Beach and underwater themed sensory tub

I have long been in awe of sensory tubs. I first saw them over at Counting Coconuts, and have recently discovered that Anna at The Imagination Tree has some brilliant ideas for sensory play too. Basically it's a large tub filled with sensory materials - often with a base of rice or beans, then different objects, either for general play like spoons and cups, or themed around a particular topic.

I thought that they seemed like quite a lot of work to put together, and would create a lot of mess. I also wasn't exactly sure how Harry would play with them. But we had some dried rice left over from making our Diwali rangoli the other day, and after letting him dig about with his toy diggers I decided it was time to give him a bit more structure.

I cannot fully describe my pride when, in just a few minutes, I produced this:

It's made inside an old, shallow biscuit tin. I used the coloured rice that I already had for the sandy beach, then I dyed some more blue for the sea. I sprinkled glitter into the sea, and made some waves around the beach with shredded paper. I added shells, some beaded bracelets, and a few bits of pirate Playmobil from my old collection that Harry hadn't seen before. Then I found a couple of little dolls - we even had a mermaid - and a plastic dolphin. There are some random pom poms in there too for a different texture. It was quite a wrench giving it to Harry to play with.

Can you see that gleam in his eyes? He was so excited, he had never seen anything like this before and he couldn't wait to get started.

He was most fascinated by the treasure chest, and he just wanted to bury it in the sea so that the lady on the beach couldn't see it. There was a little spade in there to help with the digging. He played with this sensory tub for a lot longer than I expected, and he particularly loved it when I joined in and made up little stories with the dollies, which he then copied. In the end it didn't create nearly as much mess as I thought it would, and I loved putting it together. Harry played with it all for quite some time too, and I've popped the lid on to keep it for another day. I suppose it could have come off worse! I'm definitely going to have to come up with some more ideas, preferably ones that involve mixed up dyed rice.

Money boxes and posting coins

I have a gorgeous money box, I don't know where it came from but it's quite old, made from tin and in the shape of a postbox. I use it to store my small collection of interesting coins - old coins no longer in circulation, leftover coins in small denominations from foreign holidays, and some pressed pennies from a trip to the US when I was a teenager. Recently I took the coins out to show Harry, and he was fascinated. He spent ages posting them back through the slot. They were still out when Mia woke up from her nap, and so under supervision I let her join in. This activity was a huge hit. I found some more money boxes from around the house - my old piggybank along with some that they have received as gifts. We have spent many happy sessions all posting coins together.

Then, a few days later, prompted by a book we were reading I was showing Harry some old photos from when I was little. Looks as though I wasn't the first to come up with this activity!



Halloween Craft - Really simple spooky window pictures

If you are looking for a really simple craft to do with little ones, then these spooky window decorations are perfect. They can be made easily even by really young toddlers, and they look really effective when displayed in the window, whether during the day or at night.

To make the window decorations, all you need is thin black card, some clear contact paper (sticky backed plastic) and tissue paper in suitable Halloween colours.

First cut out your shape from the black cardboard - I made a pumpkin and a haunted house. Then place the entire piece of card onto a face up piece of clear sticky backed plastic. Tear some coloured tissue paper into small pieces, and help your toddler to place them onto the sticky areas. You can add detail to the image by positioning cut outs from black card, like the face of the pumpkin or the windows of the house.

When you have finished, fold over the edges to provide a bit of extra adhesion to the tissue paper. It might not look like much from the front:

But when the light is behind them I think they look very spooky! They are so easy to make that you could come up with different ideas every year and cover an entire window.

I've written about lots of things that you can do with very little ones at Halloween. My children both loved the Halloween sensory tub that I put together and the Halloween ice block excavation activity. They also had a lot of fun with this make a monster busy bag.

Finally, if you are planning a Halloween party for little ones you might like this post - some simple Halloween party ideas for children.

Diwali craft - Making a Rangoli using dyed rice

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links

After making our salt dough divas for Diwali, we turned our attention to Diwali Rangoli. Rangoli are decorative patterns created on the floor during Hindu festivals such as Diwali. They can be geometric patterns or flower and petal shapes, and are traditionally created using coloured rice, sand or flower petals. At Diwali they are created to encourage the goddess Lakshmi to enter homes. I made our Rangoli using dyed rice.

For the base I used some sturdy cardboard. I drew some freehand patterns using a thick black pen, taking some inspiration from pictures that I found online. To dye the rice I followed the very simple instructions from The Imagination Tree - you basically just mix a handful or so of cheap rice with about half a teaspoon of food colouring, and you can squirt in some alcohol hand gel to help it dry quicker. I found that yellow and red dye worked brilliantly, but the green not so well.

We painted our cardboard designs first with poster paint in bold colours. I thought this would give a good solid background, instead of having to cover the whole design in rice. Then we worked with one colour of rice at a time. I applied the glue thickly to the areas required, then we piled on the rice and pressed it down. I found that it dried quickly and we were able to shake of the excess before moving on to the next colour. A little bit of rice went a long way, I had lots left over!

I was really pleased with how well our Rangoli turned out, and it wasn't nearly as messy or unpredictable a craft as I had worried it would be! We are looking forward to putting them on display when we celebrate Diwali.

If you are looking for some more Diwali crafts, then you might like these pages:

How to make a salt dough diwa
Homemade Diwali cards
Large Hama bead Rangoli
Small Hama bead Rangoli
Simple Burfi sweets for Diwali

If you are teaching your young children about Diwali, here are some books that they might enjoy:

The Best Diwali Ever (affiliate link) - A heart warming picture book about Diwali, siblings and how very special this celebration can be.

Diwali colouring book for kids (affiliate link) - A simple coloring book for young children, suitable for ages 2-5. Contains all sorts of things to colour including lamps, fireworks, candles, lanterns, food & rangoli patterns.

