pastry bears

A treat to make with the kids the next time you make a pie and have some left over pastry..

 

fire escape plan

I admit, the idea of a house fire really scares me. I've just encouraged the children to unlock and push open the sash window in T's room, climb out and go and sit by the letterbox to wait for me. I'm hoping that doing something out of the ordinary like that and having lots of discussion around it might help them remember the message " get out and stay out".

The likelihood of there being a fire when an adults not here to direct them is very unlikely- but you never know. How many times have you seen stories on the tv about very young children being taught things and then later behaving in a way that's beyond anyone's expectations -like dialing 111 for a parent when they can't.

Yesterday our preschool gave us some pamphlets and a story that explains the message that in the event of a fire you need to 'Get out! Stay out! There was also a resource for making a family escape plan- which with pre schoolers meant talking about the nearest exits to each room in the house. M hassled me from the time we left pre school until this afternoon to do it. She was drawn to the little 'stickers' used to name the rooms, doors and windows in your home.  I'm sure you could pick one up at any local firestation.

Go and check your smoke alarms : )

You can download a fire escape planner here www.fire.org.nz/fire-safety/escape-plans

letter formation

A post for the mum and 'teacher that doesn't (YET!) own an i pad' in me.

This is really cool, it's a site that shows:

- how lower case letters ( which children should learn first) are formed
- says the name of the letter
- says the sound the letter makes
- shows an animated picture of something that starts with that letter/ sound

I put M in front of it with a white board so she could watch and copy the letters she finds tricky.

Here's the link :
alphabet-eng/alphabet

coloured rice

There's a bit of talk recently about using food for play, I can see both sides of the debate so from now on will be more aware of how often we use ingredients like rice, salt and flour for play. A few months ago I made coloured rice for a ' finding bottle' similar to the blue and yellow one pictured. To make it, put white rice in zip lock bags, add food colouring, shake to colour and then pour the rice out onto a tray lined with paper towels to dry ( I put ours up in the hot water cupboard).  I had a small amount of left over rice so thought we'd use it for play today. M and T enjoyed it with their tea set using it as sugar- there was a bit of a mess but it was easily vacuumed up later ( which they also liked doing).

Here's some more ideas:

our rice

glued on to card

finding jars- see if the kids can find the things you name. I like the use of baby food jars.

pretty 'playscapes'

using it with our tea set as 'sugar'

with a spoon and funnel- fun!

another 'finding' activity but in a bag

finding in a large clear bottle

art works ( just sprinkled on a surface to be re used another time)

Here's a link to how to make colourful and edible rice ( obviously not after being played with!)  http://justbento.com

rainbow party theme

'Rainbow' or 'colour' parties seem to be quite popular party themes so I thought I'd post some of the things I did for the kids combined 3rd and 4th Rainbow party last year. I've also added some web findings and their sources. It was so much fun to plan for- and reeeeally easy : )

her cake

his cake

party table- covered in crepe paper rainbow colours

rainbow party bags ( just a rainbow notepad and coloured paper bags)

kids were asked to dress up a rainbow colour or colours

decos

place names, rainbow cupcakes cooked in icecream cones

yum

welcome banner

party was held a a playcentre so the kids could use the playground

rainbow cake http://www.marthastewart.com

rainbow playdough as favours http://www.nicolehastings.com/tag/childrens-rainbow-party/

rainbow jelly oranges http://babyology.com.au

have kids help make the invitations http://www.makeandtakes.com

make card mobiles to decorate easypreschoolcraft.blogspot.com

rainbow fruit kebabs blogs.babble.com

something for me

I bought this wooden tall boy off trade me for $50. I needed a smaller set of drawers for our bedroom for two reasons. One, I needed to be forced to have a serious clothes cull as there's so many tops, skirts and pants shoved in my old drawers that I don't like, fit or wear and two, we were crying out for some more floor space. Here's the 'before' picture from trade me.

I'm not sure what type of wood it is but apart from some water marking it was in good condition. After removing the handles I stripped the varnish off with paint stripper, sanded it, stained it and applied two coats of polyurethane. I put the old bakelite handles back on (because I liked them) and now it looks like this.

I'm really pleased with it. My clothes cull was a very serious one so after deciding to hang up even more things in my wardrobe my drawers are looking very organised and tidy- there may even be a teeny bit of space for a few purchases in Wellington next month!

I sold the 'old' drawers for $39 ( they got a bargain) and since I had stain, sandpaper and polyurethane in the garage this project really only cost me my time and $11- nice.

I'm going to hang this cool mirror a friend gave me too