Play Review and Giveaway: Playful Learning

I'm the mother of a 15 month old son, and lately, I've been thinking (or realizing) that I need to be more deliberate with how I am teaching him and what I am teaching him. It's great that he is able to play, explore, and find out new things all on his own, but I want to feel like I had some part with what he is learning. I want to guide his play to maximize the learning capabilities. (Hey, I'm a woman, everything should multitask, right?)

from Playful Learning

So that's why it was so great that Tiffany and I stumbled upon this book Playful Learning by Mariah Bruehl. The whole idea of the book is to create learning experiences through the medium of play in such a way that even the kids don't really realize how much they are gaining from that experience. It's just like sneaking the veggies into the chocolate cake, only it's learning into play.

Play: African Continent Exploration

Jambo, rafiki!

This month we took a wild adventure through the Sahara Desert, went on safari through the savannas of East Africa, and toured West and South Africa in a big tour bus. All from the comfort of our own home, I might add.

Okay, okay. So maybe it didn't happen exactly like that, but we DID spend the month of January learning about the continent of Africa. I've always wanted to learn the names of all of the countries of the world, so when making my New Years Goals for this year, I went ahead and put that on there. Because Asante is good at memorizing things, I thought that he might like to do it with me.... and then I thought, well maybe we should just all learn about the countries as we learn the names of the countries. This was how our world-wide study was born.

Our Plan for Learning
Every other month we'll choose a continent to study. I had planned it as every month, but quickly realized that I couldn't prepare and do weekly activities while planning for a totally different region. By the first weekend of January I also learned NOT to plan an activity for every day. It ended up being too much to plan and to do. The kids were happy to read Africa-related books and play with our African animal figurines and puppets on the "off" days.

Here are the highlights of some of the things we did that worked out well.

Grow: Sabbathing- When Do Parents Rest? (Spiritual Practices Series)

taken from formissionarymoms.com

For the final post in our spiritual practices with children series (you can check out the other ones here, here, and here), we'll be talking about the Sabbath. We are told that on the seventh day of creation, God rested. We are also invited into that weekly time of rest- to lay down our toil and labor and trust God to take care of the details. He asks us to take a day off from working in order to rejuvenate.  My ideal day of rest involves casual meals with friends, conversation, an afternoon nap, diving into a good book, doing a little scrapbooking, and ending the night with a relaxing movie. However, for many parents, no day is "restful". There are diapers to change, meals to make, kids to discipline, talks to be had, tantrums to be dealt with, and accidents to be cleaned up. So how can parents engage in Sabbathing? And how do we teach our children to do so as well? 

Free: Cloth Diapers for International Missionary Families

image from keetsa.com

Eat: Blueberry Lemon Buckle

I know it's the middle of the winter, but I just went to one of my grocery stores, and blueberries are one sale! I got three pints of blueberries for under four bucks! I can't think of a better way to remember the sweet warmth and sunshine of summer than to make a dessert featuring its flavors in the middle of the winter.

And if the combination is lemon and blueberry, I'm all over it.

For this recipe you can use fresh or frozen blueberries. I used frozen ones (not dethawed) since I made this before going to the grocery store, but it would be just as easy with fresh. So use what you've got! It also called for a lemon syrup to be put on top, but I opted out of doing that. If you want the recipe for that, be sure to check out the link for the original recipe.

This has enough sugar to be classified as a dessert, but the struesel topping makes me think it would be quite yummy for breakfast, too.

{Guest Post} Play: Marshmallow Snowmen

Our good friend and fellow momma, MaryAnn Alderfer, is a former elementary school teacher and she is full of creative, fun ideas.  You never know what she's going to come up with next.

My kids and I really enjoyed making these marshmallow snowmen.  The materials were easy to get together.  We used a bag of mini marshmallows, pretzel sticks, construction paper, glue, and some buttons.  But the thing that makes this project so much fun is something you have with you all the time - your tongue! 

