Back to School Giveaway and Shaving Cream Fun

I don't often do product endorsements on the blog, but when I recommend something, do know that it's a great product. Today I want to share an alphabet product with you that I'm using to help Little One learn how to read and write. 

Created by none other than my Mom, there are in my opinion, no other local alphabet products on the market that can compare to the quality and versatility of this one. Why is it so great? Oooh many reasons... for starters the letters are made from a very durable material; they don't easily bend and cannot break and I must add they have a nice feel to them. The fonts used are correct for the South African Curriculum and the alphabet comes in black or white (not multicoloured as many others do). One of the best things about the alphabet is that a child can touch and feel each letter, giving them a three-dimensional experience of what each letter is about. Needless to say, the letters can be used in a variety of games that make letter recognition and word building fun both in the classroom and at home. And that's not all (hehe, I sound like one of those infomercials), there is a magnetic and non-magnetic version available, as well as a variety of different sets, including a numeracy set, and alphabet "bottle top" stickers.

There are so many ways to incorporate this product into alphabet teaching, but today I'm sharing a shaving cream activity Little One and I did about a month ago. If you haven't given your little person shaving cream to play with yet, do give it a go. My little guy lights up when he knows shaving cream is involved!

To play, I placed the letters in a random order on our bricks outside. I gave Little One the shaving cream and I called out letters one at a time. He had to correctly identify them and when he had, he was allowed to cream them... his favourite part. After he had creamed all the letters, I gave him a squirt bottle with water in and once again called out the letters and he could squirt them clean. This activity took much longer than expected and in the end I got quite tired (not him) before all the cleaning up was done. :)

An additional idea is to ask your child to think of a word starting with the letter, when they correctly identify the letter.   

 

 

So now the best part, would you like to win a 26 piece Learners Alphabet (non-magnetic)? The set used above is an 83 piece and is perfect for word building, but with a 26 piece many games can be played. The prize will also include two sheets of alphabet "bottle top" stickers.

Here's how you can win: Visit the  Little People's Products website and come back here and tell me what your favourite product is in the comments section OR pop on over to my Love and Lollipops Facebook Page and share the competition via the link there. Leave a comment there saying that you shared it. If you do both, you will get two entries.

The competition is open to all South African residents. (Apologies to my other readers.) Entries will close on Sunday the 27th of July and a winner will be announced on Monday the 28th. Good luck!

Till next time.  

(And the winner is... Loandi Kok. Congratulations! I will be in touch with you via the Love and Lollipops Facebook Page.)

Fun with Dinosaurs {Hatching Dinosaur Eggs}

After scouring Pinterest for some cool and fun dinosaur activities, I came across this recipe at Growing a Jeweled Rose for some sizzling, fizzling dinosaur eggs. I had to try it!

The only change I made to the recipe was that Crystal added food colouring, but instead of that, I added some soil from our garden.

Here's the recipe:

500 grams of Bicarbonate of Soda/Baking Soda (found a box at Pick n Pay for R11)

3 tablespoons of soil (not essential)

About 2/3rds a cup of water

Small plastic dinosaurs (usually available in tubes from The Crazy Store)

White vinegar in a squirt bottle (for the hatching to happen)

 

Mix the bicarb and the sand and then slowly add water until the mixture can be molded. Place some of it into your cupped hand. Add a small dinosaur to the top of the mixture you have in your hand and then cover it with more of the mixture. You should be able to mold the egg fairly easily. If the mixture is too sloppy, you need to add more bicarb. I then used a large sized plastic egg to help me get nicely shaped eggs. I used only the one half, just to help shape the egg a bit. Let it dry for 24 hours.

 

When the eggs are dry, place them in the garden for the children to find. Give them a spray bottle with the vinegar in it and let them squirt away. That's when the sizzling, fizzling part happens. :)

This last picture looks quite authentic and gross, don't you think?

All in all a really successful activity. Little One had a friend over to play for the day and after this activity, she told me that she wasn't ever going home. Hehe :)

PS. Some more very cool dinosaur books to read:
Tyrannosaurus Drip - Julia Donaldson (one of our favourites) 
Dinosaurs - priddy books (a sticker book) 
Find Out About Dinosaurs - Dougal Dixon

Sharing this at The Weekly Kids Co-Op.

 

 

Shaving Cream Fun

If you are following, you will know that we are busy with a Robots theme at the moment, but today I'm breaking away from that to share some shaving cream fun. It's holidays almost everywhere and I thought this to be such a great holiday activity. It certainly kept my little guy busy for quite awhile.

So today I squirted some shaving cream over a few of Little One's cars that I had placed on his table. He was intrigued :). I then left him to play and he quickly added a whole lot of his vehicles, as you can see in the pics.

After a nice play, Little One deserted the scene, so I moved the table outside and asked him if he wanted his spray bottle to clean the cars. "Yes, like a car wash!", was his response. 

 

That entertained him for quite a bit longer, because after the cars were all washed down, he roamed into the garden, spray bottle in hand. YAY for me - I could get a few things done :)

This idea was inspired by posts at  The Herkert House and A Childhood List. Isn't blogging great!

PS. Linking to The Sunday Showcase

Spray Bottle Fun

I don't know what it's like in your house, but in mine I'm a sought after playmate. The children would absolutely love me to stop everything I'm doing and just play and be with them - all day! I'm willing to bet that you are always in demand too :). 

That being said, I am always keen on activities that amuse them and keep them busy for a little while. Quick and easy things - things that don't require much thought, or unpacking,  and things that are super easy to clean up. One of my go-to ideas that fulfill these criteria are spray bottles. Toddlers and preschoolers LOVE them. The best part is that it exercises those little fingers and is great for the strengthening of the fine finger muscles.

Little One is happy to simply walk around the garden spraying whatever he can, but I have found some nice variations of this simple idea on the web. One nice activity is to paint with a spray bottle. You can use this homemade paint recipe and water it down a bit. Then find a spot where it can get a bit messy, stick some bigger sheets of paper to the wall and allow the children to spray a painting.

I have also read that you can add food colouring to some water and spray paint snow. Now that sound like so much fun. Pity it doesn't snow here. :(

I have let Little One spray a big window and then "clean" it for me - a nice activity for a rainy day. I have also added a spray bottle to bath time and allowed him to spray the walls. I recently found this wonderful idea - bubble bath spray painting - I know both my boys would love this. I will however, have to find paint here locally that doesn't stain. (Know of any?) I wouldn't want multi-coloured children - although now having said that, it could be fun ;). Another idea for bath time is to allow the children to play with some shaving cream and then ask them to spray it away.

 (mmm, how high can it go?)

Have any more spray bottle ideas? If you do, please share them in the comments.

Till next time, have fun!

PS. Sharing at

Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Mom's Big Book of Things to Make

Author and creator, Melanie Bosman, kindly sent me a copy of her book Mom's Big Book of Things to Make to check out. I'm such a fan of books like these...books with art and crafts that inspire you to get creative with your kiddo's. The book offers over fifty fairly easy projects with clear photographs and good instructions.

I decided to try the coffee filter project with the children and both enjoyed the process of colouring the filters (with cokies) and then spraying them with water. The effects achieved were very pretty  and in the spirit of Christmas I decided to cut them out and make some trees.

To order a copy of the book or to see other titles, you can visit the website here.

Thank you again Melanie!

PS. Sharing at 
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123