Love and Lollipops

Heart Pencil Toppers and Finger Puppets

2012-01-24T21:19:00.005+02:00

Valentine's day is no biggie in our home. But, I do love hearts and I do love red and I also love I-love-you ideas, so this day always get's my attention.

I was thinking of a simple craft for kids to do...a little gift to give a teacher, or friend...something sweet. Isn't Valentine's day just a perfect reason to tell someone you like them, or love them. I think so. Pencil toppers came to mind, inspired by some heart finger puppets I saw many years ago (in the nineties!) in an American Parent's magazine.

To make pencil toppers, cut out two identical felt hearts. I drew the heart onto a piece of felt and then folded it double, so that I could cut out two hearts simultaneously. Draw a line to indicate where you need to put your glue (see top photo), leaving a gap for the pencil. Glue the two pieces together and wait for it to dry. If you want the heart to stick to the pencil (and not slip off), put some glue on end of the pencil, before you pop the heart on.

Or you could make a heart finger puppet family...

Easy craft and a sweet gift.

Till next time.

PS. Shared this at Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Georgie's Picks {Cakes II}

2012-01-19T21:11:00.004+02:00

Georgie's Picks is a post where I share some of my favourite moments and pictures.

In 2010 I wrote about some cakes...cakes that I was lucky enough to photograph and eat!

Today I'm sharing some more.

When my own little monkey turned one, it seemed perfect to have a Curious George Party. It was a great theme - balloons, bright colours, bubbles and of course lots of little monkeys running around. This cake was baked by Marleen, a lady who has baked many wonderful cakes for me over the years.

Jake and the Never Land Pirates - this amazing cake was baked by

The Chocolate Moose.

I did a whole post about this Spider Party. This terrific tarantula was also baked by The Chocolate Moose and just in case you are assuming that this was a hard-core boy party - it wasn't!

I love the simplicity and colours of this Beach/Pool Party cake.

The perfect cake for a Soccer Party.

And this one took me way back to my childhood. Did you have a Kewpie Doll? I did - a BIG one - well, she seemed rather big at the time. This is another cake by Marleen, baked for my sister-in-law's baby shower. If you would like Marleen's details, please send me an email.

To view my previous "Cakes" post, click here.

So basically, if you want your cake to be famous (Love and Lollipops type fame)...just invite me to your party and I'll come and eat...I mean photograph it for you and share it here :).

Till next time...

Happy 2012 and {Back to School}

2012-01-13T22:33:00.010+02:00

Happy New Year! Is it really the 13th and a Friday too? :) I hope that it will be a wonderful year for you and I also want to thank you for reading and sharing my gettings-up-to (yeah, just made that one up) here at Love and Lollipops.

For many South African children it has been Back to School week and the shops have been busy with frantic mommy's buying new uniforms, books, and stationery supplies. I, on the other hand, have been surfing the net for some great back to school ideas and thought I would share these links with you. No pictures of the links - I try to keep all photography here my own :), but I promise that you won't be disappointed.

For the cutest book plates and labels to print out, be sure to visit we love to illustrate for children. This is the most talented and generous group of illustrators, always sharing wonderful freebies.

I love this little poster that I found at eighteen25. I think that this makes the perfect gift for an older child's teacher, as it's not cute or babyish in any way. I decided to print out one for Big One's room - he needs reminding of these great points too :).

Wouldn't it be sweet to have a little back to school party for the kids, like the one shared at Dukes and Duchesses, perhaps the day before school? Or maybe a special breakfast on the first day of school with some back to school decorations of sorts.

Speaking of party decorations, these party printables at Bird's Party, are probably one of the main reasons why I had to have a scalloped circle punch. Do go and check out her photographs too, to see what I mean.

Do you ever put in a note into your kiddo's lunchbox? Remember these love notes of mine? I found some great lunchbox notes at Rook No.17 and Big One is definitely going to get some of these this year - if Dad had a lunch box, I would probably pop them in there too :). I also found these sweet school jokes from chickabug.

I LOVE all things alphabet, so for the coolest ever alphabet colouring pages (uppercase letters), go and visit Goodnight Stories. To create some alphabet flashcards, look no further than these from homemade by Jill and for all the teachers reading this, there are some really nice alphabet posters at Early Learning HQ. Each mini poster has the upper and lower case letter and four images for the letter - great for the classroom. So are their editable interactive alphabet cards.

For crafts (can't leave those out), I really like this "Doing Homework" pencil door hangar, as well as the magnetic Schoolhouse picture frame from Kids Crafts, both made from craft sticks.

Those that know me well, won't believe me when I say this, but getting that perfect shot of the children on their first day back at school is not something I have had any success at. I should have read these fantastic photo tips by Rebecca (simple as that). There is even a back to school photo checklist for some extra inspiration (and reminding - I need that!).

And just because I think that this is absolutely beautiful(!!!), I had to share this amazing Schools in Session photoshoot from CRAVE photography. It's the perfect ending to this (looong) post.

Till next time...be good.

PS. The images are from Dean's Tell-The-Time Pop-Up Book. A copy given to my husband in 1974.(I couldn't find a link to purchase this book anywhere on the net, so I think it may now be a collectible.)

PPS. One last thing, if you are looking for any more ideas, I have recently created a Back to School Pinboard on Pinterest to save all my favourite finds.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem {Craft}

2011-12-30T23:18:00.006+02:00

Wishing you, all my lovely readers, a truly blessed Christmas time.

Yes, I do realize that it's a few days past, but it is the Christmas season...and it's not quite over yet :).

We had a very special Christmas, celebrating with our family on Christmas eve and day. I must admit though, that my favourite part of this special season is the leading up to and the anticipation of the big day. Big One was so sad on Christmas night and kept on saying "it's almost over". I truly had empathy...I felt the same way.

If you have been following me this past month, you will know that I was very excited to share the e-book Truth in the Tinsel with my children. Amanda (the author) really inspired me to think about Biblical Christmas crafts, rather than just Santas and Snowmen (although these are fun too!). So with that in mind, I created this little Bethlehem, from toilet rolls. It took me less than 15 minutes to make and I love the simplicity of it. Perhaps you can pin it for next year :). I think my children definitely felt the change in focus...I certainly did.

I'll only be chatting to you all again in the New Year, so whatever your plans, may it be wonderful. See you in 2012!

Build a {Bottle Top} Snowman

2011-12-22T19:18:00.001+02:00

There's no snow here at the tip of Africa come Christmas time, but that doesn't stop us from building snowmen (and snowladies).

Top tip : Don't worry about glue. Just lay out the supplies and let the children build and re-build.

Hope you are having a happy Christmas week, wherever you may be.

PS. Remember these - sock snowmen from last year :).

Christmas Memory Match {from simple as that}

2011-12-20T20:53:00.001+02:00

Remember a few posts ago, I wrote about some great Christmas links, including a memory match game from simple as that , that you can download for FREEE. Well I did, and I created this version using bottle tops (of course!).

I quickly realize that I'm not a pro-crafter when I tackle projects like this and make such silly mistakes. Like printing the pictures on a basic inkjet printer and them painting modge podge over it. It (obviously) caused the ink to smudge and the paper to bubble. I almost thought I would have to throw it all away and start again, but somehow I managed to remove the paper from the bottle tops and re-apply. I decided to live with the bit of smudging - it's not too noticeable.

Just a tip - I would not have tackled this project without my circle punch. I like my circles to be perfect :).

Big One and I have played a few times already (when Little One is occupied). I will be packing this up with the Christmas goodies to be enjoyed in years to come. Thanks Rebecca for sharing such super stuff!

PS. Need a punch? Locally, PNA stores have a great variety. Otherwise, there's always Amazon.

Till next time.

Mom's Big Book of Things to Make

2011-12-18T22:12:00.004+02:00

Author and creator, Melanie Bosman, kindly sent me a copy of her book Mom's Big Book of Things to Make to check out. I'm such a fan of books like these...books with art and crafts that inspire you to get creative with your kiddo's. The book offers over fifty fairly easy projects with clear photographs and good instructions.

I decided to try the coffee filter project with the children and both enjoyed the process of colouring the filters (with cokies) and then spraying them with water. The effects achieved were very pretty and in the spirit of Christmas I decided to cut them out and make some trees.

To order a copy of the book or to see other titles, you can visit the website here.

Thank you again Melanie!

PS. Sharing at
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Milk Bottle Santa

2011-12-14T19:20:00.005+02:00

This is a craft from 2010 that I never posted - A milk bottle Santa. He's very easy to make - we used paper, googly eyes, batting for the beard, pom pom for the nose and cotton wool for the hat.

Can you imagine a whole line-up of these Santas, perhaps leading up the path way? Simply fill with sand before you start dressing him, so that he doesn't fall over too easily.

Happy Christmas crafting!

Linking this to:
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars
Kids Get Crafty @ Red Ted Art's Blog

Christmas Shoot

2011-12-12T21:26:00.002+02:00

I always try to do a Christmassy shoot of sorts with my boys and my goal this year was to take some happy, peaceful Christmas pics of them both.

Would you ever guess that behind the scenes there was a little bit of throwing up and a little bit of blood? Seriously.

Little One managed to gag on a piece of fluff from the Santa hat pom pom - the throwing up part. And, Big one scratched open an old sore (after being pushed off the bed by his little brother!) - the bloody part.

aah yes...the joys of photographing two energetic boys on a bed...with white linen!

