A day at the beach

"Look mum, i draw a rainbow! 

I draw a rainbow in the sand! See Look!"

You can only imagine my excitement when Ashton put this own artistic creativity into action and decided to draw pictures in the sand with a stick he had found while we were at the beach with friends today!

The sand really was a perfect natural canvas to be drawn on at this point as well, as the tide had just gone out and the sand was super flat and pretty much untouched, since we were there first thing in the morning. 

I love that he was so excited to show off his masterpiece and saw it as something worth sharing! 

I keep saying I am so excited about Ashton doing anything arty... but I actually think my excitement for Ashton actually drawing or doing "anything arty" has shifted from being shocked excitement that he is actually doing engaging in artistic activity at all, to excitement over the fact that he is actually starting to do it on his own accord! My efforts to expose him and encourage him to develop his creativity is finally paying off!

 As well doing sand drawings while at the beach, Ashton jumped waves with his friends, built sand castles, chased birds, strutted around doing an 'undie walk' at the playground, and even let me bury him in the sand from the chest down! It was a great morning at the beach just letting the kids explore as they pleased and it was nice for us mums to be able to catch up with each other... in amoungst the sprints to the toilet, with three toilet training children, shepherding children back to our base or the playground, and feeding or putting babies to sleep! YOU TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET RIGHT!

It was quite the active morning and Ashton was obviously quite exhausted by the end of it because... he feel asleep in the supermarket trolley on my quick dash into the supermarket on our way home!  That boy never ceases to amaze me, whether it be where he falls asleep or how he finds ways to tell me about his world! 

Back To Nature

Children just don't seem to play like they use to! We feel like we have to plan every minute of their day with activities that are going to make them smarter. In the process we are totally over working ourselves and overstimulating our children!

A couple of weeks ago I did an article review in the Polkadots Blog about children returning to nature. After reading this article I got this obsession with wanting to take Ashton out for a bush walk. . . Since then we have been on three!!! And they have been the best play dates ever!

Here are some pointers for having a successful NATURE ADVENTURE!

* Dress appropriately! Wear clothes that can get muddy, or grass stains!

* Take a change of clothes. . . just in case! You're more likely to explore more deeply and be more lenient to your child going exploring into that puddle if you don't care about the clothes.

* Don't be in a rush. . . The more time you have to just relax and go with the flow, the more likely you and your child are to make new discoveries.

* Don't take toys! . . . Your child will be heaps more creative with their play and their surroundings then they don't have toys to distract them.

* Explore and enjoy alongside your child. . . follow your "inner child" instincts! If you want to roll down that big hill . . . ROLL DOWN THE HILL THEN!

If you see or hear something that fascinates you, share it with your child. The more you share with them, the more the will share with you!

* Celebrate even the most simple discoveries. . . Ashton loved the feeling of the gravel as he swished his hands over it, and also discovered that it made a pretty cool sounds when he slid his feet over it too! So we all took a minute to make music with the gravel!

* Don't be scared of yucky stuff. . . it all washes off! Just keep some wet wipes handy!

* Take time to just sit and watch, listen, smell, touch. . . You will be surprised at what you'll discover when you activate all your senses.

* Have FUN! . . . Make up stories about the animals, insects or trees. Ask the children what they think they will see before you go in to the bush walk. Sing songs while you're walking. Take photos while you go!

Some people may think its a lot of work to try and organise a bush walk. But ITS NOT! Just find a walk and go! Your child will guide you and dictate the rest of the walk. Its just up to you to facilitate and extend their discoveries as they happen. Ask them questions, share your knowledge with them, celebrate discoveries and get excited with them about all the wonderful things nature has to offer!

BIG LEAVES, LONG LEAVES, SOFT LEAVES

Ashton loves to be outside. Being outside has the ability to calm him, excite him and amuse him for great lengths of time. We love to walk around the garden and look at all the different trees and touch the leaves. The more we go exploring the garden the more inquisitive he has become. He has also started interacting with the environment in a different way.

To begin with Ashton would just look around at all the trees and watch them blow in the wind, the movement of the leaves catching his attention. Then he began reaching out to the leaves and as most babies do, would automatically try and put them in his mouth. This he still continues to do to a degree but just yesterday I began to notice that the way he handled each leaf was slightly different. One particular tree has quite small soft leaves, and he would run his hand through these as though feeling them stroke his hand. Another tree has long, hair like leaves, (I call this the Pony tail tree.) This one he holds onto and pulls his hand down the leaves. The trees with spiky leaves or branches he is more cautious with and the leaves with big chubby, rubbery leaves he likes to pat and hit.

This development in the way he played with the leaves made me start talking to him about the differences between the leaves, using words that described them in a broader sense than just "a green leaf". Although it could seem (because he is not talking yet) that my efforts are premature... the theory behind this is that while I am saying these describing words, he will be using all of his senses and putting those words into context.

What could have just been a simple walk in the garden became an exploration of shape, texture, size, colour and nature. We became Science Seekers!!!

STOP TO SMELL THE ROSES

After a lovely holiday away in Surfers Paradise with my family I am back into Polkadots action . . . well, I'm trying to anyway! I am of the firm belief that you need at least two days to recover and get back into routine after a holiday, especially when a child is involved. Unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping, catching up on e-mails, you name it... there are a million things to

do and in amoungst it all, trying to entertain your child so that he knows he is still the centre of the your world!

All of this sparked my BLOG thoughts for today. . . because as I was going about my business, trying to get life back in order, Ashton's baby chatter calls for attention were getting louder and louder. It was at this point I reaslised how quickly our babies and children get caught up in our crazy adult lives. They have no choice but to go with the flow . . . of course we can't stop doing everything and just play with our children 24/7 - BUT! we can stop every now and then to give them pockets of quality time. And if we really think smart we can work our role as teacher to our children in with our role of 'whatever else'. You could take a 15 minute walk (exercise) with your child and stop to smell the flowers. While preparing afternoon tea, talk with your child about the seeds you discovered inside an apple. While reading a bed time story stop half way through the story and ask them to make up a new ending using their imagination. Make the

every day ordinary adult crazy daily life moments... extraordinary. You just need to take a few seconds to think "How can I make this moment a teaching moment?"

We are meant to be teaching our children about our world, preparing them to take on the world and enjoy it. Kids are all about having fun, so if you can find ways to teach your child in ordinary day to day tasks, your crazy day will become a lot more FUN!