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Teeth Activity for Toddlers!

Vito is 29 months old.

Another fantastic activity I got from my Pinterest board!  This the perfect activity for toddlers to explore their teeth as they can’t usually see it.  This is so easy to assemble and will keep your little ones engaged!

Fun Sifting Activity for Kids

Vito is 28 months old.

We were reading the Under the Ground book and chancing upon the page of mining, I decided that we should play pretend to look for jewels in a tub of gravel!  As you can see, this activity was intended for sifting the gravels and later on discover the jewels but I realized that that gravel is quite big so our sifter wouldn’t work.  Thus, I added the scooper from Learning Resources, it has bigger holes in it so it can sift the gravel effectively.

Earth and Land Unit: Magnetic Earth Worms!

Vito is 29 months old. This activity was inspired by Simply Learning.

You can find lots of Earth worms under the ground! The main idea here is to search and collect all the Earth worms under the ground (oatmeal) using a magnetic wand. Fun activity for kids that both siblings can enjoy!

How to Introduce Space and Planets to Toddlers

Vito can finally identify the sun, moon and earth, and can’t stop saying the word space whenever he sees a rocket ship!  With engaging activities, you can definitely expose your kids to the of concept space and planets, and I assure you they’ll get hooked! 

Tot School: Letter ‘Rr’

Vito is 28 months old.

Vito is currently in his sensitive years and I am taking advantage of this period as he’s really into ALL our activities, positioning himself in his table asking for something to “play”.  So this week, we started with letter R. Why letter R and not A? Well, I decided to follow the RAMFBITG method of introducing letter sounds to Vito. To know why, read about it here.

Collection of Easter Activities

How do you observe the Lenten season? I was raised in a Catholic family and growing up, I participated in a lot of church and community activities tied to the observance of Lent.  The activties has helped me understand the meaning of Lent and the celebration of life on Easter. 

 

Last year we observed the Lenten season with some religion study, identifying their traditions and practices to understand their faith.  I find it important that we must introduce our kids to the different religions of the world not just ours, to be able to appreciate and respect everyone’s belief. 

 

The Rainbow Clouds Craft

I saw this beautiful rainbow craft a few weeks ago in Pinterest and I totally forgot the main site, so please if you own this craft leave a message and I’ll include the credits. 

I’ve been introducing Vito to the spring season using our Spring Season Picture Cards, books and outdoor activities.  Today, I’m sharing the rainbow clouds the boys made last week.  The weather was terrible at that time  and we couldn’t explore our yard so I made use of their free time doing crafts at home.  So I tried to scan through Pinterest in search of simple crafts that BOTH of my kids could work on, and this is one of them!

Crafts projects allow children to exercise their fine motor skills, improve manual dexterity and understanding of visual-spatial relationships.  They provide opportunities to use their imagination as well.  Just be vigilant when using small items and sharp objects like scissors.

Sensorial Play Kinetic Sand & Geometric Shapes

Vito and Mavi are loving our Kinetic Sand!  In all honesty, I’m hesitant to purchase the sand because of its price.  Growing up in my homeland, sand was free and I could play with it day and night with my mother not shedding a single cent.  So the thought of Kinetic Sand costing more than my monthly college allowance is just crazy.  When it went on sale (70% off!), I knew I just have to get one because I wanted my kids to enjoy sand all year round just the way I played with it.  It was worth-it!

 

Montessori Books for Older Children: The Universe Story Trilogy

It’s time for another 12 Months of Montessori Series and today I am sharing Mavi’s favourite book series.  We have been using these books for years now.  The books are all about the cosmic history to the evolution of man.  The stories are accompanied by stunning images and time-line to follow.  Everything in these books are just too magical and enlightening for him!

About the books:

There are three books in the series and each tells a certain period in time.  Here are the details of the books which you can purchase from Amazon:

• BORN WITH A BANG.  Story of the universe from the Big Bang to the formation of the sun and solar system.
• FROM LAVA TO LIFE.  Story of Earth from the appearance of the first life forms to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
• MAMMALS WHO MORPH.  The story of the first mammals to the story of humans.

When I asked Mavi how we’re going to showcase his books in today’s post, he suggested that we should make some kind of “interpretation”, similar to a museum but only in a series of activities.    So I scanned and laminated  his favourite parts in each book so we can do our “interpretation” of the story.

