Long ago during my university days, I nannied for a family that had taught their son to open pistachio nuts by placing them inside a towel and smashing them with a hammer. I must admit that at the time I thought it was a little crazy… The danger! The noise! The mess! Oy.
But take a look at what took place in our kitchen this morning… Yes, I’m totally eating my words, and yes, I taught my daughter how to smash open peanut shells using a giant, heavy hammer. While I thought it was slightly insane years ago, now I think it’s sort of brilliant. Not only is it fun, but it encourages both hand-eye coordination, motor skill development, and independence too!
Gracen had an absolute blast with it, and for me, that makes eating my words plenty worth it. ☺
♥
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This weekend, after nearly 3 years of rarely leaving my little lady for more than a couple of hours at a time, I spent a weekend away in Whistler with my best girlfriends from high school. While I was a teensy bit anxious about it all, the fact that she was staying home with her Papa made it much easier than if it was the both of us going away at the same time. That being said, my mama tendencies made sure the house was in order and the fridge and cupboards were well-stocked before leaving. I also knew I wanted to leave a little something special for Grae for each day I was away so that she knew I was thinking of her and would have something from her mama if she was missing me just a little bit. Each of the bags contained a little note and all of the items needed to do a fun activity of some sort – something I knew Miss G would love and would be helpful if there were any ‘lulls’ throughout the weekend.
The day before I was leaving for my trip, Gracen came to me and said with big eyes, “I have an idea!” She explained an elaborate ‘hockey station’ that would involve moving our living room carpet, sweeping underneath, making nets, and creating little hockey sticks. When I saw this set of miniature sticks and balls, I knew they’d be a total hit. 
Knowing that Brad and Grae planned on visiting Science World, I left our membership card and a gift card that could be used for snacks during the visit in the Saturday bag. The visit would have been enough, but since one of our favourite exhibits involves launching parachutes, I included a couple of inexpensive parachute guys to experiment with afterwards.
On days when Brad gets up with Grae and lets me sleep in, the two of them sometimes enjoy some morning television together (a rarity in our house). I decided to go with a lazy Sunday theme and pack up the makings of a special movie morning – a couple of videos and some yummy treats (wild rice sticks and unsweetened dried mango for Miss G and popped chips for Brad).
Just in case, I also included a ‘bonus bag’ to be used if needed. Inside were a few thick cardboard pieces, a box of sugar cubes, some white glue, and instructions to use the items to build sugar cube structures of any sort.
Upon returning from my first ever weekend (and overnight, actually) away from Miss G, she immediately asked if we could open the last of her 
She pulled the items out one by one and this is what we found inside… A box of sugar cubes, some white glue, and several pieces of thick cardboard. The note inside explained that the materials were for building structures, and Gracen wasted no time getting started.
First up, she told me she was going to build ‘biiiiig’ towers. ‘Big, big, big, big, biiiiiig ones’. And that she did. Layering a little squeeze of glue between each sugar cube allowed her to create several tall towers.
When her towers reached the height that satisfied her expectations, she asked for help with making a ‘rectangle’. I squeezed the glue out onto the cardboard in a rectangular shape, and she place the cubes along the path. We continued this pattern several times and finished off with a top layer that made the structure look castle-like.
With our sugar cube box running low, we decided we had enough left for one last structure. Grae decided on a pyramid with a fence around it (the fence was very important) and so that’s what we did.
I really love this activity because it can be very open-ended – the possibilities are endless! Grae loved it so much that she was quite disappointed when the sugar cubes were gone, so we’ll definitely be trying it again soon! 
The last time we got a passport for Miss G, she was just a couple of weeks old and so sleepy that our biggest challenge was waking her up in order to get a photo with her eyes open. We literally tried waking her for 45 minutes before the photographer suggested the {somewhat cruel} method of gently wiping her face with a cool, wet cloth. It worked, and with some seriously stealthy propping and holding, we got the photo we needed. 
One of the things I’ve always loved doing with students who’ve found using scissors challenging is pairing them with play dough instead of paper. Let’s face it – learning to use scissors properly is tricky! First there’s figuring out which fingers go where, plus there’s finding the hand strength and coordination to open and close them, and then there’s also guiding them in the direction you want them to go… Certainly no easy task! The reason I love play dough is that although many kids come to Kindergarten not all that familiar with using ‘school tools’ like scissors, almost all kids come to school having played with play dough. And not only are they familiar with it, but they love it. And because it’s fun and non-intimidating, plus soft and easy to cut, it’s a perfect starting point, even for reluctant munchkins. 
I’ve done this activity with Gracen many times, and although she’s already very comfortable using scissors with paper and cutting on pre-determined lines, she still loves cutting play dough. It’s an easy activity to put together and I’d rather smush together bits of play dough than pick up tiny shards of paper any day of the week. When I set it up, I usually create both play dough ‘pancakes’ and ‘worms’ and then let her go to town, but anything goes. Today after quickly preparing the play dough shapes, she used them to create a daisy and a stem. ☺
Then it was time to cut!
