Tots on a Tuesday {Walk, anyone?}

Today, I thought it would be a nice idea to go for a walk. It's getting all spring-like, and a walk gives a perfect opportunity to learn in an informal, fun way.  The sun had been shining since first thing this morning, and after a miserable day yesterday, a walk seemed like a nice plan.

Tots love to get out, and Mums love to get tots out.

We love it.  Honestly.

I mean, getting 6 of the children out for a walk is simple.  Simple, I say.

Hmmmmmmm.

"We're going for a walk - everyone come and get reaaaad-deeeeeeeee" was yelled up the stairs, in the hope that all ears would hear, and all feet would start moving in the right direction.

Hmmmmmmm.

So, I had to go up and find the youngest two, who were taking it in turns to turn on and off the tap in the bath.  As you do.

Reprimands issued, they were ushered downstairs, whilst poking my head around the door of the girls' room to tell the other 4 to come downstairs. (Josh wasn't coming, and Daniel was out with Daddy at B&Q).

At this point, they all start congregating, AT THE SAME TIME, in the hall.  All jostling and pushing over each other to find their shoes.  Which are all neatly lined up in the shoe cupboard.

NOT.

(Is my shoe cupboard SUPPOSED to be tidy??)

"MUUUUUUUM.  I CAN'T FIND MY SHOES!"

"Look in the cupboard".

"I DID"

"Did you look properly?"

"Yes"

"Really?  Like, "Mummy" properly?"

Mummy looks, and find shoes.  A repeat of my Sunday morning ritual, usually accompanied by me tossing hats, gloves, dirty socks, spoons, and other random items from in the shoe cupboard, over my shoulder, like a crazed person bailing out water from a sinking ship.  Yes, that's my Sunday morning routine.

It's not yours?

That's nice for you.

"Would someone get Tabitha more socks, and Simeon too?"

Asked again.

And again.

Apparently children doing jobs become temporarily deaf.

So, I go upstairs myself.  Said girl needing socks because apparently it's good to smear pancakes on them at lunch, by standing up in your high chair, on the pancake you've dropped there.

Simeon needs socks because, as tots randomly do, he keeps taking them off.

Why?

"They're "spicy" Mummy"....

What on EARTH are SPICY socks, anyway? I'm guessing that child has some sensory issue going on, but he can't go out in the freezing cold with no socks on.

I sit him on the stairs to put on the socks.

There's a HUGE hole in the bottom of the socks.  A good mother would go upstairs and get another pair.  A starting-to-get-frazzled Mum of 8 just figures it's better than no socks, and it'll be FINE.

I look up at him, and realise his t-shirt has the remnants of pancakes, syrup and ice-cream.

His coat will get zipped up, right? It'll be FINE.

"Where are Tabitha's shoes?", I yell.

"I can only find one - she had the other one earlier and I can't find it".

Great.  That would be the pair, slightly too small for her, that she ended up wearing on Sunday because I couldn't find the other one of the pair she SHOULD be wearing.

So, was I going to need to put an odd pair on!??!  Slippers?  An extra pair of socks?  All of this going on in my mind whilst I search every room in the house.  Behind the sofa.  In the kitchen.  All of the unlikely places a shoe would be, because one-year-olds don't leave things in obvious places, right? Under the dining room table I found one of the pair that DID fit.  Hmmmmmm.  Is this the one I COULD find on Sunday, or the OTHER one?  Back to the shoe cupboard, and I hoked through it again....where I found the OTHER one of the pair that FIT! Which beggars the question, was it there on Sunday all along, and I searched like a child instead of like a Mummy?....

Never mind, two shoes, and on they went.  Jumper on.  Cute baby.

"Can someone get the pram and baby carrier out of the mini-bus?"

"Erm, Mum, Dad went OUT in the mini-bus".

Of COURSE he did.

At this point, a Mum hits a moment.  It's that point where you decide whether you give up, or carry on.  You balance up all the pros and cons, and make a lightening speed decision, based on all the facts you can pull from your brain.  I had already put SO much effort in, I was determined, in a crazy Mummy kind of way, to carry on.  I was sure there was another baby sling somewhere, and Simeon could walk, albeit slowly.

I WAS GOING OUT.

This time I needed to hoke about in the coat cupboard.  The light doesn't work in there, and I swear Narnia is in the back of it somewhere.  It's that big. I stuck my arms in up to the neck, moving them about, blindly, feeling for what may be a sling.