Nevertheless...I got these :).

Do you take some special Christmassy photos? Do share.

Till next time.

Christmas Tree Biscuits

2011-12-11T10:17:00.006+02:00

A few weeks back Little One brought home a Christmas Tree biscuit from school, similar to this one. I knew we had to try these at home too.

I used a very sharp knife to cut the biscuits (store bought Tennis Biscuits), but they broke very easily. I tell you this, because little people can find this upsetting. A small tip, when they do break, tell your little one that it's a puzzle and you will fix it (or they can) on the plate. Once the icing is poured over, the biscuit is far stronger. My little guy's teacher mentioned that they also spoke about division, halving, triangles and squares...so a nice little maths lesson can be had too :).

Once you have laid out your tree on a plate, the decorating starts...the best part. Oops, I forgot, the eating is the best part :). I'm not a Tennis Biscuit fan, but I even polished off a few of these. Yummy!

Thank you Tracey for the inspiration!

Sharing this at:

Teacher Gift {Little Yellow Bus}

2011-12-09T22:28:00.004+02:00

School's Out!

We have six wonderful weeks of Summer holidays ahead of us!

The rest of this month's posts are sure to be dedicated to Christmas, so I thought I must slip this one in quickly, before it's forgotten.

Little One started play school in July this year and he has been blessed with two amazing teachers. For end of year gifts, I bought some big Cadbury slabs and wrapped and decorated them to create these American style yellow school buses. Cute hey?

Inspiration from here (Katherine Marie).

Christmas Crafts coming up...stay posted :).

PS. Shared at:
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Christmas {Bits and Bobs}

2011-12-07T23:23:00.001+02:00

Oh dear me, it's the seventh and this is my first post of the month. The computer has been calling and if I could, I would create and write and share everyday. I absolutely love this (unpaid) job! I don't know what it's like where you are in the world, but over here it's not only the festive season...it's also the end of our school year. It's a busy busy time. I have lots to share though, so I'll get cracking!

First up, if you haven't yet visited the Portable North Pole and organized a personal message from Santa to your little ones, do hurry. You will not be disappointed, I promise. You have to share some details, like your child's name and age and answer some questions to make the video message more personal, but it's really worth it. This particular Santa is the best I've seen and his voice is wonderful! I would love to meet him :).

Since we are on the Santa subject - Do you believe in Santa? Amanda over at NotJustCute shares a lovely post about her view and how she will share Santa's generous spirit with her boys. A nice read - do pop over.

Another nice find are these printable Christmas jokes over at Nurturestore. Big One loves telling jokes, so I printed these out and put them on the fridge. These would also be fun to add to homemade crackers, an advent calender or simply to be told at the Christmas table.

One of my favourite blogs, simple as that, shares a wonderful post of Christmas inspiration, including a Holiday photo checklist (great idea), free Christmas tags and word art (just beautiful), and a printable Christmas memory match game (mmm, I have some ideas for this one).

For lots more Christmas inspiration, pop on over to my Christmas Fun page on Pinterest. I have pinned lots of fantastic ideas...so many I want to do...how many days till Christmas?

And last, but not least, the top image is of a much-loved Santa book for little ones. Santa's Suit is all about Santa who decides that his red suit is, well, unsuitable. But after trying out many different colours, Mrs Santa suggests that his red suit is the most suitable. I'm really not surprised that it was Mrs. Santa's suggestion ;). This rhyming book has the most delightful illustrations, teaches colours and has touch-and-feel elements on every page. I can recommend it!

Have you found any amazing Christmassy articles, ideas or freebies? I'd love to know.

Till next time...

{Truth in the Tinsel} Advent Calender

2011-11-30T20:59:00.001+02:00

Last year I had great fun creating a magnetic matchbox advent calender (shoo, that's a mouthful) and it also become one of my readers all time favourite posts - thank you. But this year I have decided to not even take it out and rather join another "advent-ture" (to quote Amanda). I have my copy of Truth in the Tinsel and I'm all set to go.

I've taken the picture clues (provided in the book), printed them out and created these discs. (I used my much-loved circle punches to make them). I've attached the discs onto a kitchen cupboard so that the children can view the clues at any time. I think it will be a nice visual reminder as we progress through the month, especially as I don't foresee us making a craft every day.

To read more about it all, pop on over to the official website and to see what others are getting up to you can visit the official Facebook page. I will hopefully be sharing some of our crafts here during the coming month.

Please let me know if you are joining in and posting about it. I would love to pop over and see what you are up to :).

Truth in the Tinsel

2011-11-28T19:26:00.005+02:00

I am so excited to share this awesome e-book just released by Amanda at impress your kids. I love the idea of celebrating Advent, the four weeks (Sundays) leading up to Christmas. This year I really want to impress the true meaning of Christmas on my children, as I feel it is so easily lost in the commercialism and busyness of the season. Celebrating Advent provides a special opportunity to stop and focus on the importance of this time of year.

In this book you have a daily plan...a Bible reading, a craft activity and a few extra ideas...all prepared for you to simply put into action. The whole idea is very much up my alley , but yes, I realize that many of my readers may not be as crafty as me :). What I can say, is that all the activities are so easy to duplicate and one really doesn't have to do a craft everyday...in fact, that would pretty much be impossible in my book.

I have a copy and I'm all set to start on December the first. Hop on over to the Truth in the Tinsel (the website) to read more and to buy it at the wonderful price of only $4.99 (That's less that R40 for my South African readers).

Till next time...

Baby and Kiddies Market

2011-11-24T16:15:00.000+02:00

Thought I would let my local readers know about this fun market coming up this Saturday. For those of you out in the Southern Suburbs, maybe you want to brave it and come on over to the Northern Suburbs for a day :). I'll definitely be there for quite some time, as one of the exhibitors at the market happens to be my Mom. I'm going to be helping her out a bit, so if you happen to read this blog and see me...please say hi!

I'll be sharing more about my Mom's fantastic product soon - magnetic and non-magnetic alphabet and numeral sets. She manufactures it herself and Big One was her inspiration...more info and photos soon, I promise.

Till Saturday...

Bottle Top Babies

2011-11-20T15:33:00.011+02:00

"...First comes love,
then comes marriage,
then comes the baby in a baby carriage."

Remember this little song from the playground? It's all I could think about when creating this little baby.

I must admit that I'm a bit obsessed with bottle tops at the moment. Why? Well, that I'll share with you shortly, but in the mean time, I couldn't resist making these.

Just in case you were wondering, the pacifier was made from a punched circle and the inner cap of a big juice box (I hope you know what I'm referring to). The carriage was also made from a bigger lid, which I cut in half.

All ideas are inspired from somewhere I believe and my inspiration for these were the cutest, funniest little baby cupcakes I've ever seen at baby gaga and a paper plate craft at Miss Renee's Kindergarten Pad.

More baby fun to follow. Stay posted.

PS. Sharing this at:
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars
Too Cute Tuesday @ Funky Polkadot Giraffe
Take-A-Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee Crafts

Baby Baby {Eye-Spy Bottle}

2011-11-15T22:45:00.004+02:00

In the past few months I have attended three baby showers...one of those babies has arrived and two are still to come. Baby Showers mean baby gifts and I love the idea of taking something new; something recycled (I love that word, don't you? - it sounds so much better than "old"); and something home-made. One of my favourite home-made gift ideas is an Eye-Spy Bottle.

I first saw this idea over at Silly Eagle Books and really loved it. I have made quite a few of these and I think I enjoy playing with it as much as the children do. For the baby it's a great noisy toy; it's stimulating and interesting; and it rolls nicely when you are giving baby tummy time. For the toddler it becomes a nice eye-spy toy, with an educational bonus - depending on what you put into your bottle, you can practice things like colours and counting. For the slightly older child, you can add an eye-spy spy photo card /or hand drawn card and ask them to search for the specific items in the bottle. For a grown-up - you can make one as a bit of a stress-release toy. I had one on my desk for awhile and couldn't resist shaking the bottle gently and moving the rice and small objects around - something about it is very relaxing :).

With babies on my mind, I decided that we need to have some Baby Fun and I'll be sharing our fun in the next few posts. I also created a special board Baby Showers and Gifts on Pinterest to collect my favourite ideas.

I have another lovely friend who lives across the seas and who is also expecting a baby very soon...she happens to also be having some Baby Fun posts at the moment. Do pop over and visit.

PS. To see a photo card version, pop over to Pink and Green Mama to see her awesome rainbow eye-spy bottle.

Name Skeleton

2011-11-10T23:36:00.006+02:00

As part of our Doctor Doctor fun, I searched for some skeleton art and crafts and I was thrilled to find this fab idea over at Garden of Praise (via Pinterest). Can you tell that the rib section is made from a name? How cool is that? Want a tut?

Take an A4 sheet of paper and fold it in half. Write your name on the page using the fold as your line. Then cut out the name and fold it open. I hope the pics help...

I showed Big One the original post and picture and left him to his own devices. He loved the idea, grabbed a scissors and confidently started cutting. On the other hand, silly me needed to do this about three times before I figured it out.

Big One's final creation is a "Knight Skeleton" - he is always keen to add his own special take on any project :).

PS. Shared at For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars and Show and Tell @ ABC and 123.

