3D Painting by Megha

When the below craft/ painting was being made, I was asking Megha her suggestions about what she wanted in her painting. She was too tired (from school) to do anything on her own other than gluing paper and she kept telling me, "you do it momma, I will watch". 

So, I started it by asking what she wants on the paper and she came up with mountains, sun, clouds, pond, frog and the tree. 

I cut the mountain out of the previously made/ dried painting from Megha's craft box, Cut the sun and cloud from the foam shapes, and made a small pond. When it came to a tree, we needed brown foam for the tree trunk which we didnt have. I was wondering what to do and she came up with a brilliant idea that we can re-purpose the small cardboard (previously a puppet) and stick it upright!! What an amazing idea! I could not have thought of a better idea myself. Way to go girl.... The power of leaving things open ended brings out the best in Megha (and so does in every kid).

Anand helped with the frog. 

The awesome 3D painting is now ready. She glued things on the paper. 

Tips to increase gross motor skills in pre-schoolers (Sensory Play)

I am always looking for some cheap but creative ways to promote gross motor skills. Megha and I equally enjoy doing things together. I think as a parent the more we get involved with the child the more she learns. Thats why I always (try) carry a sense of wonder with me when I am with Megha.

Sorting Game: Sensory Play
This game doesnt require much. We gathered some basic material that was already available in the kitchen. The idea is to gather items that are of different sizes, shapes, colors, textures, smells and sounds.

I used several items and some of them were un-cooked pasta, stars, cardamom, cloves, peanuts, raisins, almonds, chick peas etc. I gave her a muffin pan and asked her to sort each identical item in each slot in the muffin pan. Since I sat down with her, she was even more interested.

While "playing" (we learn while we play), we explored the different textures of the food using our hands. She learned that we use out mouth/tongue to taste. She loved eating those raisins. She learned that we use our eyes to see. She learned that we use our nose to smell. She learned that we use our ears to hear. She may have known these things subconsciously already but having gone through this particular sensory play, she now consciously knows that she can use different parts of her body to do different things. She also learned that she may not need all 5 senses to identify an item. For example, she now knows that if she has her eyes closed, she can use her mouth to identify that what she is eating is a raisin :) My smart girl!

We smelled the cardamoms, tasted the chocolate chips (yummm), star-ani (yukkk) etc. We took uncooked chikpeas and rolled between the fingers. We decided that next time we go to Florida to visit Micky and Minnie, we would tell Minnie about the bow-tie pasta and how wonderful Minnie would look when she wears a bow tie pasta in her hair (For those of you who dont know, Minnie loves Bows)....It was totally Megha's idea. See what happens when you ask kids their opinion on something? Nothing less than awesome :)
We decided that our favorite item of all are the raisins as they "taste like honey" according to her.

This exercise not only promotes gross motor skills when her small fingers are sorting shapes/colors, it also promotes thinking and gives us at least an hour of fun packed "play".
If you ask me, kids learn things faster when the environment is supportive, respectful and playful in its setting.

Father's Day 2015 (June 21st)

Anand was not home for Father's Day this year, which fell on Sunday; so we celebrated Father's Day on 20th June itself. Megha had been very excited about this as we had been making crafts for days in advance. We had made a bear craft which said "I love you Beary much" a few weeks ago but Megha decided that she cant wait until Fathers Day to show him. So, she told him the very same day when he got home about the craft. Will update the picture later.

Megha helped me make puri and chole curry for breakfast. Original plan was to make two items but later we ended up making minion cookies for the dad. Here she is helping line up the cookies in the baking tray. She loves to help!

Here is the final product after baking.

After a quick trip the library for story time, we went to check out the trains place. It was very good. The weather was beautiful and it was good to get out of home.

Apart from being a museum, it was surrounded by woods, small ponds and all. We were able to hop off the train to explore the are a bit.

Here is Megha by the pond. There were some fish, frogs, lotus and water lilies in here.

