HOME MADE WRAPPING PAPER

Ashton has a birthday party to go to tomorrow, we have already been shopping to buy the present, but instead of buying wrapping paper, we decided we would put a little extra love into the wrapping process and make the wrapping paper ourselves!

Now, this little project turned out to be a little more challenging that I had expected now that Ashton is on the move. He was determined to see how much of our kitchen he could cover in paint! Luckily we have lino so it washed off easily. But yet again I will say to all those who are asking . . . "Is is really worth the mess?" . . . "YES!" The present looks way cooler with our homemade wrapping paper on it, and Ashton and I had a great time patting and stomping our hands and feet all over the paper in all sorts of colours!

Now I just can't wait to get to the party! Happy 1st Birthday Caleb!

Yip Snap Yap! By Charles Fuge

"Dinner time for greedy dog . . . Chomp, Munch, Chew!

Curl up with a sleepy dog . . . Hrumph, Zzzzz, Phew!"

For all you doggy, puppy lovin kids out there... this is the book for you! It is another Charles Fuge book, I just can't help myself. It is very cute and totally worth reading though.

This book explores lots of different types of dogs, which means you get to use lots and lots of describing words and play with different sounds and do fun comparisons too. Great for a straight bedtime read, or to use as a discussion book too.

Its a wonderful rhyming book, a quality that, if done well, will win me over every time! And once again Charles Fuge delivers illustrations that are just as fun to look at as the book is to read! LOVE IT!

Activities to do with this book:

* Ask the children to think of some other types of dogs that they could add to the story. They may be able to talk about their own dog, or think of some dogs in their own neighbourhood.

* Have the children act out and pretend to be the different dogs as you read about them and make the sounds the dogs make in the story too! ;o)

ROUND AND ROUND THE DRYER

Ashton discovered the clothes dryer today. I had him with me while I was doing the laundry and as I put some of the clothes in the dryer and turned it on he became extremely fascinated. He couldn't take his eyes off it, and when I asked him if he wanted to touch it and moved him up to see closer he was quite unsure of it. (Which is very unlike Ashton, he is into everything an holds back for nothing!)

So we stayed and watched and talked about the dryer for a while. You may think "Ok, thats a little odd." But it was something he was very interested in and I quickly thought about what learning he may get out of it. We talked about the sound it was making as the clothes went around and around, and occasionally had a zipper hit up against the window, and we talked about the clothes going around and around in the hot air to get dry. I said the words "around and around" quite a lot, as this really was the object of his fascination.

After a while of saying "round and round" each time I would say it, he would grunt a little sound out after me. He was really taking it all in. Then as I walked away he continued to keep his eyes fixed on the dryer... as I turned the corner he lent down so he could still see it and made the same little sound as he tried to see it.

We continued on with the round and round fixation for a little while after that as we walked through the house and found other things that went round and round. We even sung the little rhyme as we did the action on his hand of, "Round and round the garden like a teddy bear, 1 step, 2 step and a tickley under there."

Although it was a random object of focus, I still think it was a good little learning moment and rather fun that it was impromptu (hence the no photos.) He is really starting to be very aware of his world and very determined to make sense of it all!

I Like Myself By Karen Beaumount

I like this book for the general principle behind it being, loving yourself for who you are and not caring what anyone else thinks. I like it because it's zainy and fun in terms of some of the ideas they come up with for reasons why or how you would like yourself... because personally I think I'm quite a different person, which characteristics and traits that others may find odd. I like the illustrations in the book, they are really bright and exciting and being the story to life even more. And I like how it gets the imagination going for thinking of unusual things you may like about yourself that may often be forgotten. Oh and I like how it rhymes and explores opposites! . . . I think this book has got me into an "I Like" mode. ;o). It is a fun book though and a great read for picking up and encouraging positive self image.

Activities to do with this book:

* Have a spot light session. Either with your class or with your family. Take turns having someone sit in the "Spot Light" (which is just a special chair that you could decorate up all nice, so whoever is sitting in it feels special.) The person sitting in the spot light becomes the centre of attention and everyone else has a change to say what ever they like about that person.

* Alteratively, go around the room or ask the child you are reading to, to think of some things that they like about themselves. Try and think of some really unusual things, just like the little girl in the story did. Then talk about what you might do if someone said or did something to you which wasn't very nice, talk about positive reaction strategies so that they feel confident to deal with it when it may occur.

EXPLORATION BASKET

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about Ashton's basket of toys and how we changed the contents to have a theme or focus to try and keep things interesting. We started by going on a hunt to find any and all toys or objects wooden, and Ashton really enjoyed playing with the new contents of his toy basket. Eventually though, his interest and attention levels did drop and the flinging of toys out of the basket soon became the object of his focus.

So we mixed it up again, we went and found lots of different types of ribbon and material to fill his basket. Ashton thought it was great as we rummaged through Grandma's sewing drawers to find off cuts to fill the basket, he was pulling them out faster than I could collect them!

He loved exploring and playing with the new basket contents and again, his play and focus slowed down. He loved pulling the velcro apart with me and hearing the noise it made. He discovered elastic, which gave him a little bit of a fright as it pinged back at him when he decided to pull back on it while it was in his mouth... yet still anchored down with both hands!... I tried to warn him! His favourite of all was the silky ribbons, as Ashton has a bit of an obsession with tags and soft pieces of material!

So the basket change up has become and will continue to be a regular happening for Ashton and I... it keeps things interesting for him in discovering new objects to play with and classify as we select different themes... And it keeps me on my toes, watching his play to see what he is interested in and to observe when he wants to change things up. Our most recent basket change up has been a 'technology' theme, with the basket full of remote controls, a camera, old CD's, a microphone and other techno wonderful gadgets!

A REALLY MASSIVE TOY MOBILE!

Today I might have just taken my "Polkadotty Mummy" status to another level by creating my craziest contraption ever! I had an idea in my head and I knew what I wanted to achieve. . . and in a way it came out better than expected, but when I look at it more and more, I just can't help but giggle! So, here it is...

Yes, it is very innovative... Its a really massive toy mobile, that doesn't break! and before you go laughing your head off at my amazing kiwi ingenuity !!! Let me just give you the story behind the concept.

Ashton loves watching the mobile going around while he is in his cot, but he loves it so much that often he gets a bit excited and starts to reach for it. With this enthusiasm he has now broken two mobiles! We have no more!!! So I wanted to channel this enthusiasm or desire to

catch the objects as they moved around as I think it is a great little activity to develop hand-eye co ordination, and lately Ashton has been very focused on developing that skill.

So the idea behind doing this home made, massive, toy mobile was to give Ashton something to play with that would have objects moving around him that he could track and try and catch! Of which he did... and enjoyed... so all I can say is... "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" ;o)