Was that it? Nope, it's a bag.

Ooooh, ooooh - nope, a bag with yarn.  (They are ALL round my house - bags with yarn.  I have yarn issues)

Finally, KA-CHOW!

A sling!

Small people with coats and shoes on - check.

Middle sized people with shoes and....

"Abi - what ARE you wearing?  It doesn't really match, and you're wearing summer shoes.  You look completely home-schooled"  (What?  You don't say that to your children?  Did you know there was even a "home-schooled look".  Don't answer that.  Especially if you send your children to school.  I don't want to know....)

"Never mind - it kind of matches, and it will look better once your coat is zipped up..."

"Elijah and Susie, it's NOT the summer - will you put a coat on RIGHT NOW!"

That will be the Scottish blood in them.  But, they would certainly have been moaning fairly quickly without a coat.

Middle sized people with shoes and coats.

Right, my turn.  Boots.  Hoodie.  Scarf.  Coat.  Sli....

"MUUUUUUUUM!!!!" (punctuated with sobs)  "I fell over..." (now sitting on floor, pulling up trouser leg)  "and my leg huuuuuuuurts".  (revealing a tiny, imperceptible graze)

"Oh dear! I'm sure you'll be really brave.  It'll be fine....."

Moving swiftly on.  (I'm experienced - I know when a hurt needs a fuss, and when a small person needs to man up, in the most loving sense possible...)

Sling on.  Baby in sling.

Print-outs of "signs of spring".  Penc....

"Has anyone seen where all the PENCILS have gone?"...

Shouted out the door, like a fisher-woman.

So common.

A quick glance around finds them under the dining table (maybe I should start EVERY search there?), on the lounge floor, and on the kitchen counter.  Of course.  Isn't that where everyone keeps pencils?

And we were off!

We got as far as several doors down.  We found the first thing from our list to identify "sign of spring".

Oh the sweet moment, when your tot gets excited about SNOWDROPS!

"Mummy, mummy LOOK - it's the flowers from on the paper!"

Then we discovered some pussy willow.  Not on the list, but perfectly fuzzy, soft and stroke-able. OF course, needing to be stroked by them all. Cute.

Then, they heard birds singing, which is also on the list.

Did you know that they only sing in spring - it's on the sheet, so it must be right.

Right?....

I'm fairly certain it's a sign that it's daytime, but who am I but a humble mother?

Then we saw bulbs pushing up.  That was on the sheet - only the sheet specified bluebells, which apparently are some of the earliest to show up - if you live in a dell somewhere, in the woods.  Because bluebells don't really happen in gardens.  But, the picture just looked like bulbs pushing up, so then I had to tell them that they re a sign of spring, but not EXACTLY what was on the list.

OCD Mummy moment.

"But, I can just tick it off anyway, Mum, can't I?  It's a bulb!"

Sure, that's fine.

Why they didn't just have "bulbs" is anyone's guess...

Then we saw another sign of spring.  Two people doing something with a huuuuuge silver tube.

Sorry, not a sign of spring, a sign that children are about to be hugely distracted from the purpose of the walk.

"Mummy, what are they doing?"

Mummy, assessing the scene as quickly as possible, with her omniscient mind working overtime. (Because, as you know, in the eyes of a child, we know EVERYTHING.  No pressure, then...)

"Erm, I think they are putting a chimney liner in"

(Chimney cover was off, scaffolding was up, long thingy looked liked a liner....)

Aforementioned person doing the worked looks over and nods, smiling.

Phew.

Score.

"That one up there is a man, and the one down at the bottom is a woman"  says a small person, very loudly, whilst Mummy hopes she is right, and hasn't just offended a girly looking young man.  Mummy checks for herself, and sighs with relief, realising small person is right.

Phew.

10 minutes from home.  Only YARDS from home.  About 30 minutes after announcing departure.

Daddy drives into the street.

Pram gets retrieved.  Son joins the walk.  We make it out of the street.

It's lovely. Walking in a village.  Signs of spring all around.  Trying to keep small people from running onto the road.  Really relaxing.

Then, a tot sees something in the near distance.

"Mummy, a DOG - woof woof"

"Don't touch it unless you ask!"

