"My beautiful BIG world!"

The other day, for some creative indoor playtime I brainstormed with my nearly 2 year old what to play with.

It was way too hot outside  and the kids were in need of some down time.

After much consideration and a biscuit she declared that she wanted to play with horsies (horses).

My brother had given her a set of little plastic horses last year so out they came, we found bits and pieces from around the house to make them a nice home as shown in the photo above.

* blue felt sheet for the ocean

*yellow felt sheet for the sand

*green felt sheet for the grass

*3 very different shells for the sand (spiky, smooth and pointy, white, speckled and brown)

out of our bathroom.

*a small blue container lid for the horses drinking water

*some light brown wool for a hay bale

*2 wooden trays that I picked up from an opp shop last year that make great animal pens

(at 80c and 50c)

*horse set (12 horses, a tree, stables and the horse head lid of the horse container that soon became a horse land rock :P

 Both Declan and Thalia became very involved as the scene was created and both had a say in where things ought to go.

It wasn't long before Declan picked up a shell and asked "Mummy, can I hear the beach in this shell?"...too cute

It soon became a shell listening experience and remembering things about when we went to the beach and what it was like.

After the horses had a tour of the beach, the hay bale was shared around so all the horses had some lunch and each horse had their turn at the drinking water....some of the horses started falling down with all the little hands moving in their land.

Declan decided that "they must be tired Mummy, they need to sleep!".

Some horses got moved to the stables, some in the pens and some said they didn't need a nap at all.

Declan's latest prized possession, a plastic crocodile from Dream world that he named crunch and now sleeps with...soon made his way into the nice cool water.

Declan informed the horses that he was a friendly crocodile and would be nice.

Soon declan started thinking more about the beach and quickly went to the toy box to get some more creatures.

Out came the "deep  sea creatures". Sharks, whales, a crab, seals and land creatures too. Chickens, a goose, sheep, donkeys, a duck, a dog and so on.

We were soon singing Old McDonald's farm taking turns naming the animals in play. Thalia lost interest and went to draw with Daddy but Declan was amazed at this little world.

During play and animals chatting to each other, Declan proudly declared this world "my Big beautiful world!"

It was a great experience for all involved and well worth the little effort of finding a few odd and ends to start the kids imagination go wild! They soon completed their own beautiful world, learning all sorts of things in the process.....the process not the product was where the magic was.

Below is a photo of Declan proudly lying down next to his "beautiful BIG world" :D

I recently found a face book page that creates and sells imaginative play sets that inspire play and promote children's natural sense of wonder...using mostly recycled, re purposed and homemade.

If your interested check them out at Homemade rainbows

Painting with water

King Declan and Thalia painting it up

 We love to paint!!!
My munchkins often ask me if they can do painting as they enjoy it so much :)

Painting opens up a child's world of colour and imagination. Children revel in the experience of brushing, splattering, dripping, squeezing and squelching paint. The resulting picture is much less important than the creative process and the enjoyment of the experience.

Painting is bound to make quite a mess.....well at least sometimes.

Why not paint with water on a nice sunny day to make for some exciting outside water play.
Easy to prepare, no cleaning involved, no mess, cheap and fun fun fun.

 All you need is a bucket, bowl or container of water and some paint brushes and the fun can begin.

Fill your bucket with water.
Find a suitable surface for painting such as paths, walls, fences and so on.

My munchkins as you can see from the photo's were thrilled...
Thalia painted the house walls while King Declan painted his Castle!!! :P
As the painting and their little imaginations grew they moved on to painting/washing outdoor toys, painting the fence, painting pavers, watching how painting things changed it's colour and watched as the hot sun dried the "paint"

Endless possibilities to explore and all of it based around water.....a great activity now the days are getting hotter.


Other things to try:

Using paint rollers instead of paint brushes
Paint shadows
Add colour to the water.

Encourage your children to embrace the world of painting and they won't even now that they are learning new concepts, colour recognition, painting techniques, using their fine and gross motor skills, expressing themselves on a different level and so much more......all while having a blast :D

too cute sock puppets

Sock Puppets - a fun, creative, imaginative activity that is cheap and affordable and very very much loved!

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Secretly I have a stash of Funky looking socks brought from a cheap store waiting for the perfect day....a day where noses are running, the weather is not so bright and the house is starting to go just that little bit insane....Volla..."come on kids lets make some silly sock puppets, who want's to help mummy" :P

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The munchkins had great delight when Mummy got out some of her special button containers, lots of "ohhh's" and "ahhh's" as they picked out the perfect eyes and nose for their puppets.

It was Declan's idea to use ribbon to make a mouth, so out came the ribbons and the selection was made.

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They were eager to play with their puppets and see the finished result of their faces, off the went to prepare for puppet play, getting excited each time mummy sowed on another button.

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Thalia decided she wanted a "happy" puppet and Declan thought hard before he let me know his puppet was "going to be be crazy".

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Mummy arranged the mouths accordingly to the puppets personalities and no sooner were they taken away to be the objects of play for the afternoon...reading books, sharing kisses and cuddles, picking up things in their mouths, talking in extra special voices with help from little imaginations, introducing themselves to special toys, having tours of the house and so on.

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The puppets now live with our other special toys and both my munchkins take much joy and pride in wearing their special friend on their arm for a play date! :)

Daddy wearing Thalia's happy puppet as Thalia shares her book

kisses x

posing with her puppet

Declan and his crazy friend! :P