Honey Bunny Studio

2011-11-10T18:44:00.001+02:00

Earlier this year I entered a giveaway from Honey Bunny Studio to win a print from their Etsy shop and was thrilled to have won. It was so much fun choosing and then to wait to receive this special print all the way from New York!

I haven't posted about this sooner, because I only framed the print recently and I wanted to post a picture of it framed.

Thank you so much Nelvis for sending this across the seas. It has a special place on Little One's bookshelf as you can see!

Doctor's Orders

2011-11-09T20:47:00.004+02:00

One of our Grannies has just had an operation and spent four days in hospital. So what do you do to make a sore Granny feel better? Well, you give her a plaster people card ...take her some very special flowers from the garden...a magazine...some sweet treats...and you give her a Get Well Script of course. Not just one - a whole note pad of them! These scripts can be torn out and handed in at any time...Grandpa, be warned!

Wouldn't this be a fun addition to the mommy-made Doctor's kit.

Spring Showers

2011-11-07T22:16:00.004+02:00

"In the Spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six
different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours."- Mark Twain

The sun and the rain have been playing tag for the past few weeks in Cape Town. I was lucky to snap these happy pictures of the boys playing in the rain.

Happy Happy Spring Time wherever you are!

The Blessing by John Trent & Gary Smalley {Booksneeze Review}

2011-11-02T21:49:00.002+02:00

I was very excited to read The Blessing ,which I had received to review from Booksneeze. This book is essentially about the gift - the blessing - that we all deeply desire to receive from our parents. This blessing is an affirming gift and when we receive it, we experience our parents' unconditional love and acceptance, as well as a sense of high value and self-worth.

In the book, the blessing is explained as having five essential elements and each of these are biblically based. These elements are 1) meaningful touch 2) a spoken message 3) attaching high value 4) picturing a special future, and 5) an active commitment. The authors explain both why the blessing is so important for positive self-worth and relationships, as well as what you can do, if you have not received it. They go on to provide practical advice about how you as a parent can impart this special blessing to your children.

As excited as I was to read this book, I have to be honest and say that I struggled to get through it. I particularly struggled with the first four chapters, which focus on why this blessing is so important and why one should read the book. Perhaps I was a little impatient, because I wanted to get to the nitty-gritty of what the blessing was all about. The description of the blessing was definitely my favourite part of the book and I think that the suggestions offered for those that feel that they missed out on the blessing, as well as the practicalities of living the blessing, were also helpful.

In a nutshell - it wasn't the easiest read for me, but I would recommend it and it's a book I will definitely be popping into again.

Thank you Booksneeze for sending me a complimentary copy of this book to review. I can't wait to review another one :)

Fingerprint Fun

2011-10-31T21:29:00.007+02:00

I remember seeing an Ed Emberley Fingerprint Drawing Book a number of years ago and it immediately piqued my interest. I looked high and low for these locally, but couldn't find any in stores or at the library. So I was very excited to find out that Ed has a terrific website and that I could easily order his books (at great prices too) through Loot (see below).

In the spirit of our Doctor Doctor fun and checking out the human skeleton, I was tickled to find a cute fingerprint tutorial of
Mr. Boney Parts on the website.

Big One's version...

Using the super Melissa and Doug Ink Pad (I can recommend it), Big one and I spent some time creating fingerprint art. I won't tell you who made what, but I will say this - my creations are definitely "cute", whereas Big One's are "cool!"

Could you tell who made who?..I'm sure you could :)

PS. If you are a local reader, the ink pad can be purchased from a lovely lady called Isabel, who you can contact at play2learn(at)mweb.co.za

Can Critters

2011-10-24T22:40:00.004+02:00

We had some friends over for a morning and we made these cute can critters. I had been collecting the tins for awhile, so there was quite a nice stash. I had planned to give the children some paper and markers to decorate them, but then remembered that I had a whole container of vinyl off-cuts. I'm so glad that I did, because it was so easy and less time consuming to cut and stick the vinyl on to the cans. Even I joined in.

After the creating, we lined them all up along the wall and we had a tossing game - who could knock over the most critters. Another big hit with the kiddos, keeping them busy for quite some time.

I can highly recommend this as an activity - from start to finish they had a blast!

PS. Sharing this at
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Shape Matching Fun

2011-10-21T21:39:00.005+02:00

Today's post is a continuation of the Doctor Doctor fun we've been up to here. I love the simplicity of the red medical cross, so today I'm sharing some shape matching fun inspired by it.

Do your children have this kind of shape sorter...or something similar? I made these discs and Little One started off by matching up the plastic shapes to the discs...easy peasy.

We then put the plastic shapes aside and asked him to find matching discs - for example,

find another yellow shape or find another hexagon?

I then packed them out in rows and asked him to count each row.
He did this very nicely :).

We didn't do this, but another possibility would be to put three in a row and ask which is the odd one out or which one doesn't match the others.

After playing with the discs for awhile, I put those aside and we had some fun with the shape sorter. As we played , it struck me that this is such a versatile toy. I have always thought of it as a baby toy, perhaps because my earliest association of it is the Tupperware shape sorter ball (remember that one?). But this is really far more than a simple baby posting game, with many playful and educational possibilities. I might just do a whole post about it sometime...

Building shape towers...and the best part...knocking them down!

Till next time, Happy playing!

PS. If you are a local reader, the shape sorter is from the Smile range and can be purchased from Isabel (play2learn(at)mweb.co.za)

PPS. I was really curious about the origin and meaning of the red cross medical symbol. You can read more about it here.

West Coast National Park

2011-10-15T20:54:00.003+02:00

It's become somewhat of an annual ritual for us and family friends to set out for the hour's drive to the West Coast National Park this time of year.

The park offers beaches with crazy-crazy waves crashing against the rocks, a breathtaking lagoon, beautiful flora (particularly during August and September), fauna (including game), bird and whale watching, and to top it all...a shipwreck! We are also always "lucky" enough to see snakes when we go. Last year we saw some pufadders up close and personal, baking in the heat on the road, and this year a cobra crossed our paths...or at least our motor vehicle's path (thank goodness!).

If you are a Cape Townian, this is definitely a day out to put on your calender. To see what's on offer visit the South African National Parks website, and for some more info and pictures, including the shipwreck of the "Pantalis a Lemos", you can pop in here and here. Going to see the wreck is definitely on my to do list when the children are older.

On our way home we were also treated to six giraffe roaming around on one of the game farms we passed. It can be a treat to live in Africa! :)

PS. I have some more Doctor Doctor fun coming up this week...stay tuned!

Doctor's Kit

2011-10-10T22:17:00.008+02:00

When your little one is particularly interested in a certain activity, book or even TV character, it's a great opportunity to extend that interest and add some other fun and learning activities. So while my Little One was focused on playing "Doctor Doctor", I had the chance to squeeze some learning in there too.

Without a doubt, playing this game is a great opportunity to teach and reinforce body parts (remember to include the not so common parts - ankles, soles of feet, wrists, forehead, etc.). It's also a chance to talk about being a Doctor and what they do, as well as different types of medical professionals (Paediatricians, Dentists, Nurses, Veterinarians - it's up to you how far you stretch this and of course how long you can maintain their interest). And, it's a great chance to talk about all those Doctor's tools in their medical kit!

Does your little Doctor own a medical kit? These are readily available in most toy stores, but some real-life additions to their kit is sure to be a big hit...some"ouch" powder, real syringes, a plastic scissors, old x-rays, a Nebulizer mask and tubing, real plasters (band-aids) and bandages, a small notepad and pencil for writing scripts...all add to the fun.

I added a variety of plastic containers to our kit and then filled them with some matching coloured smarties. Little One was motivated to open them all because of the sweeties inside, but opening them required some problem solving. One lid had to be pushed off/popped up, another unscrewed, another flipped open and so on. Of course this all required some good fine motor work, so little fingers get a work-out too. (PS. I have to add this little note...I only played this once with Little One, as I didn't want him to think that real medicine containers contain sweeties. Please always keep medicine containers far-far out of reach from innovative little people, who know how to pull chairs to counters and climb up to reach things!)

A super addition to some "Doctor Doctor" fun is this terrific little book - a golden book called "Doctor Dan". This has been one of Little One's favourites for a long time :).

PS. Linking this to:
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars

The Play Academy @ NurtureStore
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Plaster People and other possibilities...

2011-09-30T21:22:00.005+02:00

I saw a super band aid get well card over at Having Fun at Home and it inspired a whole lot of plaster fun!

I started off with some PLASTER PEOPLE (sounds so cute, don't you think?), but then had fun thinking up as many plaster pictures as I could...

These cute little paper books were an idea I got at a mini workshop with Renee Lighton. I found the same little book here - a nice tutorial. They are very easy to make and the possibilities are endless!

PS. Renee's workshop was really great fun, packed with lots of ideas.
Visit her website to find out more.

PPS. I'm linking this to:
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars
It's Playtime!
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Let's Play "Doctor Doctor"

2011-09-21T23:06:00.007+02:00

"For children to 'play out' their experiences and feelings is the most natural, dynamic and self-healing process in which children can engage." Garry Landreth

Little One has spent a fair amount of time around hospitals and Doctors in the past few months, having undergone two operations in the short space of three months. He has had blood drawn, injections, hep-locks in his hand - there have been a lot of needles involved!

After our first hospital stay, the impact of these events on his play was immediately evident. Suddenly he was playing "Doctor Doctor" every chance he got and the main story line of each little scenario was needles and injections - he and I swopping the patient/doctor role countless times.

