The Creative Challenge – Join in with me!

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I recently posted about how I am challenging myself to be more Creative with Monkey. My aim is to come up with some more arty crafty things to do with him over the next month, and then report back on my progress and how successful I have been! I have decided that this kind of challenge is more fun done as a team, so….

Do you think you could be more creative? Do you shy away from messy play? Is there are a craft/art/hobby you’ve wanted to try but never quite got round to it?

I CHALLENGE you to change all that and give something new a try!

It could be anything you like as long as it’s a bit creative, such as:

Always fancied crochet/knitting? Now’s the time to try.

Do you shy away from sticky/messy play? It’s time to be brave!

Want to get more adventurous with cooking/baking? Do it.

Always fancied writing a short story? Why not start right now?

CHALLENGE YOURSELF.

Then come back and let me know how you’ve got on.

I’m giving us a month to give time to prepare and have time to make a good start.

The linky will open on WEDNESDAY 26TH FEBRUARY for you to share your creative story.

Please grab my badge, and spread the word! #CreativeChallenge

If you think you are going to join in I would love it if you could comment below and tell me how you are going to challenge yourself

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Creative Challenge – January – Painting

Posted by Caroline Elliott

After seeing some wonderfully creative things mummies do with their little ones who are Monkey’s age or thereabouts, I sometimes feel I don’t give him enough of an opportunity to explore his creative side. I think I’m still a bit stuck in the ‘oh but he’s too young for that’ frame of mind, when I shouldn’t be.

We’ve been drawing with crayons, chalks and bathy crayons for ages – mainly because they are so easy to tidy up. But things like paint and glue give me the shivers at the thought of all the mess. But I need to get past this because if I can, then we should have a lot of fun together and it will of course help him learn and develop.

So I have decided to explore new things with him, and to do this I need to be a bit more creative with our activities. So I am challenging myself to be more creative with him as part of my new Creative Challenge series.

I am also going to link this up with the lovely ‘Mini Creations‘ Link Up hosted by Grace and Lucas at Kid GL loves. I have been reading and getting ideas from this link up for a while but not posted anything, because, well, scribbles are only so interesting. Then the very clever Jocelyn at The Reading Residence came up with the idea of doing her little ones’ mini creations on a Monthly basis and I immediately realised what a genius idea this was (thank you Jocelyn!).

So here it is, Month 1 in this new Creative Challenge series, and this month, Monkey has been doing a lot painting.

Painting with a brush, and his fingers.

It sometimes gives me heart palpitations when I look at his black paint covered hands…especially when he starts to move said hands towards the white woodwork! aaaah 🙂

But he loves it and we have some amazing art to show for it:

Want to be more creative with your little one? Is it time to get over your fears of messy play? Why not join the Creative Challenge? Grab my badge and on Wednesday 26th February I will be hosting a new linky to see how you have got on!

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Creativity is the Key – BASAHM Survival Kit

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Part four in my series – Becoming a Stay at Home Mum Survival Kit. This week the theme is Creativity – and no, I don’t mean the arts and crafts side of creativity. You don’t have to be a budding artist or writer to be a good mummy (though there are many that are). But sometimes a pinch of creativity can really help as a parent.

What do I mean? I am talking diversionary tactics! Who knew you had to be a military strategist as a parent?

Picture this. I’m out on a walk with Monkey and he gets it in his little head that he wants to go down a different path to the one that I am leading him. I start walking one way, he another. His feet are planted firmly on the ground and he is on the verge of a meltdown. For my part I am on the verge of exasperation – I know that path leads to Grandma’s house (and the promise of biscuits), which is why he wants to go that way. I try to cajole, to persuade and nothing, just lots of pointing and shaking of his head.

What to do? The battle is about to commence. There’s a famous quote from the Japanese Military Strategist Sun Tzu:

“For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.”

It’s time to get a bit creative. I look around and see a tree and I am off to hide behind it. Thankfully Monkey loves a bit of hide and seek and he soon is running to find me with a huge grin on his face, I jump out and raaa! Then I am on to the next tree, and so on, you get the idea. Wahoo! Victory without any blood (or tears) being shed!

There isn’t always a tree about which is why I have to be creative to find something to distract him. He really is a stubborn little soul though and some times are harder than others, the same thing doesn’t work every time. So as a mummy you have to think on your feet and be a bit creative. Sometimes I try and persuade him to chase his ball and give it a good kick, other times I tempt him to come with me with the promise of watching the cars and buses from the top of the pedestrian bridge near our house.

It doesn’t always work though, no matter how creative you try to be! The other day I tried to pretend that Postman Pat was eating and enjoying the dinner that Monkey had turned his nose up at… he laughed and thought it was funny but it certainly didn’t make him want to eat his dinner! Boo 🙁 haha ah well, you win some, you lose some!