Two things I like to reinforce during the cutting process are one, being mindful of where your ‘holding fingers’ are and two, positioning your scissors so they’re pointing away from your body.
During the process Grae almost always asks for a bowl to put her ‘food’ in, which makes the activity that much more fun and adds in an element of pretend play.
Today’s food was for kitties only. ☺
With another ‘goodbye play date’ happening this morning, Miss G and I decided that it would be fun to make something special to take along for each of her little playmates. Grae suggested necklaces, which I thought was a brilliant idea. We made a quick stop at the store, picked up some unfinished wooden beads and some hemp cord (both available at craft stores and dollar stores) and our project was underway!
First up, was painting the wooden beads… While painting all of the sides of round beads can be quite a challenge for little ones, this is my favourite {and easy} way to help set them up for success. All you need is a smallish box of some sort (a fruit crate or shoebox works well) and a few bamboo skewers. Then just make a few slits down both sides of the box, slide the beads onto the skewers, and place the skewers into the slits. With this handy little contraption, your little one won’t have to worry about holding the beads and they’ll easily be able to spin the beads while painting.
For this project, Grae chose one colour from my acrylic paint stash (the pink one) and in order to create an ombre effect I had in mind, I grabbed the white one. Besides only needing one paint colour plus white {or black}, the beauty of an ombre project is that you only really need one mixing bowl and one paintbrush.
Starting with our original colour and our largest beads, Grae began painting. The process was really quick and easy and she enjoyed it a lot. I did follow behind her with a dry brush just to spread out a few globs of paint here and there, but she was able to get really good coverage all on her own. We slowly made our way through the medium and small beads, adding a little bit of white to our paint with each batch.
As Grae finished painting each skewer of beads, I removed them from the box and placed them on a {very old and well-used} baking dish to dry. This was our completed collection of beads, which was more than enough to make 5 necklaces. 
Acrylic paint dries really quickly, so we were able to string our necklaces not too long after painting the beads. For each necklace, we used about 60 centimetres of white hemp cord, 1 large dark pink bead, 2 medium ones, and 6 smaller ones (2 per shade of pink).
Because we normally use a knotted string when beading, this project was a little different for Miss G. This time we used the cord without a knot, started with the biggest, darkest bead in the middle, and added the outside beads in pairs, one on each side. It was a great informal ‘lesson’ on symmetry and Grae picked up the concept right away.
Here’s the order we went with… The largest, darkest bead in the middle fading to the lightest, smallest beads on the outer edges.
Once Grae was done the beading, I looped the cord in a circle, overlapping the ends about 12 centimetres or so and made a quick, single knot on each side to create an adjustable necklace. I trimmed the excess cord a little bit, and our necklace was complete!
Isn’t it pretty? 
I love this project for so many reasons – it’s quick, easy, inexpensive, and looks beautiful too! Doesn’t get much better than that, does it?
What summer vacation is all about…
When I found this huge jar of marbles sitting in the closet of Brad’s childhood bedroom, I knew they had to be used for something fun. I immediately thought of these 
While Grandma Charlotte’s pool noodles didn’t have holes down the centres and every shop in the village she lives in appeared to be anxiously waiting the same pool noodle shipment, my hometown not far away had pool noodles aplenty! In fact, one of the local dollar stores had huge bins full for $1.25 a piece! With a pool noodle in hand, I began building our marble run during G’s nap. The first step was saw the noodle in half vertically with a serrated knife. Slow and steady was the key to this one.
It was a bit tricky to cut perfectly down the centre of the noodle the entire time, but it really doesn’t have to be perfect.
Next up, I inserted several toothpicks along the side of one of the noodle halves, then carefully connected the other half.
With the main structure built and plenty of nap time to spare, I decided to focus on the details. While I’m sure the usual race track theme would have gone over wonderfully, I decided to switch things up a little and gear the activity to one of Gracen’s recent interests… water slides! Using some bamboo skewers I shortened a little, I threw together a ‘WATER SLIDE’ sign and a few buntings and stuck them onto the slide structure. Then I propped the top of the slide up on a couple of vintage apple crates and put a small bin filled with sparkly blue water at the bottom. Gracen was delighted to wake up from her nap and see it!
The activity really needed no explanation. She recruited Grandma Charlotte, they each selected a marble, and on ‘ready, set, go!’ they released them.
It was a close one!
I kind of wondered if she’d always want someone playing with her during this activity, but that wasn’t the case. She just as happily played on her own.
And after doing several races, things got a little creative… She tried putting multiple marbles in a track before releasing them, raced small marbles against large marbles, and tried sending 
Our little pool noodle water slide has already brought a ton of fun and I can’t wait for us experiment with it some more in the coming weeks… I’m thinking ping pong balls would be neat because they’d float in the pool at the bottom and maybe we’ll try racing water itself?
Gracenbelle and Grandma Sue… Love these two!