Maraca Music

July 21, 2019July 21, 2019Leave a comment

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I’ve made homemade maracas for Veronika before, but today the idea was to see which one she liked best out of a few variations!

I set out three small snack containers. Make sure whichever container you use has a tight-fitting lid, or one that you can tape shut.

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The first received a few scoops of dried beans, the second some dried orzo pasta, and the third a little bit of dried rice.

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Next I presented them to her to shake. Veronika has loved bopping along to music lately, so she loved having a container in her hand to shake, too. Beans were a big hit!

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She seemed to enjoy the subtle sound of the shaking rice when I held it up to her ear.

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Of all of them, the orzo seemed easiest for her to shake and made her preferred sound.

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She also loved when I piled the “maracas” into a tower which she could then knock down, or reach over and pick up a container to shake.

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These made for great solo play while I prepared dinner, too!

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Clothespin Number Match

July 21, 2019July 21, 2019Leave a comment

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For this quick counting exercise, we used number flashcards from Travis’s summer workbook. You can easily make flashcards at home though featuring a set number of things on one side and the numeral on the other.

If you make your own, I recommend following the lead of the workbook we’re using, which presented novel ways to count things: two fingers, for example; five pips on a dice; or six marks on a playing card.

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I gave Travis all of the cards in a big pile and a bowl of clothespins. I thought he might consider the activity somewhat tiresome, but he loved the idea of clipping the pins to each card!

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After counting and telling me what the number on the front was, he checked his answer against the numeral on the back.

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Then it was time to reach into the bowl of clothespins!

He very carefully added and counted as he went, including for the highest numbers. “Can seven even fit?” he wondered while working on that card, and was thrilled when the answer was yes. Our card with 10 was a tight squeeze.

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This requires so many clothespins that sometimes we had to steal from finished cards to complete new ones. When there was only 1 clothespin left in the bowl, I challenged Travis to single out the card representing #1. Bingo!

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Overall, this is simple but good review for counting, and it gets those fine motor skills working, too.

Continue Your Journey Together

July 20, 2019Leave a comment

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Friends come and go in life, but one extraordinary thing I’ve noticed about parenthood is the way it can facilitate reunions with old friends. You may just find that the common ground of raising children brings back people from your childhood, high school, or other points in life.

So if there’s someone you’ve lost touch with who is now a parent (or if you’re new to parenthood yourself!) consider reaching out to that old friend and continue this new stage of the journey together.

To wit, Veronika and I joined an old friend of mine and her two children today on an excursion. Adults can pick up right where they left off… And meanwhile, the kids get to play! Being the same age isn’t a prerequisite; big girls loved helping with squeaky toys for eight-month-old Veronika or helping to push her stroller.

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Another idea is to keep in touch with parents from your childbirth classes, if you attended them before birth. Then, all your babies will roughly be the same age.

Consider making it a point to touch base once a month, or whatever frequency works for your schedule. It will be amazing to watch all your kids grow on the journey together.

ABC Hop

July 20, 2019Leave a comment

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Yes you can fit in letter writing, alphabetical order learning, and gross motor skills in one activity… With ABC Hop! This simple game requires no more than a paved surface and a piece of chalk.

We headed outside early before the afternoon summer heat sets in. I asked Travis to write the alphabet. This was fantastic practice to write the letters from memory, not following a tracing line. He faltered on only a few, like K, but had a firm grasp of many others.

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I quickly realized his letters were going to be too small to hop on, though, so wrote out a second set for him. Once the alphabet was complete, we began to sing the ABC Song. With each note, he hopped from letter to letter.

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Whoops, occasionally he had to run from the end of one line to the start of the next.

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I thought he might get tired, but he hopped to the very last Z.

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To make this harder, you could even try mixing up the letters or putting them in zig zags occasionally!

Mango Popsicles

July 19, 2019July 19, 20191 Comment

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Popsicles aren’t just for big kids on hot days! Try this easy recipe for your baby or toddler so he or she can share in the icy cool fun, too.

Peel and chop 1 mango, and transfer to a blender. Puree until smooth.

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Add the juice from 1/2 a lemon and stir to combine. Pour the mango mixture into cups. Small dixie cups would have been ideal but since I only had larger paper cups, I poured in just a small amount to each one. Add a popsicle stick to each cup and freeze until firm.

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At first I thought this might be easier to enjoy on the floor with wax paper underneath Veronika to contain the mess. But it turns out the wax paper itself was a distraction!

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Up to the high chair we went! From here, watching Veronika figure out the popsicle was a delight. First she just wanted to feel it.

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The cold mango received alternating expressions of surprise, nervousness, and amusement.

When she finally figured out how to get the mango up to her lips, her look was pure delight!

