Fingerprint Fun

                                                                                  

 I remember seeing an Ed Emberley Fingerprint Drawing Book a number of years ago and it immediately piqued my interest. I looked high and low for these locally, but couldn't find any in stores or at the library. So I was very excited to find out that Ed has a terrific website and that I could easily order his books (at great prices too) online.

In the spirit of our Doctor Doctor fun and checking out the human skeleton, I was tickled to find a cute fingerprint tutorial of  
Mr. Boney Parts on the website.

Big One's version...

Using the super Melissa and Doug Ink Pad, Big one and I spent some time creating fingerprint art. I won't tell you who made what, but I will say this -  my creations are definitely "cute", whereas Big One's are "cool".

 

Could you tell who made who?..I'm sure you could :)
 

Can Critters

We had some friends over for a morning and we made these cute can critters. I had been collecting the tins for awhile, so there was quite a nice stash. I had planned to give the children some paper and markers to decorate them, but then remembered that I had a whole container of vinyl off-cuts. I'm so glad that I did, because it was so easy and less time consuming to cut and stick the vinyl on to the cans. Even I joined in.

After the creating, we lined them all up along the wall and we had a tossing game - who could knock over the most critters. Another big hit with the kiddos, keeping them busy for quite some time.

I can highly recommend this as an activity - from start to finish they had a blast!

PS. Sharing this at
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Shape Matching Fun

Today's post is a continuation of the Doctor Doctor fun we've been up to here. I love the simplicity of the red medical cross, so today I'm sharing some shape matching fun inspired by it.

Do your children have this kind of shape sorter...or something similar? I made these discs and Little One started off by matching up the plastic shapes to the discs...easy peasy. 

We then put the plastic shapes aside and asked him to find matching discs - for example, 

find another yellow shape or find another hexagon? 

I then packed them out in rows and asked him to count each row.
He did this very nicely :).

We didn't do this, but another possibility would be to put three in a row and ask which is the odd one out or which one doesn't match the others.

After playing with the discs for awhile, I put those aside and we had some fun with the shape sorter. As we played , it struck me that this is such a versatile toy. I have always thought of it as a baby toy, perhaps because my earliest association of it is the Tupperware shape sorter ball (remember that one?). But this is really far more than a simple baby posting game, with many playful and educational possibilities. I might just do a whole post about it sometime...

 Building shape towers...and the best part...knocking them down!

Till next time, Happy playing!

PS. I was really curious about the origin and meaning of the red cross medical symbol. You can read more about it here.

West Coast National Park

It's become somewhat of an annual ritual for us and family friends to set out for the hour's drive to the West Coast National Park this time of year.

  The park offers beaches with crazy-crazy waves crashing against the rocks, a breathtaking lagoon, beautiful flora (particularly during August and September), fauna (including game), bird and whale watching, and to top it all...a shipwreck! We are also always "lucky" enough to see snakes when we go. Last year we saw some pufadders up close and personal, baking in the heat on the road, and this year a cobra crossed our paths...or at least our motor vehicle's path (thank goodness!).

If you are a Cape Townian, this is definitely a day out to put on your calender. To see what's on offer visit the South African National Parks website, and for some more info and pictures, including the shipwreck of the "Pantalis a Lemos", you can pop in  here and here. Going to see the wreck is definitely on my to do list when the children are older.

On our way home we were also treated to six giraffe roaming around on one of the game farms we passed. It can be a treat to live in Africa! :)

PS. I have some more Doctor Doctor fun coming up this week...stay tuned!

Doctor's Kit

When your little one is particularly interested in a certain activity, book or even TV character, it's a great opportunity to extend that interest and add some other fun and learning activities. So while my Little One was focused on playing "Doctor Doctor", I had the chance to squeeze some learning in there too.

Without a doubt, playing this game is a great opportunity to teach and reinforce body parts (remember to include the not so common parts - ankles, soles of feet, wrists, forehead, etc.). It's also a chance to talk about being a Doctor and what they do, as well as different types of medical professionals (Paediatricians, Dentists, Nurses, Veterinarians - it's up to you how far you stretch this and of course how long you can maintain their interest). And, it's a great chance to talk about all those Doctor's tools in their medical kit!

Does your little Doctor own a medical kit? These are readily available in most toy stores, but some real-life additions to their kit is sure to be a big hit...some"ouch" powder, real syringes, a plastic scissors, old x-rays, a Nebulizer mask and tubing, real plasters (band-aids) and bandages, a small notepad and pencil for writing scripts...all add to the fun.

