Feeding ducks (and swans, and eels, and turtles...)

One of my fondest childhood memories was going to the "Bats and Swans" park in Melbourne in an afternoon, where we'd feed black swans and then head home when the bats came out to play.  We've taken Geekling to feed ducks at Caboolture a few times before, but I cannot describe how embarrassingly excited I was when feeding ducks at North Lakes and some black swans appeared to join the fun!

We were also joined by some turtles and eels...

And of course Geekling couldn't pass up a turn on the swing...

We watched some people sail remote controlled boats...

and practiced climbing stairs...

We went back again this weekend and not only did the swans join us, but they were accompanied by their adorable fluffy cygnets!

Geekling's favourite book "What are you?" shows a cygnet transforming to a swan, and we also have the classic "Ugly Duckling" story, so I made sure to include these in our bedtime reading.

Homemade colourings

I came across this fantastic post on making homemade natural food colours.  They make great paints or can be added to playdoh or perhaps edible items that are complimentary in flavour to the items used to colour.

Update: Since this post I've found a couple more interesting and helpful articles on homemade natural colours:

Blue food colouring from red cabbage and baking soda

A fabulous selection of colours - red/purple, pink, yellow, brown

Purple from red cabbage, Red from dried hibiscus tea, Yellow from Tumeric and Green from japanese matcha green tea powder - a great link with photo instructions.

I once found an amazing post with all the colours of the rainbow and am desperately trying to find it again but not having much luck - I'll link it if I find it!

Button Snake

I made this button snake for Geekling last night after seeing it on Counting Coconuts, a fabulous Montessori blog I've recently found.  It was so quick to make!  I just cut up some felt squares and snipped slits in the middle of each, sewed a big button on the end of some thick ribbon, then sewed the other end of the ribbon into a loop to help keep the squares on and to make it easy to carry.

Geekling doesn't really get it yet, but not to worry.  I will reintroduce it in a week or so.

Free activity sheets & Montessori materials online in Australia

I came across Bright Tomato Learning on How We Montessori, and although the materials are not cheap (most Montessori materials are either expensive or shipping them from where they are would be), I am thrilled to find an Aussie web based supplier.  They do have some very reasonably priced items though, and I note they also sell the touch tablets I have previously posted about.

They also have a fabulous page of free printable downloads - activity sheets, matching activities and traceable alphabet.  Geekling is a little young for these - I can't wait to engage him with these things one day.

Upcycled Hula Hoop floor rug

I know - this many posts in one day is unheard of around here but I had to share this also, I found this awesome Hula Hoop Rug using old t-shirts via The Crafty Crow.

Hardware stores around here sell huge bags of old clothing and other fabric to use as rags for $1 or $2 which might also be useful if you don't have that many old shirts and other clothes hanging around.

8 Terrific Toddler Activities

Somewhere in my Blog reading I came across a link to this fabulous post from Money Saving Mom (my sincerest apologies for not crediting the Blog I found it from).  It features 8 terrific toddler activities - my personal favourite is the peanut butter playdough (external link from the bottom idea)!  As the recipe is similar to the one I use for peanut butter cookies, I am thinking I might try to make a hybrid recipe that Geekling can play with, then we can bake!  Will let you know how it goes!

Geekling's new bed

A while ago I posted about Geekling's newborn nursery.  There are so many things I would do differently since learning more about the Montessori Method but I don't have a time machine and even once I had become interested in Montessori concepts such as a floor bed, we were having so many other problems with sleep and illness for a while there that I was hesitant to make any big changes.

But Geekling had shown he was ready to move on from a cot.  He'd slept successfully at his grandparents place in an identical toddler bed, and begun sleeping on mattresses at one of his daycare centres.  He can climb in and out of the bed just fine so we decided to take the plunge.  Since Geekling can get in an out himself, we consider this getting 'back on track' with the Montessori method in his environment.  This is Geekling's room at the moment:

We have a large couch cushion sitting beside his bed in case he rolls out also, but of the handful of times he has wound up out of bed since moving to this bed he has intentionally gotten out of bed.  We have moved the rocker that used to be in his room out to the loungeroom where hubby has claimed it as a gaming chair, and in its place for some time has been a bookshelf full of books and toys - Geekling loves to grab a book, toddle off to an open area, sit down and 'read'.  We often leave him to his own devices to find him surrounded by books he has 'read'.

He is very good at getting in and out of his new bed, although sometimes he chooses to sleep in some odd positions...

Head down, bum up!

We have more changes planned for this room in the coming months to help it grow with Geekling - stay tuned :)

Touch tablets and toothpicks

I bought these Melissa & Doug touch tablets from The Toy Bug a while ago on sale, and recently got them out.  Geekling isn't at the matching stage yet, but he was still fascinated by them and loves feeling the different textures.

We have also progressed from paddle pop sticks in a travel mug to toothpicks in a toothpick container.  I then swapped the toothpicks for coloured matchsticks to be a bit safer (although I still wouldn't let him play with these unattended, obviously!).  He puts the sticks/toothpicks through the biggest hole but eventually he may move on to putting them through the smaller holes.  Its also a great small activity that I can carry about in my handbag for when Geekling needs an activity when out and about.

Healthy Cake Decorating

For Geekling's first birthday some months ago I baked and decorated a cake to send to daycare for him to share with his tiny friends.  As he was one of the oldest in the nursery and many were not at cake-eating stage, he was invited to share his cake with the toddler group, and was one very popular boy for the day!

It is a plain vanilla cake that I then 'iced' with mashed banana, then in whipped cream and decorated with blueberries.  It is not the most stunning cake, but Geekling loved it and his daycare were happy to have a cake that wasn't loaded with extra sugar, additives and food colouring :)

Cheats Cake Decorating - Kit-Kat & M&M cake

I made this cake for my Mother-in-Law last year.  I do enjoy making and decorating cakes, but for whatever reason I wasn't up to the task of doing it from scratch, so I went with this cheat's option.  Its a Caramel mudcake from the supermarket with a 'fence' of kit-kat chocolate, and topped with m&ms!

(Excuse the mess in the photo!)

I used the family sized Kit-Kat blocks (2 of them) with the sticks snapped in pairs.  I think it would have been better to use the smaller bars (perhaps buying a pack or two of fun sized bars) as I would have needed less m&ms (there are two packets of mixed m&ms, and three would have looked better but it still caused an avalanche when we cut the cake!), or perhaps used two cakes with frosting or cream in the middle.  I also would have preferred to match the ribbon to the colour of the m&ms.  Oh well, my mother-in-law loved it!