I share this because it's such a good example of the natural healing and therapeutic value that play has. We as adults can talk about our trauma and in so doing work through feelings like fear, anxiety and powerlessness, but children don't have these words, or ability to express them. These emotional experiences that are important to a child or have significantly impacted on them, will often show up as repeated behaviour in their play (Garry Landreth: Play Therapy. The Art of the Relationship). In play therapy, we refer to these as themes.

(It's okay little dinosaur. It's all over. - Even a T-rex deserves top class medical care :))

After reading How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? (Jane Yolen and Mark Teague), we added dinosaurs to the game and Little One has enjoyed treating the sick dinosaurs in hospital too. Recently I have noticed a marked decrease in his request for "Mommy, you're sick and I'm the Doctor". This probably means that he has sorted out some of his feelings about these experiences and is emotionally ready to move on. The healing power of play at work! :)

Stay tuned. Some more doctor-related fun coming up.

ideas magazine

2011-09-16T21:31:00.004+02:00

Two darling friends bought me a subscription to the ideas magazine for my birthday a few months back. It was a lovely surprise to receive my September copy and to see that my matchbox fridge magnets were featured on the reader's page. These little magnets have been my most popular post for all time here at Love and Lollipops. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to top them :)?

The ideas mag is South Africa's best loved crafting magazine and this month the Party ideas for kids magazine is also on sale. Be sure to look out for it in stores.

More Bottle Top Animals

2011-09-13T17:21:00.003+02:00

I had the wonderful opportunity recently to make some cards for a very special birthday party for the children of a children's home. Even though their ages ranged from one year to sixteen years of age, I wanted to do the same for all of them, so decided on some fun bottle top animal cards. I thought that they would bring a smile to everyone...whether younger or older. I had a list to work from, so could also write a personal note to each child. It was great to be able to do this small act of kindness.

To see some more cute bottle top animals, click here
and here.

For some more fun planned with bottle tops, stay tuned :).

PS. Linking this to Making The World Cuter Monday

Plastic Egg Birds {Craft and Game}

2011-09-11T21:51:00.005+02:00

These little birds were inspired by these that I saw at lets go fly a kite, who in turn had seen them at Busy Bee Kids Crafts.

(What a super website by the way.
Be sure to check it out for some really nice, cute kids' crafts.)

I decided to add a bit of a game to them that would be both educational and fun. I told Little One that the mommy bird is fetching worms for her hungry chicks. Can you see how hungry they are? She comes back with some colourful worms and her little chicks gobble them up. One little chick only eats one and then his tummy is full...another little chick eats two...and so on.

For the nest, I covered a plastic bowl in some green paper and then added the strips. To get your chicks to stand up in the nest, cut a toilet roll into smaller rings and rest the eggs in the rings. It works perfectly. Anna Milbourne's book In the Nest is also a nice addition to this craft activity.

Till next time...

PS. Linking this to Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Waterford Estate

2011-09-05T10:39:00.004+02:00

As Cape Townians we are blessed to be surrounded by the most beautiful (wine) farms all just a short drive away. We have many wine routes to choose from and a weekend can easily be spent driving around the most exquisite country side and popping into farms as one pleases.

On a Saturday afternoon in July we had family visiting from the States and we visited the very beautiful Waterford Estate situated in the Blaauwklippen (blue stone) valley. We spent the afternoon enjoying a special tasting and some of the wines were accompanied by chocolate, which made for a unique experience. The children played in the huge courtyard, while we chatted around a big country table and learned more about the wines produced on the farm. It was wonderful to be in such beautiful surroundings and I can highly recommend it as a family outing. Having said that, the farm does not have a restaurant, so be sure to pack some snacks if you plan to stay for awhile.

(so love this pic of Big One)

Outings like these make me wonder why we ever choose to stay at home on a sunny weekend day. There's something extraordinary about being surrounded by such natural beauty!

Be sure to visit the website (link above) to view fantastic photographs of the estate and read more about what they have to offer.

Little One

2011-08-30T21:44:00.003+02:00

I call him my Stinky Stonky,

my Happy Chappy,

a Silly Billy!

He's Little One and he turned three at the beginning of the month. I thought that I could not let the month pass by without acknowledging him and making special mention, because he and his big brother are my inspiration for blogging and Love and Lollipops!

We celebrated with a fun construction themed party and I would have loved to have shared some photographs, but unfortunately don't have any - poor lighting wasn't very conducive to great pictures.

What I am sharing though, are these slightly blurry, a little hazy, "imperfect" pictures, which I think are just perfect. Little One has a great sense of fun (and mischief) and is quick to smile and be silly! I think you can tell, right?

Happy Birthday Little One...don't get Big too soon.

Love this Book : Alison Jay's ABC

2011-08-24T22:17:00.005+02:00

oooh it's so nice to win something, especially if it's something you would LOVE to win. A few months back Two2Read had a competition to win an alphabet book of your choice...

I entered hoping, hoping...and I won :)!

What fun it was to choose an alphabet book of my choice! I had quite a few on my wishlist already, but winning this gave me a great excuse to go and check out some more and read as many reviews as possible. (Yip, I love reading book reviews). I eventually chose Alison Jay's ABC and must say that I am thrilled with it. This is a delightful book.

The art work is beautiful and the simplicity at first glance, deceiving. Look a little closer and you will see a wonderful story unfold, as each page connects to the others. Little surprises along the way truly bring smiles! I really loved exploring this book and sharing it with my kiddos. (To add to the fun, we read it with a magnifying glass.)

I have now also added Alison Jay's Counting book to that growing wishlist.

Thank you Alida for this lovely prize and for sending it all the way over the seas to South Africa. And here's some great news...Two2Read is having another great competition this month and you can win a Mem Fox book of your choice! Click here to enter.

Good luck and till next time...Happy reading!

(PS. I would love to know what your favourite ABC books are...please share in the comments.)

Bottle Top Animals

2011-08-20T17:50:00.004+02:00

Inspired by some wonderful bottle top animals at Silly Eagle Books, I created these and turned them into cards...to keep for some parties coming up. When the kids are in the mood, I think this makes for a great rainy day activity :).

I simply cannot throw a bottle top away anymore...more ideas coming soon!

PS. Linking this to

Weekend Wrap Up Party @ tatertots and jello

For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars

Fun for Kids Friday @ Local Fun For Kids

Bottle Top Memory Match

2011-08-11T20:59:00.006+02:00

Bottle tops and stickers = Memory Match!

For my South African readers: The bottle tops are Woolworths' milk bottle tops and the stickers are (great sticking) foam stickers, available from Isabel, who can be contacted at play2learn(at)mweb.co.za

To make a slightly harder version of the game, I used the transport stickers pack, which had the same sticker (for example, the yacht) in different colours and sizes. Big One and I have enjoyed a number of challenging games.

I think that this makes a fantastic gift.
Happy playing!

PS. Linking this to:
It's Playtime!
For the Kids Friday
The Sunday Showcase

Georgie's Picks {Little Girls}

2011-08-06T17:38:00.001+02:00

"Sugar and spice and all things nice,

that's what little girls are made of."

This sweetie pie is the daughter of a friend of mine and is also the sweetest little friend to my Little One.

I had the opportunity to photograph her recently in her wonderful back yard. Wish it was mine...it would be so great for photo shoots.

PS. Georgie's Picks is my choice of some favourite pictures I've taken.

Hope you enjoyed them.

Little Red Barn

2011-07-28T21:53:00.003+02:00

I really love a traditional, all American, big red barn! Even though we don't have red barns as part of our South African landscape, Little One easily recognizes this as part of a traditional farm setting and I have always wanted to add one to our box of animals. Charlotte's Web was also one of the first full-length movies that he ever watched and he has always loved it .

Store bought barns are hard to come by and when you do find nice, good quality ones, they are usually really pricey. Aaah, but then I remembered my favourite I-can't-throw-away box...the Lipton tea box!!

To make the barn, I glued the lid closed, cut out the entrance, and stuck a row of craft sticks to the front and back of the box. The main reason for adding the sticks to the back was to make it a bit stronger and it definitely did! The rest of the sticks were cut to size, glued on, and I then added a coat of red paint and the final white touches. Some of the Lipton labeling shows through on the sides - my cousin (who lives in the States and has been here on holiday) said that it adds to the authenticity, as a lot of barns have old advertising on them :). COOL!

Once the barn was done, I created the little farm scene, along the lines of the movie, hoping it would grab Little One's attention. Did you notice Templeton the Rat on the roof? Wondering where Charlotte is? In the barn of course ;).

Although Little One loves the barn itself, the sensory box wasn't a big hit with him. I have come to realize that my great ideas aren't always received with the enthusiasm I'm expecting. I've been thinking of creating a felt farm scene instead...I'll share it with you as soon as it's done!

To view some beautiful photos of traditional red barns, visit here.

PS. Linking this to It's Playtime (Pop on over and join the fun!)

Water Photo Challenge {iheartfaces}

2011-07-26T20:20:00.002+02:00

An oldie, but a goodie. Little One, 6 months old, floating so peacefully in a porter pool. The photo challenge this week at iheartfaces is "Water"...I couldn't resist entering.

Fun with Oranges

2011-07-22T23:31:00.008+02:00

Who knew that some oranges could be so much fun?