Before calling my boys (ages 5 and 3) to the table I drew snowmen on their papers and glued some white construction paper on the bottom.

Once they sat down at the table they asked the obvious question:  Can we eat the marshmallows???  To keep things from turning into a free-for-all I gave them each a snack cup and had them count out ten marshmallows.  They were allowed to eat these whenever they wanted to.  I explained that they would also get to eat three more marshmallows every time they completed a circle.  Then I told them the really fun part.  They would stick the marshmallows to the paper by licking them and pressing them down.  At first they didn't believe me, but after just a few marshmallows they were licking and sticking experts.

{Guest Post} Grow: Sowing Seeds of Hospitality (Spiritual Practices Series)

This is the third post in a series of creating spiritual habits in your children. Be sure to check out the first and the second, too.

This post comes from Cassie, a friend of Tiffany's. Cassie is currently a SAHM of 2, almost 3 youngin's. Cassie and husband, Tom, are great at welcoming others into their home and life. I couldn't think of a better person to share how she has helped her children practice it as well.

photo courtesy of pebblemats.com

Whenever guests comes into our home, my daughter often offers them a Capri Sun from our Fridge. These fruit drinks are one of her favorite things, and she loves to share them with a new friend. Although only two years old, she takes her role of hostess very seriously. After the visit draws to an end, she also insists on walking our guest out to their car - every time - no matter the weather and no matter if she has shoes on or not.

So how do you instill hospitality into little ones? The simplest answer is -- model it. My husband and I love to have people inour home. For the first year of our daughter's life, we lived with another family and a student from Africa. Now we have people in our home a couple of times a week - whether it is our small group or a friend for an impromptu lunch of sandwiches and chips.

Eat: Banana Date Cookies

Did you get chance to read about the real food challenge? Are you doing it? Are you going to do it?

Well, this recipe was actually sent my way by Jenn, the author of that post. I have modified it to be banana date flavored, but the ones that she made, which basically followed the original recipe, were great, too.

Baked on my highly seasoned bake stone. 

{Free} Play: "Real Princess" Coloring Pages

One of my friends, Ariah, came up with the great idea of designing a princess coloring book that depicted the Disney princess characters doing something, well, out of the ordinary. He wanted to show his children that princesses can have a life bigger than being beautiful and falling in love. Here are four pages that are done that you can download for free! He's thinking about doing some more now that the holidays are over. Anyway, I thought they were kinda fun, so I wanted to share them with you too.

Happy Coloring!

Play: Knit Cowl

With the cold weather finally hitting us, we might actually be in need of some scarves. Now, actually, I've been using them for a while, but that's just because I'm a cold-natured person. But anyway, this is a really neat scarf because you don't have to worry about tying it, or it getting too loose or blowing away or getting tangled up in places you don't want it tangled. And it was super simple to make.

I actually got inspired by a pattern in a Knit Simple Magazine. I made a little tweak to it, but not much. For this particular project, I used size 5 yarn and size 7 needles.

{Free} Play: Organized Simplicity (kindle edition)

Right now on Amazon.com, the kindle edition of Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider (creator of simplemom.net), is FREE!

I read it awhile back and thought it was super helpful in thinking through my spaces, figuring out how to make them more simple, organized, and fitting to our family.

I don't think this deal with last very long, so be sure to check it out soon! Before you purchase, make sure that the cost says $0.00 because these deals change quickly.

Grow: Creating Spiritual Practices with Children (Scripture)

This is the second post in a series about creating spiritual practices in our children. Be sure to check out the first and the third, too.

Last Friday we started a series on creating spiritual practices, or rituals, with our children. Those who are directors of spiritual formation will tell you that we are always being spiritually formed- whether that be for good or for bad. Circumstances, routines, words, and experiences are always forming how we view the world, view ourselves, and view God (most of the time we're unconscious of this). When we practice spiritual disciplines, we're not just doing something "that we ought to do", but we're participating in the formation of our spirit.

