This and that about kids...

Toddler playtime - Ladybug fingerprints

2011-08-04T07:25:00.000+02:00

I know I don't post here lately as much as I should, but I have many things going on right now so you can find me more often at my other kid related blog - Best Toys for Toddlers.

Little one has been enchanted by ladybugs lately so we did a little thumbprint project:

Handmade Gift Exchange - Gift Received! :)

2011-07-29T12:09:00.000+02:00

I'm so overdue with updating this blog and so is this post long due too! :( This last month haven't been easy for me at all - it's been constantly over 35 degrees Celsius and in 6th month of pregnancy my legs retain so much water that I feel tired most of the time. :( Well, finally some rain has come and I breath easier! :) Yay!

So, as I mentioned in my last post, this is the first time that I've been participating in Handmade Gift Exchange organized by Craftaholics Anonymous and it was a pleasure to get to meet someone across the ocean and get a little glimps into their lives. Specially since Amy's kids love the gift they received! (That one I was afraid of - somehow it's always hard to pick a gift for someone you've never met but also very exciting at the same time!)

This time, I would like to share about gifts I've received - Amy from The Butcher, The Baker & The Crafts Maker send me these pretties:

A cloutch with very happy floral pattern that I love! It will fit perfectly into my bag and maybe finally I will be able to actually FIND a pen when I need it! :)

For little one she has sent an ABC and 123 book she compiled herself and she reused little photo album to put it all together! Way to go Amy for reusing stuff! :) This will come very handy this fall as I plan to sign my daughter for English in her kindergarten! :)

Also inside were a little cross necklace craft kit for little one to put together and nice personalized card. Little one added necklace to her "treasure chest" and mom is completely enchanted by the card - love the idea and thinking of making something similar for future uses! :)

All in all, this was really great experience and hopefully I will be able to participate again since new batch is due November and baby should be out by then! :)

Handmade Gift Exchange - Toys in the Mail

2011-07-02T19:13:00.001+02:00

This is the first time that I've been participating in Handmade Gift Exchange organized by Craftaholics Anonymous and have to say, it was fun thinking what to make and than creating those special little gifts! My luck was that my partner is also a mom to not one, but 2 toddlers! :) Amy from The Butcher, The Baker & The Crafts Maker has 2 kids, boy aged 4 and girl 2 years old. Since most of my craft projects are from paper and cardboard (I can't sew!) and I love to make toys from new or repurposed things, this was great match! Thanks Linda! :)

And this is what I've put in the package:

Toys! :)

Inside repurposed candy box is this set of 40 traffic signs (instructions how to make them have been published on my 2nd blog HERE!):

Wipe and write shape monster books (to be used with dry erase markers - free printable HERE!):

Set of Trace & Color Thank You cards (You can win your own set HERE!):

Also, inside is one button snake with heart shapes for learning to button and unbutton (not sure about the boy but little girl could find this interesting!).

Hope kids will love their gifts! :) Sorry Amy! Maybe there will be something for mom next time! ;)

30 DJC - days 12-14

2011-06-19T07:30:00.000+02:00

Journal Prompt 12: Completely fill your page with line design!

Journal Prompt 13: Create a simple family tree.

Journal Prompt 14: What is your favorite quote?

30 DJC - day 8 - 11

2011-06-14T07:00:00.000+02:00

Ah, late again... but at least I've done with getting rid of my pile for ironing! :)

Journal Prompt 8: Time Capsule! If you were to make a time capsule today, that wouldn't be opened for at least another 100 years, what would you put in it?? You can be as outlandish with this as you want because it's pretend. What are some things that make you, you!

Journal Prompt 9: Completely fill your page with something random. Leave your pen in your desk today and find beauty in the every day random things around you.

Journal Prompt 10: Illustrate your all time favorite song :)

Journal Prompt 11: What is your heart full of? What are the things that are consuming your heart these days. This could be things that are hurting your heart, breaking your heart, or making your heart so full of love.

30 DJC - day 6 and 7

2011-06-09T06:15:00.000+02:00

I'm a bit late with posting.... :)

Journal Prompt 6: Write a love letter to YOURSELF! This one is pretty self-explanatory. You are amazing, now tell yourself you are :)

Journal Prompt 7: Write a love letter to someone special! This letter can be to anyone. Share your love with someone today and let them know that you care :) As bonus, share this letter with the person it's directed too.