Oranges for cheeks?

Oranges for ears.

Happy oranges...

Juggling oranges!

Cute oranges...

Moody oranges!

Counting oranges...

In winter, in Cape Town, bags of oranges colour the street corners...it always makes me happy.

Thank you oranges...for these oh so happy pictures!

PS. Photography inspired by Katherine Marie
To see Katherine's veggie faces, click here
Speech bubble created at Superlame

Three Little Pigs

2011-07-18T22:16:00.008+02:00

When Little One was in hospital recently, this became his favourite "new" book. We read it over and over!

When we were back home, I made these houses from some big juice boxes, added the finger puppets (bought at a local craft market) and we played out the story. As you can tell, it's fun being the wolf and huffing and puffing!

I really like this particular version of the traditional story and highly recommend this book, if you can get hold of it - It's part of a Walt Disney collection of story books. I have added a link below to a Golden Book version , which I'm sure would be a great one too.

Do you have a favourite book of this classic story? I'd love to hear about it.

"Who's afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf?

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

Not I, not I, not I!"

PS. Linking this to:

Fun For Kids Friday
Show and Tell

Spider Party

2011-07-15T14:57:00.012+02:00

A while back we were invited to a little friend's birthday party and were very surprised to find out that the theme was SPIDERS. You see, this little friend is a very petite, sweet, girly-girl and loves all things pink and pretty! So I thought, it must be a cute spider party ...yeah I know, spiders aren't cute, but you know what I mean. However, much to my surprise, this turned out to be a realistic ugly eight-legged hairy spider kinda party!!

Check out the cake!
(Made by THE CHOCOLATE MOOSE)

Don't you love this super spider accessory for the birthday girl's hair.

There were super games at this party.

Being wrapped in a spider cocoon...

...or being stuck in a spider's web!

I was inspired by these over at Silly Eagle Books and decided to add a cute bottle top spider to our gift. I really love how she turned out...yip it's a she...can't you tell?

Have you ever had a Spider party. If you have, please leave a link in the comments below. I would love to come and see!

PS. Linking our spider to
Fun for Kids Friday

Gloop

2011-07-13T16:19:00.006+02:00

The basic recipe:

2 cups of corn flour

1 cup of water

You can vary this recipe slightly to get a thicker or thinner version.

This is great fun and of course a fantastic sensory experience - I couldn't help but play too!

I really love how Little One spontaneously decided to stand in it...this is in contrast to my older son, who does not like the texture and won't play with it at all.

Do you know that some children are sensitive to touching certain textures and that it may be part of a tactile dysfunction. This, in turn, is one type of sensory processing disorder.

To read more, the Out-of-Sync child is a great website with some fantastic articles on the subject.

Can you recommend any other great books or links about this subject? If you can, please leave a comment in the box below, so that other readers can find these resources. :)

PS. Linking this to:
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Colouring book

2011-07-09T22:13:00.003+02:00

Have you ever made your child a colouring book? I recently made one for Little One and he loved it! In fact, when he was done colouring, he said, "That was so much fun!" I smiled from ear to ear! For this book, I printed only pictures of
"Things that Go".

I found nice pages at these websites:

DLTK

Printable Colouring Pages

COLORING PAGES FOR KIDS

Kids Color Pages

These very nice chubby triangular crayons were given to me a few years ago by an occupational therapist. I have never seen them to purchase anywhere, but they are wonderful for little hands. It got me thinking about the best first writing tools for toddlers. In my search for more information, I found a wonderful website called The Motor Story. There is a great article on drawing here, where it is recommended that large markers are used as first writing tools. The reason given, is that the markers glide easily over paper and the thumb moves away from the palm of the hand, thereby enhancing the thumb strengthening process. In comparison, crayons write with more resistance. If you do give your toddler crayons though, preferably give them the chunky larger size. I would love to here any comments on this subject.

Till next time...

you are my happy.

2011-07-07T22:57:00.016+02:00

what could be better on a cold winter's day, than lying on a sunny bed, reading books and being silly ...

... nothing. :)

Let's Build it! {Tot Packs and Puzzles}

2011-07-05T22:23:00.008+02:00

One of my favourite things about blogging is the wealth of wonderful ideas shared by other like-minded Moms. I also love finding free resources and today I am going to share a few great spots to find Tot Packs.(These packs are also called File Folder Games or Lapbooks.) What are they? In a nutshell, the idea is to take a flat cardboard folder or file and to glue a variety of activities, centered around a particular theme, on the inside of it. You can really create a pack about any subject under the sun! My apologies for not having a photo of the pack we created, but if you visit any of the sites below, there are lots of pictures available.

First stop is Carisa from 1+1+1=1. Carisa creates wonderful free printables for homeschooling Moms, including Tot (and Preschool) Packs. In her packs, she might include colouring pages, shadow matching, sequencing, patterns, and alphabet and numeracy activities. Carisa has created a Handy Manny Pack and a Big Machines Pack, both perfect to include in our "Let's Build It!" mini theme. To print out both of these, click here.

In my search for more packs, I also found a fantastic Tools Tot Pack at Our Little Monkeys. I printed out the puzzle pieces (see photo) and decided to stick them onto some Mega Bloks. I wish I could say that this was my idea, but it is simply my version of lego puzzles created by Jenea at I can teach my child. (Great idea, don't you think?)

If you like these packs, be sure to also check out these from Homeschool Creations. A big thank you to Carisa, Dawn and Jolanthe for creating these wonderful resources and sharing them.

This was the last of my "Let's Build It!" mini theme posts. Knowing my little boy though, I'm sure that this will not be the last post about construction related and tool time activities. :)

Till next time...

Eric Carle

2011-06-25T14:38:00.001+02:00

We are very lucky to have a number of Eric Carle titles on our book shelf and it being his birthday today, I thought it would be fun to share a few posts that I have previously written about his books.

One of my favourite posts here at Love and Lollipops is about "Heart Stories". I used Eric Carle's wonderful title, The Tiny Seed, to share more about the idea of a story being something that can touch, teach, inspire and heal. Big One and I had so much fun creating our own version of Eric Carle's special tissue paper and then he recreated a beautiful picture from the book.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is often written about by Mommy bloggers and I never tire of seeing the crafts inspired by this famous book. I gave a copy of the book to my nephew this past Christmas and sewed this Book Buddy to go along with the story.

And lastly, Big One came up with this lovely idea of a cloud puppet, inspired by the simplistic, yet fun book, Little Cloud.

Kate at An Amazing Child is celebrating Eric Carle's birthday with a blog hop. I have joined in the fun and linked up these ideas. Pop on over to see what other creative bloggers have contributed to this collection of Eric Carle crafts and activities.

Let's Build It! {Handy Manny}

2011-06-23T21:51:00.007+02:00

Our set of Handy Manny tools has come in rather handy (couldn't resist) in the creation of some other toys and games. For starters I enjoyed creating these bath time tools (top photo) from craft foam. Simply trace around any set of tools and then stick on some googly eyes!

Next up is an easy matching game. Trace around the tools onto a piece of cardboard and ask your little one to match them. Quick and easy.

No photos to go with this game, but have you ever asked your kiddos to pretend to be a (power) tool or construction vehicle? Jump up and down like a jack hammer; stand and twist your body from side to side like a screwdriver; use your arm and hand to cut like a saw... Or pretend to be a forklift truck and pick up some cushions; be an excavator and use your arm like a bucket to pick something up and swing it around...you get the idea! We love this game...especially when I'm the construction vehicle in question and Little One is the rubble that needs to be moved!

A fun version of this pretend game would be to make some picture cards of the Handy Manny tools and then let the kiddos take turns picking a card and acting out the tool represented on it. I may just do this sometime and share it with you.

If you missed our Tool Time Fun post, where we put our play tools to good use, be sure to check it out!

Handy Manny can be found at the Disney Junior website here.

Little Mr Brave

2011-06-21T21:02:00.002+02:00

I keep promising myself that I'll take part in more iheartfaces photo challenges, so when I saw the theme this week (Let's hear it for the Boys), I decided it's as good a time as any. And I also thought that this little guy really deserves a special mention right now.

In the past two weeks, we very unexpectedly spent six days in hospital. Little One woke up one morning with a sore leg and I'll spare you a rather long story, but he ended up being hospitalized and having surgery on his hip. The diagnosis...Septic Arthritis. I had never heard of it before.

He really was such a brave little boy, especially having to endure lots of needles. I truly can give testimony that God carried us as a family every day and I am so grateful for all the wonderful support we received. Thank you to all our Angels and Prayer Warriors!

After surgery we were told that he cannot bear weight on his leg for two to three weeks. It's been challenging keeping him "seated", but again, he really has been a star! I taught him how to do a bum shuffle. It's very cute to see him come up the passage, saying "bum shuffle, bum shuffle"...just love him to bits!

iheartfaces is a fantastic website.

If you are a keen photographer, you will love what they have to offer.

Let's Build It! {Books and Toys}

2011-06-19T19:49:00.002+02:00

Continuing with our "Let's Build It!" mini theme, there are two construction related toys that I would like to share with you - Moon Sand and Junior Tradesman.

This was our first experience with Moon Sand and we're sold! It's a fantastic product! Little One has simply loved playing with it and has enjoyed it as an alternative to the lentils in his sensory construction site box. It's texture is quite different to sand and I haven't minded him playing with it in the house, as it cleans up quite easily.

