When Muski asked to get out water play this afternoon, I thought for a moment about finding the plastic tub and setting up the little table with towels and various accessories…. I also thought about just saying no. It’s cold and it wasn’t long before we had to leave for school pick up… Then I stopped and thought about how we could make this work for everyone, how we could keep it simple and make it easy.

I filled the kitchen sink with a little bit of soapy water, dumped in some dirty plastic bowls and cups etc and passed him an apron. Muski spent the next thirty minutes, washing, re-washing, stacking, and drying this dishes.

He got to play with water, and I got the dishes washed! Simple. Easy.

We are playing along with Childhood101′s We Play Link up again this week… Loads of great play ideas to share so go take a look!

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It was a get every single puzzle and game out of the cupboard and spread them across the floor kind of day.

I have to confess that this kills me. The fact that he gets out and unpacks 5 different puzzles and three games drives me nuts, especially because I am the sucker that ends up sorting it all out and packing it all away. Plus, I have to admit, I am not a big fan of puzzles and board games.

The girls became puzzle crazy at about age three and Muski is no different. He’s been putting together our 20+ piece floor puzzles on his own since he was about 2 and a half and he’s now tackling some of the bigger puzzles with a fair bit of success. And there are loads of benefits of puzzles. They are good for developing and practising a heap of skills, such as problem solving, eye hand co-ordination, spatial awareness, memory etc.

Despite all of that I still can’t get excited about puzzles.
It’s a personal thing. I find them boring. Once you’ve done a puzzle then you’ve done it, there’s no new way to do it, it’s done. And board games…. kiddy board games? Snore! I know, I know, bad mother…. even more bad preschool teacher (with worser grammar).

Puzzles and games just don’t float my boat.
They float my kid’s boats though, and that’s ok.

It’s ok became Muski has spent a good hour putting each puzzle together and setting up Mr Potato heads and matching shopping items to shopping lists. Sure it’s not the puppet show I had planned, but then this isn’t about me. He’s having a great time, and learning as well…. so all that I need to do is attempt to pack up the mess with a smile on my face, if I can!

I’m joining in with childhood101′s We Play link up today – head on over for more great play ideas!

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Muski was given this doll as a baby. His name is ‘Doll Doll’ and he loves him very much.

A long piece of cloth and Muski can wear Doll Doll in a sling just like I am wearing his baby brother.

We’ve also been singing lullabies to our babies. Our current favourite is the Italian Fa La Nana Bambino

Fa la Nana Bambino

Fa la nana bambino
Fa la nana bambino
Fa la ninna, fa la nanna
Nella braccia della mamma
Fa la ninna bel bambin,
Fa la nanna bambin bel,
Fa la ninna, fa la nanna
Nella braccia della mamma.

And a rough (very) translation…
Go to sleep baby
Go to sleep baby
Go to sleep, go to sleepy
In the arms of your mother,
Go to sleep, lovely child,
Go to sleepy, child so lovely,
Go to sleep, go to sleepy
In the arms of your mother.

We are joining in Childhood101.com’s We Play link round-up today. Go check it out for loads of other great play ideas.

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We build and we sing these building songs...

“Build it up,
Build it up,
Build it higher.
Build it up,
up,
up,
into the sky.
Build it up
Build it up
Build it higher…
Build it up
up
up
into the sky!”

Or…

“Here’s a house with a wall,
With a wall,
With a wall.
(put arms up as a wall)
Here’s a house with a floor,
With a floor,
With a floor.
(lay arms flat like a floor)
Here’s a house with a roof,
With a roof,
With a rooooooooooof…
(build a roof with your arms then wobble it about)
CRASH!
(crash arms into lap)
There’s no house any more, any more.
(clapping)
There’s no house any more!”

Playing along with Childhood101.com’s We Play – head on over for more play ideas.

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Cars, duplo, animals, wooden blocks, gum nuts, threading reels… all are good to categorise and sort.