In addition to prayer, we also engage our children in the practice of playing with Scripture. Playing?! Yes, that is not a typo. I think all of us (myself included) would probably do well to lighten up a bit while interacting with the Scripture. God has given us fantastic imaginations, and we help the kids use them to better understand Scripture. We encourage them to read it, ask questions of the text, act it out, and memorize it.

Read It

We LOVE this children's Bible. Asante and Aly both received one when we dedicated them at the church we were apart of in Missouri. The pictures are great, and the stories are written in ways that keep the kids' attention. I must admit my only beef with this one is how light-skinned Jesus (and many others characters) are.

In our house, we try and devour God's word. We read it and re-read it all day long, not just at a "devotion" time. While we do sometimes have family devotions, we also try and help the kids know that reading the Bible isn't something we do only right before bed or only when we get up in the morning.

I think finding an age-appropriate Bible with great pictures has been key in teaching our kids more about God as He reveals Himself through Scripture.

For those of you with elementary school kids, the Hands-On Bible (NLT) is one that I have reviewed and it's really fun too. You can check out that review here. For older preschoolers, they also have a version called My First Hands-On Bible.

{Free} Play: Build and Grow Clinic

Lowes does free Build and Grow Clinics for kids on a couple Saturdays a month. While on the website they recommend it for kids who are in elementary school, it is actually really good for preschoolers too! Jake has been taking Asante (4) and Aly (2) for the past few months and they have LOVED it. The hammers they use are kid-sized, and the pieces of wood are all pre-cut, so it's just a matter of a bunch of nailing. While they need Jake's assistance (Aly more than Asante), they can definitely do parts of it by themselves.

At the clinics, the children get their own Lowes work apron to wear (and take home!) while making their project. So far we've built....

a monster machine

a train set (2 of the 3 cars)

a monster truck

a science lab

After the kids are finished, they get a certificate of completion as well as a cool patch to sew on their apron.

This Saturday (January 14th) they will be making a castle, and on the 21st, a dinosaur.

Interested? Sign up at this website, fill out and print off the permission form, and then head to your local Lowes this Saturday to build some memories! :)

Eat and Play: Exploring our Sense of Taste

In our first post in the "exploring our senses" series, we focused on hearing, but today we are exploring our sense of taste. My kids looooove to eat. Aly especially loves all kinds of food- salty, sweet, sour and spicy. This weekend, Jake and I decided to give them a little "taste test" to see if they could guess some of these semi-common foods while being blindfolded.

 Items we included in our taste test:
* Applesauce
* Ranch dressing
*Cashews
*Cheese
*Banana
*Animal Cracker
*Low-fat Yogurt
*Ketchup
*Baby Tomato (not pictured)
*Mini Marshmallow (not pictured)

Play: Exploring our Sense of Hearing

We've been under the weather here at the Malloy house, but today the kids were well enough to play a little game where they had to use their sense of hearing to find a musical bear. Aly and Asante would go into the kitchen while we hid a bear that played music for about a minute when we pulled it's cord. Then, they would come out and try to find the bear before the music stopped. Here are a few places we hid it:

by the front door

in the coats

Grow: Creating Spiritual Practices with Children (Prayer)

This is the first post in a series about creating spiritual practices in our children. Be sure to check out the second and third, too.

photo from theepottershand.wordpress.com

 As a mom of three young ones, it's hard for me to maintain the same spiritual practices that I did when I was in college. It makes me laugh when people suggest to just get up an hour before the kids to have a quiet time in the morning- reading Scripture, journaling, and meditating with my cup of hot tea.Yes, I would indeed love that. However, I'm not going to get up at 4:30 every morning after a night full of changing wet sheets, reinserting pacifiers, giving tylenol to fever-y kids, and helping calm kids after bad dreams. It's just not going to happen, and in fact, I've finally come to the place where I feel content and confident enough to realize that spiritual practices just have to look different, depending on what season of life I'm in.

