House of Baby Piranha

Christmas Fun: What is in the stocking?

2011-12-10T17:10:00.005+10:30

This was a little game I threw together for Neevah when she was desperate to play a 'Christmas Game'. It was semi successful but I think I needed to find some more unusual items as some of them she guessed very quickly

You will need
Christmas Stockings
Fun or Unusual objects that fit in the stocking

To Play:
1. Put 1 item in each stocking
2. Invite your child to play
3. Get them to put one hand into the stocking and feel what is inside - you may need to remind them not to look
4. Describe what you can feel
5. Guess what it might be
6. Pull the item out of the stocking and see if the guess was right

I filled 6 Christmas Stockings - I included a book, a soft toy, a toy car, a headband, a small handbag and a toy Dinosaur
After you have played once send your child off to refill the stockings with different objects and have a turn yourself :)

Christmas Crafts: Christmas Tree Playdough

2011-12-09T12:52:00.005+10:30

I have missed blogging! While we have still been creating (not nearly as often as before) I really haven't had a chance to blog any of our creations. But it is Christmas time and one of my favourite times of year so fingers crossed I will have a few feastive ideas to share with you all between now and Christmas Day. Here we go ......

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!
In beauty green will always grow
Through summer sun and winter snow.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!

What you will need:
Green Playdough
Beads, Sequins anything small and a bit festive
A Small Plate

Playdough Recipe
2 cups of plain flour
2 tbs Cream of Tartar
2 tbs Cooking Oil
1 cup Salt
2 cups of Water
Food Colouring

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan (except food colouring) stir over medium heat for 3 - 5 mins or until the mixture congeals. Once cool add food colouring.

To Make:
1. Place playdough onto a plate and fashion it into a cone shaped Christmas tree
3. Decorate your tree
4. You could put a star on the top and presents around the bottom

Neevah's creation is on the left and Liam's on the right

Looking for something a little more permanent you could try Salt Ceramic Dough and make a snow white tree. We tried this recipe in August last year to make Handprint Keepsakes

To Make Salt Ceramic Dough
Mix 1 cup of salt, 1/2 cup of cornstarch (I used white wings cornflour), 2/3 cup of water in a pot and cook/stir over a medium heat until all the liquid has been adsorbed (will look a bit like cooked playdough).
Once cooked place it onto some foil to cool as it is quite hot. Once cool kneed the dough until it is soft and pliable. It will be a little bit sticky so put some wax paper or something similar down before letting the kids loose.

This may take a while to fully harden depending on your climate - our handprint took roughly 5 days and I would think a Christmas Tree would take a week if not a little more

Magic Potions - Colour Review

2011-09-08T16:11:00.004+09:30

This is lots of fun, a wee bit messy and kept the kids playing for ages. I setup this activity as basic colour identification for Liam but added some colour labels for Neevah to match to the potion colour.

You will need
Glasses or Jars
White Vinegar
Baking Soda
Food Colouring
Syringe or Baster
Baking Tray

Optional
Paper
Coloured Pens to match potion colours

To Make
1. Prepare the potions by adding 2 - 3 drops of food colouring to the bottom of the glasses and then covering it with approx 2 teaspoons of baking soda so you can't see any of the colour underneath
2. In another container put the white vinegar
3. Put the glasses and white vinegar on a baking tray this will help contain the mess
4. Suck up the vinegar with the syringe
5. Squirt it into the potion glass
6. Name the colour
7. Do it all over again until all the colours are revealed

Optional
Make up some small cards with the names of each colour on them and ask your child to match them to the potions

Neevah and Liam then continued to add more and more vinegar to each potion jar. Neevah loved watching the reaction of the vinegar and baking soda and kept adding more and more vinegar until the glasses where full and then asked if she could start all over again. Liam loved pouring the potions and mixing the colours up. Altogether Liam stayed at this activity for roughly 20 mins and Neevah was enthralled for almost an hour!

Magic Tape Painting

2011-09-07T22:13:00.004+09:30

It is fun to add a little bit of magic into our daily lives for ourselves and for our children. We tried this technique in July last year when we made Z is for Zebra but Neevah didn't seem to remember the process and was truly excited when it came time to remove the tape. We choose to do this activity as free art time but you could easily use it with shapes, letters or numbers

You will need
Paper
Paint
Painters or Electrical Tape

To Make
1. Cut off lengths of tape and let your child stick them wherever they like on the paper. I took this opportunity to reinforce the words long and short by asking would you like a long or short piece of tape? and Did Mum cut you a long or short piece of tape?
Of course you can let your child cut their own tape to stick on the picture
2. Time to paint .... encourage your child to cover as much of the white paper as possible
3. Let Dry
4. Carefully remove the tape to reveal the white stripes underneath. Neevah removed some of the tape pieces a little bit fast and the paper came away with the tape a little but this didn't dampen her enthusiasm for the activity.