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Truth be told, she didn’t actually eat much of this, but food is really still practice for Veronika. She did get to enjoy fantastic sensory play, banging the popsicle on her tray, sliding it around, occasionally getting a sweet taste, and smiling up a storm.

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Indoor Hide-and-Seek

July 19, 2019Leave a comment

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This stay-put version of hide-and-seek will introduce your baby to the concept of the game… and is sure to get a whole lot of giggles!

First, I set up a tent. Place two small chair nears each other, and weight each one down with a heavy book to avoid topples or accidents.

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Drape a sheet over the chairs. Your tent is ready!

Outside of the tent, I had Veronika play with a stuffed animal friend (named Marshmallow), much to her delight.

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Then, I placed him behind the sheet. She looked around, suddenly confused.

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“Where’s Marshmallow?” I asked. Together, we shined a flashlight on the sheet.

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She seemed quite curious. I lifted up the edge of the sheet and… There’s Marshmallow!

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Not only was she clearly delighted at the reveal, but she wanted to be the one to hold the flashlight and “find” him.

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We played several rounds of the game like this before it was time for advanced hide-and-seek: where’s Veronika!

I put her under the sheet with Marshmallow, and lowered it down. Very quickly (so she didn’t get startled or scared), I lifted the sheet and said, “I found you!”

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Needless to say, this version was also a big hit.

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I hope you and your baby love this one as much as Veronika and I did!

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Saying Hello for the First Time

July 19, 2019July 19, 2019Leave a comment

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As Veronika navigates the “stranger danger” phase, a very normal developmental step for babies, I’m thinking a lot lately about the best way to introduce her to new family and friends. This week, she even did drop-off day care which was excellent practice!

When we entered the facility, I first held her in my arms so she could see the caregivers from a safe place. I pointed out toys that were familiar and that she likes best from home. At the top of her list these days: an “exersaucer” or anything musical.

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Her face did crumble when she was handed off into the caregiver’s arms, but I returned to hear that she had been “totally chill” and calm!

She was happily sitting on the caregiver’s lap, involved in a storytime for the bigger kids. These kinds of gentle first hellos make a big difference and I’m glad I’m tackling “stranger danger” early instead of letting it linger.

Here are a few other tricks, whether you’re placing your child in a day care setting or inviting people over to the house.

Encourage guests to get down to your baby’s level. I sit Veronika down in her favorite play area and let her get busy, pointing out a few favorite toys.

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Pretty soon, she’s not only playing happily but also engaging shyly with visitors.

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She does a lot of looking to me, as if to say, “Is this ok mom?”. Make sure to reassure your little one with smiles.

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In no time at all, there was a happy storytime taking place, her back turned to me, clearly at ease.

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Questing Stone

July 19, 2019Leave a comment

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This painted rock craft is sort of a DIY riff on a “Choose Your Own Adventure Book”! Travis and I followed Highlights magazine’s suggestion for the two sides of our first stone, and also created our own alternate versions.

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All you need for the craft are rocks and puffy paints.

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For the suggested version, one side was a unicorn head. The opposite side was a dragon’s tail. Mommy’s art skills are noticeably lacking, but I like to think that adds to the DIY charm.

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Give the puffy paint ample time to dry. Then, instead of a traditional story time, we made up a tale together. Because Travis seemed antsy just sitting still, we turned it into game with action figures. Here comes Iron Man to the castle…

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Whenever we came to a crossroads in the story, Travis flipped the stone. We decided the unicorn would represent a good outcome and the dragon’s tail was bad outcome. Yay, Iron Man got into the castle!

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Oh no, the next flip was the dragon, so he was swarmed by enemies at the next turning point of the story.

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Travis didn’t like this turn of events, so decided the blob of paint he’d made on another rock represented “water power.” If we flipped to the water symbol, Iron Man would win.

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And so on! Big kids can get truly sophisticated with their storytelling, perhaps even writing down the all the possible junctures. My 5-year-old just loved the novelty of flipping the stone and acting out a tale as we saw how it all played out.

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Shoe String S

July 18, 2019Leave a comment

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S was a speedy letter for Travis’s tracing today. With an ‘s’ at the end of his name, he has worked hard on this one over the past year, initially tending to write it backwards but now a pro.

He polished off his tracing and then was intrigued when I pulled out a shoestring to form the letter on the ground.

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I thought he might need some guidance with all those loops and curves but…

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Nope!

Never-Ending Scarves

July 18, 2019Leave a comment

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When she was younger, Veronika loved when I would dangle scarves over her. Now that’s she’s bigger, there’s still more fun to be had with scarves, especially when they become almost… magical!

There are two ways to play this game and she loved them both. For the first, tie a few lightweight scarves together and stuff them into an empty tissue box.

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