BORN WITH A BANG:  how the universe was formed.  Seen here, we replicated the bursting of lights in the universe forming into galaxies, stars and planets via the milk/soap/food coloring science activity.  This was performed by Mavi and Vito.  The mixing and contrast of colours looked like the big bang!

Our Spring Season Picture Cards

Spring is just around the corner and I’ve been thinking about the activities that the boys and I can do. I was very much inspired by Deb’s post on Spring Season Cards, so I borrowed the idea of printing pictures that relates to spring and we will be using them for the follwing:

• introducing the season of spring to Vito
• creating stories using the picture cards
• inspiration for crafts
• inspiration for outdoor activities
• St. Patrick and Easter activities
• farm animals and their babies
• animal life cycles

Imaginative Play: Australian Outback

We are currently looking at the different biomes of Australia and Mavi wanted to recreate the Australian Outback at home.  As you all know, I started putting up small world, sensory tub  trays  for imaginative play this year.  It’s a favourite learning tool in the house and can engage both of my boys hours of play (and learning too!)!

Materials used:

• brown kinetic sand
• Playmobil Hyena
• Playmobil Fairy
• Desert Safari Toob
• Safari Toob Down Under
• Crafts tray (large)

I’m glad that Mavi can set this all up by himself. He loves putting together our small world trays (previously we made the Polar regions) for  them to enjoy.

This is how it looks like when he was done. I had to assist him in placing the animals, to make sure that the platypus and crocodile belongs to the water, and that the koala (forest) should be in a tree not in the desert. 

Vito loves this tree for some reason. He puts sand on it and enjoys watching it fall off

In the morning, Vito automatically goes here and loves identifying the figures.  Most of the items here are not suitable for younger children, so make sure that they are ALWAYS SUPERVISED. 

I added a picture booklet beside it for Mavi to read whenever he plays with our tray.  This way, he learns as he plays and get information about Australia and its inhabitants.

 

Benefits of small world play:

• sensory
• imaginative play
• story telling
• expanding vocabulary
• learning about different habitats
• discovering the animals that lives in he desert

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Playmobil Native American Superset Review

Oh my goodness, this is awesome! 

I was able to get some really deals during the Black Friday sale. One of which is the Playmobil Native American Superset.  As I mentioned earlier this month that Playmobil is one of the open-ended toys that we consider “educational” due to its historical figures and environment.  This Playmobil set will be perfect for our American history study next year

These are the contents upon opening. As you can see, the packaging and organization of the items is very much similar to LEGOs.  The Playmobil boxes are resusable as well. It is sturdy, perfect for storing your sets when not in use! 

Though it comes with an instruction pamphlet, Mavi still needs assistance setting up the environment.  I love the Playmobil sets! Most of it comes with a base which gives the child a real feel of the environment. Perfect for habitat bins (with extra materials of course!).

And once done, here’s the actual setup. I AM SO HEAD OVER HEELS INLOVE WITH THIS!! How beautiful! You can’t have a toy that’s as detailed as this these days and that depicts the life of Native Americans!  The attention to details of Playmobil is totally impressive! 

Mavi decided to paint a backdrop and this is how it looks like.  The playset comes with a totem pole, a beautiful teepee, plants, tree, a horse and a beautiful canoe.

It has 3 native american figures: a tribe chief, and two tribe members.  Look at those bodypaints and the details of the costumes.  They come with accessories too!

I love that they have a tribe chief, and the his headdress is super cool!  Mavi was like “so they made that with feathers? I’d like to have one!”  He has a staff with feathers as well, and figure sits well on his horse.

Vito’s favourite is the canoe and he loves playing with it while singing the “Row row row your boat” song.  My husband thinks that the best in this set is the canoe, the shape and the design is totally awesome!

The figures snap on the canoe so you need not to worry if they’ll fall out.

I love the art details in the teepee cover.  The teepee is made up of a cloth-like material, which I can guarantee you that it won’t get ripped easily. It is securely fastened in the bars, thought it was a bear to assemble it.

Here’s Vito playing, as I took this picture with Mavi in school. 

I’m naming ALL  the objects in this set for his vocabulary and here he is enjoying the word “skull”.

He calls this figure “Daddy”.

The Verdict

SO WORTHIT!!  I highly recommend this set! It also comes with a lot of accessories like pipe, bow and arrow, oars, head dresses, bonfire, shield and a lot more!  The material is just exceptional!