Little Ghost Puppets

2011-09-01T17:26:00.005+09:30

My kids have well an truly out grown their plastic baby spoons and forks but we still seem to have a few hanging around. We have used the little spoons for scooping glitter and beads in the past but Neevahs new found love of puppets inspired me to turn the last of the baby spoons and forks into little ghost puppets for her.

You will need
Plastic Baby Spoons/Forks
White Tissue Paper
Ribbon/String
Black Marker Pen
Scissors

To Make
1. Cut the white tissue paper into squares
2. Place the spoon/fork in the center of 2 tissue paper squares. A double layer of tissue paper just helps hide the colour of the spoon underneath. If you are using forks make sure they have rounded ends or they will tear the tissue paper
3. Pull the tissue paper around the spoon
4. Tie ribbon at the top of the handle - this was a little bit fiddly but you don't have to make little bows if you don't want to
5. Draw a face on the ghost using a black marker. I found the back of the spoon was better for the face.
6. Time to play

If you are a Ghost and you know it just say Boo .... Boo!
If you are a Ghost and you know it just say Boo .... Boo!
If you are a Ghost and you know it and you really want it show it. If you are a Ghost and you know it just say Boo .... Boo!
(sung to the tune of If you are happy and you know it)

Neevah thought this song was very funny

She made her ghost puppets do something funny everytime the song says Boo

Ten Thumbprint Apples

2011-08-27T16:43:00.004+09:30

This idea has been floating around in my head since my last blog post in June and I am so pleased we got a chance to give it a go today. Neevah still loves the book Ten Apples Up on Top (thankfully she has moved on to a different book for her bedtime story) and she thought this quick Art and Counting activity was a lot of fun.

You will need
Paper
Crayons
Red Paint
Shallow Dish
Baby Wipes (great for cleaning up paint covered fingers)

To Make
1. Ask your child to draw a picture of themselves at the bottom of the paper
2. Put the red paint into a shallow dish
3. Let you child dip their thumb into the red paint and then place a thumbprint apple on top of their head
4. Count out loud as you add more and more apples up on top

How many apples can you get up on top?

Neevah counting her apples

She was very happy to have ten apples up on top just like the story

Apples Up On Top

2011-06-15T13:37:00.006+09:30

Bedtime Story ~ Ten Apples Up On Top + Shopping Day ~ one big bag of apples + Neevah = A Lot of Fun! Today was food shopping day or should I say food delivery day since we now shop online (so much easier for us) in the shopping was a large bag of green apples .... sometime after all the food was put away Neevah comes running up the hallway .....
'Mummy how many apples can I put on my head?'
Me with a somewhat puzzled look 'Why do you want to put apples on your head?'
Neevah sighs 'like the book Mum like the book!'
Click we are now on the same page
'Well lets try it and see'

One apple up on top!

Can you do two?

They balanced for a second and then

they fell
but don't stop after one go
try again and again and again

and after all the apple balancing of course we had to eat the apples

I am so pleased Neevah thought of Apples Up On Top as it was a lot of fun trying to balance the apples and just as much fun for me trying to take photos of the action

The Winners are ...... (1000 facebook fan giveaway)

2011-06-04T14:10:00.003+09:30

A huge thank you to all our facebook fans for helping spread the word about our crayon creations and everyone who entered our giveaway

The Winners are ....

#4 Nyda
#35 Emma PooleCongratulations

To claim your prize please email me at babypiranha at gmail dot com or via facebook by leaving a message on House of Baby Piranhas wall

Hugs and Kisses in a Box

2011-06-01T17:25:00.004+09:30

This super cute idea is perfect for Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Get Well Soon, Birthdays or a loved one who doesn't live close. I received a box of hugs and kisses from Neevah for Mothers Day her Kindy teachers had helped all the kids make them for their mums. Neevah was so proud of her creation and I loved it so much so I just had to share it with all our readers

You will need
A small box
Paint / Stickers / Glitter etc
Coloured Paper
Scissors
Black Marker Pen

To Make
1. Decorate a small box or use a small gift box to save time (Kindy used pretty pillow boxes the type that are often used to hand out wedding favours)
2. Fold a piece of coloured paper until it is small enough to fit inside the box
3. Unfold paper and ask you child to cut along the folds - of course you could have the paper pieces precut
4. Ask you child to write X and O (Hugs and Kisses) on the small pieces of paper
5. Place all the hugs and kisses inside the box
6. Give to someone special

1000 Facebook Fans Giveaway

2011-05-28T15:45:00.010+09:30

Look how far we have come! It was only a few months ago I was typing up our 350 facebook fan giveaway and today I am immensely proud to say we have reached a huge 1000 House of Baby Piranha facebook fans!