For those parents who can commiserate with this season, perhaps it's time to develop season-appropriate rituals that we can experience with our children. Many of us thrive on routines. We have a way that we get ready in the morning, or we have a certain way that we start our day at the office. Maybe we always do laundry on Mondays (or if you have three kids, then everyday) and clean our bathrooms on Fridays. I think we can help our children experience this same sense of security and order when it comes to spiritual practices.

{Guest Post} Eat: 10 Days of Real Food

This post comes courtesy of Christina's friend, Jenn. Come read about her journey through a ten-day challenge to eat only real food.

So, you’re probably wondering, what is so challenging about real food?  Don’t we all eat real food every day?  Well, I sure wasn’t and willing to bet you aren’t either.  In an endless effort to achieve optimal health and to look hot in my skinny jeans, I have researched and tried many eating plans.  From Atkins to vegetarianism, from dairy-free to fat-free, I have experimented with them all.   My conclusion is that it doesn’t matter whether you are a carnivore or herbivore; food is healthiest when it is real.  That is, when it is unprocessed and as close to the way it is found in nature as possible.  Real food is made from scratch with whole ingredients.  It does not come in a box or a bag.  It does not contain any ingredients that you can’t pronounce or identify without the help of Wikipedia.  This was my challenge.   For 10 days I committed to every morsel that passed my lips being real food. 

Photo courtesy of JabberLog

{Almost Free} Play: Ipad Apps

We really like our ipad here in the Malloy house!* We wanted to share a list of the top 10 {mostly} FREE ipad apps that are the most frequently played by the kids in hopes that you and your family will enjoy them too!

1. A Bee Sees
This one focuses on colors, numbers, letters, and lots of popping balloons. Simple, but they love it. I think the perfect age range for this one is 2-4 years. I also heard this is a great one for kids who are autistic.

2. Dotty Shapes
Think connect the dots meets ipad. Probably 3.5+ is a great age for this one because it takes slightly more coordination. **UPDATE:** This one is no longer free, but $2.99

3. Stackeo 
This is one that Jake and I love too. Basically you have to stack a bunch of different sized blocks onto two separated platforms without any of them falling. Good in developing problem-solving skills, and the levels increase in difficulty in a very appropriate way.

4. 123 Writing
I wish some of these apps had more creative names :). This one allows kids to practice writing their numbers and letters with their finger (which is easier than a pencil, so a great "first step" in writing). A little train shows them the way to write the letter, which is helpful.

Play: Clean So You CAN Play

I will admit it. While I really love being a stay-at-home mom, and I think I do a pretty good job, I am a terrible, horrible, no-good housewife. Sure, I have spurts when I can get the house looking presentable (usually when a guest visit is imminent) but on a regular basis, my house is wreck. Having a curious and messy toddler doesn't help, but even without his messes, it still wouldn't be great.

But I've decided that this year, I am going to tackle this. My goal (if you need help making goals for yourself, check out our previous post) for this year is to get the house to the point where I am just maintaining the cleanliness and to learn the habit of daily cleaning/tidying.

Now that sounds great to write out, but the trouble is (and always is) how do I actually do this. There are plenty of ways you could do it, but the way that I have chosen is to do it Fly Lady's way. Some of you may have heard of Fly Lady, but if you haven't and you have a similar goal in mind for your 2012, you might want to check out her site. Her advice is completely free, so there is no risk.

Fly Lady's goal is to get us out of CHAOS, which she defines as Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome. Anyone else there with me?

{Free} Play: Printable 2012 Calendars

Oh how I wish I was graphically artsy. I'm not, but these people ARE.

Here's a link to a bunch of free printable calendars for the new year that you can just download immediately!

Welcome 2012!

 Happy New Years! 

Here's to 2012!