30 day journaling challenge - day 5

2011-06-05T19:54:00.000+02:00

Journal Prompt 5: What are your summer traditions.

Enjoy:

30 day journaling challenge - day 4

2011-06-04T08:28:00.000+02:00

Journal Prompt 4: What I Wish I Wore... I wish I had the money to be super cute and wear all of the clothes that I see in catalogs and online, but I don't :) Plus, it's summer break so my wardrobe mostly consists of my swimsuit and my cover-up and flip-flops :) So, today's prompt is all about what you wish you would have worn!! This prompt gives you the freedom to describe your perfect outfit for today.

No further explanations needed :)

30 day journaling challenge - day 3

2011-06-03T11:43:00.001+02:00

Journal Prompt 3: What are at least 5 things that you want to do in June? It's the beginning of the month, and of the summer season. This list is for things that you either want to do in June or that you MUST do in June.

While creating this entry, I noticed a problem I've run into.... I wanted to add more of colors... more of details... more of.... anything and everything.... HOW TO KNOW WHEN TO STOP?

30 day journaling challenge - day 2

2011-06-02T09:23:00.000+02:00

Today's prompt was:

Journal Prompt 2: Create 3 to 5 simple, accomplishable goals for your 30 day journal challenge. What are some things that you hope to accomplish through this adventure?

Not so good at making lists so I've done kind of cartoon-ish entry with cheer-leading attitude. :)

Ended up in 2 pages cause I've done a little too large 2DO cartoon characters.... LOL

Both pages:

More detailed left page with running 2:

And right with exhausted D and jumping of joy O. :)

This is really fun :)))

Toddler & Needle

2011-06-01T22:03:00.001+02:00

Sometimes I'm really thrown back by the things I can't find in any store near by. And then it bugs me until I don't think of the way to do it myself... This happened with my search for safe needle even a toddler can use. Well, no luck! So, I've decided to make one myself...

This is what I've used:

Took me few tries to make a hole inside a stick without splitting a wood and making it useless. So, what worked at the end was to make a hole with punch and then gently broaden it using knife. Kind of like carving. And I've cut the needle to approximately 1/3 of the length of the whole stick.

Needle is small enough to go through cardboard and it's still safe for my little girl. And that's what I wanted to accomplish. So, guess I'm done for now. ;)

Linking to:

The 30 day journaling challenge

2011-06-01T09:49:00.003+02:00

I have stumble upon Run with Scissors blog 2 days ago purely by accident. :) Jumping from one blog to another... you know how it sometimes happens... things grabbing your attention. :)

What got me interested is her 30 day journaling challenge and I've decided to join in! :) I simply feel I need something constant in my life. Something that I'll be doing daily. Something that will make my day start in creative and relaxing way. Something to record my thoughts. Something that will force me to take a break from the monitor and write, doodle, what ever... Something.... :)

So, I've signed up for this! ;)

Janel's Journal Prompt 1 was to create an introduction page. This can be an introduction of yourself or of your journal. This is kind of like the title page for your journal.

So, here we go.... my intro page....

Happy Mother's day!

2011-05-08T17:00:00.003+02:00

Here is an oversized card little girl made for a mom all by herself (dad showed her how to write letters for "Mom I love you!":

And a little kiss with lipstick flowing in an air! LOL

Happy Mother's day!

Toddler playtime - Or is it chore? Fun with socks!

2011-05-07T17:29:00.003+02:00

We had some work done today with girl's room. One of the things I decided to turn into playtime (and a chore she's not even aware of working out! ;) is organizing her socks.

First I asked from her to find and match pairs:

Then I've showed her how to make them flat and roll them. I did one, she did the rest:

3rd step was to put rolled pair of socks into an empty toilet paper roll:

And finally, place all the rolls filled with socks to a shoe box:

She did great! And wasn't even bored with it! ;) So, we worked on matching, sorting, rolling (fine motor skills) and patience!

For more ideas how to use toilet paper rolls for home organization, arts and crafts, visit How to Reuse Paper Rolls?

And I'm linking to few of my favorite places for child's play you can find on the sidebar!