I added a variety of plastic containers to our kit and then filled them with some matching coloured smarties. Little One was motivated to open them all because of the sweeties inside, but opening them required some problem solving. One lid had to be pushed off/popped up, another unscrewed, another flipped open and so on. Of course this all required some good fine motor work, so little fingers get a work-out too. (PS. I have to add this little note...I only played this once with Little One, as I didn't want him to think that real medicine containers contain sweeties. Please always keep medicine containers far-far out of reach from innovative little people, who know how to pull chairs to counters and climb up to reach things!)

A super addition to some "Doctor Doctor" fun is a terrific little book - a golden book called Doctor Dan by Helen Gaspard. This has been one of Little One's favourites for a long time :).

PS. Linking this to:
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars

The Play Academy @ NurtureStore
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123

Plaster People and other possibilities...

I saw a super band aid get well card over at Having Fun at Home and it inspired a whole lot of plaster fun!

I started off with some PLASTER PEOPLE (sounds so cute, don't you think?), but then had fun thinking up as many plaster pictures as I could...

These cute little paper books were an idea I got at a mini workshop with Renee Lighton. I found the same little book here - a nice tutorial. They are very easy to make and the possibilities are endless!

PS. Renee's workshop was really great fun, packed with lots of ideas. 
Visit her website to find out more.

PPS. I'm linking this to:
For the Kids Friday @ Sun Scholars
It's Playtime! 
Show and Tell @ ABC and 123 

Let's Play "Doctor Doctor"

"For children to 'play out' their experiences and feelings is the most natural, dynamic and self-healing process in which children can engage." Garry Landreth

Little One has spent a fair amount of time around hospitals and Doctors in the past few months, having undergone two operations in the short space of three months. He has had blood drawn, injections, hep-locks in his hand - there have been a lot of needles involved!

After our first hospital stay, the impact of these events on his play was immediately evident. Suddenly he was playing "Doctor Doctor" every chance he got and the main story line of each little scenario was needles and injections - he and I swopping the patient/doctor role countless times. 

I share this because it's such a good example of the natural healing and therapeutic value that play has. We as adults can talk about our trauma and in so doing work through feelings like fear, anxiety and powerlessness, but children don't have these words, or ability to express them. These emotional experiences that are important to a child or have significantly impacted on them, will often show up as repeated behaviour in their play (Garry Landreth: Play Therapy. The Art of the Relationship). In play therapy, we refer to these as themes.

 (It's okay little dinosaur. It's all over. - Even a T-rex deserves top class medical care :))

After reading How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? (Jane Yolen and Mark Teague), we added dinosaurs to the game and Little One has enjoyed treating the sick dinosaurs in hospital too. Recently I have noticed a marked decrease in his request for "Mommy, you're sick and I'm the Doctor". This probably means that he has sorted out some of his feelings about these experiences and is emotionally ready to move on. The healing power of play at work! :)

Stay tuned. Some more doctor-related fun coming up.

ideas magazine

Two darling friends bought me a subscription to the ideas magazine for my birthday a few months back. It was a lovely surprise to receive my September copy and to see that my matchbox fridge magnets were featured on the reader's page. These little magnets have been my most popular post for all time here at Love and Lollipops. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to top them :)?

The ideas mag is South Africa's best loved crafting magazine and this month the Party ideas for kids magazine is also on sale. Be sure to look out for it in stores.

More Bottle Top Animals

I had the wonderful opportunity recently to make some cards for a very special birthday party for the children of a children's home. Even though their ages ranged from one year to sixteen years of age, I wanted to do the same for all of them, so decided on some fun bottle top animal cards.  I thought that they would bring a smile to everyone...whether younger or older. I had a list to work from, so could also write a personal note to each child. It was great to be able to do this small act of kindness.

To see some more cute bottle top animals, click here.

 For some more fun planned with bottle tops, stay tuned :).


PS. Linking this to Making The World Cuter Monday

Plastic Egg Birds {Craft and Game}

These little birds were inspired by these that I saw at lets go fly a kite, who in turn had seen them at Busy Bee Kids Crafts.

(What a super website by the way.
Be sure to check it out for some really nice, cute kids' crafts.)

I decided to add a bit of a game to them that would be both educational and fun. I told Little One that the mommy bird is fetching worms for her hungry chicks. Can you see how hungry they are? She comes back with some colourful worms and her little chicks gobble them up. One little chick only eats one and then his tummy is full...another little chick eats two...and so on.

For the nest, I covered a plastic bowl in some green paper and then added the strips. To get your chicks to stand up in the nest, cut a toilet roll into smaller rings and rest the eggs in the rings. It works perfectly.

Till next time...

PS. Linking this to Show and Tell @ ABC and 123