So lets Celebrate! so far we have had a spot sale via our facebook page but because you have all done such a fantastic job of spreading the word about my crayon creations we are also going to have a Giveaway ......

Giveaway Now Closed

Two Lucky Fans
will receive Their Childs Name in Crayon
maximum of 8 letters per prize

Name Crayons are a great gift for any little artist

They are made in a range of colours to make Art and Drawing fun

Best of all I can make any Name with any Spelling
(maximum of 8 letters for this giveaway)

To Enter
Simply leave us comment on this post.
Only 1 Entry per person. Open to Australian Residents only.
If you don't have a blog but would like to enter please use the Name/Url option just leave the Url section blank.

Entries must be in before Midnight on Friday 3rd of June 2011
Winners will be chosen at random (random.org) and will be announced on our blog on Saturday 4th of June 2011

Giveaway Now Closed

I Can Grow like a Tree

2011-05-26T15:22:00.005+09:30

A little seed deep in the dirt

a small shoot breaks through the dirt

then the trees grows

and grows

and grows

the trees branches wave around on a windy day

This would be a fun movement to music activity or take photos of your child growing like a tree and make it into their very own book!

Hard vs Soft Mystery Box

2011-05-24T16:58:00.004+09:30

This little game is a great way to introduce your child to the words hard and soft or a fun way to revise the concepts. It is so simple to set up (took me 5 mins maximum) and you can use whatever you have around the house

You will need
A box with a opening in the top - A tissue box or Nappy Wipe container would be perfect
Toys / Objects that are hard
Toys / Objects that are soft

Place all the objects into the box and then invite your child to pull them out one by one and tell you if they are hard or soft ....

What is in the box?

Oo the elephant is Soft!

Mr Potato Heads nose is hard!

A soft feather that is good for tickling

Neevah then sorted the objects one pile for soft items and one pile for hard items

In our mystery box was a wooden peg, feather, knitted baby bootie, toy car, button, pom pom, soft toy elephant, wooden teddy bear, rock and Mr Potato Heads nose

Crunchy Leaf Pictures

2011-05-07T15:14:00.006+09:30

Do you like the crunchy sound dry leaves make under foot? The footpaths on the way to kindy are littered with dry leaves and the kids love walking on them to make that crunching sound.

You will need
Dry Leaves
Bowl
Paper
Glue

To Make
1. Place all the dry leaves in a bowl and crunch them up with your hands into little pieces
2. Squeeze glue onto the paper - Older children might like to draw or write something with the glue. Neevah made a spiral
3. Sprinkle the glue with lots of crunchy leaves
4. Carefully shake off the excess leaves
5. Leave flat to dry

Make sure you have a few spare pieces of paper on hand incase they want to make more than picture :)

Photo Scavenger Hunt

2011-05-06T14:58:00.007+09:30

Letting kids take photos is a great way to glimpse the world from their point of view. On Neevahs 4th Birthday she took 20+ self portrait photos and I must say finding them on my camera made me smile .... there were photos of toes, fingers, lots of pulling faces and one charming shot up her nose but today my plan was to incorporate some sneaky learning into the fun of taking photos in the form of following 2 & 3 Key - word Instructions.

So with strict instructions to use the camera very carefully Neevah was ready for her Scavenger Hunt

Take a photo of something on the floor in your bedroom
Take a photo of something in Liam's bedroom that has wheels
Take a photo of something outside that is green

Take a photo of a toy with hair
Take a photo of a toy that is sitting on the floor
Take a photo of a horse, cat & crocodile

Take a photo of something orange & cuddly
Take a photo of a Blue Dress with flowers on it

Our photo scavenger hunt was inspired by Peak Over The Fence I need to get lanyard for our camera just like Becky has for her kids.

Practising Knife Skills with Playdough

2011-05-04T14:47:00.004+09:30

While watching Neevah struggle with her knife at dinner (which she insists on using because Mummy and Daddy do) it was pretty obvious we need to practice using a knife! Playdough is always fun so it was the prefect way to practice cutting with a knife.

Playdough Recipe
2 cups of plain flour
2 tbs Cream of Tartar
2 tbs Cooking Oil
1 cup Salt
2 cups of Water
Food Colouring

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan (except food colouring) stir over medium heat for 3 - 5 mins or until the mixture congeals. Once cool add food colouring.

