Christmas traditions in someone else’s house

Posted on December 2, 2016 by angathome

My friend Kristy is at it again with amazing Christmas activities and traditions for her children. Here is a pictorial compilation that may spark a few ideas for your own family.

“Truth in the Tinsel” is another bible based advent count-down to Christmas that is used in the same way as a Jesse Tree count-down. Kristy got together with some friends and did a symbol swap so they each ended up with one complete set for the days of December.

 

Her daughter is loving decorating the felt Christmas tree each morning before breakfast and her MIL is knitting this amazing wool nativity piece by piece for them.

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Kristy’s knock and run nativity is wrapped, labelled and ready to go. Both of us chose the same wooden nativity from Target this year as a fairly inexpensive way to bless a friend/neighbour and share the true story of Christmas with someone who may not have heard it before.

 

While not necessarily Christmas, this pizza shop invitation to play was so inviting that I want to have a go!

 

Kristy is super organised and makes up all kinds of amazing sensory tubs and activities for her little ones to enjoy. A little bit of preparation makes for some peaceful times ahead. Thanks for letting me share your ideas Kristy.

Now, all my other wonderful friends/readers who are busy making amazing traditions happen this Christmas at your house – how about some pics to share on my blog? We all feel inspired when we get to take a peak into what others are doing to make this Christmas season meaningful and special.

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Home-made Montessori style toddler toy

Posted on July 1, 2016 by angathome

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Wooden toys are expensive, especially if they are classified as educational or “Montessori” in nature, but there are so many items that you can easily and inexpensively make yourself at home. I found this wooden toy at an op shop recently and in 5 minutes had a new bead activity for my almost 2 year old toddler. All I did was cut off one of the wooden ends, gave it a quick sand and that was it.

I tipped the beads off into a little bowl and showed her how to look for the hole in each bead as she placed them onto the sticks. This was a challenge for her but she got the hang of it eventually. When she has finished with this fine motor activity, the beads can be used for colour sorting, lacing, loose parts play, scooping, transfer and a multitude of other ideas. Great for highchair play, table time, mat time or playpen time, it ticks all the boxes for me.

 

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Sensory tub: Animal habitat

Posted on November 13, 2014 by angathome

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Our latest sensory bin is an animal habitat. This time I had our 3 youngest help me set it up and decide what we should add to it.

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We started with a bunch of tins and boxes for caves and hills and draped a green cloth over the top .

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To our basic landscape we added artificial leaves for trees (old Christmas tree branches work well for this), blue jewels for water, black stones and a bunch of assorted wooden beads – and of course the animals.

You could easily change this idea to a different environment with a different coloured sheet – white for snow, yellow for desert etc. and add the appropriate animals and accessories.

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Apparently finding shelter and lining it with dry leaves so the animals would be warm and comfortable was the priority. We have been watching a lot of Bear Grylls survival DVDs recently and the conversation certainly revolved around his advice. (NB You know you have been watching TOO many Bear Grylls survival shows when your 4-year-old eats an ant, a bug and a daddy-long-legs spider within one week. Yes, I did say eats and yes, we have talked to him about the dangers of doing this and pointed out repeatedly that he is not starving nor in a life or death survival situation!)

 

 

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Sensory tub: fun with cars, roads and rocks

Posted on October 6, 2014 by angathome

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Our latest sensory tub was put together in 5 minutes flat using a bunch of cars, our rocks from the last tub and a basket of blocks that rarely sees the light of day. I replaced the oats sensory activity with cars with the two youngest boys in mind but was surprised to see that the girls also couldn’t keep out of it.

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I just tipped it all in but this is what it looked like after  my 4 1/2 and 9-year-old girls spent 20 minutes setting it up to their liking – I couldn’t have done it better myself!

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Everyone from the 2-year-old to the 11-year-old got in there!

Now, I would like to leave you with the false impression that everyone played together in perfect harmony while I sipped a hot cup of tea and smiled on my angelic brood. Unfortunately the sound track to the seemingly peaceful picture above went something like this:

He’s knocking down my building! Drive on the road! DRIVE ON THE ROADS! MUUUUUUUUM THEY”RE NOT DRIVING ON THE ROADS!!!! Don’t touch my rocks! He’s touching MY rocks! MUUUM, He’s wrecking EVERYTHING! – You get the picture. Pairs seems to be the ideal arrangement for our sensory tubs. Any more than that and the conflict starts.

The previous paragraph has been included for the benefit of some of my friends who operate under the delusion that our family is approaching perfection! 🙂

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This is what it looked liked a couple of hours later.

 

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Toddler busy bag exchange

Posted on October 29, 2013 by angathome

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A good friend of mine recently hosted an activity bag exchange for young children and toddlers. Each Mum involved made 13 copies of an activity of their choice. We all got together for a chat and to exchange our bags with each other, leaving us all with 13 different activities to use with our own children. Here are the wonderful bags the ladies made. (While none of these are original ideas, they can be found in so many places across the web that I haven’t tried to give credit to sources in most cases.)

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Pizza factory. The children follow the order cards to custom-make each pizza according to their customer’s preferences. (Links to free printable order cards and other busy bag swap ideas here.)

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Popstick pattern match. Use the coloured popsticks to copy the picture patterns. Several of the cards have plain colours on the back to convert  the activity to a colour match instead.

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Button snake. Great for learning how to do up buttons; excellent for fine motor control. The felt pieces are pushed on and off the “snake” using the button head.

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Pipecleaner bracelets. Thread the cut straws onto the pipecleaners to make patterns and jewellery. You could do this as a colour matching activity if you have the right straws and pipe cleaner colours

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Sandpaper and wool pictures. Again with patterns to follow and copy, placing the pieces of wool onto the sandpaper to make pictures.

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Paper clip feet. Slide the paper clips onto the toes by colour or write a number on each foot for counting practise as well as fine motor skills. Young children can just pile the paperclips on top if it is too difficult to push them on.

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Tissue paper pictures. Tear pieces of tissue or crumple into balls to decorate the pictures or make you own with the blank paper and glue. Stickers and crayons are added for extra fun as well.

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Paint swatch pegging. Pincer grip (necessary for writing later) is exercised by opening the pegs to match them to the correct colour swatch.

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Shape puzzle. A simple make-your-own puzzle with foam sheet cut into geometric shapes

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Pop-pom push jar. Push the pompoms through 2 sizes of holes into the plastic container. (Tip: Use a drill to make the holes.)

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My youngest enjoyed the pompom posting and soon figured out that he could shake the small ones back out again – saving me the trouble of taking the lid on and off for him!

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Felt chains. Perfect timing for Christmas! While the rest of the family are producing reams of paper chain to decorate the entire house (or is that just my children?) the youngest can be practising with felt and velcro, to be made and re-made over and over again.

The last 2 bags were mine and I made sewing and threading activities and a basic gluing bag. Sorry, no photos, but check here and here for some gluing and fine-motor ideas.)

Other posts you may find helpful:

Ziploc activity bags for toddlers and preschoolers

Toddler busy boxes 

Sensory tub ideas

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