February 2015

Fine Motor Activity

Feb 26, 2015

I like keep busy my toddler, and I like it more when he enjoys the activities that I propose to him. From all of the activities that I have proposed him till now, he enjoyed every activity with filling the bottle and painting with different forms and in different ways. Check more on the posts below.

1. Paint on a sponge

2. Fill the bottle with tisues

3. Fine motor activity

4. Painting

5. Painting II

This activity, is as well, one that suppose filling the bottle, but now with sponge. I had a big sponge that I have cut into little pieces, and a little bottle. Damian enjoyed filling this bottle with sponge, almost for its texture, as well he tried to take out the sponge from the bottle :D:D:D. The idea was that he feels how a sponge changes when it is touched. It is a good experience for him to understand the things around him.

Colours and paintings are always a good choice for an inside activity. Paint on a sponge

Feb 23, 2015

Painting is a lot of fun, everytime, with no exceptions... and a lot of work after having so much fun :D:D:D. This activity develops imagination on kids, grows concentration skills, keeps attention of the kids. I thought that would be great to make this inside activity special. I found a big sponge, watercolor, and water. I choose just 2 colours, red and green, to be easier to color the sponge and easier to explain to my toddler each color. It was important for me that he enjoys plaing with colors and develop his feelings of each object that he used during this inside activity. This montessori activity helped me to maintain him busy for almost 1 HOUR!!! Yes, it is a lot for him, as other activities we play as much as 15 minutes, and he gets bored.

Where to go when weather outside is wonderful and you do not plan any getaway? We go to the park

Feb 19, 2015

I like outside activities with my toddler, as fresh air always is a good choice for any game and any getaway. As well, I think that it is the easiest way to keep your toddler busy and you a little bit relaxed, because our toddler needs a lot of space to run and play. There is no better activity in-house, than any activity that happens outside the flat. Last week we went out to the park as there were wonderful weather outside and we wanted to entertain our little love. We took our lovely ball, but as usually happen he doesn't want to play with the toy that we took, so Damian found other toys more interesting and it is true. Below some pictures of my beloved.

If they are happy, I am happy as well. Wish you a great week my darlings.

Carnival 2015 - Spanish tradition to disguise for a whole week.

Feb 16, 2015

Last week was a great week for all children who like to disguise, as all week long, each day they had to put them something unusual, like big sockets, or big t-shirt, etc. Each school or nursery has its own rules, so there are a lot of difference from nursery to nursery. The only thing all do the same, that there is a day when all the children from the nursery go out, in a special disguise, Damian was octopus, made by the girls in the nursery, sing songs, and all parents come to see their little pumpkins. What we did on Thursday :D.

Here are some pictures from this special day. LOVE BARCELONA & NURSERY!

Cut wrong the nail on foot

Feb 13, 2015

Have it ever happen to you to cut wrong the nail on foot and then it to get red? I do not know you, but it happened three times to us. Now we are more attent when cutting the nails, and we cut them when Damian sleeps, as when he is awake it is mission impossible. On this article I want to share some of the tips that we learnt after these bad experiences.

1. Cut the nails straight and not in form of oval, as their nails are too fine and these are very sensitive.

2. To offer comfortable shoes for your child, and always buy the right size on time. Do not wait.

3. If it happened that you have cut the nail wrong and it is get red, we used this ointment to stop the infection.

I hope this few tips will help you on your next time when you will have to cut nails.

Baby nose cleaner

Feb 11, 2015

In this article I want to share a little story from the first days being a mother, and about an advice that was given to me that till now I am very grateful to that doctor.

In Spain, there is a program that on first 10 days after you gave birth, a doctor form Doctors College is calling you and asks you about your feelings as a mum, new experience, what problems you have found, what questions do you have, and teach you some new util things. I don´t really know if they called me by social security program, or it was any other program that I have asked previously when I was pregnant.

The fact is, that this call changed my perception about the flue on babies. I was lucky as my child was born at the end of may and it was a good weather outside and I didn´t know what is flue till he went to the nursery :D.

It was done a study about baby nose cleaner, and was found that more you use it more snot forms in the nose of your baby. I listened the advice not to use it and evit to use it till once my baby was breathing through the mouth. The result, my baby didn´t breathe better, he was crying as he was afraid of the strange thing that I used for his nose, and it was true that more snot came later.

Dear mums, my advice to you, do not use this baby nose cleaner. The best way from all the times is the onion in the room while baby sleeps.

Cheers, love you!

Playing Dough an interactive activity for toddlers

Feb 9, 2015

This weekend I wanted to prepare to my toddler an interactive activity and specially colored dough. I have plasteline, and very coloured and very beautiful, but once I gave it to him he put all in his mouth to try it. So, I opted for a natural things that wouldn't affect my child if he would like to taste the object while playing. I decided that coloured dough it is the best way he can enjoy to play with and the safest. I took floor and water and prepared the mass, then this mass cut into four little pieces of dough and coloured each one with a new colour. I have just 4 food colours, it is said that I can mix them to obtain other colours, but I didn´t complicate this work too much, you know what I mean. As it was supposed he liked the colours and took all of the balls into his mouth to try them :D. It was fun, but I was happy as I knew that it´s ok for him. We made different shapes and forms, at the end it wasn't just an interactive game, but educational activity too.

Below you can see some images.

Toddler activities - Part III. A lot of fun and learning.

Feb 5, 2015

Always I try to prepare some interesting activities for my toddler, but not always I have too much time to do that. So, I leave Damian to play with his toys or watch videos on youtube, TV is not on our to do list, so he recuperates this time with videos from youtube. As well, it is very interesting that he finds activities from the things that I did´t thought he would like to do. In this article I want to share with you some of unplanned activities.

Insert straws into an egg support:

Filling up the bottle with tissues:

Puzzle:

Playing with oranges as being balls:

Colored beans, one of the inside activities that help develop the feelings and learn colors

Feb 3, 2015

One of montessori activities that I tryed to do after looking for some activities on pinterest, was colouring the beans. On pinteres I found coloured rice, coloured pasta but not beans. I decided to try beans as not to repeat others. As advised on other blogs, I have used special food color, as it is better if your toddler try all the things in his mouth. It is a perfect way to entertain a toddler, but it wasn´t the easiest task to do, as colouring the beans took time, these weren´t coloured as I thought, and it took a lot of time to get dried. Finnaly these were dried, and Damian could enjoy to play with them, and not just to sort them but as well to fulfill the bottle with red beans and yellow beans. Interesting experience for my toddler, but as well too much work and too many time to prepare this activity.

Below some images:

Some tips if you want to enjoy breakfast on the beach

Feb 1, 2015

I love Sundays, and specially when it is a good weather outside, because we can enjoy this time with a great breakfast on the beach. We used to do this in automn and once or twice in december, this year it is our first time as others weeks it was windy and not as sunny as it was today. It is a great time spent in a family, as we stay together, enjoy the waves, the fresh air, and see other people enjoying great time with theirs family as well.

What we take for going to take our breakfast at the beach:

- a mattress or something similar for sitting down

- water, milk, fruit, or croisant for Damian

- our breakfast (thermos with coffee, donuts or something similar that is easy to eat)

- a toy, like a ball or something which Damian enjoys to play with

- great mood

Below see how we enjoyed our breakfast today.