Gallant Challenge: Endangered Animal Art

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Travis is inspired every time he reads the profile on Gallant Kids in his Highlights magazine. This month’s read was about a girl who paints pictures of endangered animals and sends the proceeds from her sales to charities that aid animals. We loved the idea, and immediately decided to make some pictures of our own.

Because Travis loves snakes, we looked up which species have populations that are decreasing or at risk.

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First, Travis drew a pit viper.

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He was so proud of the colors he blended together and immediately wanted to draw more snakes.

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Pretty soon, he had an “art gallery” wall filled with a snake pictures, featuring everything from a yellow-horned lancehead snake…

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…to mom and baby tropical forest snakes.

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Obviously Travis won’t be making money from these little drawings, but I loved how proud he was, how the activity got him thinking about conservation and protecting animals, and how it challenged his artistic skills as he thought hard about how a snake’s body and head should appear on the page.

 

Developmental Bath Toys

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It can be hard to keep Veronika in one place long enough to “learn” from her toys these days (think: shape sorters and stacking rings). One great option for babies who just won’t sit still is to take advantage of a bathtub’s confined quarters. This makes bath time ideal for developmental learning and play!

I found a tub-safe shape sorter on Amazon and brought that to the bath, along with her plastic stacking ring set.

The shape sorter was an enormous hit! Whereas in her playroom she’ll fiddle around with the shapes for a moment and then lose interest, now she was fixed in front of the shape sorter.

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She spent quite some time trying to insert the circle into the square. Hmm, that didn’t work. I showed her the circle space. Tada! She was fascinated and wanted to play over and over.

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As a bonus, tub toys like this often have water wheel or pouring features, which further engaged Veronika.

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The stacking rings were also novel in the tub. She usually just likes to pull the rings off the center post, but now she had the time and incentive to stack the rings on.

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For any toys like this, keep up the dialogue as baby plays: shapes, colors, relative sizes. There is so much you can say!

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As an added bonus, all these fun toys kept my little imp from trying to pull up on the side of the slippery tub… but that’s a topic for another day!

Copycat Doing Dishes

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I posted recently about how much Veronika enjoys being my mimic with chores these days. One fantastic option that involves water play, mimicry, the joy of banging items together, and so much more, is simply to copy you with dishes.

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Any little toy dishes or tea set would work fine for this game (or even unbreakable pieces from your kids’ cutlery and Tupperware drawer). But Veronika has a little dish set complete with a drying rack that helped her be even more like mommy!

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I filled a shallow bin with water and added a squirt of soap; use tear-free baby wash instead of real dish soap. First, I showed her how to scrub the dishes.

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She loved reaching her hands in and splashing, and adding the dishes to swish them around.

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Utensils were especially fun, especially for pretending they were rhythm sticks to tap together.

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Once she tired of that, I showed her how to towel things dry with a cloth, another great opportunity for mimicry. She loved the cloth and played with it for quite some time on the floor.

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And believe it or not, there as no mess, since I had the whole game set up on a beach towel that went right into the laundry.

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So perhaps this is the perfect activity while you clean up for real after cooking baby a recipe.

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Snack Animals

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Independence is so crucial to kindergartners, and I have loved watching Travis’s confidence grow since school began only a month ago. Now, he wants to do all the little steps himself each day, from buttoning shirts to buckling his backpack. Being able to serve themselves drinks and snacks is also key for kids’ independence at this age, so we created this adorable snack animal to keep easy snacks at hand!

To start, remove the lid from an empty oatmeal canister, and trace twice on cardboard. Note: I found an old cereal box easier than stiffer cardboard packaging for tracing and cutting out. That said, it means your final animal won’t be quite as sturdy and might sit on your counter instead of standing!

Draw legs below each circle and cut out; these will be the front and back of your animal.

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Travis decided we should turn ours into a cow, but really any animal will work! Highlights magazine also suggested a pig or a deer.

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For the cow, we painted the legs white with black spots.

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I cut an additional shape to be the cow’s head, which we glued to one of the circles.

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Don’t forget to paint the canister, too, which received its own coat of white paint and black dots.

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Once the paint dries, glue the head piece to the lid of the canister. Glue the back legs to the back of the canister.

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Let the glue dry, then stuff with treats! You can also add yarn for a tail, depending which animal you choose. Pink would have been cute on the pig version!