Nice chat with villagers.  Awkward moment where they are talking to you like they know you, and you can't think how you know them.  Rapidly trying to remember who they are, whilst they talk to you, seeming to know all about you. (To be fair, family with 8 children is slightly more memorable than "woman with cute dog"....)  Thankfully, I remember, and conversation can become more intelligent. (PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one this happens to?!?) All the while, the children are stroking the lovely little dog, whilst the woman says "He has NEVER bitten anyone", as you hope it's not going to be famous last words, as your tot pulls its tail....

Crowning moment of the day, thus far.  Meeting someone you haven't seen for ages, and they ask "How do you manage to stay looking so YOUNG?"

In my mind, thinking, "you haven't seen my horrendous passport photo...."

Out loud, saying "you're SO kind....." whilst feeling totes awks.....

SHOULD I look older?

Maybe they actually think I'm, like, 52, and then looking 45 would be good?

Who knows...

It's kinda' like the "You don't LOOK like you've got 8 children", as someone said tonight, at the hairdresser, and I've heard SO many times before.  What does THAT look like?  The mother of 8?  Haggard?  Obese?  Stressed?  Grey?  Certifiably insane?

Who knows....

The walk turned out to be lovely.  No major incidents.  No loss of life.  No injuries.

Just lots of children, enjoying the outdoors, finding signs of spring.

(and looking JUST like her Grandma Cordle...)

"Mum, can you take a picture of me with these flowers", as child plunks down, on the wet, dirty grass, for a photo op...

Guess the skirt was going to need washing, anyway...

Oh, there WAS the moment when we walked along and a child asked

"Mummy, what's that building?"

"Ermmmm.... that's a SCHOOL."

"Oh!"

Seriously, I need to educate my children better....

Oops.

Then, we got back.

"Don't walk into the house with dirty shoes on!"

"Put your shoes and co..."

"In the cupboard.  Yes Mum, we know...."

And we were back.  Back from the walk.  It sounds so simple, right?

"Going for a walk".

Welcome to my world.

I vaguely remember the days when I would plan to do something, and immediately execute the plan with no complications.

But then, those were the days BEFORE children.

Would I want to leave these crazy moments behind, and go back to BC? - before children?

NO WAY!

I said to Robert just last night,  being a parent of small children is not always easy. Sometimes it makes you feel like pulling your hair out.  Sometimes it's downright CRAZY! Sometimes a lot of the time, there's mess. But, always - ALWAYS - it's a blessing.  The best things in life often involve effort and are filled with trying moments.  They are totally worth it.  Totally.  And, it will pass. OHHHHHHH too quickly.  It already is. Too, too fast.

I could have stayed at home.  I could have given up.  I could have abandoned my plan.  But, then I'd never do anything with my little ones.  Life simply takes effort, and I like it that way.  You need to embrace the crazy, and go with the flow.

It's like OUR walk, with Jesus.  We can start off the day, hoping to walk well.  We have great plans, but plans don't always work out in our spiritual life, any better than they do in physical life. Distractions come.  We face difficulties and trials. We trip up and fall.  We struggle to find what we need.  But, at the centre of it all is our Father, helping us.  And, just like my walk today, we need to determine to walk that walk anyway, fighting through the things that would try and pull us down or distract us. We know our walk will bring us blessing and joy.  It will bring us a fresh understanding of God, and His greatness, and His goodness. It will bring us a renewed sense of God's provision and patience. Always worth it.

Walk, anyone?....

Tots on a Tuesday {Trouble, but totally adorable, Tabitha}

So far, my "Tots on a Tuesday" posts have been more about what I do with my little boys, who are 4 and 2.

All of a sudden, it's Tabitha that's also becoming my "Tot"!

She is getting bigger, and suddenly getting more "grown up".  She is understanding more, doing more, and trying to talk more.  I told her she needed her nappy changed, and off she toddled and got a nappy and wipes! She's no longer my baby, she's growing up.

Today, that truth hit home in a slightly different way.  She's started doing things that I remember Simeon doing - pulling the children's plates and bowls out of the drawer they live in.  Then, she was pulling my purse out of my handbag, which I quickly returned to where it belonged.  This afternoon, I was doing science with the older children, and thought Simeon and Tabitha were just playing upstairs. I should have learnt by now - silence, with tots, is not always golden...

I went upstairs, later on, to find a trail of disaster.