It's a fairly pricey product, so I have been on the lookout for a good homemade recipe. I found a few, but have not tried any of these, so cannot guarantee the final outcome. The first recipe I found is at Skip to my Lou, and the next slightly different combination of the same ingredients is at Z Recommends. It seems really easy to make.

The set I purchased came with a mold to create a sidewalk and bricks. Little One is too young to use these, so big brother tested these out and they work really well.

Our next construction toy... Junior Tradesman Bricks. Little One absolutely loved playing with the cement mixture and wanted to put it into the back of his concrete mixer, which I thought was very appropriate and sweet :). He would have been equally happy with sand and water mixed together as pretend cement. Big One used the toy appropriately and created a wall, which dried overnight into a nice solid structure. When water is added, the cement dissolves and the bricks can be used again. This is a nice product, but definitely more suited to an older child, aged 6 plus.

With regard to books, we have been so lucky to have two fantastic titles on our shelf. Jerry Pallotta's The Construction Alphabet Book is amazing. Even though it is written for an older child, my little guy LOVES it!! The art work is fantastic and Little One's knowledge (and mine) of different construction vehicles has soared. B is for Builder by June Sobel is another super book. The text is simple and it is perfectly suited for construction loving children aged two and up!

Some more "Let's Build It!" fun coming up.
Till then...happy playing!

Autism

2011-06-15T12:33:00.002+02:00

In April I promised some Autism-related articles and information. My apologies for not posting any as yet. For my South African readers, I wanted to make sure that you know about the Autism is Treatable conference taking place in Somerset West, Cape Town, in July this year. Early Bird Registration ends 17 June. I can highly recommend attending this conference as I have had the pleasure of personally hearing many of the speakers and all are highly knowledgeable in the Autism field.

I also wanted to share some great Autism links with you:

Autism South Africa

Talk About Curing Autism

The National Autistic Society (UK)

Autism Research Institute (USA)

Autism Society (USA)

I realize that there are many more helpful links out there. If you have discovered a particularly helpful website, please share it in the comments below.

Let's Build it! {Tool Time Fun}

2011-06-14T17:20:00.002+02:00

When I read this post over at TinkerLAB (a blog written by a Momma called Rachelle), I got very excited, because I knew it would be a great hit with Little One. I had some polystyrene saved and went off to purchase golf tees. I then offered it (with the box of play tools) to both boys. They had a ball...for about 45 minutes! Not many new toys get that much attention.

It was fun to see what they did. My older son hammered just about every golf tee into the polystyrene block, whereas my little one was more interested in pushing the tees in with his fingers and also sawing the polystyrene with his hand saw.

Little One has enjoyed playing with this a few more times. Once I notice boredom with an activity setting in, I usually pack it away for awhile and then reintroduce again later. If you don't have polystyrene available, you could let the kiddos hammer the tees into firm soil in the garden (like Rachelle did), or the side of a cardboard box would also work nicely.

Be sure to check out TinkerLAB for many more wonderful activities!

Let's Build it! {Little World Play}

2011-06-05T22:17:00.005+02:00

Earlier this year I decided to introduce some mini themes to direct our craft and learning activities. In my perfect world, I would have a new theme with related activities every two to three weeks...sigh ... but, in reality it is very different and this little theme has been running for awhile now :)! So, what you see in the next few posts are activities spread over the past few months. I must add though, that my little guy LOVES everything to do with construction vehicles and workshop tools, so it was easy to get a bit stuck on this one!

I have to admit that I couldn't wait to share this Little World/Sensory Box with you and it's definitely the most successful Mommy Made Toy I've created for Little One. It was a huge hit from the day I introduced it to him and he still plays with it constantly. When planning this mini world, I had decided to use these orange-coloured lentils (called Red Split Lentils), because I thought it would be visually appealing and I also associate orange and yellow with construction vehicles. What I didn't realize, was that these particular lentils have a wonderful silky feel. I tried to swop them for green lentils at one point, but Little One wouldn't hear of it! Even I love sifting my fingers through them!

To recreate this, you need a nicely sized container. This rectangular one is about 30 by 45 cm and I purchased it at our local Plastics shop. I use between one and two packets of the lentils (purchased at Pick n Pay). One packet is really sufficient though. And then of course you need some construction vehicles. The little CAT vehicles (that you see above) can be purchased from Game stores. If you are an international reader and would like to purchase something similar, I recently visited the MEGA BLOKS website and they have a terrific selection of construction vehicles in their range.

I really love observing my children's interests and passions and find myself caught up in their enthusiasm. In the past few months I have pulled off to the side of the road a number of times, so that Little One can watch construction vehicles busy working at a building site. I have also deliberately followed a Backhoe Loader, when I could have taken a much shorter and faster route home! Being only 2, do you think he'll remember his Mommy's efforts? I hope so! Or I might have to make him read my blog some day. :)

Have you ever done anything a little unusual to feed your child's interests? I'd love to hear all about it.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to say, it can get messy Mommy!! But, the lentils are very easy to vacuum up, so don't fear! I don't really mind putting up with a bit of mess, especially when I see the joy it gives my little guy!

Happy Playing!

PS. I'm linking this to:
It's Playtime!
For the Kids Fridays
Fun for Kids Friday

Serviette Holder

2011-06-01T17:41:00.008+02:00

If you are a South African reader and enjoy crafts, you may have noticed the Hooked On Crafts range at your local craft store. There is a wide range of fun kits available and they are all very reasonably priced - most kits are R20 or less.

For Mother's day, I decided that we would make the serviette holder and give it to one of the Grannies. I had spotted this kit awhile back and was drawn to the pretty picket fence and the nice embellishments. The packet comes with a lovely clear photograph on the front, so I was expecting it to be fairly straightforward. But, it was not to be so. I could just not figure out how to glue it all together to make an upright holder. Hee hee...I think visual spatial reasoning has never really been a strength of mine. Anyway, I was not to be deterred and came up with a plan to use a Lipton tea box - I love these boxes! I covered it with some wrapping paper and stuck the completed picket fences on to it. Voilà!

If you are an international reader and cannot get these kits, this craft could very easily be duplicated with craft sticks and other bits and pieces from a craft shop.

Picket fences - thicker and thinner craft sticks
Flowers - wooden cut-outs glued together
Butterfly - two pipe cleaners
Ladybird - pom poms, black stickers, pipe cleaner , googly eyes

All in all, I think that the kit is great value for money and would certainly keep the kids busy for awhile. I must mention that there is lots of gluing involved and I found the gluing to be quite tricky. I would recommend this craft for older kids (7 years plus) and adult assistance would probably still be required. What is fun, is that there are lots of different things to make, so a few children could each do a part of the project.

If you are interested in seeing the range and live in the Northern Suburbs (Cape Region), you should definitely contact Isabel. She's a lovely lady who sells the most wonderful selection of toys, including almost all of the Hooked On Crafts kits. You can chat to her at play2learn(at)mweb.co.za.

By the way, did you spot the rather strange cut up card in the top picture? That was Little One's Mother's Day card for his Granny :)!

Till next time - Happy crafting!

PS. I'm linking this to Fun for Kids Friday

One-to-One Correspondence

2011-05-25T21:38:00.006+02:00

Identifying numbers and rote counting are fun to teach our children, but once mastered, it does not mean that our child understands what the value of each number is. Teaching one-to-one correspondence is a great way to teach them the unit value of a number. I have found the explanations of one-to-one correspondence to sometimes be confusing, so this post is really to clarify it for myself and hopefully for you too.

I thought that I would start with the proper definition and headed on over to Wikipedia. This is what they had to say: "In mathematics, a bijection, or a bijective function, is a function f from a set X to a set Y with the property that, for every y in Y, there is exactly one x in X such that f(x) = y and no unmapped element exists in either X or Y." Hee hee...You got that, right?

Okay, lets try again. My research led me to a post at A Teacher at Heart and I learned that it is fundamentally the matching of one object to one (corresponding) number or object , for example: matching the number "3" to the three bears; or "4" to moving four spaces on a board game; matching one knife to one fork; or two socks to two shoes. The key is that the matching is to the same value.

In light of the above information, I realized that when counting with Little One (33 months at the time of this article), it is important to simultaneously touch and count the objects. In practice, this means that I may gently take Little One's hand and touch the objects that we are counting. Children tend to naturally touch objects as they count, but may sometimes skip an object or double count. A very informative article on number skills at down syndrome education online explains that children can be helped to keep track of counting by placing objects already counted in a separate pile or counting in one direction. Increasing the size of spaces between objects and using objects that are not too small to hold or roll also helps the young child in the counting process. (This website is definitely worth checking out if you would like more information about teaching numeracy.)

In an article by Rita Webb at Ezine , she points out that one-to-one correspondence also involves the skill of comparing sets to see which has more or less. She shares a variety of activity ideas to practice both matching and comparing. I won't be writing about the comparing of sets here, but you can head on over to Ezine to see what she has to say.

Earlier this year we did a mini (cat) theme and I found some cat counting flashcards at Sparklebox. I wanted to try out a one-to one correspondence activity with Little One (See picture above) and was surprised at how easily he understood what was required. I would say "Can you put one block on one Kitty?" and so on. I'm on the look-out for some more easy one-to-one correspondence activities, so if you have any to share, please leave a link in the comment box.

