first day of school

I love this post found here: http://mollymoo.ie/. Gorgeous ways to show/remind your wee ones that you love them and that you're thinking of them on their first school days. I am going to do the little red heart on the hand one in 5 months and 19 days time- awwwwwwww

 

Written by MollyMoo:

The Kissing Hand by Motherhood on a Dime

Kiss his or her little hand and draw a heart over the kiss to remind them you love them throughout the day – sweet eh? defo doing that this year

Back to school time capsule by MollyMoo

A year-on-year funny little record of how my one and only grows and changes during the year

Pocket Hearts filled with your love

An enduring favourite idea of mine by CurlyBirds – for a quick reassuring squeeze during the day.

(she also created hearts for emotional first day mums and dads too here :)

A hug for a day

A simple handprint craft I did with Molly for her second year at montessori. The teacher had her take it off (for conformity!) but it was on long enough to reassure her when reassurance was needed. (apologies cannot remember the original source of this image)

I like these Ideas too:

present from the fairies

photos of first days

lunch box notes

plastic eye pictures

We have a huge packet of plastic eyes so I like coming up with ways to use them. I have thought of doing some eye bombing with them.. so fun!

But we'll save that for another day. Today I gave them paper, glue and the packet of eyes. They glued some eyes on and then drew their pictures around them using oil pastels.

a very friendly spider

alien

going up the stairs at pre school

Tarzan and Turk from the Tarzan 2 movie we watched last weekend

children's books

 “You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be -
I have a mother who read to me.”
Strickland W. Gillilan

This post is for those who like to read to kids or give books as gifts.

I love reading to our kids and I like to see what others are reading too. Often if I come across a list of enjoyed kid's books I'll write the titles and authors down and look them up when I'm next at the library ( or, if it's a grown up book, I'll put it on my 'to read' list on http://www.goodreads.com) I think I'm sorted for book ideas for the nest 2 years!

We buy lots from http://www.bookdepository.co.uk and from http://www.scholastic.co.nz catalogues when I know I'm going to be at ( or near) a school for a while.

I choose children's books for lots of reasons. Some I remember from my own childhood, I like classic stories I feel that they should know, I'll choose books by authors that I know are great and funny stories that I think will make us laugh. I like books that have a nice rhythm or rhyme for reading out loud and stories that will teach them something. I'm also drawn to beautiful illustrations.

Some of these are ours and some are favourites that we keep getting out from the library. Our kids are 3 and 4.

My mum and Dad make me laugh by Nick Sharratt-this has a fun twist at the end. There's lots of high frequency words in this book so it's great for early readers

Willbee the Bumblebee by C Smith and M Thomson-gorgeous silliness. We like to play the cd that comes with it as it has cool sound effects.

The Nickle Nackle tree by Lynley Dodd- a favourite, especially when they were smaller, it has a lovely pattern and rhyme

The Tiger Who Came to Tea written and illustrated by Judith Kerr- love this one because it's just silly and heartwarming

Houdini the disappearing Hamster by Terence Blacker- you have to look for the little hamster hiding on each page- I wish you could get hamsters in NZ!

Welcome to the Zoo by Alison Jay- no text but beautiful detailed images our kids love and you can follow different characters through the book to see what they get up to

1001 Things to Spot Long Ago by Usbourne books- I have found T asleep with this one on his chest

The Doll's house Fairy by Jane Hay- a library favourite about a fairy that moves into a little girl's doll's house while her dad is sick in hospital

The Best Loved Bear by Diana Noonan- this one has a reassuring message.

Fairy Tales told by Berlie Doherty, iluustrated by Jane Ray- the pictures in this are gorgeous and it cost me 50c at a fair!

Dougal the Digger by Benedict Blathwayt- A heartwarming story with a page of lift the flaps fun

Dinosaurs Love UNderpants by C Freedman and B Cort- a silly, fun story with real dinosaur names and gorgeous colourful images

washi tape whimsy

I love washi tape. You can buy it lots of places like on trade me from the sellers gizago1 and washinz.

"Washi (pronounced wash-ee) masking tape is a high quality tape made from rice paper, which has become a favourite amongst crafters worldwide. The benefits for washi masking tape is that you can rip it, reposition it, write on it, and more." (washinz)

Below is a whole pile of images I've collected from internet wanderings that show off washi tape and it's squillions of possible uses. Fabric tape is fun too : )