My purse (pocketbook?) was now upstairs, totally emptied, with the contents strewn across the girls bedroom.  The toy room had toys all over the floor.  There was an entire bottle of strawberry scented bubble bath tipped all over my bath in my en suite.

Yes, my tot is getting in "trouble".

To be fair, a good part of it was her older brother leading her astray.  Regardless, it heralds the beginning of a new phase.   I have come to realise this phase can be challenging...

For a first time mother, this phase can be exhausting, and leave you feeling like the men in white coats should be on stand by, ready to whisk you away.  It's a stage where they are working out they can DO stuff, and then doing it.  ALL THE TIME. It's a trying stage, for sure.  It doesn't need to be a negative one, though.  If you are going to be a mother who takes charge of her life, this phase just requires a few simple realisations.

* It's a time for training
The reason why a small person starts to get into mischief is because they are developing and learning.  They are trying out new found skills, and their wonderfully created little brains are working out that they can do things they couldn't do before. To begin with, it's not wilful disobedience, it's just exploring.  This is where the training part comes in, if you want to try to avoid immense frustration.  You need to then TEACH them what they should and shouldn't do.  Train them what's ok, and what's not ok. Take the TIME to do it. It doesn't just happen naturally, I have found! It's our role, as the parent, to teach them. It's not easy, and it takes a lot of time, and effort, but it IS worth it.

* It's a phase
When you remember that "this too, shall pass", it helps you get through it.  Sure, some days will seem looooooong, and you will be pleading for it to be bedtime, as your little one gets into one pickle after another. However, it won't be long before they are out of that phase, and have learnt what they can and can't do. They grow up SO quickly. I am sure it was just yesterday that it was Joshua I was training. Hang on, that was 12 years ago. Yikes.

* God provides for ALL your needs
You know those days where you are screaming, in your head at least, "I CAN'T DO THIS!"?  You're right. YOU can't. God equips those He calls, and He called YOU to be a mother.  He gave us our precious children, and will provide for all our needs, as we seek to raise them to His glory.  God providing for our needs isn't simply some promise for our "daily bread". It's for ALL our needs.  If you need patience to deal with a toddler, God will provide it.  If you need wisdom to discern how best to train your little one, God will provide it.  If you need physical strength because your day has been demanding, God will provide it.  If you need a sense of humour because the day has only been filled with despair, God will provide it. We can do it, because God is our strength.

* The trying moments balance out with the sweet
All those times when you feel like you say "no", over and over and over, and THEN, you get those precious moments when they hug you. Or they say a new word.  Or they finally obey when you tell them "no". Or they just SMILE at  you.  There are endless little precious moments when you realise that it's all totally worth it. Children ARE a blessing, all the time. Blessings are not dependant upon life being perfect. Blessings are not based upon things all going well.  Blessings are not based on how we feel, or how we act.  Blessings are a gift from God, seen most clearly when we look through eyes of thankfulness, and not frustration.

My day didn't end with that list of trouble.  Let's just say that poo was involved.  Thankfully I didn't jump to the conclusion that I first came to, and that naughtiness was involved. (You KNOW, don't you? - if you have small people, you KNOW that yucky, naughty moments can happen, right?) I remained calm, and ascertained that it was my shoddy nappy fastening that had caused the trial. That same adorable little person is still the one who, having given me a kiss goodnight, whilst I was in the middle of something, but didn't hug me, looked all sad and said "Mummy, CUDDLE"!

Tots can be trouble, without doubt, but totally adorable, too.

Tots on a Tuesday {Mess free finger painting - ohhhhhh yeah!}

I was tidying up my homeschooling supplies, in a bid to chip away every day at my clutter problem, (Yes, I have a clutter problem - the first step in rehabilitation is acknowledging, right?.....) when I came across a set of finger paints I had stashed away.

Now, I am the epitomy of the useless home-educating mother.

I HATE strongly dislike things that make mess.  Mess = extra clearing up to do, on top of normal life with 8 children.

Yup.

I avoid messy activities like the plague.

I have recently come to the conclusion, however, that it MAY be ok, under strict management.

MAYBE.

Better still is finding a painting activity that makes NO MESS?!!?

Yes, you read right.

NO MESS.

I was wandering around on Pinterest (wandering? perusing? obtaining creative inspiration?), when I came across a GENIUS idea.

It's quite simple, really.  All you need is ziplock bags, electrical tape, and paint. Not in that order, or it won't be mess free....