How I Organize and Store Materials

I’ve been receiving requests from readers asking me to share some tips or at least share how I organize our materials at home.  To be honest, I haven’t found the perfect formula for organizing materials.  I find myself experimenting on what works for me and for the kids.  So instead of giving advice on what to do, allow me to share with you how I organize our things at home. 

We live in a small apartment… as most European homes are!  So our sitting room is our playroom which is also our “home” school room. Except for painting and messy play, this is where all the actions are taking place.  So to make it “conducive” for the boys, husband and I purchased Ikea shelves and inserts so I can organize learning materials, mostly of Vito.  Mavi’s stuff are in his room including the Montessori materials that we own.

This is the  main shelf, the upper layer is for the working trays and the bottom layer contains the inserts.  We bought a sturdy insert from Ikea as well, they are really really good, quite heavy so Vito can’t just push and pull them.

Daily Activity Shelf

The inserts contain all the learning materials (non Montessori) of Vito, including the puzzle boards. Surprisingly, they fit!  So convenient because whenever I needed to change my materials, I just remove them from the insert and place them on the tray. Same thing when Vito is done working with them, I just put them back on the insert.

How I Make Our Learning Cards

I’ve been wanting to post about this for the longest time but I just couldn’t convince myself to make one.  Anyway, let me share with you the complicated ways I create our learning cards.

So in our homeschool,  there are 3 ways I make our printables:

• Cards (Montessori cards, matching cards for Vito and seasonal themed cards)
• Learning booklets
• Mats and poster diagrams

Basic materials I used:

• laminator
• 125micron (a total of 240micron) or 5 Mil  laminating pouch
• 80micron (a total of 160 micron) or 3 Mil laminating pouch
• HP Inkjet 100gsm paper
• White cardstock (at least 160gsm) or 110lb Cardstock
• Colored cardstock (at least 160gsm) for borders
• One hole puncher
• binder rings

MAKING THE CARDS

Includes: nomenclature or 3 part cards cards, picture cards, matching cards, history cards, science cards… all cards used in general.

By default I used the combo: 125micron and 160gsm cardstock paper.  This will make the card really sturdy and hard enough for the little one to fold.  I don’t like doing A LOT OF CUTTING so what I do is I laminate then cut.

If I decide to use borders, then I use the combination of HP 80 or 100gsm paper and think pouch. I cut the printed materials then stick it on the colored cardstock using a glue stick.  Then laminate and cut. 

Now, if the thick pouch is not available or too pricey, using a 160gsm cardstock with the thin pouch is more than enough.  The cards will still turn out sturdy.  The only reason why I’m using the 125micron pouch is that they are currently on SALE in AMAZON UK and are MORE CHEAPER than the thinner ones LOL.

MAKING THE BOOKLETS

I’ve started making booklets this year for the boys. I wanted them to last long so I am laminating each pages of the booklets. 

The pages of my booklets are laminated back to back. You can see how its done here on the video of Confessions of a Homeschooler.  I use the HP Inkjet Paper for this one and a 125micron  pouch ( or a 160gsm cardstock and 80micron pouch would do). 

Once they are laminated, I cut and punch holes to form the booklets!  For the cover pages of each booklets, I use the process in MAKING THE CARDS because I want the cover to be harder than the pages.

MAKING THE MATS AND POSTER DIAGRAMS

For the mats and and diagrams, I just laminate them back to back using the thicker pouch and the 160gsm cardstock.  But for best result, better laminate it individually with either a thick or thinner pouch. 

IF YOU HAVE NO LAMINATOR

When I didn’t have a laminator yet, I just printed my materials on a white cardstock paper and covered them with a contact paper or better yet a transparent tape! Yes, I basically did that when we were in Belgrade.  Worst, we didn’t have white cardstock so I printed my materials in a white paper and glue the paper on the colored cardstock then cover it with tape. 

And that’s just about it!  I hope you find this helpful and NOT CONFUSING LOL. If you have more questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment, I am more than willing to talk to you for more tips and insights.

Thank you!