Here she is posing...

We went around a bit in the train, stopped by to check out some spiders too.

Had hotdogs for lunch.

Here are Megha and Anand in front of the museum.

One last picture:

In the evening, Sasha, Neeta and Naomi had come to celebrate Fathers Day with us. We had some lovely food (Anand made burgers). Here is the cake cutting sessions by dad's.

Megha made the below crafts with a little help. I cut out some old greeting cards, words and letters. Took hours to do that but it was fun. When I cut out all the letters needed for a greeting card, Megha stuck them up with some glue. She decided where all the animals and flowers would go too. It was a fun craft.

Here is the very proud Megha after the craft.

We also made another craft with pebbles and stones. We first painted the rocks (she chose the colors), then let it dry out and then wrote the letters (I did). She used glue to stick them all on a plate.

Dad also got another craft, beautifully framed from the daycare provider, Sherry. Megha even signed it with her thumb :)

Over all I think it was a good day...Hope Anand enjoyed it too.

Not to forget, Anand also got a beer bucket consisting of different beers from around the world :)

Fun craft with Crayons for 3 year old

Yesterday evening Megha was a little bit bored and wanted to go to park. With A being under the weather and me just returning from work (with no energy left), I persuaded her that this evening we will stay home but will do something fun.

When I started thinking what would interest her, crayon crafts came to my mind! Here is a simple, yet, beautiful way to make a crayon impression.

I just took a small leaf from one of the indoor plants and placed it under a sheet of white paper. I gave her a crayon. She just needs to scribble on the paper over the leaf and thats all! The first one I showed her how to do it and she got the hang of it :)

When we finished drawing a few leaves, we turned our attention to paper boats. We made a couple and let them float in the kitchen sink :) She loves water and it was fun to watch her playing with boats :)

First few pictures from her very own Camera!

Megha received the below camera as a present for her 3rd birthday. Its by Fisher Price from our friends in Orlando, Appu and Ramana.

She has been practicing taking pictures from it and she is really getting good at it. She shakes the camera a little but with more time and practice, I am sure she will get good at it.

Finally, she stopped (well, almost) taking pictures with my phone camera! Phew.

Here is another picture taken yesterday. It was too cold to go outside and she made a fairy home for Tinker Bell and Vidia, the popular fairies from Peter Pan books and shows.

With a little help from me so we get a complete picture in the screen. She actually didnt even need my help.

Things to do with a Pre-Schooler on cold days

Of late, its been too cold to step outside for more than few minutes. In the beginning of December, we still used to be able to go for walks but not any more. With a busy toddler at home, I am always looking for activities which we can do together without having to go outside. Also, my main aim these days is to cut down on the screen time. Hers and mine. That's one of the easiest ways to spend quality time together I feel. This was last weekend.

Free Painting (using water colors): There are no rules and no pictures here. No boundaries to maintain and no competetion to win. All we are aiming is to have some messy fun. And oh what fun she had! By the end of it all, there was so much paint even on her face :) Good 30 minutes spent :) A long bubble bath followed.

Snowman making: We ended up having quite a bit of snow last weekend. After shovelling it in the late afternoon, Megha and I built a snowman. Well, almost. It was way too cold and Megha wanted to eat the carrot I had kept as the snowman's nose (and she did).

Retrieving Old Toys: This was this morning. Even though the sun was bright and shining, it was still very cold to step out. So, after breakfast, Megha and I went to the basement to play for a bit. The "bit" ended up being a 2 hour playful time. We retrieved a lot of old toys which she used to play with before. Since its been a while she saw them, they were as good as new toys for her. She helped me make a shelf and we placed a few toys in it (see last picture).

One of the toys she was much delighted to find was her lantern which my mom had given it to her back in India. She even remember that Jayeesh anna (my nephew) had a similar lantern. And oh, if you are wondering why she is wearing 2 different shoes, she wanted it that way!

