life lately; oh my how time flies

It's been positively autumnal and we've been busy with school, play, work, surviving...
Hope your fall activities have been sweet and happy, too.

Mourning...

It hurts the morning after...

The Best Kind of Playground

When I see birches bend to left and right

Across the lines of straighter darker trees,

I like to think some boy's been swinging them...

~ Robert Frost

 
The other day I spent the morning at The American Horticultural Society's River Farm and was reminded of M's earlier post about the simplicity of play.
 

They have the loveliest children's garden there where we can spend hours and hours enjoying all of the beautiful nooks and crannies that encourage imagination and exploration.

 

After every visit (and we try to go regularly) I am always inspired to try to add some new feature to my own small garden, and I often wish that the urban playgrounds that we have easy access to were more than just metal slide/swing sets standing like a solitary skeleton atop some rubbarized mulch. Yes, those kinds of swings and slides can be great fun, but only for a while. Wouldn't it be so much nicer to have tire swings hanging from great tree branches and mini log cabins and flower mazes and viney arbors and weeping willows?

 

Dugout dens and digging pits and kid-sized picnic tables?

Remember in the "olden days" when kids just went outside to play and explore and didn't need fancy toys or expensive swingsets? Isn't it awesome when they can identify flowers and birds or pretend that they are butterflies or can watch the honeybees collecting nectar? When they can find a small private corner and have conversations with the insects and fairies?

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but that is the best kind of play, I think.

Everyday play

Sometimes I wonder if I'm teaching my toddler daughter enough. Most days I feel like Olive and I do many of the same activities over and over again: read books, play at the park or build block towers, to name a few. Some of the activities don't even involve interaction with her, like when she's in the baby carrier on my back while I vacuum or dancing at my legs while I cook dinner.

To help me get more creative, I signed up for Productive Parenting emails that give me age-specific activities to do with my one-and-a-half-year old. I was a bit disappointed, but also relieved when I started receiving the activity recommendations--things like read a book, make a fort, put objects in a bucket--things I was already doing!

It helped me realize that children's activities don't have to be well thought out, formal or elaborate. They can be improvised and include exposing, explaining and allowing your child to have everyday experiences. They may include parent-child interaction, but also allow plenty of room for solo play. They allow your child to learn through doing.

Mama D, Mama Q and I saw this in action when we recently took our girls to a "discovery" museum, where they pretty much played in a kid-sized town for hours. Maya, Lucy and Olive were thrilled to play pretend, interact with or observe the other kids, and try new toys.

 

There really wasn't anything super fancy about the place--it was just a new setting with lots of objects for the girls to experience. For the most part, we mamas just sat back and watched, letting the girls' imaginations run wild. It was a good reminder that everyday play goes a long way and that it's simpler than many of us think to help our kiddos learn.

Playtime!: Egg carton animals

Another easy (and green!) project with no instructions necessary, but that's sure to be a crowd pleaser with the little ones:

I only made a caterpillar, but this website shows you how to do other animals like ladybugs, spiders and bats (a great Halloween project!).

Playtime!: Milk Paints

Okay, our celebration of breastmilk has gone too far when we're talking about using it for crafts, but I came across this recipe for making your own milk paint and I had to smile because it sort of goes along with our theme this week. Just so you know, this is NOT about using breastmilk, just the ordinary old powdered stuff you may have in your food storage. Hurray for milk!

Powdered Milk Paint
1/2 cup powdered nonfat milk
1/2 cup water
Powdered Paint Pigments

Mix milk and water until milk is completely dissolved. Divide liquid into as many different containers as colors you want to use. Carefully and slowly add paint pigment to each container, a teaspoon at a time, until desired hue is achieved.

This paint dries quickly to a glossy, opaque finish. It does not dust, chip, or come off on your hands the way poster paint does. Use water to thin paint and to clean your brushes. Store this leftovers in airtight containers in the refrigerator and use within a week.

Playtime!: Cupcake flowers

Can't make it outside to pick a real bouquet? Have your child make some cupcake flowers!

No complicated instructions needed. Just grab some cupcake liners, poke a hole in the middle and insert a pipe cleaner. Add a special touch by having your child draw on the liners for a very special bouquet that never dies.

Playtime!: File folder games

If I knew how much work this project would be, I wouldn't have started it. But now that it's done, I'm glad I have these fun file folder games on hand.

After perusing lots of different websites for free file folder games, I printed templates from filefolderfun.com. They had a nice array for preschool through third grade. You can print them in black and white, then color them in yourself, but I chose to save some time and just print them in color.

Then there's the cutting. And there's lots of cutting.

My recommendation? Don't print the game with the dinosaurs--the scales on their back are a pain to cut out. But the others were fairly easy, just time consuming.

Then there's the laminating and the velcro-ing, and cutting the lid to the envelope that holds all the pieces.

Ultimately, this project wasn't that cheap. I only have a color inkjet printer and I wanted the sheets done on a laser printer, so I had the pages printed at Kinko's. Add the cost of the lamination and this becomes a pretty pricey project. But punch some holes through the folders, throw them in a binder and you've got a compact and mobile way to entertain kids for hours.

