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We Love -- Playdough

we love playdough

 

Play Dough Recipe

1 cup of plain flour 

1/2 cup of salt

2 teaspoons of cream of tartar

1 cup of boiling water 

2 teaspoons of cooking oil

1 teaspoon vanilla essance (optional)

1 teaspoon food colour 

mix dry ingredients in saucepan

over medium heat gradually stir in the wet ingredients.  

stir continuously till forms sticky balls cover sit for about 20 min. gets better with working.

What to Pack in Hand Luggage when travelling with Toddlers

o    Lovey's / dummy / bottle / sippy cup /straws / food or snacks for the journey. Kids don't get hungry at arranged times. 

o    Include some healthy treats. For Lk it is usually macadamia nuts or fresh berries. Avoid lollies as they get too much sugar and just need to run around after.

o    A few of you toddlers favourite toys

o    A new toy, not big or expensive. For longer flights you will need more then one. Space them out about one every hour. Pack up the toy before getting a new one. I find rapping them, or putting them in paper bags increases the fun.

o    Triangle crayons (they don't rollaway) and you can even get ones that are washable. They are much easier to get of the airplane tray. lots of blank paper

o    Stickers or sticky tape depending on what you child likes. I spend about $5 or more on stickers before a flight, and some flights Lk will play with them for almost hour with very little impute form me. It is great.

o    A few small good books.

o    I get my toddler to pack a small bag for things she would like to take. She loves this and it gives me time to pack too.  She also carries this and now gets very up set if we try to help.

o    Antibacterial wipes (for hands, toilets, trays)

Travelling with children there is a lot of waiting

o    Some warm cloths the flight temperature is usually 23 oC or colder.

o    Spare cloths incase the check bag goes missing

o    Put one nappy, some wipes (travel pack), you nappy mat and rash cream (if you need), into a little bag  (there is no room in the toilets for your big nappy bag)

o    More nappies that you think you would ever need. While travelling from the UK to Singapore (about 12 hour) our toddler did five poo.

o    Small first aid kit for long flights including kid Panadol, a thermomotor, bandaids, star stickers, and kids Phenergan (if you are going to use Phenergan always talk to you doctor and do a ground trial, it makes some children hyperactive). Also keep in mind some countries will not let you board the plane if you or you child has a fever.

o    Travel toilet seat that folds if you child needs it.

o    On long flights what ever you need for bedtime routine. For us, our toddlers toothpaste, Sippy cup, and a torch.

o    We also packed a light cot blanked and some safety pins. We used it to make a curtain between the seats for privacy.


If you child is old enough get them to carry their bag. (Even if it is empty). It makes them feel part of it all and that they are helping. Children love to helping.
I usually pack to bag one of things to go in the overhead locker (things we probably wont use, Spare cloths, extra nappies and alike) and one to go under the chair of things we need.

Getting Prepared for Travelling with a Toddlers

Talk about it. Read about it. Play it. We have an old glob we have taken of the stand we call it “Earth Ball”. It is great for explaining where daddy or us are going, and rolling around. We read books airports, aeroplanes, and holidays. We have shoeboxes so that the teddies and dolls can go on holidays. Run around the house arms out making aeroplane noises.

 

Travelling with a Toddler

Over the next few posts I will share some of my tips for travelling with a toddler, babies or young children. Every Child is different but this is what works for us. Plus some tips from transient friend with children. We do a lot of travelling with our toddler. Even when she was a baby we travelled a lot. Our toddler, Lk has is 2 1/2, she has been on 6 trips in the last 3 months, most by airplane.  Lk loves airplanes, airports, taxis and trains now. We have just got back to Australia from travelling with our toddler in Europe. 

My toddler waiting to get on the plane for a 7 ½ hour flight

We Love Finger Fainting

Finger Paint

• yogate and food colour
• cornflour finger paints 
• shaving cream and food colour

Yes Day

Today we are having a yes day. If there is a question the answer is YES (unless dangerous). The idea is to encourage our 26 mt old toddler to say yes more. Aswell teaching me to be more present in what she wants, where she is at. 

It has been great every time the stroppy monster has started to come out I just say “it’s a Yes Day”, and she starts smiling and says “yes day, yes day, yes day”. We went exploring a new park this morning. This afternoon I think we might do some hand and feet prints.

Say YES to life

Princess

Getting dressed out of our pj’s to catch the train in 30 minutes

“I want to be princess” says Lk and she empties the cloths draw onto the floor

Aarhhhhh…..princes….aaarhhhh

“great” I never was a princess girl, what do princess do…nothing…

A dress. “let’s find a pretty princess dress” …..oh a crown.