Couple Awards to Share - Fabulous & Inspirational Blog

2011-05-06T09:28:00.002+02:00

One of my favorite preschool educators online comes from my homeland, Croatia. I surely wish I could get my child in her kindergarten class! Unfortunately we're like more than 200 km apart in real life! :) Still, online we're much closer! Thanks to Nataša from Leptir Montessori Blog, I've ended up with 2 great blog awards (make sure you follow her if you have tots or preschoolers around, she writes posts in both English and Croatian!):

Your Blog is Fabulous

and

Your Blog Inspires Me

With the fabulous award comes a little rule of sharing about 3 places you would love to visit and explain why. And since I would love to see some of the world's biggest historical sights, I've picked these three:

1. Ancient Greece

2. Ancient Egypt

3. China

For all of these places, reasons why I want to visit are the same: I would love to be able to be there and see with my own eyes these magnificent buildings people created thousands of years ago, and without any modern machines. These places asked for a lot of hard work and are truly architectural works of art.

And now, I would like to forward both of these awards to blogs I find both really inspiring and fabulous:

Pink and Green Mama

Crafts by Amanda

I can teach my child!

Modern Parents Messy Kids

TinkerLab

Mermaids Creations (or Loikan Ja Kleebin)

The Imagination Tree

Creative Jewish Mom

Crafts-N-Things for Children

Happy Home Fairy

Let's Explore

Almost Unschoolers

What Do We Do All Day?

Let the Children Play

Paint Cut Paste

All of these fabulous blogs inspire me daily! :) Make sure to pay them a visit!

Toddler's Picture Diary

2011-04-29T19:47:00.004+02:00

You know how it's really hard to get your kids to share what happened when you were not around? Like, when ever you ask them: "What has happened in kindergarten today?", you get an answer: "Nothing!". Well, after much of tougth how to get some feedback from my little 3,5 year old girl, I've decided to start with her a picture diary.

Idea is really simple and all you need is blank notebook and crayons.

We started with conversation: "This is your new diary. I would like you ti add each day a picture of the event, thing that made you happy and after you draw it, you'll tell me what's on the picture and I'll write it down for you." So, she draw this (I know picture quality is bad... I'll explain bellow):

Left side of the picture presents "Night" and left side presents "Day". Bellow the picture is following description (translation from Croatian): "Today in kindergarten we played day-night. When teacher said night we would crouch, and when she said day we would stand up straight. At day time sun shines, at night is dark."

Not bad for a feedback and a little glimpse of the activities she enjoys in the kindergarten! :)

Mama's making toys - Last minute Easter gift!

2011-04-20T12:30:00.005+02:00

As it happens, everything looks so expensive these days! Specially just before holidays! In future, I'll have to start thinking about buying gifts and candies much earlier! This happens to you too? Probably :)

So, when I saw this post at Almost Unschoolers about Egg Tangram, it gave me an idea what to prepare for my husband's kids in his primary school class as an addition to some candy eggs that we already had bought for them.

I used foam sheets to cut out the egg pieces. Printed out only 3rd page from here, and traced it on foam sheet. It turned out like this:

After that, I printed out 2nd page from here to get the solutions for birds. And, I used toilet paper rolls to create pillow cases. Wrapped them with little wrap I created, printed out and glued to the paper roll. Like this (I know it's in Croatian!):

Stuffed tangram pieces and solutions inside the pillow case. So, the finished gift looked like this:

So, we have a little bit of education sneaking into their Easter presents! Ain't that just cool! ;)

And, I know... :) Most of my readers are from English speaking countries, so I've created those pillow case wraps in English too. You can download them from here:

Egg Tangram Wrap

Dakle, slagalica iz jajeta. :) Ukoliko na određeni način izrežete jaje, možete stvoriti različite oblike ptica slagajući dijelove po predlošku. Prvo isprintate 3.stranicu odavde, a potom izrežete jaje po predlošku na karton, hamer papir ili meku spužvu. Nakon toga, isprintate hrvatsku verziju omota za kutiju koju ćete napraviti od kartonskog umetka od wc papira. Unutra ubacite dijelove slagalice i predložak koji također možete isprintati ovdje:

jaje tanagram

Mama's making toys - DIY Finger Puppet Theater from a Shoe Box!

