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!

Fancy Nancy and The Posh Puppy

I love raiding new bookshelves, and in one of my raids of Dionne's book shelf today I discovered this delightful book... Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy!

Story Summary:

Fancy Nancy is just "Posh" thats who she is, and she loves that about herself! She even says in the story, "Its hard being the only posh person in your family." So, Fancy Nancy want to get a "posh" puppy and the story is all about the process she goes through to find out which puppy would best suit her and her family (making sure it fills the one criteria, or being posh!).

Likes and Loves:

* I LOVE the way the author, Jane O'Connor, uses and introduces wonderful words like ''ecstatic" and "exhausted". But she doesn't just use them, she always follows through with a quick little definition of what the word means.

"I am ecstatic." (That's a fancy word for happy)

Teaching Points:

* This book is great for teaching new words and giving definitions that children can understand.

* With your child choose a word of the day, make a poster the word and its meaning. Try and use it throughout the day.

Strategies for Feeding Picky Eaters

I have really been getting into finding articles on the net lately! You win some and you loose some, but on a whole I have been finding some really worth while stuff. . . and its all free information right at your finger tips. So, I have decided that every Monday I am going to blog about a different article I have found that helps me be a better mum! Its going to be my "Mummy Monday!"

To get the ball rolling, my article for today is about Strategies for Feeding Picky Eaters! (Follow this link to read the full article). iMOM is the website where I found this article, and it is a really good little resource. There is heaps of great articles and other parenting helps on there. But this article really appealed to me because. . . wait for it. . . I have a picky eater! I am also finding so many of my friends, who have children of the same age, are dealing with similar issues right now. This, at least, helps me feel and know that I'm not the only one.

This article is really simple and straight to the point. It just acted as a good reminder to me of the simple little things I should be doing in encouraging Ashton to eat better. Sometimes, when you are caught up in the moment of trying to get the to eat, or just in the flurry of every day life, you just do whats easier. . . but in doing this, we really make a rod for our own back! I'm tempted to print this off and put it in my fridge so that hubby and I are both on the same page in our efforts, and as a constant reminder to myself!

Japanese Dinner Party

WE FINALLY DID IT! We finally had our Japanese Dinner! This dinner has been a long time coming, and I was starting to believe that it wasn't going to happen. But we persevered and made it happen and it was soooo worth it! All of the food was so delicious! I have so missed having The Wrights and The Higgins over for our international food nights! 

Food on the menu:

* Miso Soup

* Dumplings in traditional rice vinegar dipping sauce!

* Fried rice and marinated chicken wings

* Japanese Teriyaki Chicken Salad (Recipe below)

Oh YUM!

JAPANESE YUMMIES!

Next international food night... ITALIAN! Possibly one of my fav's!

Japanese Teriyaki Chicken Salad Recipe:

*Cooked short grain rice

*Salads: Red cabbage, green cabbage, lettuce, red onion, mushrooms, apples, mung beans, carrot, cucumber. (You can pretty much put anything on there that you like in a salad.)

* Marinated Teriyaki chicken strips

* Sesame Seed Dressing (you can buy this in most supermarkets)

* Ginger Dressing (click on this link for the recipe)

(You basically layer it up in this order in a big bowl and then dig in! You can have lots of different sauces too, like Sweet Chili or BBQ Sauce too.)

Book Review - Handas Surprise

One of Ashton's favourite books to read at the moment is "Handa's Surprise". He just discovered it sitting on his shelf the other day and I had totally forgotten we had it, and it was like finding a lost gem.

It is a very simple story, that kind of has a silent story (via the illustrations) running along side the written story. So, while we are reading the story, the illustrations are opening up lots of different points of conversations and questions for me to have with Ashton.

A brief synopsis of the story is that Handa has decided to surprise her good friend Akeyo with a basic of yummy fruit. She wonders while fruit Akeyo will like best. On Handa's journey to see Akeyo in her village different animals sneak up and steal the various pieces of fruit, leaving none left. But an unexpected event happens to make the surprise not only for Akeyo, but for Handa as well.

Ashton loves to point out the different animals sneaking up on Handa, and loves to name the fruit each animal takes, and he loves pretending to eat some of the fruit too.

This story is obviously set in Africa somewhere and has that lovely cultural flavour to it, with its colours and representation of the village, their cultural clothing and even the way that the women would carry the fruit in the head baskets. Its a beautiful, vibrant and simple story! Love it!

Whats your favourite children's book? I'm always looking for great new books to read.

Our Big City Adventure

One 6 year old, one 3 year old, one 2 year old, two 1 year olds, two adults, 2 push chairs, and 3 bags. . . CHECK!

We were all ready for our big adventure into the city, via bus, to go to the Aotea Centre Pick and Mix Broadway Theatre event/workshop for children. These events are put on weekly throughout the winter and are free to the public. Each weekend a different organisation would put on a different kind of workshop for children to learn about.

I must say the actual show and workshop wasn't that fabulous. It could have been done so much better. But that didn't stop Ashton and the girls from getting up and having a boogie. They really wanted to enjoy it, so they made the effort and had a good time anyways.

The children really loved being able to run around and explore the big bustling city. I think this would have been a good enough adventure in itself! (maybe another day.) They loved watching all of the people, some were even interesting enough to make them stop and stare! ha ha. They loved pressing the pedestrian crossing buttons and then crossing the big busy streets as quickly as they could. We played Eye Spy a few times and this made them even more aware of everything around them.

It was a handful at times, trying to keep all 5 children going in the same direction, and we did get quite a few good stares ourselves!!!

One our way home the kids all opened up in their own theatrical rendition of "The Wheels on the bus" keeping everyone on the bus well entertained. When we asked them all what their favourite part of the adventure was they all agreed the bus ride was the best! We were all pretty tired by the end of our big city adventure, but it was lots of fun!

Our bus ride into town on the jam packed bus!

Waiting to cross the street.

Ashton just chilling and enjoying the music!

Cheeky Monkeys waiting for the bus.

Weeding is FUN!

I have been meaning to get round to weeding our garden for quite some time now, but with it being a bit on the colder side and with so much else (thats more exciting) to do, it just wasn't on my high priorities list. But, while I was out hanging the laundry today Ashton asked me, "I dig?" I was delighted that he was asking to do a messy play activity, (since he never does) and quickly set him up with some tools and a hole to dig in and we were away!

While sitting digging with him though, the sight of weeds kept popping into vision and distracting me. While contemplating when I would actually get round to pulling them, as if on cue, Ashton jumped up and pulled some weeds from the retaining wall and put them in his mud mix!!! Fabulous! From this point on Ashton and I shuttled backwards and forwards taking turns pulling the weeds and then adding them to our mud pie mixes! He thought it was great fun and I ended up with a reasonably weed free garden while playing with my boy!