PS. Our Touch and Count Cubes, seen in the picture above, are a great learning tool. I highly recommend them for every household. I use them regularly during the homework session with my older son, as they have endless mathematical possibilities. They are available here in South Africa at CNA stores or through agents. Please contact me if you would like more info.

PPS. Linking this to Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Car Painting

2011-05-20T21:34:00.001+02:00

Little One had fun one afternoon painting with some of his cars.

The paint can be tricky to clean off the wheels, so if your little guy wants to paint with his favourite car, you may need to prepare him for multicoloured tyres after the art. :)

Have fun!

(PS. This is not an original idea and I like to give credit where it is due, but unfortunately I cannot recall where I saw this for the first time.)

Fishing

2011-05-10T21:30:00.011+02:00

I woke up on Sunday morning and while getting ready for church, I was thinking about whether God would be pleased with me. I was thinking, as I often do, that I am not doing enough as a follower of Jesus. I had read the previous evening during my quiet time about how God wants us to gain followers for him...to be a fisher of men (Matthew 4.19). Was I letting God down?

While in the car on the way to church, I was chatting to Big One and he unexpectedly said that he really hopes that we believe in the right God, because if not, we won't go to heaven. My heart skipped a beat for a moment...how do I respond? And then I simply said that I know we believe in the right God, because I have experienced first hand answered prayer and God's amazing love for me. I shared a story from my childhood (when I was about 9), where God answered a prayer of mine in a BIG way. He seemed to accept my explanation. :)

A little while later I was standing in church and it then dawned on me that I had just been given an opportunity to testify for my God. I had fished! I also realised that the doing I was concerned about earlier, happens in our homes, with our friends, in our neighbourhoods. Sometimes we think that we have to talk to strangers or go on an expedition to faraway places to be fishers of men. God reminded me that the waters are often much closer to home than that.

Just by the way, the sermon was about Martha and Mary (Luke 10.38-41) and how Mary, did not busy herself, but sat at the feet of Jesus, listening to his word. Another reminder for me that first and foremost we need to come to the feet of Jesus, before all else. Our God is amazing, isn't he!

Creating Board Games

2011-05-06T22:12:00.006+02:00

I created this board game for play therapy , but Big One spotted it lying on the dining room table and wanted a go.

Board games are generally expensive to purchase and therapeutic board games even more so. As you may know, I am all for making Mommy-made toys and games and it's no different in my approach to play therapy. I really enjoy creating my own play therapy tools. This game was made from an old file and some recycled/rejected business cards, which I sourced from a local printing shop.

You may be wondering how board games fit into play therapy. Some times with older children, I find a game to be quite a non-threatening, playful way to approach more serious issues.

The game has pretty basic rules. Throw the dice and depending on where you land, you either stay put, move forward or back, or pick a card. The card you pick has a word on it. These words include feelings (all sorts) and other words, like "mom, brother, friend, teacher, cheating, honesty, school, home, divorce, bully, punish, protect" etc. All you have to do, is say something about the word that is true for you or your life.

Big One really enjoyed playing and he was very keen to hear what I had to say when it was my turn to pick a card :). His main priority though, was definitely to win! Don't you think the astronaut counters are cool? (Big One's contribution to the set-up)

Now you don't have to be a play therapist to play this kind of game with your child. You may want to stick to feeling words for starters, but then you could add in some more interesting words. Remember though, that your child must never feel pressurized to make a statement about a card and a statement made should never lead to an interrogation. The tone of the game should be fun!

Have you ever made a home-made board game to play with your child?

PS. I'm linking this to:
It's Playtime!
Show and Tell
For the Kids Fridays

Love this Book : Superhero ABC

2011-05-03T09:35:00.005+02:00

Love this Book is just that...a post about a book we LOVE, but haven't done an activity or craft linked to it. It's a book that has been loved for whatever reason and is too good not to share :).

I first found this book at the local library and it was loved and read so much, that I bought it for Big One as a gift. He recently took it to school and according to his teacher it managed to grab the attention of most of the boys in his class! What makes it extra cool though, is that the writing is all in capital letters. Here in South Africa, our children are first exposed to lower case letters and are only introduced to upper case at a later stage. This is a great first upper case reader for a young boy (or girl). It also has very interesting words in it, so is great for vocabulary enrichment too.

All in all, I think that this is a SUPER book. It has a comic book feel to it and there are plenty of heroines to entice girl readers too. Big One is 9 and it is certainly one of his favourite reads.

Author, Bob McLeod, has a website, which has some fun activities and printables linked to the book. Be sure to check it out here! Bob also kindly provided me with the picture that you see here. My photograph was not doing the wonderful art work justice :).

To see some other book suggestions that have inspired art, crafts or other activities, click here.

Felt Car Play Mat

2011-04-27T21:37:00.009+02:00

So one day I was surfing and I found this! It's an amazing car mat from Kimbo at her blog called A girl and a glue gun. Don't you just love the name of her blog? I do, 'cause I'm also crazy about my glue gun! After seeing Kimbo's mat, I was very inspired to make my own version for Little One. Mine is not nearly as elaborate as hers, but I was happy with the way it turned out.

Now you would think that I have a very happy little boy who loves playing with his car mat... well, not really! Every time I put it out to play, he crumples it up within minutes. I quickly realised that he doesn't like that the felt sometimes moves when he drives his cars on it. I have played with it too and found it to be fine, but I suppose when you are only 2 years old, these things can be a bit more frustrating :). If you have any good suggestions for keeping the mat flat and steady, please feel free to comment.

On another topic for a moment...can you spot some very cool toys on our mat. There are a variety of brands being played with here, but some of them are from the "WOW" range of toys and have been loved and played with by both my boys. If you don't know the range, they have an awesome website that you can visit here. They are really great quality and tough toys that can take a beating!

For more amazing play mat inspiration be sure to visit these blogs too:

Arctic and Jungle mats at Shady Tree Diary

Dinosaur play mat at Serving Pink Lemonade

Bob the Builder and Thomas the Train mats at My Delicious Ambiguity

Car and Animal play mats at lovely little sweetpeas

Happy playing!

PS. I'm linking this to:
Get Your Craft On @ TODAY'S creative Blog

MADE BY LITTLE HANDS MONDAY @ delicate CONSTRUCTION

We Play @ childhood101
Making the World Cuter Monday
HIGH PAW @ the best toys for toddlers

Easter Weekend

2011-04-25T21:28:00.002+02:00

We had a busy and blessed Easter weekend! We had a lovely walk on Good Friday afternoon and the boys in my life played some soccer at the local park. Although the rain did not arrive till Sunday, a chill was in the air and one can now feel our Winter approaching. In contrast, on the other side of the world, perhaps where you are, Spring is in the air and Summer is beckoning. I am reminded though, that no matter where we are, whatever the season or weather, we all shared this special significant Easter weekend. I really hope yours was wonderful.

~ Georgia ~

Sock Bunny

2011-04-20T22:36:00.004+02:00

Like this bunny?

What about this one?

I saw this idea for a sock bunny at the Disney Family Fun website and I couldn't resist making one. I used grown-up socks (instead of kiddies size) and lentils. The bunny feels quite heavy and floppy. Very different to my sock kitty , which is filled with batting.

I also don't know how they (Family Fun) got their bunnies' ears to stand up so nicely? They must have some secret photo shoot tips that they are not sharing with us ;). Big One made me feel much better about it, when he told me that he actually prefers the floppy ears (YAY!) and he thinks my bunny is great. I so love hearing things like that!

My little secret photo tip for getting bunnies' ears to stand up straight is...wait for it...lay your bunny on it's back...hee hee.

I am really enjoying these little sock animal additions to our home. I think I'll keep making them...perhaps a puppy next! Have you ever made a no-sew sock animal? Please share a link in the comments if you have. I would love to come and see!

Great Reads

2011-04-19T16:10:00.000+02:00

Every week I read the most wonderful posts and discover great ideas on the internet. Most of my creative inspiration comes from blogs that I love to visit.

I recently read a beautiful, very touching post ...one I had to share with you. It's filled with pictures that say it all and I only wish I had written it myself :). It's about filling your home with the unseen "things" and written by Ashley from under the sycamore. I only very recently discovered Ashley's blog and have found it hard to not keep on reading...she has a delightful sense of humour and really makes me giggle! This post will make you smile. It's just lovely and such a great message!

I must add that Ashley and her family are going through a very difficult time right now. Her beautiful 21 month old daughter broke her femur (thigh bone) just over a week ago and has to lie on her back in hospital for 2 weeks. Can you imagine keeping such a little person in bed on her back for so much time. Ashley has been giving a daily account of her little girl's hospital stay and it is a poignant reminder (to me) of how documenting our daily experiences with pictures and words can be so powerful! Do pop over and check out how they are doing.

Till next time...

Easter Printables

2011-04-17T21:26:00.001+02:00

With Easter around the corner, there are some super Easter ideas around the net and some of the nicest free printables can be found at We love to illustrate for children. I got so excited when I found this site and went to visit all the individual blogs involved. This is one group of super talented ladies and they are so kindly sharing some of the most amazing free Easter goodies.

Wouldn't this just make the prettiest Easter bunting?

And this printout lets you play dress-up with some large sized eggs!

To see more, be sure to visit the site. They also share these fantastic free back-to-school printables here.

Have fun!