I also cleaned out a chair and rested a bit while Megha continued playing. I had done a few loads of laundry by then and all I wanted to do was just to rest my feet for a bit.

Later in the evening, we both were too tired to do anything and she watched a few videos while I read a little. 

Valentines Day Crafts for pre-schoolers

These past few weekends have been too cold to go outside, even when fully bundled up, for more than a few minutes. So this evening after nap, Megha and I set out to make a few Valentines Day crafts (for whom, we dont know yet). May be to her dad, my parents and her friends at the daycare.

We have used what we have at home from last years valentines day supplies.

Rose petal Heart: All we need is some paper (something thicker), some glue and some synthetic rose petals. Well, I used synthetic petals but if fresh rose petals are available, we can dry them and use them I guess.
I tied a small string to the foam heart, applied some glue on it. Megha spread the glue and stuck the petals.

Glitter Hearts: We cannot get enough of glitter these days. Be it a Christmas ornament, or a hand made card, we seem to use glitter for everything. Again, I used the foam heart and Megha applied glue and glitter on it. Its drying as I type now. (Picture above)

Here are a few more crafts which we made.

The more time I spend with Megha, the more I understand what really enriches her mind. She knows what she wants and would not take anything less than what she wants. Like, this evening, she wanted to squeeze out the very last bits of glitter glue from a doodle pen. There was so little left in the pen that I thought its quite hard to squeeze that out. But Megha kept trying and trying (good for her) and then finally told me, "momma, we must get this out". I said OK and between the two of us, we managed to squeeze out the last bits and then some! She was delighted! Its a beautiful sight to behold, her accomplishments. Never give up.

World of Colors

Can you imagine a world without color? I cannot! Megha had always been exposed to colors from early on. Sometimes it’s on the Crayola board, sometimes its on white paper with crayons and sometimes with water colors. Before, she used to randomly paint using her paint brush. She was not restricting herself to the outlines of a given picture.

Over the weekend, Megha and I sat down (with brownies baking the oven in the background!) to play with the water colors. She seemed very excited and asked me to draw the first one (and I did). Then she wanted to do the rest. While doing so, I gently told her to slow down to control the brush strokes so that each stroke lands within the given lines of the picture. Initially she wasn't keen on it and neither was I. The point was to have fun. But soon, she understood what I was saying and slowed down when using her paint brush. After drawing a few pictures, she got good at it! It’s a sign that my baby is growing up and can follow instructions.

Diwali Crafts for Toddlers/ Pre-schoolers

As is the case in (almost) every Hindu home, at our home too we get really excited around the festival time, especially around Diwali time. Since Megh is at a age where she can actually participate in preparing for Diwali, we started making crafts about 3 weeks before the date. Well, we were aiming to do crafts during the weekends and so, it took us about 3 weeks. This time, I really wanted to keep it simple but yet, festive. So, we  made the below crafts:

1.       Salt Dough Diya’s
2.       Play dough Diya’s
3.       Crayon Lantern’s.

As you can see, our aim was to bring forth the lights without having to use the store bought diyas.

Salt Dough Recipe:
All Purpose Flour: 1 cup
Salt: ½ cup
Water: ½ cup
Food colors: Optional

Method: Mix flour and salt in a big bowl. Get the little one to mix! Megha loved mixing.

Then slowly add water. If you are measuring using the cup measurements, these proportions would be perfect. If some reason the dough is too sticky to handle, just mix some flour. If its too dry, add few drops of water at a time until the time you are able to make any shape you want easily.
Dough saved in fridge will keep for at least a week. Your all natural homemade play-dough is ready!

We divided the dough into 4 equal parts. In one part, I added the regular biryani orange food color. In the next part, I added coffee powder. In another part I added turmeric powder and in the last part, I mixed blue icing color and ta da! We are all set to make homemade diya’s!

Take tea candles or any candles and form the shape around the candle to get the impression on the salt dough. Megha (and her dad and I) had fun playing around the dough. Here are some pictures.