A bit of creativity can help make your little one feel better when they are hurt or scared too. A friend’s little girl bumped herself coming down the slide and it must have hurt as she was really unhappy. Her clever mummy then announced that a fairy had come and given her some magic cream to make it feel better. She pretended to dab it on and her little girl instantly felt better. It’s amazing the power their imaginations have!

I also find you have to be quite creative when it comes to play ideas and keeping little ones entertained and to help develop those skills. The internet of course is a wonderful place to help find these activities as there are lots of mummies out there who are far more creative than I am! I have found all sorts of things that I would never have come up with on my own, such as Playing with Hair Rollers, Threading cheerios onto Spaghetti, and Ice Cube Painting to name a few!

Being creative can also help with the financial side of parenting, as raising kids can be really expensive! Whether it is using household objects as toys, rummaging in the sales, or bargain hunting on ebay or at car boot sales, using your imagination can help when things get a bit tight.

I have realised that there are so many times that a little bit of creativity can massively help as a parent. Creativity really can be the key to keeping your little ones (and you) happy 🙂

What Creative gems can you share? Any diversionary tactics that work with your little ones to avert disaster (or tantrums)? Any magic remedies to fix a boo boo?

If you liked this post, why not have a look at the other posts in the survival kit: Perspective, Confidence and Resilience

What’s New this week – The Theme Game

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I am linking up with two lovely ladies, Jocelyn at The Reading Residence and Iona at Redpeffer for The Theme Game. This week’s theme is New. There is so much you can right about with this theme that I have been wondering what to write about… and I have been thinking about how New is quite transitory. Nothing stays New forever and there is always something New… so in that vein I thought I’d write about a few things that are New in our house this week.

My New crochet project. I haven’t done anything since before Christmas so am excited to get going with my crochet hook again! This will be a cushion cover… though not quite in the same colours as the pattern as I want to use up the wool I have… and I have a weird thing about colours being in the right order of the spectrum… anyway, I’m sure I will write more about this as it progresses.

I have finally bought a New Family Recipe book. We love cooking and baking in our house and have a book to write recipes in, but it’s a bit of a hodge podge so it’s difficult to find what you’re looking for. It also has Jamie Oliver’s face on it, and nothing against Jamie Oliver but I’d rather have a family recipe book that doesn’t have his face on it. I’ve been looking for ages and just wanted something simple. I know it doesn’t look much, it’s just a plain notepad, but it also has a handy pocket on the front to put some of the handwritten recipe cards from our mums in. Anyway it may not seem like a big deal but it is new and exciting to me.

Our New Yellow wall in the conservatory. Since we moved in it has been quite a depressing shade of grey green and was a bit patchy and peely. We’ve planned to paint it since we moved in (2 years ago in April) and finally got round to it at the weekend with leftover paint from Monkey’s bedroom. It’s mainly used as a playroom so we wanted it to be a bit brighter and more fun. It just makes the room feel so much brighter, it’s lovely! We still need to paint the wooden doors into the house, then the little bits of wall under all the windows, but small steps and I am pretty pleased with it.

Our New Scrapbook, for our Days Out Scrapbook idea. I will make a bit of a cover for it and then need to get some pictures printed from our day at Lyveden New Bield but I love the thought of a New project and I hope that Monkey will love to look back on it as he gets older, and that it will be something we can do together too.

New Play-doh – it was on sale for 50p a pot so I couldn’t resist. We play with play-doh a lot in our house and even when you remember to put it away each time (which sadly, we don’t) I find it doesn’t last that long, so it is good to stock up while it is cheap. I have made homemade play-doh before but at 50p a pot it’s much less effort to just buy it!

A New music group. Nanny and Grandpops took Monkey to a new Rhyme Time group at a local Library on Monday. Lovely ting for them to do together and they all really enjoyed it. So much so that they want to take him every week – Yay for me as it also means I have a New hour of me-time to clean/blog/whatever 🙂

So there you have it, some of the things that are New this week, but by next week will have lost some of their novelty value.

Playing with Velcro Hair Rollers – 19 months old

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I found this idea via the Kid’s Activities Blog last week on LalyMom and thought it was genius!

I too have wavy/curly hair and have tried in the past to tame it with velcro rollers and well, failed miserably! haha So in a drawer under my bed my velcro rollers have been gathering dust…. until now!

It turns out there is a lot you can do with them and we have barely touched the surface.

They are great for sorting by size, stacking, posting things through, sticking to each other and other things.

Monkey liked putting them on his fingers and wiggling them around,

You can use them to build, as they stick together, though Monkey just wanted to knock said buildings down so I didn’t manage a photo haha.