Here is what I made before we got on the train and she loved it.

Goo Goo Goop

We had had a big week of “NO” and “I don't like it”. So I decided to test that with a great goop exercise from Tinker Lab with a change. I set up one bowl of cornflour, one of salt, one of water and one mixing bowl.

“No no I don't like it” said LK. I smiled and turned back to what I was doing, knowing that her curiosity would overcome her thirst to be independent. Soon she was mixing one with the other. Once she was into it I came and joined in, mainly just commentating. Soon we had three bowl goop. I added some food colour, red, yellow and blue. The goop primary colours mixed into secondary colour and slowly into muddy colour.

Lk loved it so much that soon we ran out of cornflour, so added normal flour…. We made glue!

Lk loved it and still talks about it weeks later.

Mushy love

Homemade dolls house

homemade dolls house

Lk was given dolls and furniture from her grandparents for her second birthday. Here is our homemade dolls house (no. 2 we gave the last on away when we moved). Complete with alfresco dinning.  This dolls house takes up little room. I enjoy the space with in a space, and making use of what we have. Please leave comments.

homemade dolls house in book shelf

I have a few things on the go but I am getting excited about building LK’s cubby in a cupboard. Coming back to the idea of a space within a space and making use of what we have. When I was little we had a large block to explore and find cubbies in trees and under vines but with modern living there is so little yard. The cubby with in a cupboard will feel hiding amongst leaves. We have lots of travel coming up so it might have to wait a month or so before starting.

PS sorry I have not written in a while just moved houses/states.   

Toddlers and Kite

Toddlers love kites. I watched our toddler learn to fly a kite today. She is almost 2. We when to a kite festival today and our toddler, Lk loved it. There where large professional kite to homemade kites. There was so much for her to watch.

We where trying to decide wether to buy her a kite, when she saw a small red octopus kite at the top of a pole and asked to have a turn.

We lunched our yellow octopus kite and she held on tight. Soon she was making it move side to side in the sky and with out instruction started to tug it when started to drop. Amazing how they learn.

Next week we will create some homemade kites so that we can share this with our toddler friends.

Does any one have any kite making tips? 

Sketch book Project

Working on getting my moleskin finished for the Sketch book project. MUST POST Tomorrow. It is so long since I just hammered out a Sketchbook. These days it seems t be rare that I focus on my Art, with so much toddler Life going on a around me. It was very enjoyable.

In this book I have been working with water colour pencils and rubbings. I wet the pencils with a damp rag to smooth the colours.

Pencil sharpening under a wet rag to draw with. It is a similar experience to finger painting but with out having to redip you finger.

Lk really wonted to help so I think I will make a simple sketch book the same size that we can do together.

Holiday

I want to wish you all great new year And hope you had a lovely Christmas

Colour

Lately I have been going through my photos of random things collection sorting them into colours. It is lovely reliving moments and places. It started just trying to find a few photos to grab colours schemes for some designs but is turning in to a lovely nostalgiac journey and full project. 

Since starting this project I have found Little Brown Pen that also has a passion for colour.  It has me thinking what will I do with the collection in the end? What will the project become? 

Our Home

Spring flowers, weeds from the side of the road. They have brought me so much joy . They blanket the sides of the road.

 

Snow flakes. At the bottom of the photo is seat made by Ondrej Mares.

Etsy

Finally put a few toys on etsy.  take a look. Had no Idea what to charge for them. How do you price something that you spend so much time on?

 

Lk helped me Photograph them. She now knows to press the silver button. I just had to hold the tripod steady. 

She soon learnt new ways to help.

Trundle Bug toys

I run a small business called trundle bug. Trundle Bug specialises In kids toys made from recycled fabric. I use all new stuffing to be friendly to the asthmatics among us. Each one is unique, but all just want to be loved. 

Some go missing from my studio LK takes them if she sees them. 

What to Write?

I have been reading lovely blogs lately. what a wonderful way to express creativity. So I  set up Speckled Mouse.

The setup was ease thanks to blogger and free.  Now what… what to write … well. 

.... 2 days later

….3days later

…..Ok time to do some research, what do people write in a blog? I realized that I don’t read blog text. I just just flick thought the lovely photos of things people make, the way they decorate the nest and what they have been doing with there children.  

            So I think I will run it a bit like a sketch book or a journal.