Boys

Play Tray

Step 1.  Hammer the wood. SquiggleDad helped, of course. Step 2.  Make your purchases. Green rocks. Small plant. Mini trolley. Happy boy.

Lions and Tigers and Tea – oh my!

There are lots of gorgeous teasets available for little girls, but ones that are gender-neutral, or suitable for boys, are quite hard to find.  I don’t want my son to think that kitchen things are just for girls!  Mr 2 loves to make “cups of coffee” for visitors (or for his Dad) and this wooden set is perfect for him. This week I helped him to take his “cup of coffee” play a step further,...

Outdoor Multi-Age Play

Thanks to a recent pupil-free day, my children had the opportunity to have a play date in our backyard with a group of kids of varying ages (from 2 – 12).  I encouraged them to make cubby houses, and gave them them access to the following materials: one sheet string scissors anything already in the backyard (rocks, sticks, bamboo, etc) It was amazing to watch the kids interact.  The boys and girls naturally...

Birthday Boy (and Bear)

Birthdays are special.  They are all about… Inviting friends (and their bears) to share in the fun.  I chose these fun invitations and thank you tags from Nomie Boutique Stationery.  (I kind of left ordering the invites til the last minute, but Naomi had the invites ready in less than two days, and offered express postage. Phew!  I was delighted with the service I received from Nomie.) Opening presents. One...

Buckets and Strings

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best, aren’t they?  This week I put a piece of string up and over the branch of a tree, and tied a coloured bucked to each end.  Genius.  Mr Almost-Two has played with these buckets constantly. Blue bucket down, yellow bucket up. Yellow bucket down, blue bucket up, up, up! And if you’re very, very clever – you can get both buckets to stop half way and fill them...

Pasting Pictures

My little man watches his big sister construct all manner of creations with boxes, junk mail, scissors and glue.  She can whip up anything from a bird to a robot in no time.  The other day while watching her create some masterpiece, Mr-Almost-Two discovered glue.  Glorious, magical glue. I grabbed a junk mail catalogue and chopped  out pictures of items he knows and can identify.  Truck, shoe, camera, train, baby,...

Big Boy Bed

As I write this post I have two sleeping kids – in their BEDS.  We dismantled the cot today, and my not-so-baby-boy is fast asleep in his big boy bed.  So far so good.  The only sound I’ve heard is snoring! We talked a lot about the transition, so he was very well prepared for the move and very excited about it all.  He loves his new jungle quilt and striped sheets, he loves climbing up and down himself,...

Raising Readers with Literacy Lava

If you’re a parent with young kids, and you’re interested in raising readers – you’ll definitely want to check this out.  Literacy Lava is a FREE publication put together by Susan Stephensen (aka The Book Chook) and a bunch of teachers, writers, bloggers and literacy advocates.  I have contributed an article on Book Loving Boys to this issue, full of practical suggestions for reading aloud with...