Put a few good squidges of paint in the bag, and squeeze out the air.

Shut the bag.

Put a piece of white paper onto the table.

Tape the bag  VERY firmly to the table, over the paper.

(Of course, making it a sneaky lesson in colour mixing, and primary/secondary colours, is always good!)

Let the little ones loose.

Hope fervently you have taped the bags down correctly....

The result??

(Elijah, only second time writing his name - not perfect, I know, but *I* didn't teach him, he taught himself - clever little chappie!)

This activity is a lot of fun, easy to do, and if you are careful, very much reusable.  I will be doing it again, especially when we get to doing phonics with the younger children, as it's a great kinesthetic, and fun,  way to do letter formation.

Oh, and remember the "no mess" part??

Just don't leave any pencils nearby a 2 year old, and it will be FINE.

Minimal mess, thankfully. Minimal.

Compared with normal painting??

LOVE it!

On Pinterest, I also saw people putting it up on the window, for little ones to do. My slight concern would be that if there were a leakage in that situation, clean up would be more tricky than my tiny dribble on a wipe clean cloth. If you're brave, you could give it a go! 

Please feel free to link up with any posts you have on Tots Activities, and pop the button on your post!  We'd love to see what activities you are doing with your tots! 

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Tots on a Tuesday {stopping, to enjoy the moment}

A few weeks ago, we had a lovely walk together, picking blackberries and enjoying the swiftly retreating warm days.

As always, I picked up my iPod.

It's become my "thing" - rushing about, making sure I pick up my iPod, to take pictures of whichever moments I want to capture.

Madly storing images of my tots, as they rapidly grow up, almost before my very eyes.

That day, as we were returning home, we stopped in a little "park", and there were ga-ZILLIONS of ladybirds all over a bench. The children had them crawling all over their arms, and the older ones were teaching the younger ones all about them.

I scrabbled about in the top of the pram for my iPod, only to get the spinning circle of doom.

My battery was dead.

WAH!

In that moment, I had a realisation.

All these moments I am trying to take pictures, I am MISSING the moment.

I know these moments are precious, and it's nice to think we can look back at them.  At the same time, we don't even know if we HAVE a future.  We only have the RIGHT NOW.

Having thought about this, I have been reaching for my iPod far less.  Instead, I look at my tots (because, let's face it, these little ones are the ones who have more of those endearing moments!!), and savour the moment. The very moment that God has given, right here, right now.

I'm not dismissing taking photographs. I still LOVE taking pictures.  And, if anything happened to my precious family, I would treasure any photos I had....

I am dismissing the mad, crazy, obsession with taking pictures, over savouring the special moments that God has GIFTED me with.

Stopping what I am doing.

Finding joy in the every day kind of things.

New things they do.

Funny things they say.

Cute faces they make.

Capturing, yes.

Forgetting to stop and savour, no.

I am taking the time to thank God for the moment I find myself in.

Loving it.

Living it.

Rejoicing in it.

Put your photographic device down, and find joy in the moment.

Tots on a Tuesday {counting and lacing with bottle tops}

For a while now, I have been collecting lids from milk bottles, and from milk cartons and baby food pouches. They just looked so USEFUL.

Do you not find yourself doing that? Thinking "I can't throw that away, I'm sure I could use it for something?".  Someone else in this house is worse than me, and often the things HAVE been useful, many moons later, and for a random variety of things.

Call me Madame Cholet and be done with it.

You don't know what I'm talking about?

Well, if you have a tot, let them enjoy this.





Back to my lids.

Here in the UK there are generally 4 different lid colours on milk cartons, depending on the type of milk. Blue is full fat, green is semi-skimmed and red is skimmed. (In the US, you call them all different things). There is also a brand that has a purple lid, and one shop sells it with an orange lid. I have quite a lot of them, and was sure I could use them.

I finally settled upon a  good use, whilst I have been finding fun ways to do counting, as well as working on fine motor skills.  I thought they would make a super duper lacing "bead"!

I have a tool, for punchiing holes - it's a craft tool, but you can easily find them online.

I first of all punched a hole in the centre of each lid.  You want to do this on a self-healing mat, or on a solid chopping board that you don't mind having little circles all over!

I wanted to make this an activity where I could check that they had done it right, so I made some laminated cards with numbers on them, and then punched a hole in the bottom of them.