2011-04-01T09:53:00.006+02:00

Hey there! :) This one has been sitting for some time aside and I have finally found the time to put together a tutorial how to make a finger puppet theater from the simpliest thing ever - shoe box!

Here are the pictures of a finished finger puppet theater:

OUTSIDE

INSIDE

And, you can find step by step tutorial to make your own finger puppet theater from a shoe box HERE! :)

Have fun!

Toddler playtime - Simple stamped flower wrapping paper

2011-03-30T08:03:00.002+02:00

As spring came, we're looking for some spring crafts to do. And while we're having fun, I also considered how to reuse our little works of art for later on. So, we used large printer paper sheet (A3 size), self-inked smile stamp and some markers to create our colorful and funny flowers. And, yes, we'll use them to wrap up some of Easter gifts we'll be giving away to friends and family.

StART - Dandelion fun

2011-03-29T08:28:00.009+02:00

We have been reading a book called Dancing dress of the yellow dandelion by famous Croatian writer Sunčana Škrinjarić.

I know that most of my English readers haven't heard of this book so here is a short storyline: Each year flowers have a grand ball and each year all of the flowers are trying to look their best for this ball. All the flowers are looking forward to this occasion but not a little dandelion. He's sad because his dress is all worn out and downtrodden. So, he asked bugs for help. But bugs couldn't help him. An old spider heard him cry and decided to make this one, final good deed before he dies. He created a beautiful, ethereal dress for little dandelion. Dandelion worn this dress for a ball and was the most beautiful flower there. He was so happy and he laughed and danced with everyone. Next day, a boy passing by blow into his dress and it has fall apart. Soon enough many new, little dandelions appeared in the grass. And each year that followed, little dandelions wore their white ethereal dresses for a ball.

My toddler loves this story and we decided to make flowers, a little dandelions to match our story. So we made yellow, young dandelion from toilet paper roll and straw. We simply cut the roll open and then in half. After we colored it yellow, we have make a cuts to create petals. This is how it turned out:

And for white, ethereal dress for little dandelion, we used straw, cotton swabs cut in half and glue dots for a base in which she stuck cotton swabs. Here is how it turned out:

Little one loves them, she even uses them when she pretends to be a flower fairy as her magic wands ;)

Moji hrvatski čitatelji znaju za Sunčanu Škrinjarić pa ne trebam dodatno pojašnjavati o kome se radi. ;) Kao što možete vidjeti na gornjim slikama, nakon čitanja knjige Plesna haljina žutog maslačka (koju moja trogodišnja kći obožava!), odlučili smo napraviti naše male maslačke. Za mladi, žuti maslačak smo koristili kartonski umetak od wc papira, razrezali smo ga po dužini, potom na pola i obojali u žuto. Potom smo ga jednostavno zalijepili za zelenu slamčicu. Za bijeli maslačak smo koristili štapiće za uši prepolovljene na pola i zabodene u patafix ljepilo koje smo prije toga također naboli na zelenu slamčicu.

This is our first participation in StART and hopefully many will follow because little one really enjoys reading and crafting.

101 Dalmatians Preschool Pack / 101 Dalmatinac vježbe za predškolce

2011-02-28T18:28:00.005+01:00

We have received 101 Dalmatians book from a dear friend as a present. My girl loves listening this story. We also have movie on DVD and she asks to watch puppies very often lately. I have decided to use this obsession (you know how it goes at that age!) and to turn it into learning experience. This is how I started creating 101 Dalmatians Preschool Pack.

We have inside 101 Dalmatians Preschool Pack:

- Count the puppies clipping cards 1-10

- Count the spots worksheet (1-10)

- Uppercase and lowercase letter matching cards

- Tracing strips

- Letter D and d sorting mat

- Color the ball worksheet

- Roll the puzzle game

- Catch the ball board game

- 101 Dalmatians bottle cap matching game

- Match the shadow worksheet

You know that I usually upload all the printables at Scribd. This time I decided against it since all the images I've used are owned by Disney and I don't want to have any problems for using their images (although they allow using it for personal and non-profit purposes). Still, to be safe, I've decided against it. There is a way to get it if you want to use 101 Dalmatians Pack for your homeschool or preschool or kindergarten (personal or non profit), send me a mail at besttoddlertoys(at)yahoo(dot)com and I'll be happy to mail pdf file to you. Please be patient as it may take me day or two to respond. :)