Note that after the impressions are made, depending on how thick the ornament (in this case diya) is, it may take up to 2 days for it to completely dry out and be ready to be used. If however you are in a hurry and want to speed up the drying process, you can pre-heat the oven low temp (like 200 D) and bake for 3 hours checking every hour to make sure the dough isn’t burning. Alternatively, it can also be dried in the microwave for 3 minutes. Check and then reheat for about 20 seconds at a time to ensure even drying.

Fun homemade Diwali diya’s are ready to be used!

Since this was the first craft we started, we just let it dry in the natural air for a few days. What a fun evening! Can’t wait to do this again. There really is nothing more beautiful and fulfilling than the whole family sitting together and working on something/ anything.

Play Dough Diya’s:
After the super hit salt dough diya craft, we set out to make play dough diyas. As the name suggests, we used play dough to make impressions around the candles. This time, we used some sparkles to give some bling to the play dough. Megha was very excited and mixed the sparkles all by her-self. She even chose the color combinations of what sparkles to mix with which colored dough and she also very nicely made ALL the impressions around the candles with very little assistance. So very proud of her! Another super fun evening!

Unlike the salt-dough, play-dough doesn’t take too long to dry out. In about 24 hours the dough hardens.
We used Crayola Play Dough.

Crayon Lanterns:
To be honest, when we were at school, we didn’t really have crafts sessions going on. I don’t ever remember doing this at home as well. I came to know that here in pre-school, crayon lanterns are famous. So, when I looked at the instructions of how to make it, I got very excited because I had never been exposed to this wonder before!

So 2 Sundays before Diwali (12th Oct), Megha and I had breakfast and we were all set to make our first ever crayon lanterns.

You will need:
Crayons (of course): different colored
Wax paper (parchment paper)
Small ginger peeler or a small grater (see picture)
Small white paper bags
Hot iron
Lots of adult supervision

Method:
Start this when you have plenty of time on your hands. Make sure the tiny-tummy which will be assisting you is full so that she is as excited as you are.
Sit somewhere comfortable.

1.       Let the little one tear away the paper cover off the crayons. Megha loved this part. She chose which colored crayons we would be using and she peeled the paper off on all the crayons before we began.
2.       Then keep the paper bag in place (use light colored bags). Megha was holding the paper bag while I used the grater to grate the crayon. I used different colored crayons to bring forth the different colors. Don’t even bother trying to control where the crayon droplets fall. Just follow your heart and let them drop where ever they want.

3.       Gently pick the paper up and leave it on the ironing board. Heat the iron on low heat. Place the wax paper over the paper bag.
4.       Megha and I held the iron and let iron roll over the wax paper for about 8 seconds. Make sure that the iron rolls all over the paper.
5.       Give it 2 seconds and prepare to be wowed!
6.       Gently peel of the wax paper.

Its not just Megha but even I couldn’t resist jumping up and down saying WOW! The crayons melt leaving the excitement back on the paper. We made 5 lanters and we were as wowed with the last lantern as the first one.
Peeling off the wax paper and looking at Megha’s face while the smile reaches all corners of her face was incredible.

I hunted for small LED lights to be placed inside the lantern but I could not find anything reasonably price. Here is how it looks after we light a regular candle inside.

We spent all Sunday morning doing this and I can say what an incredible experience it was.

I must not fail to add that this season i made a decision that going forward, I will also be doing things which I used to enjoy before; i.e making arts and crafts. After Megha went to bed, I made diya's ot of craft paper (Chiyogamii Paper to be specific) which I had bought from a paper store. I cut them in the shape of diyas and made banners out of them.

I loved spending time with this. Its extremely important to spend time doing things which we love. Its so very easy to lose track after we have a baby but we must reconnect to ourselves.

Here is a saree curtain that I got done for the festival! Megha helped hanging this up and she approved, "wow momma, this is so pretty"!