First Festivals: Diwali (affiliate link) - Featuring simple text, gorgeous illustrations and satisfying lift-the-flaps, this book explores common Diwali traditions and helps young children understand the importance of this special holiday.

Mr Men and Little Miss Happy Diwali (affiliate link) - The five-day festival of lights is celebrated by millions of people across the world and the Mr Men and Little Miss can't wait to join in. They're busy cleaning their homes, creating Rangolis, lighting lamps and enjoying all the festivities, including large feasts that Mr Greedy is particularly looking forward to. It’s going to be a busy five days of light and laughter!

I've also collected together lots of fun Diwali crafts and activities on my Diwali Pinterest board:

Follow Jennifer Jain's board Diwali Crafts and Activities on Pinterest.
I'm linking up with Tuesday Tots at Rainy Day Mum and Kid's Get Crafty at Red Ted Art.

A tale of two babies revisited

Soon after I started blogging I wrote this post - A tale of two babies. (Don't worry if you didn't read it, not many people did!).

I make no secret of the fact that I found Harry to be a difficult baby. Having had Mia I have realised that it wasn't just me, compared to her he was a difficult baby. Although of course she had her moments, in general she was a much more contented and happier baby. The key thing was that she could last much longer between naps. It sounds like such a small, insignificant thing, but Harry used to get so grumpy when he was tired, and he was always tired (his tendency to start the day at 5am by the latest also didn't help). Mia had so much more stamina, she could stay awake for several hours and was generally contented for most of that time. It was such a revelation to find that I didn't have to plan every single part of my day around her nap time. I could meet with friends or go out, and not have to worry that the baby would be due a nap and would therefore scream.

Harry did redeem himself though, and as a toddler he has been very good. If someone took a toy from Harry he would grumble a little bit, but then move on to something else. I noticed early on that if you take something from Baby Mia that she wants, she will scream. If you take something from her that she really really wants, she will do the watch-me-hold-my-breath-and-brace-yourself scream.

I'm becoming a little worried that we are about to start paying back for our easier baby with a stroppy toddler. What have you found - does an easier baby make for a difficult toddler?

Adventures with Cravendale and Epic Straws

Harry has a bit of a fascination with pipes and plumbing, so he was delighted to take delivery of two sets of Epic Straws from Cravendale as a part of their latest promotion. Firstly we built the two sets. Harry wasn't much help, but I think I managed quite well on my own. He twigged immediately what they were for, and couldn't wait to get going with the drinking. Since we received these straws I have had no worries about his liquid consumption.

I was challenged to come up with something more creative than just following the instructions. So I decided to incorporate the straws into one of his toys. His toy house fitted the bill perfectly, with lots of windows to poke straws through and two little old ladies to look on in bemusement.

We've been playing with these straws for several days now and they've been brilliant. They come with a little net bag for washing the pieces in, or you can just suck some water through them! Harry has worked out how to build his own creations now, and he keeps proudly calling me in to show me what he was built. Fantastic!

We received two sets of Epic Straws and some vouchers to buy Cravendale milk. 

Liebster blog award

I would like to begin this post by saying that I love being tagged in things! The trouble is that it takes me ages to get to them, although I do get there in the end. This means that I sometimes get tagged in something twice before I've had a chance to respond, and also begin to accumulate a backlog. So here is the latest one - the Liebster blog award. I have 11 questions to answer from two bloggers:

From All-in-One Mum:

1.What is your favourite blog post that you have composed?
I'm quite proud of my Legoland post. That took a long time to put together. I also have a post scheduled for next week that I like very much so look out for it, it's to do with dyed rice!

2.Once you have your blog post topic, how long does it take you to create and finish it?
It varies, sometimes I can bash them out very quickly, others sit in drafts for days. It also depends whether I need to take and edit photographs.

3.What is your biggest achievement/proudest moment?
My children :)

4.What is your favourite food?
For dinner - Pizza. For dessert - Chocolate brownies with ice-cream and chocolate sauce.

5.When you travel, do you stay away from the local food or try experience everything you can?
I have a fussy husband, so we tend to go with what we know!

6.Mac or PC?!
PC, I've never used a Mac.

7.Kindle or real, paper books?
Kindle, although I still have plenty of real books.

8.Do you have a favourite quote or personal mantra?
Carpe Diem.
 
9.If you were an animal, what would you be?
A cat. I often gaze enviously at cats as they sleep all day...

10.What is your favourite room in your home?
The bedroom. Mmmm, sleep...

11.If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing that you did?
Cry with the shock probably! Then book a holiday.

From Entertaining Monsters:

1.How long have you been blogging for?
I started in July 2011, so that's a year and a bit.

2.Where is your favourite place in the whole wide world?
My favourite country is Australia. But I'm quite a homebody really so my favourite place would have to be home.

3.What is your favourite bar of chocolate?
Do Maltesers count? I do like Galaxy chocolate if we're talking plain chocolate.

4.Have you ever broken a bone?
No, the worst I've ever done is sprained my ankle.

5.When was the last time you went on a child free night out with your partner (if you have one)?
Last Saturday, we went to a wedding, lucky us!

6.What was your first job?
I did some photocopying and filing in my Mum's office in the summer. My first job where I was employed was in the library.

7.How many toilets do you have in your house?! (I only have 1 and am very jealous when people have more!)
We have four, it's nice, if rather excessive, to have one each but I'm the only one that cleans them!

8.What is your favourite season?
The beginning of summer when it's starting to get nice and warm.

9.What is your favourite children’s book?
The Hungry Caterpillar. Or for older children I love A Little Princess.

10.Do you get a real or fake Christmas tree?
We have a fake one, I can't be dealing with all those needles.

11.How many siblings do you have?
One brother and one sister.