Today I put his new found sorting skills to good use… and left him to sort the clean cutlery into the draw. He thought this was fabulous! So did I!

This post is part of childhood101′s We Play series – head on over and check out all the other great play ideas!

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‘Car World’ was recently constructed in my living room….

At first it was just a line up of cars, then it became some roads, then a bridge which, with the return of the Big Girls from school, turned into a ramp that flew cars off the table and into a tangled heap on the floor.

Then there was a request for songs…. car songs.

Take Me Driving…
Take me driving in your car car…
Take me driving in your car car…
Take me driving in your car, car…
Oh take me driving in your car.

Horn it goes, beep! beep!
Horn it goes, beep! beep!
Beep! beep! beep! beep! beep! beep!
Oh take me driving in your car.

Windscreen wipers go swish! swish!
Windscreen wipers go swish! swish!
Swish! swish! swish! swish! swish! swish!
Oh take me driving in your car.

And our own added verse….
Cars, they go crash! crash!
Cars, they go crash! crash!
Crash! crash! crash! crash! crash! crash!
Oh take me crashing in your car!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star My Mummy has a Motor Car
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,
My Mummy has a motor car.
Push the button, pull the choke,
Off we go in a cloud of smoke!
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,
My Mummy has a motor car.

Traffic Light Rhyme.
Stop Says the red light,
Go says the green.
Wait says the yellow light
Blinking in between!

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The Teach/Learn Blogging Carnival hosted by Science@home is for anyone, because we are all teachers and learners. This month our bloggers have come up with some wonderful suggestions for fun things to do with your kids, ways to help them learn and thoughts on what learning is. Please read to the end to find links to other blogs, you might find a wonderful new blog to follow.

I am easily excited by all the fabulous fancy art and craft projects there are out there on thousands of fabulous blogs. I am dazzled by the thought of making x or creating y with my kids. So dazzled that I often forget the joy of simply creating. My kids don’t forget though, especially the Small Boy.

For little people (I’m talking mostly under fours here but this is relevant to older kids too) art is about the process of exploring, experimenting and creating for the sake of creating. It is not about a finished product. This idea of ‘process not product’ is important, very important.

What it means is that as an adult, and a parent, we need to give up the idea of a master piece to hang on the fridge, because when you are two, the end product is usually not your top priority.

A little person’s priority is to get in there and paint. To see what the colours look like on the paper, to mix them together until they are a muddy greyish brown. To feel the paint on their hands and see how they can use their fingers to make marks on the paper. To paint up their arms, on their faces and in their hair. To smell the paint and maybe even to taste it. To paint and paint until there is a soggy hole in the middle of the paper. Then to paint and paint and paint some more… and then start all over again.

All that might seem like just ‘making a mess’ to us stagnant, un-fun adults, but it’s not. It’s an amazing learning process happening before our very eyes. It’s learning about colours and cause and effect and practising large and small muscle skills and exploring concepts of mixing and change, and all kinds of other important stuff.

So what do you do when you let go of expecting that master piece and you stop trawling the blogs for fabulous yet product oriented art activities for your little people?

You get back to basics.
You let go of expectations.
You get out good quality, age appropriate, simple, art materials and you create.
You enjoy the process right along side your little person.

Draw until you have used every coloured crayon in the box and the paper is almost entirely coloured.
Paint with your fingers and mix all the colours together, enjoying how it feels as well as how it looks.
Glue and glue and glue some more scraps of paper onto your page, layer upon layer upon layer.
Create patterns and colours and shapes.
Live in the moment.
Create in the moment

There is plenty of time to make that nifty thing another day or try that ace idea next week… for today, just let go and create!