We used knifes from our cutlery draw but I am sure plastic knifes would work just as well.

This is Fun!
Cutting up playdough sausages

Be Careful of your fingers!

Neevah then made lots of playdough fruit
and cut them up for her 'Masterchef Fruit Salad'

Liam also loved cutting up the playdough with a knife such simple fun for little kids they wont even know they are learning or perfecting a new skill.

No More Lost Puzzle Pieces

2011-04-29T16:37:00.004+09:30

Neevah loves puzzles but Neevah does not like putting them away! We have a puzzle draw which was always a big jumbled mess of childrens board puzzles and 'Mum find my puzzle piece please' 'Mum I can't do this puzzle the piece is missing' etc were commonly heard when Neevah pulled out a puzzle to do.
In a bid to end this puzzle madness we have introduced a new system .... each puzzle has its own mesh laundry bag not only does this keep all the puzzle pieces together you can also easily see which puzzle is stored inside

So now after the puzzle is done

she slides it back into the mesh bag

zips up the bag

and the puzzle is all safely kept together for next time

No More Lost Puzzle Pieces!
(fingers and toes crossed)

Again I can't take credit for this idea I saw it on a blog possibly a year ago now but can not find the post again to link it up! So if you know where this idea came from please let me know :)

Sack Races

2011-04-28T18:42:00.004+09:30

Sack racing is such a blast from the past I remember it from primary school along with the ever popular egg and spoon race. With two young kids ours was less of a race but still a whole lot of jumping fun. So gather up the kids and a few reusable shopping bags and head out side to use up all the excess energy ....

Ready Set Go!

Liam (just turned 3) had a bit of trouble getting the hang of it

but Neevah loved it!
she jumped and jumped and jumped
until 'I need a rest Mum'

I would recommend jumping and racing on the grass if possible as in all the excitement and giggles it is easy to fall over. I must admit I did not come up with this idea myself I 'stole' it from some photos All That Craft on facebook shared early today ...... Genius Idea! my kids had so much fun and it was so simple to organise.

Bakers Delight Voucher Winners

2011-04-17T08:21:00.003+09:30

Once again a huge Thank You to Bakers Delight for supplying us with Hot cross buns for our fun Easter Snack and Vouchers to giveaway to our readers

The Winners Are....

#3 Becky
#15 Jodie
#4 Erin Posik
#9 Amanda Elmer
#6 Chrissy

Congratulations Everyone

To claim your voucher please send an email to babypiranha at gmail dot com or via Facebook by leaving a message on House of Baby Piranhas Wall.

Hot Cross Bun Nests + Giveaway!

2011-04-10T13:16:00.010+09:30

Hot Cross Buns, Chocolate and Chickens are just some of the fun aspects of Easter so why not combine them together and make this fun Easter snack

You will need
Hot Cross Buns
Flake Chocolate Bar
Small Chocolate Eggs
Fluffy Chicken
Knife
Butter/Margarine

To Make
1. Break up the flake chocolate into chunky pieces
2. Cut the hot cross bun in half - we used the top half to make our nests but I am sure the bottom half will work just as well
3. Hollow out a small part in the center of the hot cross bun
4. Butter around the edge (this will help the flake 'stick' to the bun)
5. Place the pieces of flake onto the hot cross bun to form a nest
6. Place the eggs into the nest
7. Place the chicken into the nest
8. Time to eat!

A huge thank you to Bakers Delight for supplying the hot cross buns for this fun snack. We used their Choc Chip Hot Cross Buns but their Traditional ones are just as yummy and would be great for these nests.

Giveaway Now Closed

Bakers Delight has also given me 5 x $5 vouchers to giveaway to some very Lucky Australian Readers! (only 1 voucher per reader)

To Enter
Leave us comment on this post telling us How you like to eat your Hot Cross Buns! I like mine warm with lots of butter yum yum

Entries must be in before Midnight on Saturday 16th of April 2011
Winners will chosen at random (random.org) and will be announced on Sunday 17th of April 2011.

If you are new to our blog please take the time to 'like' us on facebook House of Baby Piranha

Pipe Cleaner Sculpture

2011-04-06T13:48:00.005+09:30

Liam doesn't like to sit and do for very long (unless it is super messy or involves water) so activities he can complete quickly but have the option of repetition seem to be a winner for him. This pipe cleaner sculpture can be completed 5 mins or you can make a sculpture pull it apart and start all over again or you could spend a little longer twisting and curling the pipe cleaners .