Here are the links to the games I made:

Alphabet hearts: http://www.filefolderfun.com/PreschoolAlphabet.html

Cupcake count: http://www.filefolderfun.com/PreschoolCounting.html

Alpha animals: http://www.filefolderfun.com/KindergartenAlphabet.html

Dino colors: http://www.filefolderfun.com/PreschoolColorMatch3.html

Playtime!: Hinamatsuri

We spent our summers in Japan, so we missed out on the celebrations that happened during other months of the year, like Hinamatsuri.  On March 3rd the Japanese celebrate Hinamatsuri, also known as Doll Festival or Girls' Day.  Hinamatsuri probably originates with the ancient Chinese who believed that the sins of the body and any misfortunes could be transferred to a doll and washed away by setting the doll adrift in a river. When this practice spread to Japan, it was linked to girls playing with dolls in the Edo Period (1603-1876) and developed into what is now known a Hinamatsuri.

This festival is celebrated in virtually every girl's home with a large, multi-tiered platform that displays dolls representing the Emperor, Empress and Court from te Heian period.  Families take the opportunity on this day to pray for their daughters' health and happiness.

We love the idea of a holiday that celebrates being a girl!  If you have a daughter, today might be a time to focus on her.  Pull out all the dolls and play pretend, do some Hinamatsuri crafts and make some special treats together.  Speaking of treats, there are some special dishes for the festival including hishimochi(diamond-shaped rice cakes) in layers of red (or pink), white, and green. The red is for chasing evil spirits away, the white is for purity, and the green is for health.  Another traditional dish popular on this day is chirashizushi - seafood, mushroom and vegetables spread over sushi rice.

There is also a charming song known as the Hinamatsuri song and translates to:

Let’s light up the lanterns.
Let’s offer them peach flowers
Hear the flute and the drums.
Today is happy hinamatsuri.

Here is a great link for some origami dolls and if you're feeling a bit more ambitious, you can try this paper craft here.

However you choose to celebrate Hinamatsuri, we hope your day is full of girl power!

Meditation: Something's Gotta Give

"All children are artists.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he has grown up."

~Pablo Picasso

Last week when the midatlantic states got hammered with back-to-back blizzards we found ourselves sequestered in our home.  Fortunately Mr. Q didn't have to go into work and we got a lot of unexpected Daddy time.  Mayumi loved it. 

I've noticed that Dads are usually the "fun" parent.  Except for one foray out into the snow, it was always Mr. Q who took Maya out to play.  She spent most of her time indoors with him as well and I took the opportunity to focus on getting other things done around the house.  She was so happy to have someone around who focused completely on her and was such a willing playmate.

It made me realize that I don't do that enough.  Play with her.  I've been getting up early (5:30!) to go to the gym almost every day, so by the time night falls I'm exhausted I usually end of falling asleep with her around 8:30, which leaves no time to get done those mundane chores that are necessary in day-to-day living.  So I find myself trying to keep her distracted long enough for me to complete some other task: she colors while I do dishes, she dances while I fold laundry, she naps while I check my email, etc. Seeing how much she loved her dad's undistracted attention though, I decided to make more of an effort to really focus on playing and creating with her. 

This week has been a struggle to find the right balance: play with my daughter, maintain a functional household, care for myself. But I've been trying to be more responsive to her needs (especially since we are going through the sensitive process of weaning).  When she begs me to come paint with her, instead of putting her off so I can finish my chore-of-the-moment, I stop and dabble in the tempera.  Surely, it has resulted in a bit of a shabbier house.  And some lackluster dinners. 

But some really beautiful collages.

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Playtime!: Fukuwarai

Fukuwarai is the Japanese version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey: a blindfolded person places paper parts of a face, such as eyes, eyebrows, a nose and a mouth, on a paper face. Typically a game played during Oshogatsu (New Year), Fukuwarai is a fun little rainy-day (or snowy-day!) activity.  You can make all the pieces yourself, or if your kids are old enough they can help out.  If you're hesitant to do it yourself, here is a template you can print and cut out.  There is also this alternative Fukuwarai activity using a Totoro face-super cute!  And here is an online Fukuwarai game, in case your kids are good on the computer.

For our part, we made our own face (drawing is not one of talents!) from leftover cardboard and cereal boxes.  Mayumi helped color the pieces and we used scotch tape to try to "pin" the pieces onto our silly face.  She was not particularly interested in having her eyes covered up with a blindfold, so we just used the opportunity to review the names of face parts and joke around with funny arrangements. Fun times for everyone!

Playtime!: Bean-throwing

By MamaD

The closest thing the Japanese have to Groundhog Day (Feb. 2) would be Setsubun, which is celebrated on Feb. 3 and marks the beginning of spring.

The idea is that you drive away all the evil spirits of winter in preparation for the cleansing of spring. This is performed during mamemaki or bean-throwing festival. I think traditionally soy beans are used, but it seems any kind would do the trick. As you throw them you yell, "oni wa soto" (get out demons) and "fuku wa uchi" (come in happiness)! Then, for some extra luck, you pick up the number of beans that equal your age and eat them up! These beans are called fuku mame (fortune beans). It is believed that people can be healthy and happy if they pick up and eat fuku mame the number equal to their ages.

Actually, I think that the Japanese setsubun holiday sounds a lot more fun than our Groundhog Day.

We thought a fun activity to commemorate this holiday for the kids would be to make homemade oni masks out of paper.

I found this great tutorial online here.  Then you can dance around the house throwing beans!  If your kids are old enough, challenge them to pick up as many beans as equal their age.  Unfortunately, if you have very young ones, this leaves most of the clean-up to Mom!

Many Japanese also eat sushi for Setsubun (called "fortune rolls"), so this may be a good time to try our MamaM's recipe for temaki sushi.  MamaQ is posting a tutorial for felted oni pillows tomorrow, so stay tuned for that!