Visit Science@home if you are interested in participating in next month’s Teach/Learn carnival. Please take the time to visit the other participants and see what they have to say:

• 5 Places to Teach the 5 Senses – Monique at Your Cheeky Monkey has some great suggestions for places to go and use all five senses when playing with your kids. (@Y_C_Monkey)
• Don’t look now, but… you’re being watched – Sarah from Untenured Teacher is asking about what we really want kids to learn in the classroom, and how are we unconsciously teaching them?
• Make Your Own Abacus – Staci at Teaching Money to Kids has an amazing activity to make your own abacus, which you can eat when you’ve finished.
• Teach/Learn Blogging Carnival – Kids and Learning – Marita from Stuff With Thing and her daughter have been travelling around the city in different ways and working out how to walk to Queensland. (@leechbabe)
• How to Study Like a Black Belt – The Original SuperParent can tell you how to study like a black belt, with great tips for focusing and getting the most out of your learning. (@superparents_au)
• Learning is a Journey – Deb at Science@home invites you think of learning in a different way and join your children on their journey. (@ScienceMum)
• Art for little kids – Katepickle at Picklebums encourages us to let go of our adult expectations and just enjoy the creative process with our small children. (@katepickle)
• Learning As We Walk – The Planning Queen walks to school with you and learns all sorts of things on the way. (@PlanningQueen)
• B-I-N-G-O is the name of the game – AmandaB from HomeAge shows her own learning in action – the maths game didn’t quite work, but she’s worked out how to modify it for next time.
• What’s In a Reflection – Miss Carly at Early Childhood Resources has a beautiful story about babies learning all the time, even when they are only a few months old. (@ECresources)
• Developing Brains: Laying the Pathways to Learning – Christie from Childhood 101 talks about the importance of sensory learning for early brain development and has lots of ideas for play that engages the five senses. (@Childhood101)
• The Magical Threshold Of School-Age – Mamapoekie at Authentic Parenting wonders why we have a point that we call school age and how children are not ready one day but ready the next. (@mamapoekie)
• Why you should help your child follow their passions – CatWay at Adventures with Kids helps her son learn about dinosaurs. (@adventureskids)

Thanks for joining us! We hope to see you next month.

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Muski and I are playing along with Childhood101′s We Play link up today!

We’ve been busy playing farms today!

First we had to decide which of our large selection of animals lived on a farm and which didn’t (Can you see two who probably shouldn’t be there?). Then we found some nice green grass (an off cut of green polar fleece) and some pine cones, rocks and seed pods for food. We used some wooden blocks for fences because we know from watching our neighbours that the cows and the horses don’t like to be in the same paddock together.

And of course we had to sing about farms too!
Our favourite farm animal song of the moment….

I Went to Visit a Farm One Day!

I went to visit a farm one day,
I met a *insert name of animals here* along the way,
and what do you think I heard it say?
*sound of animal here*

I went to visit a farm one day,
I met a cow along the way,
and what do you think I heard it say?
Moo! Moo! Moo!

Let your child choose the animal and say it’s name in the appropriate part of the song, and then make the sound at the end. Of course the animal also needs to dance around the farm when it is their turn.

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Threading can be a big ask for a two and a half year old, but my boy has had enough practice trying to copy his big sisters that I thought he’d probably enjoy having a go.

To make threading activities less frustrating for little fingers make sure you have a stiff ‘string’. We used those lengths of plastic string that you can use to braid and tie fancy things with, but a cheap roll of thin whipper snipper cord works fabulously too. Make sure the items you offer to thread with have big holes and are not too big, so that it is easy to put the strong through the hole and grab the other end to pull it out.

Some things you could thread…
Large beads. (We had foam beads the girls were given as a gift)
Drinking straws cut into short lengths.
Patty pans with holes punched in the middle.
Paper streamers with holes punched in one end
Rolled Paper Beads you make yourself
Scrap paper, card board, recycled materials with holes punched in them.
Anything else you can find that has a hole or could easily be given a hole!

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The frogs are jumping in this pond…. perhaps because of the big lizards who are waiting on the side to eat them?

You only need a centimetre or two of water to make for some great fun. Pop a towel underneath to catch any drips and it’s not nearly as messy as you think.

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