PS. Napravila sam i set na hrvatskom jeziku pa ukoliko želite da vam ga pošaljem, javite se putem mail-a. Mail je besttoddlertoys(at)yahoo(dot)com

Letter I bottle cap game - Slovo I slagalica sa čepovima

2011-02-21T17:46:00.002+01:00

I've just uploaded on Scribd new bottle cap strips, this time for words staring with letter I. It includes couple words with 3 and 4 letters. You can download them here:

Letter i Bottle Cap

Upravo sam napravila i postavila na Scribd nove kartice za slovo I - slagalicu sa čepovima koja sadržava riječi na 3 i 4 slova. Možete ih downloadirati ovdje:

SLOVO I SLAGALICA

Letter I 3 part cards - slovo I 3-djelne kartice

2011-02-20T17:28:00.002+01:00

I've just upladed on Scribd 3 part cards for letter I on English. You can download them here.

Letter i 3 Part Cards

Upravo sam objavila na Scribd-u i 3-djelne kartice za slovo I na hrvatskom jeziku. Možete ih downloadirati ovdje.

Slovo i 3dj Kartice

If you have an idea what other words might be added, please leave it in comment! :)

Ukoliko imate ideju koju još riječ bih mogla uključiti, ostavite komentar! :)

Letter I printables - Slovo I vježbe za ispis

2011-02-17T23:02:00.003+01:00

Although there has been so many available letter I printables online, I'll have to make complete set by myself. Reason is simple: when we write letter I in Croatia, we don't have those dashes on the top and the bottom. Only straight line. So, if you're English speaker, you can find complete set over at Confessions of Homeschooler. For Croatian and possible other languages, you can find here links to download tracing page, poking page, dot-to-dot (or magnet) page and collage page (you can use it as coloring page or for creating mosaics with colored paper) for letter I.

Iako postoji veliki broj dostupnih stranica za ispis za slovo I, morat ću napraviti sve vježbe sama. Razlog je vrlo jednostavan: kod pisanja slova I u hrvatskom jeziku, mi ne pišemo crtice na vrhu i dnu slova I nego samo jednu okomitu crtu. Za one koji su s engleskog govornog područja, sve stranice za ispis možete naći kod Confessions of Homeschooler. Za hrvatski i možda neke druge jezike, dolje možete naći linkove za download stranice za pisanje po linijama, stranicu za bockanje (fina motorika), stranicu za žiganje ;) i mozaik stranicu sa slovom I koju možete koristiti za bojanje ili slaganje mozaika od kolaž papira ili sl.

Slovo Letter i Tracing Page

Slovo Letter i Poking Page

Slovo Letter i Dot a Dot Page

Slovo Letter i Collage Page

Some of fun activities this week

2011-02-16T20:04:00.004+01:00

In this post I've collected mostly art and craft things we have done over last couple days, before, on and after Valentine's day.

I made some potato heart shaped stamps using cookie cutter and knife. We used our Melissa & Doug rainbow stamp pad and those stamps to create heart patters. After that, I have shown her where the letter V inside heart hides and tried to encourage her to trace all the hearts. As you can see on the picture bellow, she followed instructions for only couple hearts:

... she continued by tracing all hearts :) At the end, it turned out like on the picture bellow, and we used it as a wrapping paper for little gifts for Valentine's day.

She had some sorting fun with fake gems. Sorting them by color and she decided to sort 2 by 2. So we had yellow and green together, blue and violet, and in one place red and pink.

She asked for something more to be done with those gems so I've cut her piece of thick cardboard into heart shape and she glued gems on it. After she was done, she filled the holes between gems with glitter glue.

And, when glitter glue was dry, we turned it into little Valentine's day crown using strip of paper and glued gem heart.

She made some necklaces using homemade pasta beads. We have them some time now. They are quite pale.... maybe because I used rainbow color for eggs. ;)

We also made some marble art with green and red color and heart shapes cut out of cardboard. This time I decided to use transparent box (type of those cheap packing boxes for cookies). It was really fun for her because she could see where marbles were going but also because it was really loud. ;)
We haven't decided yet what to do with those hearts... but they surely will not end in trash before used at least once more! :)