You will need
Pipe Cleaners
Meat Tray
Scissors or Skewer

To Make
1. Turn a meat tray upside down
2. Make small holes randomly in the meat tray - If Neevah was making this I would let her make her own holes using a bamboo skewer (with supervision of course)
3 .Push the pipe cleaners into the holes anyway you like

Pushing the pipe cleaners into the tray

Bending the pipe cleaner over so both ends are in a hole

Look Mum! I am getting good at this
pushing the pipe cleaner in using just one hand

We Play - Large Drawings

2011-04-05T09:27:00.004+09:30

It is great to do things a little bit different from time to time. Normally we draw on A4 sheets of paper and normally the drawings are done inside but yesterday we went outside to draw and since there is a lot more room outside we took a large roll of card to draw on.

Crawling to draw a long line
What will it be?

A very tall person with black curly hair

A large piece of paper means there is lots of room to draw a huge daddy snail

Do you what Neevah liked best about drawing outside? wearing sunglasses while drawing! apparently drawing while wearing sunglasses is super fun :)

Don't forget to stop by Childhood 101 We Play where you can find lots of other great play ideas....

Ribbon Painting - Easter Eggs

2011-03-25T17:02:00.004+10:30

Warning ribbon painting is messy but so much fun I would recommend using washable paint for this activity. These Easter eggs turn out so cute and each one is unique! I think they would make great little note cards to send out to friends and family.

You will need
White card
Paint
Ribbon or String
Pen
Scissors
Hole Punch
Ribbon (for decoration)

To Make
1 .Cut ribbon or string into lengths suitable for painting with
2 .Dip the ribbon into the paint
3 .Drag, jiggle, dab and twirl the ribbon across the card
4 .Let Dry
5 .Cut the artwork into egg shapes
6 .Punch a hole in the top of the egg - Neevah loved this step
7 .Thread a ribbon through the hole and tie a little bow - I did this step as it was a bit fiddly for Neevah
8 .Write a cute little message on the back or maybe use them to decorate your childs bedroom door

Neevah has decided to give one to Grandma, one to Nanna and one to Ali her favourite Kindy Teacher.

Playdough Echidna

2011-03-12T15:46:00.005+10:30

A huge thank you to Squiggle Mum for inspiring this fun idea .....

Playdough Recipe
2 cups of plain flour
2 tbs Cream of Tartar
2 tbs Cooking Oil
1 cup Salt
2 cups of Water
Food Colouring

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan (except food colouring) stir over medium heat for 3 - 5 mins or until the mixture congeals. Once cool add food colouring.

You will need
Playdough
Dried Spaghetti
Wiggly Eyes or Buttons

To Make
1. Break the spaghetti into halves or thirds
2. Fashion the playdough into an Echnida shape
3. Add spikes
4. Add eyes
5. Time to play or Pull it apart and start all over again

This Echidna is swimming (the bubble wrap is a river)

If you don't like the idea of using spaghetti you could try sticks or toothpicks. This would also be a fun idea for making hedgehogs.

Ten Little Fingers

2011-03-10T15:02:00.004+10:30

Originally this activity was going to be 10 little fingers and 10 little toes but Neevah is not feeling the best today so we kept it simple and concentrated on the fingers.

You will need
Paper White & Coloured
Pen
Scissors
Glue
Marker Pen

To Make
1. Cut the coloured paper into small squares and then number them 1 - 10
2. Trace around both of your childs hands - I always let Neevah trace around her own hands first and then I have a turn
3. Line up the coloured squares from 1 - 10 and count them
4. Glue the coloured squares above each finger in order
5. Count the fingers
In all honesty I am pleased we stuck to just the fingers as by the end she was starting to lose interest in counting

We're Going on a Bear Hunt - A Big Dark Forest

2011-03-06T18:15:00.007+10:30

Neevah has rediscovered her love for the book We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and retells the story almost daily. Last year we brought the story to life with Neevah acting it out she enjoyed this so much she included it in her Top Ten Activities for 2010 ..... this time we picked her favourite part of the story A Big Dark Forest!

You Will Need
Light Card (we used green)
Craft Sticks
Paint / Crayons / Markers
Sticky Tape
A Box
Scissors
Small Toys

To Make
1. From the light card cut lots of different tree shapes

2. Decorate the trees

Neevah painted some of the trees

on others she drew fruit and flowers

3. Tape craft sticks to the back of the tree shapes
4. Make small slits in the top of the box just big enough for the craft stick
5. Push the trees into the slits in the box

6. Time to play

Uh-uh! A forest! A big dark forest.

We can't go over it. We can't go under it.
Oh no!
We've got to go through it!

Stumble trip! Stumble trip! Stumble trip!