We spent ages playing with straws with them too, posting them through was great fun!

Just another reminder that you don’t have to spend loads of money on toys to entertain the kiddies and they are great for those fine motor controls!

7 Ways to play with Water – The Theme Game!

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I am joining in with The Theme Game, run by The Reading Residence and Redpeffer. I never got round to entering last week but better late then never I am entering this week.

The theme this week is water and seeing as my life revolves around my little boy these days it has got me thinking about all of the watery fun we have had with monkey so far. So here it is, 7 ways to have a lot of fun with water:

1. – Swimming

Took him a while to enjoy swimming, and he hated it the first time, but he soon loved it, even if not for very long at a time. We have been bad parents since the summer and haven’t taken him swimming in ages, but hopefully he will still very much enjoy it when we get round to going again!

2. – Paddling

Similar to swimming of course but lots of fun be it in a paddling pool or in the sea!

3. Bathy Time

So much you can do in the bath – play with bubbles, stir the water, pour water, and just generally splash about!

4. Washing up

Who cares if things get clean, just have fun with the bubbles and water!

5. General Splashing about

I know there is splashing with all of these watery activities, but splashing for splashing’s sake is just so much fun!

6. Blowing bubbles with a straw

I don’t have any pictures of this one but very fun to do, even if Monkey doesn’t quite get blowing yet and just wants to bite the straw, me blowing the bubbles made him giggle

7. Puddle Splashing

Just because the weather isn’t as warm doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the water, you just need to add some water proof clothing… in case this happens!

This was meant to be a picture of him happily splashing in a puddle, but then he tripped and it turned into a photo of him falling face first into a very muddy puddle! haha, bless him 🙂 It hasn’t put him off splashing in every puddle he sees!

There are many ways to play with water, and I’m sure we will have more fun as monkey gets older, with the hose, water pistols, etc. What fun do you have with water?

Sensory play with spaghetti – 19 months old

Posted by Caroline Elliott

As you may have read, we are having problems at the moment with Monkey’s fussy eating, and one of the things he refuses to even touch, let alone eat, is pasta. He loved it when he was younger but now won’t go near it and I think he doesn’t like the texture. It doesn’t matter if it’s plain or in a sauce, we’ve tried adult pasta, baby pasta, spaghetti, star and moon shaped pasta but nothing tempts him. I’ve seen people using spaghetti as sensory play and it got me thinking. We play with dry spaghetti but have never tried cooked and I wonder if I can get him happy playing with spaghetti, maybe he will be more tempted by it at the dinner table?

After hearing about a Tuff Spot from mumturnedmom, I bought one, as I am hoping it helps me be braver with messy play in the hopes it will contain the mess! Anyway I was eager to try it out so one day when Nanny was here I decided to give it a go. My Mum thought I was bonkers, you could see it on her face from the moment I suggested it! Ha ha she really thought it was a daft idea!

But nonetheless we had a go and I think judging by Monkey’s face here that he thought I was bonkers too at first!! hehe But he soon got into it.

He is such a little scientist and he really studies things, the spaghetti being no different. He had lots of fun with it, moving it around, treading on it, pulling it, all sorts so I am really pleased.

Whether it will help him want to eat it I have no idea but it was a good playtime anyway. He like hiding it in the tuff spot box too!

First attempt at Fancy Dress – 18 months old

Posted by Caroline Elliott

I’ve been thinking for a while that it may be a good idea to start a fancy dress box with Monkey. Another way to have some fun when we are stuck in the house more over the winter, and I hope it will also help with teaching him how to get dressed, maybe! haha But I hadn’t got round to doing anything and I wasn’t 100% sure how keen he would be.

A week or two ago, daddy had a meeting and came home from work a bit early (yay), he kicked his smart shoes off in the lounge and sat on his laptop to do some work (boo). To make Monkey laugh I put Daddy’s shoes on, which are huge. He is a size 12, whereas I am a size 5 1/2. Monkey giggled but then to my surprise he came and tried to put them on him! So we did and he was loving walking around the living room in them, and he really started to get the hang of stepping in and out of them, it was so cute.

Then a couple of days later, round at Uncle Simon’s house with daddy, Monkey was having great fun putting Uncle Simon’s gloves on and off!

So I thought that maybe it was time to start a fancy dress box for him. I had a box of stuff in the loft from the parties I had in my wilder, pre children days so went to have a nosey and see what was in there. I found a couple of wigs, some glasses from a harry potter costume, and then got a random selection of old scarves, gloves and other big t-shirts from the bag destined for the charity shop.

We got the box out one afternoon and had a bit of a giggle with it, but it wasn’t hugely successful. He had the most fun with glasses and wigs, and a scarf stayed on for a few seconds, but I didn’t even attempt Tshirts or bigger items, not on the first try. It was fun but I think it’s something he’ll enjoy more as he gets older.

