Play – Ball rolling on a slide

We use Luath’s slide for a variety of fun activities.  We had lots of fun setting up some ball rolling games.
First we just did plain ball rolling.
We started aiming at objects, skittles, pots, gaps.

Then we added an extra ramp for the ball to roll up.

Made the slide a little longer.
  
And a combination of them all.
(Luath is 28 months)

Outdoors everyday week 20

Some lovely sunny moments this week.  Some of the things we did outdoors this week were:
Straw hat and swinging.  Backpack and beach walking.  Raking the vegetable bed.  Trying out roller skates (with lots of help).  Broadcast sowing seeds.  Finding stone ladybirds (a library event)

(Luath is 28 months)

Book of the week - The Great Snortle Hunt by Claire Freedman

The Great Snortle Hunt is a rhyming picture book about three friends who set off for the creepy house where the snortle lives.  The cadence of the text adds to the tension of their adventure.  It is a great gently scary book.  The illustrations work well with the story and on some pages there is lots to look and talk about.  Luath is at a stage where sometimes she says things includes books are too scary, even to very gentle  books, but interestingly she hasn’t once said this book was too scary to read.

Claire Freedman is one of the authors on Aliens in Underpants and the follow up underpants books.

Outdoors everyday week 18

We are getting used to the cold weather puddles and occasionally sunshine.  Some things we did while outdoors this week were:
push a buoy up  a tiny slope and watch it roll back, be a fire fighter, following the rail tracks (rain gutter), play with a friendly cat, paddle while the dog swam

(Luath is 27 months)

Book of the week – The Shape of my heart – Mark Sperring

 
  
The Shape of My Heart is a bright picture book  (illustrations by Alys Paterson)that we borrowed from the library.  I can’t decide if I like it or not, but Luath has requested it first and most often this week.  Luath was initially drawn to the penguins on the front holding the balloon.
It begins with a double page of brightly coloured shaped and they leave some white space which from an adult and a child image, with a heart shape inside each one.  The book goes through different sections sight, hear, taste, feet…
“This is the shape of our eyes and these are the shapes we might see”

“Something hot! Or something cold? Something savoury? Or sweet!”

I’m not sure about the text but the bright pictures are fun to look at and talk about and could be used from an early age.  We tend to expand my asking “where is the car going I wonder”, “which animal do you like today”  The heart image with all the shapes (on cover but also inside book) works great for counting how many cars, can we find all the things to eat, what is the dinosaur doing etc. I don’t think that the book really shows a child about love but perhaps I am missing something.
(Luath is 27 months)

Switching off with the TV switched off

Screen free week 29 April to 5 May

Luath for a while has only had a daytime nap if she is unwell.  Not napping during the day has greatly improved her bedtime.   She does do quiet time, (meantime she struggles to do this independently) but on top of that some days she benefits from a 10-20min chill out(by that I mean be relatively still  mentally and somewhat physically). Sometimes a book and/or cuddle can work but not consistently.   We find that a short time of tv/dvd cuddled up with mum or dad helps but ideally I would prefer we found other ways.  We have tried lying down together (not necessary in bed) and listening to audio story but neither worked. 

These are things we plan to try to help her chill out for 10-20 mins instead of the tv:
Watch the teddy
Lie teddy on their tummy and watch it go up and down as they breathe in and out (Maggie Fisher on madeformums
A mind jar

Watch glitter slowly settle in jar
Alternatives - A sand egg timer or snow globe (may settle too quickly)
A finger labyrinth

hand drawn or fabric
A simple marble maze

instructions here but basically is two pieces of fabric with marble between them.  Fabric then stitched so that ball travels through maze.
Bedtime yoga
Using more as a relax than presleep,  ideas here
Relaxation
some ideas here (site is selling a CD)
Massage
thinking more just hands or feet
(Luath is 27 months)