With Miss G being under the weather this week, we’ve spent quite a bit more time at home than usual. This has allowed us loads of time to dress-up, read in our new fairy tale fort, play round upon round {upon round upon round} of UNO, and do all sorts of fun creative projects and activities – one of which was creating this fun magnetic rainbow name busy box.
Something I’ve recently started making sure we make time for is fun, hands-on book activities. I’ve always loved extending favourite read alouds with fun learning activities in my classroom, and Miss G absolutely adores reading books, so I’m not sure why it took this long, but heh – here we are.
Today, Miss G and I did a great big deep clean of her room. During the tidying, down came the epically successful styrofoam structures station. It was time. It had been played with every single day for nearly three weeks and was starting to become a giant mess of styrofoam dust and building junk . Luckily, I had been preparing Miss G for the change for the last few days, so everything got taken apart and tucked away without any issues.
What I wash’t prepared for however, was the fact that as soon as her toy box top was cleared off and wiped down, she said “Mama tells Grae Grae ’bout da NEW toy box prajet (project)!” Uhhhh… I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Oops. I explained to Gracen that I wasn’t sure what would replace her beloved building station, but I would think of something FUN, get it ready during her nap time, and surprise her with it when she woke up. No pressure.
Since I had about a gazillion other things I had planned to get done during my baby girl’s nap time, I knew the new station had to be something quick and easy to put together. I dug through our little living room toy box in search of inspiration, came across her bar magnet, and that was that…. A magnet station it was. I gathered up all kinds of small things from around the house – some magnetic and some not – and placed them on a tray along with the magnet. At first, I thought I’d just leave it at that, but then I decided it would be fun to add a sorting element since Miss G loves sorting/matching games so much. I remembered coming across this post on Pinterest a long while ago, and though adding ‘magnetic’ and ‘non-magnetic’ jars into the mix felt a little bit too “academic” or teach-y (we don’t really do planned learning activities yet), I decided to give them a shot. After all, they could always be removed if they were too much. I retrieved 2 mason jars, drew 2 quick sketches (one illustrating magnetic, and the other one non-magnetic), cut them out, and washi taped them onto the jars. Done!
When Gracen woke up, she asked about her new project immediately (this girl doesn’t forget a thing). I brought it in, explained that it was a magnet station, and let her jump in.
After a couple of minutes of exploration, I explained the jar drawings to her. Without hesitation, she started placing things in the appropriate jars.
She was so into it that it didn’t feel like too much at all.
Before long, she’d sorted every last item into the jars and announced, “All done! Dump ’em and do it again!” (A sure sign of success, I’d say. ☺)
♥
To keep up with all the Mama.Papa.Bubba. fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
I’ve always thought that children should be encouraged to wear poppies just as proudly as adults do come November, but let’s face it – they’re just not that kid-friendly. The straight pin is just too pokey (and sometimes just downright dangerous), and inevitably, they fall off within a half hour of being put on and get lost.
So while I taught at a school that encouraged all children, including my 2 full classes of Kindergarteners, to wear a poppy on the day of our Remembrance Day assembly, I had to figure out a better way. Some teachers wrapped scotch tape around the bottom of the pins, and I briefly experimented with replacing the straight pins with safety pins, but helping 40+ five year olds with either on an already busy day was just too much. I needed something I could put together in advance and the kids could put on themselves… And that’s when I figured out this simple Remembrance Day poppy hack.
This morning, using my magnet method, I modified a poppy for Gracen to wear throughout the weekend.
Here’s what you need… A poppy, two small identical magnets (the stronger the better), a tiny embellishment of some sort (sequin, bead, pearl, button, etc.), and some glue (preferably something that will bond well to the slightly plasticky back side of the poppy… Hot glue can be used in a pinch, but a good craft glue will adhere better).
First, take apart the poppy.
Then, using just a tiny bit of glue, stick your embellishment onto the black centre piece of the flower.
Now, using a tad bit more glue, glue the black centre onto the main part of the poppy.
Depending on the type of glue you’re using, you may have to let the front side of the flower dry before flipping it over. Once it’s dry, adhere one of your magnets onto the backside of the poppy with a generous amount of glue and allow it to dry completely.
When your little one is ready to wear the poppy, simply slide the second magnet inside their shirt and place the flower on top. (Attaching the poppy to a shirt pocket or collar works well too.)
If your magnets are of good quality, the poppy should stay securely attached to your little one’s jacket without a problem also.
Of course this method is not suitable for young children who still put random objects in their mouths, but it’s perfect for older children and those who are completely done with the mouth stage. As with all toys and accessories, supervision is key.
For more fun not found on the blog, join us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram.
As we were playing with Gracen’s ever-growing magnet collection this morning, a little game we’ve not yet tried popped into mind… Magnet fishing!
It was a breeze to set up. We gathered up a few materials we had around the house – a bowl, magnets, scissors, embroidery floss (any string would do), a large paperclip, and a piece of drift wood from Gracen’s beach sensory bin (a twig, chop stick, or popsicle stick could easily be used instead) – and created a pond of magnet “fish” and a fishing rod.
These alphabet magnets, made by Gracen’s Auntie Roz, worked well because they were very strong but still light enough to be picked up by the paperclip. The only problem was that they were so strong that with a small bump of the bowl, they’d all cling together, making it hard to catch a “fish”. We did try her Melissa and Doug wooden alphabet magnets, but because of their weight and weaker magnets, they couldn’t be picked up by the paperclip. Ultimately, something in between the two would have been perfect (I’m thinking the plastic letter magnets may be the way to go).
WIth our fishing rod built and our pond freshly-stocked with fish, we were ready to go.
Caught one!
After she’d fished standing up for a while, she decided to try fishing while sitting down. Looping the line around the rod a couple of times made this a much more manageable task.
Caught another.
Gracen thought this activity was a lot of fun. As she pulled the magnets out of the pond, she’d remove them from the paperclip, announce their colour (older kids could do colours and letters), and add them to her caught pile (often giving herself an enthusiastic clap afterwards). She enjoyed it so much, in fact, that she insisted that it stay in her room until her Papa returned home from work so she could show him. And that’s exactly what she did.