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As noted, our cow kneels down a bit, but Travis loves that he can help himself to an afternoon treat.

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Carob Yogurt

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Carob Yogurt

It’s too early for babies to have chocolate before one year old, because of the caffeine. Try carob powder instead, for a sweet treat!

Ingredients:

  • 1 (5-ounce) carton plain non-dairy yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon carob powder
  1. Sprinkle the carob over the yogurt and stir to combine.

 

Helping Out

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Veronika is nearly 11 months old (!), an age when babies love to imitate the big people in their lives. So today, at various points throughout the day, I let her be my little helper.

First, she loves to grab the cloth when I clean up her highchair tray after a meal. Once the initial messy mess is gone, I let her use the cloth to continue to “clean” the tray. What a helper!

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Veronika also loves to “mother” her dollie. So after a diaper change, I gave her an extra diaper and let her take care of baby.

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She looked so proud of herself! This version of the game is great fun on a teddy bear, too.

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Finally, now is a great time to get little ones actively involved in clean-up. As I sort books or toys into bins and boxes, Veronika gets to help out. Don’t expect your baby to get it just right, but by starting to mirror your actions, little ones feel like big important people, too!

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Flashing Colors

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Most often I carve out time to play learning games with Veronika during the day, but there are also unique opportunities for games at night. Namely, flashlight games!  This one is fun for getting your little one interested in colors, and works better the darker it gets.

Set out a variety of play scarves in different colors, and take turns shining a flashlight on them. As you do so, name the color.

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Veronika loved watching the light move from scarf to scarf,

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…and wanted a chance to hold the flashlight too, of course!

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Once it’s very dark, hold the flashlight right up to a scarf and shine against the wall; you’ll see the colors reflected back, a beautiful effect.

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Big brother loved helping out as flashlight holder, which makes this a great way to involve older siblings in a little one’s bedtime routine.

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What games do you play with your baby after dark? Please share in the comments!

Bonding with Family

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Chances are, you want your baby to be close to family members: to recognize them and feel comfortable with them. But this can be hard, especially if visits with loved ones occur only on hectic holidays or when relatives live far away. One solution I’ve found is the weekend vacation, particularly when accommodations are shared!

Gone are the days when families bunk down in separate hotel rooms A joint rental like an Airbnb can mean multiple cousins and generations spend significant portions of time together. Magic happens around the breakfast table, early wake-ups, late night giggles, and more; it can be the ideal way for a new baby to truly know relatives.

To wit, Veronika had a blast on a recent long weekend with family. She got to spend not just a few hours, but three full days with cousins, ranging from her age…

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…to bigger!

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Aunties and grandparents get to hold her long enough that she know longer feels “stranger danger” in their arms.

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Big smiles abound, and meals are shared.

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If you can’t swing a full weekend with family, consider at least a barbecue or special event that spans a day or afternoon.

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The quality time will allow a baby to understand that these relatives’ faces are the important ones in his or her life.

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Veronika sure seems to get it!

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Social Baby

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Veronika is ten months old, which – believe it or not! – is a delightful age to take out for social occasions. Yes really! There’s no toddler ‘tude yet, and chances are your little one still isn’t walking so is content in a seated atmosphere. So consider this a golden window to have a get-together over brunch or lunch with friends you haven’t seen in a while.

Today, Veronika got to come to a luncheon with dear friends, and she loved it!

She could play on the floor with toys…

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Practice pulling up on chairs…

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And get passed lap to lap. What a social butterfly!

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Let’s Go Fly A Kite

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Kites are pure magic for babies. As I watched Veronika watch a kite for the first time today, it was one of those moments where you remember how new everything is for little ones. There is magic in what might seem ho-hum to us grown-ups, and exposing babies to even the smallest bits of wonder helps us be kids again.

So if you don’t have one, its worth investing in a simple kite. The activity was as simple as this: We headed to a park with Veronika, and unfurled a butterfly shaped kite.

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Whenever it caught the wind, her face lit up.

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She was so eager to see this amazing new object that she left our picnic blanket and went trotting off through the grass on hands and knees!

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When I held her up, she loved catching the tassels of the kite’s tail.

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For a grand finale, we looped the string of the kite around her stroller bars (take care with this, and make sure your little one can never get tangled in the cord). The faster we moved, the better the kite fluttered just in front of her, and she loved it!

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