The Olympic Boat Race

Olympic 2012 is at its peak. We loved the spectacular opening ceremony last week ( on TV).  Here is a little activity to introduce kids to competition, thrill and joy of sporting. As kids we use to wait for monsoons and make paper boats to win over each other. This was an yearly affair and I have several fond memories of the same.

So we hunted out a small puddle at the park and made beautiful paper boats by recycling some drawings. I added a literacy lesson by asking M to write the name of the boat on the boat.

The challenge was to cross the puddle in time. 

The Winning Boat.

Kids Get Arty: Rainforest Artwork like Rousseau

This week we are participating at Kids Get Arty over at Red Ted Art. We are inspired by the great artist Henri Rousseau. Henri Rousseau was a french artist who painted Vivid scenery of the Rainforests. He never visited Rainforest in real life. He took inspiration from illustrated books and botanical gardens at Paris to draw beautiful scenes about tropical rainforest.

One of Rousseau's famous painting

Like Rousseau, We too have never visited Rainforests and our inspiration came from the children encyclopedia featuring animals and fauna of Rainforest.

Our Inspiration

M started out by drawing the leafs, flowers, animals from the inspiration source. We colored them using bright oil pastels.

The Rainforest leaves 

M had already moved to the watercolor paints while I color the remaining leaves and flowers. She took a palette of greens, yellow and red. So tropical!

I love this painting and is my absolute favorite! It feels as if we are in the rainforest painting the spider monkeys, harpy eagles and golden tamarinds. 

Detailing of the painting

This is certainly going up at the wall.

Explore the Bugs Box

Making a little bugs box was so much fun. We are exploring discovery boxes and we recently made the butterfly sensory box. This is the second box in the series. The objective of this series is to learn, play, explore through sensory and pretend play activity. 


Have you read the "The Bad tempered Ladybug" by Eric Carle to your kids yet! This box gives you perfect opportunity to enjoy and enact the book through props and characterization.

Here are the contents of the box-
A Recycled box  ( any cardboard box or a basket will work)                                                                                                                                             Pebbles
Stones/rocks
Natural wood pieces
The Ladybug miniatures (we have the magnetic ladybugs)
Spiders or other bugs 
Lemon Grass (adds green and a lovely fragrance)
A pretend camera ( or a real one if you allow your kids one) 
A magnifying glass ( for observing the details)
A journal/ diary ( for drawing or noting down stuff)
Few Pens/markers ( good to keep them handy) 
A Toad which croaks ( From The Rainforest Cafe)


There is an opportunity for open ended play with science, book reading, art, exploring nature, writing etc. 

Have a Happy time exploring the bugs!

Butterfly Multi Sensory Play ( all in a tiny box)

Can a sensory play be setup in a small space? Can I create a little box we could indulge my child? This is a post about discovery of simple and more indulging play ideas in a small spaces. I live in a apartment in one of the most expensive cities in the world and naturally my home is comfortable but certainly not luxurious. In past few months, I have shared some ideas to create Children play spaces in little corners of our home. As I learn more, I try more to maximize the use of space. Offer variety of spaces and play ideas to M. 

Pounding over my questions. I found that small boxes, baskets can be converted into a Multi-sensory experience for children with tit-bits laying in our own houses. As a start I gathered a cardboard packaging which came with our new printer. Here is the contents of Butterfly theme sensory play-

Potpourri, plastic butterflies and caterpillars , silk threads, flower wax candles, magnifying glass, a small see-through containers, color pencils and spiral bind notebook. I have also suggested some  butterfly lifecycle printable at the end of the post. 

Exploration and Discovery: 

We did a imaginary exploration and caught the butterflies in the plastic container and observed the butterfly with the magnifying glass. Older kids can illustrate the parts of butterfly and color there butterflies.

 Enacting a story:

We enacted the ERIC CARLE'S A VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR". The caterpillar eats all days during the week. Finally it eaves a cocoon and then emerge as a beautiful butterfly. 

 Sensory Experience:

A faint fragrance from the Potpourri added to the sensory experience and was a treat for the sense of smell. The Silk yarn added a softness and tickled the sense of touch.

Here is a link to printable book we use to learn about the life cycle of the butterfly.

The Sunday Funday: A long drive in the rain

This Sunday was a super Sunday. I had to make a very important presentation and send by Monday. As the alarm bell rang,  I woke up at 6 am. M and Dad were still asleep. I used this free quite time to finish my work. Its amazing how the morning hours increases your productivity. I was dreading this PPT but could easily manage to finish it in 2 and half hours. phew...
By the time the two were up, I had already planned the day. A day picnic, 2 and half hour drive and packed lunch. And off we were to Lonavala which is around 150 Km from Mumbai. As the Monsoons have reached this part of the country. The mountains and the valley are all drenched in rains. 
This short adventure was truly worth it. Although M didn't get any chance of opening her camping tent. ( all was wet!) but she was able to manage to open it in the car itself.

Who wants a banana?

We were back by 6pm and ready to start the next week with new zeal and refreshed minds. This Post is part of the series "The Sunday Funday"

Little Joys of Parenting #8 Gift everyday

I am a lucky mother to get a gift from my little one everyday. Everyday, M gathers flowers or twig or a bright colored leaf and bring it to gift me. She would excited come in and say " Mom, I got this for you." . It fills my heart with joy to get these inexpensive gifts from her everyday. It feels better than owning the most precious of jewels and clothes.

Rainy Day Rainbows

This is a quick rainy day activity to do with kids. We just painted some rainbows, Folded the sheet in half and then opened them. 

Rainy Season is one of the most awaited season of all. The Monsoons have come here and we are expecting several rainy days in coming weeks!