I then got some yarn, and tied a length onto the bottom of each card.  If you get a piece of tape, and wrap it around the end of the piece of yarn, it makes it like a lace, and easier to thread through a hole.  Of course, I had to make the yarn match the number on each card. Pretty rainbows!

This is me taping the bottoms of the yarn - Elijah snapped the picture!

Once all the preparation was done, I got them to line the cards up in numerical order.  

This is Elijah lining them up, all very neatly and precisely, as is his way!

Then, they got busy lacing the lids onto the yarn - the right number of lids for the number, on the "lace".

(Look at that concentration!!)

This is Simeon, with his own lids to play with! Getting a non-blurry photo of this boy is HARD - he's always on the move!

This is Elijah trying out for the British Skydiving Team  showing off his handiwork!

He does love to pose with any work he does!

Don't they look pretty?  

They had great fun doing this, and it added another way to reinforce recognising numbers, ordering numbers, hand-eye co-ordination, and fine motor control. You could do the numbers and limit them to being the colours of the bottle lids, and then you would have a colour matching activity, too!

If you don't have a printer and laminator, you could easily do this with pieces of card, and some coloured pens.

Personally, I love my laminator. Sad, but true!

Oh, and here's how I store my activities.

Little zip-lock bags, which I bought from Amazon.

So, there you have it.  My "wombling" tendencies have turned my milk bottle lids into a useful tool!

Oh, and just as an aside...

Someone's on the up and up - now the fun really begins!  Another "tot" on her feet!

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Tots on a Tuesday {fun ways to count and learn numbers}

I realised, recently, that a couple of my little ones didn't quite have their number recognition sorted.  The older child was understanding certain maths concepts, but not able to recognise the number in the sum!

So, I set out to find some fun and interesting ways to tie up number recognition, with counting.

I conventiently viisted The Range, just as I was about to set out doing these activities, and I picked up a few items that would be helpful.  These are all things that you could find in other places - not necessarily the identical item, but similar, and still able to function the same way.

So, what were they?

Rainbow pom poms, wooden numbers and clothes pins with hearts on the end!

The heart pegs, I numbered from 1-20, with a Sharpie, on the heart end.  There are loads of things you could do with them, but I decided to grab some items I had in the house, and use them to do some counting. I got the tu of "children's" buttons (not my nice ones!), and got them to first put the numbers in order, then to count out the correct number of buttons into each section in the egg carton! They had a lot of fun doing this!

You could easily find similar, small, wooden pegs in a craft store, or even a hardware store! I have found similar ones in Poundland before.

(Keeping it real - this is what happened when Simeon got the buttons!)

Then, we got to using out wooden numbers and our pom poms. Now, when you want to use any item to count to ten, and want to have the exact number of items to do so, it's helpful to know you need 55 items... my pack had 50! Not to self - buy more pom poms!)

 I just love rainbow things, so these were a real find! As I say, I *MUST* buy some more!  Once again, though, you could use any pom poms, or any other manipulative, like buttons, counters, and such like.

Another activity we did, which I don't have a picture of right now, is having them draw around the wooden numbers, then draw items matching that number - 1 bee, 2 flowers, etc etc. A year ago, Abi wouldn't have enjoyed doing that, but she enjoys drawing much more now. Elijah? He would draw until the cows came home! You could use these numbers for kinesthetic tracing, getting them to trace the number with their finger on the actual number, or inside the shape once they have drawn it.  That all reinforces, in their brain, how to form the number.


We did another couple of activities, with some items we already had.  First off, we used some printables from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  I think I may have shared them before, or perhaps the alphabet ones?

You can easily find these wooden, geometric shapes, in online stores such as Amazon.  I have a set of them.  I also have a set of shapes, very similar, in our Spielgaben set (which is something I plan to tell you about very soon!).  I have these printed out for 0-20, but we just focussed on the 1-10.

Taking great care to do it precisely!

It's funny how older children appear when the younger ones are having fun!!

One final thing I also want to share, is building numbers from Duplo.

As I have mentioned before, it's nice to be able to use toys, to make education more fun!

Once again, mess, just out of shot! 

There are absolutely endless ways to work with numbers - we did more than I have shared today, and I can share that another time!

If you have any fun ways you have worked with numbers and counting, please link up or share in the comments below.  

