My Life in Mono...

The Driveway Series...

The past Winter season has been really dreary.  And the beginning of Spring was no better either.  It was raining almost everyday for the month of September and part of October that the Lil’ Tiger and I felt “cabin fever-ish”.  We relish the days when it was nice and sunny outside.  

This Spring/Summer season, I am embracing the warmth and heat. We will be spending much of ur days outside in the sun. Running up and down our driveway and at the local park. Speaking of  driveway,  last weekend, we spent most of our weekend outside. We had friends come over for a play date and we just played on our driveway.  It’s amazing what these children can do with a little sunshine and imagination.

I am thinking of doing a little series on what activities we do on our driveway.  It would be a fun project for the summer I think. 

Our little driveway gets the morning and afternoon sun.  It has shady parts from the overhang of my neighbours tree.  I am already thinking of ways on how to utilise this little space of ours.  

Our little driveway is a little secluded from the main road so it’s safe for the children to play and romp around without worrying about other cars.  The only cars that would come in and out of this little driveway of ours is our family car and my neighbour’s car.  They have a son around the Lil’ Tiger’s age as well and he is always invited to play with us.  

Already, we have painted it, did a little spot of gardening on it, go “Camping” on it, ate breakfast whilst enjoying the morning sun and I even had a little picnic on it.  Its amazing what we can do on that little driveway of ours.  

Here is to many many more Summer activities on it. 

Invitation to Play: Animals

 

Inspired by "Small World Play" via Childhood101 and Imagination Tree, I thought, maybe I could do one for the Lil' Tiger as well.  And boy it was a hit! This Invitation to Play needed no prompts at all.  It was "What is that mummy?" and I said "We are building a zoo" and off she went.  Spent a good 30 minutes engaging in it as well.  

Questions were asked as well and that is what I like about activities such as these.  The questions. What animal is this mummy?  What noise does this one make mummy?  Does this animal fly mummy?  Questions I know all the answers to and questions I am happy to answer. I know she is learning and absorbing new things at the same time.  Even Daddy got to play a little. It was very heartwarming. I am hoping that she will continue to play and add on with this play activity.  

 

Invitation to play

Plastic zoo animals. Some bought some gifted and some found.

Building houses with Daddy's help

Animals at home

 

There was even a pig race. 

**Joining the co-op with Pauline. :)

Learning Through Play :: Australian "Aussie" Animals

 

Disclosure:  I was given a gift certificate to Woolworth to get supplies.  Opinion and how I go about to using the gift certificate is my own choice.

 

If you have been following me on Instagram, you would know that this season, I have started teaching the Lil' Tiger about Australian "Aussie" Animals.  I was inpired by Woolworth's Aussie Animals cards and the Lil' Tiger's love for animals.  What better way to teach her about native animals right?  

I think Woolworth hit the jackpot with kids this time.  These cards were a huge hit.  Albums sold out everywhere and there was even a swap meet at certain stores where you can swap and trade these cards.  The Lil' Tiger's album is almost completed, I did not get her the album but I used an old business card holder I had lying around. But she loves going through it naming each and every animal. Well... she did try to.

Anyways, I couldn't find a lot of "lesson plans" from the Internet, so I decided to just "wing" it and see where it would lead us.  I made a "Montessori" insipred nomenclature cards, went to our library to borrow books inspired by Australian Animals and even YouTube a couple of sounds or calls that these animals make. 

We got books featuring native animals from the library and I even found wooden puzzles featuring them as well! Wooot.  Every night before bedtime, we would read a book about The Wombat or Josephine the Dancing Kangaroo or the Bunyip. She absolutely loves them. The Wombat is her favourite.

I used the Gift voucher I got from Woolworth to get laminating pouches and coloured pom poms (shown above) so we could play matching games. I would name the animal and she would place the pom poms on each photos.  She did really well and was asking to do it over and over again.

The most amazing thing happened when we were going for our last swimming lesson for the term, a little friendly Kookaburra was sitting on top of a car and the Lil' Tiger squealed with joy and was able to identify the Kookaburra straight away!  He even let us come really close to snap a photo.

The 52 Project - 11/52

Portrait of  my child once a week for 52 weeks.

This week, she has been begging me to go outside and do some painting. Naturally, I indulged her by doing so. 

Building with blocks

Growing up, my sisters and I had a tub of wooden blocks. We would spend hours and hours building castles and towers with them and send them CRASHING down. Now I plan to pass it on to the Lil' Tiger. I got these beautiful blocks from KMart and we started building and stacking the blocks.  One minute she is building a castle like the boys from her day care and the next, she is building a house for mummy.  Sometimes she ask me to help and she just watches as I stack them on and then starts copying it in her own way.

I love how toys like these wooden blocks and the Legos from last week do not require any batteries at all but still manage to keep a child entertained for hours and hours. These are the sort of toys that I love. It not only encourage her imagination but it also encourage her fine motor skills and logic. A very good "off screen" type of activities for young children these days. 

Her house

Mummy's house

This is how we roll! 

Joint effort

And just like that CRASH. 

Ever so curious

We were enjoying the Winter's sun on our driveway with cookies and hot tea. Then she went all quiet and I could hear something in the bushes. I looked over and found the Lil' Tiger literally in the bush. I asked what she is doing and she said picking "beans". Indeed the leaves from my money tree do look like beans. I did tell her that they were leaves and not beans and they were not to be eaten. 

She is ever so curious. Always asking questions always looking for answers. I love that she is curious and always eager to learn. 

 

Lego Smego...

We bought the Lil' Tiger her very first Lego set this week and she has been building buildings, cakes, houses and at one point, a bird. I think Lego is a brilliant tool to teach kids and encourage their imagination. You can see the concentration in her face as she tries to build the "Lego Man" his high car.