Our Favourite Toys for 2 to 7 Years Old

**Contain affiliate links**

We don’t have a lot of toys at home.  Mavi just like two kinds of toys: LEGO and dinosaur/animal figures, that’s just it.  All through the years, I don’t splurge nor buy toys as we don’t have the budget for it. I consider them as luxury so I just gave toys to Mavi as presents on his birthday and Christmas.  But because we “home” school, I purchase learning materials that my kids see as “toys” but in reality they are NOT really toys.    And because I am frugal, I buy toys that they can grow with, MULTIPURPOSE and something that they can play together.   So let me share with you the kids’ favourite things in the house.  These are the toys that we have in the house, except for the ones in my “wishlist and basket”.  These days are being played day in and day out by the boys.

NOTE:  ALWAYS SUPERVISE YOUNGER CHILDREN WHEN USING ANY OF THESE TOYS.  Do not leave them unattended.

FAVOURITE TOYS

LEGO, DUPLO and PLAYMOBIL.  Need I say more? These are the favourite in the house. We have plenty of LEGOs as this is Santa’s favourite present EVERY Christmas for 4 years!  And Vito’s Duplo and Playmobil were brought from the local store when they were on 50% off. I would never get them for a whole price! Vito is now snapping bricks together and loves the Playmobil people.  Both of my boys spend hours and hours playing with these toys.  They never get tired of them.  Perfect toy for creativity, concentration and developing fine motor skills!

For Playmobils, we have castles and pirates. They’re Mavi’s favourite toy and can play with them for hours!

My son loves the LEGO CLASSIC Bricks.  He doesn’t really like those with premade designs as he always wanted to design his own thing. So I highly recommend that you buy the basic LEGO BRICKS especially if you are getting you’re first Lego.  Having a plate is also good. 

 

 

miniLUK and BambiniLUK.  Mavi and I looooves this! We can’t get enough of answering all the booklets, especially those tricky ones!  I bought the Starter Pack and bought the advanced booklets separately.  There’s a version for younger kids, the BambiniLUK and some friend in Instagram said that they like it. Mavi is like “Mom, its making my brain tired LOL”

 

Montessori Botany  and Zoology/Insect Puzzles, Montessori Puzzle Maps.  I invested on these this year and it was worth it! I have puzzle loving kids, and Vito is currently addicted to them.  Aside from educational, these puzzles are also perfect for pincer grasp practice.  Mavi on the other hand is obsessed with my Asia and Europe puzzles.  He loves geography, loves to learn about countries and their locations.  Tower High Learning is my favourite Montessori shop as of the moment and this is where I purchase my materials.

 

Schliech Animal Figures and Safari Toobs are also an all time favourite in the house. The uses of these figures include imaginative play, learning about animals, habitat play, exploring landmarks and just about anything!  You see these mostly in my post!  When Vito was younger, he just uses Schleich are they are bigger since he’s mouthing things. Mavi is obsessed with dinosaurs, and he uses them now as characters for his homemade videos LOL.   Now he uses both types for play and learning.

 

 

Hape Uppercase, Lowercase and Number Puzzles.  With Mavi, I used the Melissa and Doug Magnetic letters (I still have them) and they were really really loved.  Now the problem is Vito mouths things and I made Vito use it, the sticker of the letters were removed.  So I looked for an alternative alphabet toys for us to use and I discovered these amazing puzzles from Hape. They are WORTH-IT! We love using them in anything, from learning letters, puzzles to stacking! Yes, Vito loves to stack these together! We also use it to sort out colors!  Multi-purpose indeed!  But if you have older kids, Melissa and Doug Magnetic Letters are as good as well. 

   

Because I love to cook (Asian and Italian), the boys also love to pretend cooking with me using these Melissa and Doug cooking toys.  They can play for hours with these!

M-cro Maxi Scooter.  And I just have to include this!! Because they with this scooter in and out of the house! Mavi uses this to school and Vito uses this indoor for scooting practice. I love that it is sturdy and kids can easily balance!

And of course, nothing beats classic toys like balls, cars and PlayDoh!  My boys wouldn’t complain if they receive any of these this Christmas.

WISHLIST

Magnatiles. Rave reviews everywhere but I just couldn’t bring myself to purchase these toy or can’t even justify it   Maybe when they’re 50% I would probably get one for the boys!

Unit Block.  I know that the boys will love this as well.  They can built and create so many things with this but the price is just too much for me.  I still have to think about this a million times.

Beleduc Puzzles.  My puzzle loving kids will love these, especially the Your Body Layer puzzles!