A texture board and a picturebook

A rainy day always requires some new activities for children who otherwise quickly get bored. My little girls have recently been sick, and they are still recovering, so it is really not wise for us to go singing in the rain and jumping on the muddy puddles as our favorite TV character does . I've noticed they were also bored with the picture books we already have (which reminds me I haven't been rotating toys for a while).

It is Sunday, meaning our great library, in which we could borrow a bunch of new picture books, is closed, so we decided to create our own picture books. We had pretty much fun making them, and later by reading what we have created.

We started with a piece of cardboard on which we pasted pieces of fabrics in different colors, shapes and textures - from soft and smooth to rough and hard. Here is the result, on the photo below. If you decide to do such a thing, I recommend tighter fabrics because the thin ones tend to be transparent and you can see the glue marks, which in the end does not look very nice, as you may notice on the photo.

A long, twisted piece of cardboard which a hamster-mom, (and that would be me :) usually has in stock, was used for the educational picture book shown on the photos below. We have pasted various shapes on one side, and animals and plants on the other, according to what we found in the "old rags bag".

I was going through an old piles of magazines, thinking of how I could use them and stumbled upon a story about the cute little fellows, from The Hundred Acre Wood. So, I've simply cut out the two pages with the story and pasted them inside of the old folder. My girls and I have even "designed the cover", specifically for this occasion.

 My girls really liked what we have created, so I barely caught the time to photograph our work, since they were playing with it the entire afternoon.  


P.S. Of course I had to share the fun on these great linky parties - click on the buttons below and see some other awesome bloggers' ideas! 

Halloween - celebrate it or not?

As you may have noticed, I live in SE Europe, where Halloween is not a tradition. In the past decade there have been tries, mostly by night bars and event managers, to make it a tradition, which have faced a strong resistant of the Roman Catholic community (and the majority of people in this area are Roman Catholics). 


I decided to write this post, after reading a discussion on Facebook - the author of (in my opinion) a very high-quality blog, published the photo above and in this way made it very clear to her fans that she does not celebrate Halloween because it is in the contrary to the Christian traditions and therefore, does not want to publish materials related to the aforementioned day. The entire debate can be seen here. (it is not in English)

Source: http://www.facebook.com/Zlatna.djeca

 

However, I think her blog is brilliant, it is definitely one of the better ones from the Croatian-speaking area. I often visit it, I intend to do it in the future as well- she is an experienced teacher who loves her job and selflessly shares free, printable worksheets and other educational materials.

The reason for this post is the author's explanation of the above photo (I have translated it for my English speaking readers): "Dear friends, the All Saints Day is coming soon, Christians (and many others) find it to be a very serious day with a deep message, and it has nothing to do with the Halloween. This site finds our religion, culture and tradition to be very important, and Halloween is in the contrary to it, so I kindly ask my fans not to send any materials associated with "Halloween," because I will not publish them! However, I'll gladly publish any material related the All Saints and All Souls Day! "
 As I have written, I have nothing against the author of the blog, but what bothers me is the exclusivity and close-minded attitude, not only in Christian but also in other religions, the intolerance to the new, which for me are all incompatible with the spirit of our modern time.

I understood the author's argument (you can see it in the comments on the above link) that "she is her own boss on her blog", so she is the only one who decides what (not) to publish - after all, the most of us  started writing a blog for similar reasons, without proofreaders, editors and censors. I am also aware of the cultural aspect, it is clear why any religion does not want to adopt new practices, since by assimilating the religion would be actually gone, but I still find that such a tough and close-minded attitude is incompatible with the spirit of today's global world.

I will not carve the pumpkin on 31st October, because I don't know how, nor will I in any special way  mark the day, since it has never been a tradition in my family, nor my country, but I definitely intend to talk to my children (who I am trying to raise in a spirit of tolerance towards others)  about All Hallow's Eve, as the ancient Celtic tradition that is today a tradition in the Anglo-Saxon world and unfortunately commercialized, as well as all other holidays throughout the world. And we even may do some worksheet related to the Halloween topic. 

Happy Halloween to all of you who are celebrating it!

P.S. If you wish, take some time and look at the awesome linky party I am participating in. 

 

Organising drawers in a more efficient way

The best tricks are always the simplest. You see them and immediately think: how come I did not think of that?

When I was buying a dresser for the nursery it didn't even cross my mind that the drawers aren't very convenient way of organizing children's clothing. I always need the item on the bottom and then I make such a mess finding it, and I am back at the beginning with the clutter. And then I saw this and organised my drawers in that way.

So, I've reordered T-shirts, they were not folded in the classical way anymore - as a pile, but I folded them vertically, or in a line, one after another. A complicated description, I know. Here's a picture so that everything would be clear to you:

Works for the pants, as well. True, so far I tested it only on the children's clothes, but I believe you can do the same with the adults clothes.

I love it, now I finally match clothes fast, even during the rush hour (meaning while we are preparing for the kindergarten). To be honest, sometimes it is difficult to add new clothes (especially for a freak like me who has an obsessive need to put new things on the end, not the beginning), but the benefits of this organization type are still higher than the disadvantages, so now I fold my clothes only in this way.

Once upon a time, there were three little pigs...

My "big" girl really likes the story on the three little pigs, ever since she got that picture book for her second birthday . I was really impressed (yes, I'm boasting with my child, I know) when at the age of 2.5 years, she could babble on the adventures of  the three little pigs to anyone willing to listen (and made an effort to translate it, since she was just starting to talk). 

She is still into the story, even these days, so when I saw this post , I knew that it was something for us, a craft to try. Unfortunately, I could not stick pigs to toilet paper rolls, and a stapler was not a good idea because the little sister puts everything in her mouth. Then I stumbled upon this idea , and that was it, the decision was made, we'll play with the piglets!

First I've printed out the pigs , pasted them on a thin cardboard and then to the wooden sticks, the ones you get along with Chinese food (thanks to my maid of honour, who is very fond of decluttering and provides us with regular supplies).

Wooden house back

Wooden house front

The wooden house was made ​​as a combination of popsicles and already mentioned Chinese food sticks. I used a special glue for wood, which was the only glue that was able to withstand the challenges of everyday play.

Not having straw, we have used grass. Anyway, it looked like straw when it withered. You can't see it very well in this picture, but the various blocks were used as bricks.

Let the game begin!

P.S. I recommend it to be an outdoor activity, unless you do not mind grass / straw sticking out of the couch.

Colorful healthy snacks

When you serve food in a fun way, it is always easier to persuade children to eat something healthy, even the picky eaters.

Food served in this way can be a real piece of art, like these I pinned on Pinterest. But to be honest, most moms have no time for such things, and need simpler solutions.

Here's what I did - I cut fruit into smaller pieces and removed the seeds - in this case bananas, nectarines and grapes. If you want, you can peel the peaches / nectarines, but since this is the nutritient rich part, I didn't do it, but my girls are "big and grown up", as they say, so if you are preparing it for a younger child (under one year, or for a child who yet does not have a lot of teeth), it might be better to peel it.

Here's how it turned out: the preparation lasted longer  than it took the girls to make all the fruit disappear from the plate, as you can see the little fingers were pulling fast for these colorful and healthy snacks.

P.S. I was featured on this amazing linky party, go and have a look!