Baking School

2011-04-13T17:49:00.013+02:00

Who would have thought that baking some biscuits could be so much fun and educational at the same time! It's a super sensory experience, uses fine-motor skills, and we added shape and colour recognition, as well as counting into the mix!

Nope, no cookie dough in my mouth Mommy...

PS. I'm linking this to:

For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars

Tot Tuesdays @ My Delicious Ambiguity

High Paw @ the best toys for toddlers

The Heartfelt Project

2011-04-11T21:35:00.006+02:00

I'm very excited to share some special South African products with you from The Heartfelt Project.

The Heartfelt Project was born out of a very tragic event, but today is empowering a number of woman and impacting a community.

I am sharing just a few of many lovely products available. Magnets, brooches, hair clips, baby mobiles, Christmas decorations (love these!!), wedding favours and much more, are available to purchase.

Aren't these bunny brooches so sweet? They would make such a lovely Easter gift for the little ladies in your lives (or even the big ladies).

Or what about a dozen or so Easter egg magnets.

Love these Robot-Schmobots!

These are beautiful!

To read more about the Heartfelt story and do some shopping, please visit their website. You can know that your purchase will be making a difference in the lives of a community. Heartfelt also exports worldwide and with the exchange rate being strongly in the overseas buyer's favour, those of you across the seas will be smiling all the way :)!

Books by Tara

2011-04-09T21:58:00.011+02:00

April is Autism Awareness Month and I hope to bring you some Autism related posts this month (I had better get a move on...it's the 9th already!)

Today I want to tell you a little about Books By Tara. Tara, whose own son was diagnosed with Autism, found that there are very few "simple" books on the market that are designed for older children. With this in mind, she decided to create her own books. These books focus on a specific theme and use photographs to explore each theme. The books are also spiral-bound, which is great for isolating the pictures while teaching or "reading".

Tara found that these books help establish a mutual focus and this in turn provides an opportunity for social connections. The books also provide opportunities for fun discussions and in turn language skills are practised and enrichment takes place. Tara states it beautifully when she says, "all children require engaging experiences with caring adults to truly thrive linguistically." Tara has a variety of fun titles, including Holes and Tall, and shares lots of ideas on how to use her books on her website.

Last year I was fortunate enough to win a copy of Water through a competition run by Memetales and was, according to Tara, the first person in South Africa to see one. If you would like to read a free online version of this book, follow the Water link above and you can read it on the Memetales website. To see how we (Big One and I) won it, click here.

Would you like to win a book too? Every month one lucky subscriber to Tara's newsletter stands a chance to win a book. How awesome is that!

There is so much one can write about Autism. Is there anything that you would like me to specifically write about. If you do have any suggestions, please leave me a comment or email me.

Cats {Cutest Cat Party}

2011-04-07T21:17:00.006+02:00

This cat party at Parents.com must be the cutest ever! I'm not kidding. Pop on over to see decorated cat cups and plates; kitty collars and paws to make for dress-up; balloon cats (see ours above); and a super cat cake! Seriously cute...that's all I can say. :)

Cats {Cat and Cow Craft}

2011-04-04T21:54:00.008+02:00

When I saw this cute cat craft here at Katherine Marie Photography, I just knew it would be a great addition to our cat theme! It comes from All Kids Network and the instructions can be found here.

Little One watched with great anticipation while I made this kitty and got up to some of his own cutting and pasting. He loves using a scissors and cuts really well. He also loves the glue stick, but is inclined to want to eat it! Anyway, he was really impressed with the cat and asked me to also make a cow. So I obliged - good Mommy that I am. I was about half way when he then insisted on a sheep...I promised that for another day! :)

Till next time...

Cats {Fun with Shapes}

2011-03-31T23:20:00.005+02:00

To add some more fun to our mini theme, we invited some special friends over for a play date and we dressed up as cats. With some marshmallow mice and fish in our bellies, we then made some very easy cat faces from pre-cut shapes!

Do you recognize our feline friends? Arrowboy and Sweetpea (on the left) belong to Joyful Mama and Little Mouse (on the right) belongs to Trudie. We are so lucky to have these special ladies and little friends live so close by!

Cats {Nursery Rhyme Fun}

2011-03-28T20:47:00.017+02:00

I recently shared about a terrific book, Origami for children, by Mari and Roshin Ono, so I was very excited to find Origami Club, a fantastic website, with lots and lots of ideas and great instructions. You can print the instructions, or watch a video if the printed version is to tricky to understand. All ideas are also rated, so you know the difficulty level before you start.

As part of our cat theme, I focused on some popular cat nursery rhymes...

The Three Little Kittens

For some fun related to this nursery rhyme, we traced around Little One's hand and then created three sets of mittens. He loved sticking on the cotton balls. Little One loves glue, and calls it "gloopy glue", like Mr Maker does. He gave this bottle of glue a good squeeze (great for those little fingers), but in the end I needed to help squeeze the glue out. We then played a game of hide and seek with the mittens. Just like in the nursery rhyme, we "lost" the mittens and had to find them. He really enjoyed this! (The mittens and the kittens are great for counting practice too.)

For some more fun, I made origami puppets (see above) to act out the nursery rhyme and we once again used our mittens as part of the play. I made a happy and a cross face for the Mommy cat, which I stuck back-to-back to a craft stick, so that the face could easily be flipped over during the story. This was also a great success!

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, Where have you been?

Acting out this nursery rhyme also turned into a great learning activity, with me focusing on prepositions. In my version, the pussy cat frightened and chased the mouse under, over, and onto the chair.

PS. I'm linking this to...

Tot Tuesdays @ My Delicious Ambiguity

Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

High Paw @ the best toys for toddlers

For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars
We Play @ childhood101

Cats {Dress-up and Sock Kitty}

2011-03-24T08:16:00.027+02:00

"I like cats!", Little One announced (some time last year). I giggled! For two reasons really...one being that I was so surprised that at the tender age of two you can know with such certainty what you like, and also because we (husband and I) have always thought of ourselves more as a doggy family...should we get a pet.

Little One is still at home with me full-time this year and because he is a bright, busy little person and seeks constant stimulation (like most two-year-olds), I decided to introduce some mini themes to direct our craft and learning activities. Needless to say, when I was considering my first theme, I thought "Cats". So what follows in this and the next few posts, are all the cat-related activities that we got up to.

And while we have been playing "cats", it's been reading month in the United States and Polly from Helping Little Hands has had a fun Read-Along, where she has asked some bloggers to share a book-related activity. I have joined in the fun and am sharing this sweet sock cat, inspired by the fabulous little book, Katie the Kitten , by Alex Scheffler. We have a small box set, including four of his titles (to read about another one, see here), but Katie the Kitten has been Little One's all time favourite!

"She loves nothing more

than a night on the prowl.
She doesn't get scared

by a woof or a growl."

Do go along and check out some of the other fun reads and activities shared by other book-loving bloggers!

PS. I am also linking Katie, the sock kitten, to:

Tot Tuesdays @ My Delicious Ambiguity

Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

High Paw @ the best toys for toddlers

For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars

Speckled Hearts

2011-03-16T12:46:00.005+02:00

These were our Valentine's gifts for the awesome grandparents we are so blessed to have in our lives!

We took an A4 sheet of red paper and Big One wrote an "I love you because..." note on it. We then wrapped this around a nice slab of chocolate and decorated with speckled hearts (I don't know what else to call these :)).

I think everyday...any day...is a good day for an "I love you" note...don't you?

To make our speckled paper, I gave Little One a toothbrush and some watercolour paints. He found the toothbrush spraying rather tricky, so this was a good fine motor workout for those little fingers!

I found the origami heart pattern in an amazing book, Origami for children, by Mari Ono and Roshin Ono. I also found a similar pattern here, if you would like to make some of your own.

PS. I'm linking this to Tot Tuesdays @ My Delicious Ambiguity.

Magazine Cover

2011-03-12T19:45:00.003+02:00

Do you have a favourite baby or parenting magazine? Well here at home, the Your Baby magazine has always been a huge favourite of mine. I was buying them long before I had children and continued to buy them long after it was necessary. With it's informative and well-written articles; the beautiful photography that one finds in their pages; and, not to mention, the most gorgeous cover pictures, it is really hard to resist! I hang onto mine, and even though I do regular cupboard clean-outs (I'm quite good that way), I find it nearly impossible to throw these mags away!

So having said this, you can well imagine my great delight when I heard that Little One was going to be a cover baby!! And to make it just a little more exciting, the shoot took place at my home and I had the real treat of having tea with the editor and her team. It was an experience! The shoot actually took place in November 2009 and Little One was the cover baby for the March 2010 edition.

So this got me thinking about how much fun it could be to make one's own magazine covers and print them. I found this website, MagMyPic, where you can download a photo and create a cover in minutes. It's really very easy to use, with the only downside being that you are restricted to their templates.

You could of course also create one in a software package like Photoshop, or in my case, Picasa (I'm not yet a Photoshop girl!). You could personalise these and make the titles of the articles applicable to your little one's personality or developmental stage. If you did one a month, you would have a quick fun overview of your child's year, nicely summarised in twelve mag covers that you could frame or put in a mini photo album. These would also make fun birthday invites! If you do give this a go, please let me know, I'd love to come and check out your magazine covers.

Have fun!

PS. It's Love and Lollipops' birthday today! It's been one year since my first post! It's been such an awesome ride. Thanks to you all that come and visit and leave such lovely warm fuzzies for me!