He still likes shoes though, and tried putting mine on when we went for a walk this afternoon! I’m sure I will get the box out again over the winter months and hopefully he will get more adventurous the more we do it.

Do your little ones like fancy dress?

Gloop – a very messy playtime idea! 18 months old

Posted by Caroline Elliott

With it being so cold and blustery outside at the moment I have been trying very hard to keep Monkey entertained without leaving the house… and without boredom creeping in. We have his trains, duplo, car and garage, crayons, play doh, puzzles, books, stacking rings, shape sorter, kitchen with tea set, honestly the list is endless and yet within about half an hour he seems to be bored of all of these things and driving me round the bend by throwing everything around the room! I have actually decided it is time to put some toys away for a week or two, then we can rotate some in and out, we shall see if that works.

In a bid to occupy him for more than a few minutes I decided to give Gloop a try. I have read about this quite a few times but been a bit wary of giving it a try as I know what Monkey is like and I was concerned about the mess. But this week I decided we should go for it, so set off to the kitchen.

What is Gloop?
If you haven’t heard of it before, basically when you mix Cornflour and Water together, at a certain consistency it becomes a very weird texture, whereby it is solid when you are holding it and squeezing it around, but if you stop moving, it turns back to liquid. You can see in this short video what I mean.

Monkey really enjoyed himself, but oh my goodness the mess! I should have thought about it before, but whenever Monkey has something stuck on his hands, food, stickers, anything, he gets a bit frantic and shakes his hands all over the place in a bid to get it off. Well you can imagine what he was like with the gloop, so it went everywhere!!

He also decided it was really fun to pour it all over his trousers. Then he decided he wanted to grab me so both our clothes were actually covered – thankfully being just cornflour and water it came out easily. I have read before where people use food colouring too to make it the sea or something, but I am very glad that at this age I didn’t go with the food colouring option – I may wait till he is a bit older before I try that!

My big mistake of the day was to have a jug of water with us. The idea was so he could dip his hands in to wash off some gloop (and therefore limit the amount of gloop flying around the kitchen when he shakes his hands about) but in reality all he wanted to do was tip the water all over the floor and then stamp in the puddles left. D’oh! Completely my fault as I should have known but I still got a bit cross.

He very much enjoyed himself though, and it certainly kept him occupied for a while which was the main thing!

Have you ever tried gloop? Was your house as messy afterwards as mine?

Play doh playtime and threading cheerios on spaghetti – 18 months old

Posted by Caroline Elliott

Monkey has been enjoying playing with play-doh for a while now but I realised I hadn’t mentioned it in my blogs for a while. Ages ago I made some home made play doh but then Grandma found some on offer and we have been using the bought stuff ever since. We started off very simple, rolling balls, cubes, just pulling it around, rolling it up, it is a great way of keeping him entertained. It can be messy though so iti si an activity that is very much restricted to the conservatory! He has lots of fun at Grandma and Granddad’s too, as Grandma has found lots of fun stamps and things on ebay which are great.

At home though I have been trying to come up with things that we had around the house already to use to make the play doh playtime a bit more interesting. So this week we used a sieve he had for playing in the sand, some cookie cutters, a rolling pin and a baby comb, which he mainly used like a knife.

But sometimes even the simplest things still work, as I made a bridge and a ball that he was pushing through, then I made a stick man but his head fell off, oops!

Something else that I have wanted to try for ages, is threading cheerios onto spaghetti. I’ve waited mainly because of Monkey’s age, but also just because I haven’t got round to it. I got the idea from this lovely website. As we had the play doh out I thought we should give it a try. I was slightly concerned that Monkey would just want to eat the cheerios (another reason I haven’t tried it with him before) and I was right!! haha straight away he was like ooh yummy yes please, haha! He also very much enjoyed playing with the spaghetti, and to my surprise he can actually thread the cheerios on to the spaghetti! I wasn’t sure if he would be able to as it is quite fiddly, but he did do it a few times… in between eating most of the cheerios! haha

He did seem to enjoy himself though, as well as flexing those fine motor controls, which is always the most important thing.

Becoming a Stay at Home Mum

Can I really do this?

playtime ideas

The Creative Challenge – Join in with me!

Creative Challenge – January – Painting

Creativity is the Key – BASAHM Survival Kit

What’s New this week – The Theme Game

Playing with Velcro Hair Rollers – 19 months old

7 Ways to play with Water – The Theme Game!

Sensory play with spaghetti – 19 months old

First attempt at Fancy Dress – 18 months old

Gloop – a very messy playtime idea! 18 months old

Play doh playtime and threading cheerios on spaghetti – 18 months old