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Tots on a Tuesday {play dough shape mat}

Today, I found a super duper activity for my tots to do. I realised, recently, that Elijah loves playing with any left over icing I have (the fondant variety) when I have been cake making. He sits for ages playing with it, making all sorts of little creations.

When I came across an idea, based on play dough, I realised he was going to LOVE it.

Better still, to capture MY interest, it included BUTTONS!

My interest is always captures by activities with the potential of teaching about mutliple concepts, and this one totally fit the bill.

It involved using a printable, from Learning 4 Kids, which you can find here.

First of all, ELijah had a turn doing it. I thought he did a really great job, filling in the shape of the bear. Then he had fun putting buttons on, too.  We talked about what colours they were, how many, which colour there were more of, what size they all were, and how many holes were in the buttons.

It's funny, because they ALL appeared at various points, wanting to play with the play-doh!

This was Elijah's completed bear (it did end up having "claws" added, after the camera was gone - a manly bear! )

ELijah "posing"

THen, Simeon had a go. He REALLY loved playing with it, and tried very intently to fill in his shape.

I thought this was a very admirable attempt, for a 2 year old!

His big brother (erm, the 12 year old) helped him a bit, then he added some buttons, too (Simeon, that is.)

Would you just look at the level of concentration?! He enjoyed trying to count as he stuck them on, and although the buttons DID end up on the floor later, they all had fun with it.

I think that the lady who shared the free printable used them for alphabet themes, this one being "b".  I was thinking, however, that I could print other shapes of my own, and make more colours of play-doh, to have some variety.  

This is one we will being doing again, for SURE! Fun had, all round!

Oh, the recipe I used for playdoh was from The Imagination Tree, but I missed out the Cream of Tartar, as I didn't have any!  I could have done with more food colouring, as it didn't come out very blue (yes, that's supposed to be blue...). . I know for next time. Cuz, there's gonna be a next time! 

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Tots on a Tuesday {I-Spy jars, with a writing prompt idea thrown in for free..}

Today, I want to share with you something I made, as per the request of my lovely friend, Christine.

It's an "I-Spy" jar.

The principle behind it, is to have your children say what they can find in the jar. The jar is filled with rice, along with little objects, hidden inside.  I also dug out some glitter and added it in, because it made it more fun!  Crucially, you super-glue the lid on, so make sure everything you want is in there.

 No super-glue = mega-mess alert...

I had tremendous fun, picking up all the random odds and ends my children keep littering the floor with, and spiriting them away for using in my I-Spy jar! Seriously, I was like some kind of crazed woman, who, instead of finding things and thinking "that's going in the bin", thinking "ooooh, I could put that in the I-Spy jar"!! I collected so many that I have enough to make more than one jar. Except, well, I don't have another jar at the moment. I have, in the waiting, a one-legged Playmobil person, a tiny platypus from a Kinder egg, and a wooden seagull, along with other flotsam and jetsam!

I decided to theme the jar - this one is "colours".  I tried to put in something of each colour, for them to find.

Here's a few of the things I put in.

There are loads of ways you could use this. You could give clues "I spy with my little eye, something that's like a rabbit's tail".  That would be the white pom-pom in there. Or, "I spy with my little eye, something round, the same colour as a carrot".

I plan to make a little "tick chart" with all the items in there, listed, with a check box beside each one. I will print, and laminate, so they can use dry-erase markers on there. Then, it will help with motor skills, learning to tick them off the list.

You could do shapes, vehicles, numbers, animals - anything you can find in "mini" form, you can put in there! Little, laminated pictures, could also work, making it more of a challenge, because they would need to be facing the right way to see what's on them!

I also thought of a writing prompt idea, for older children. You could have a jar each with nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. The child shakes each jar, and the first word he finds in each one, is used as the basis for a story. Alternatively, you could have a jar each with places, people and objects, again, as a story writing prompt.  You could simplify it further for younger children, and have them use one or more of the jars as a sentence prompt. You could have a lot of fun making up silly sentences! I know, from experience, that, when it comes to writing, having a fun element can help inspire a child, no end!  For younger children, you could also have a jar for each of the word type categories, and they could add new words to them, as they think of them, so they are contributing to the sentence building.  If you do this, then you can't super-glue the lid, so you would have to make sure they don't take the lid off, or put it on wrong, or you could have one, big mega-mess!

If you have any other suggestions for an I-Spy jar, or something similar, please share them with us!

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