DIY Ravana

   My child is not a foodie and not interested in food. Eating his meal is more like chore for him. Cakes, cookies and ice creams are yucky according to him. Now my dilemma is that food is an integral part of most festivals. In my childhood, the first thing to get excited was the array of scrumptious food my mother would cook.  How can one teach a child about the festivals and get him excited about them if he does not want to taste any of that? My solution is to involve my child in decorating or making something related to the festival. It has to be of some significance to the festival. Lanterns for Diwali, Ravana for Dusherra, gingerbread house for Christmas and so on.

This time for the occasion of Dussehra, I invited sunny boy's friends to make Ravana. Kids find Ravana with his 10 heads intriguing. I had made a Ravana with paper cups year before last year. This year we made the same way, only difference was the paper cups used are small in size.

8 children of around 4-5 years old came to the Ravana making party. Initially all jumped into the playroom and started playing. It was good that every one was mom- accompanied , so soon we went ahead to the creating carpet. I had kept the paper, paper cups and stationery ready for each child. 

I started by showing each step and others followed. I must admit that the moms did most of the job . Nevertheless the kids were very happy to see the Ravanna taking shape and make the heads. We also talked about the festival. 

Curious George goes to an ice cream shop

More than my son I love Curious George stories. The curiosity leads the monkey into trouble- always. The good thing is that he just wanted to help. His intentions are very genuine and caring. Its just that he does not know exactly how and without knowing he jumps into and messes it up. At the end, however, George always does the right thing and clears all the mess and his goal of helping or being useful is fulfilled. 

My son says this monkey always messes up things and gets away with it. Yes.. after all that's what monkeys do. We have watched the series on youtube also, he likes it but not love it. Somehow he cannot identify or relate himself with a naughty monkey or child. I feel that in this book too, my son sympathizes with the ice cream shop owner. " Why did the monkey mess up?" " why didn't he ask before taking it?" The book does make him laugh though. It is funny.

The book is easy to read and interesting for a child. To be in a icecream and do/eat whatever he likes is probably every ice cream lovers dream. One banana split ice cream for me too!!!!

I borrowed the book from library. I wouldn't mind buying a copy as well. It is lovely. I love ice creams.

How to make airdry clay pinch bowls with kids

Clay encourages creativity, experimentation and imagination. It improves hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, Any kind of art and craft activity increases their attention span. Clay molding and making things with it is one of those activities. They can develop patience with it. It is an activity which can be done independently or something that does not require a lot of instructions. Out of the many art and craft activities we have done, I would say this one requires least instructions . For example in painting activity, you need to give instructions and see to it that they follow it. 

Of course it is our responsibility to show them the basic steps about how to do it atleast once. They will soon get the idea and make more things with it. 

You would need air clay clay, rolling pin and board, cookie cutters and a bowl to mold it in shape.

We made one pinch bowl each.  I asked my 3 year old to take out a big ball of air dry clay and roll it with rolling pin. I demonstrated one for him by rolling out mine. My rolling pin is heavy so yes, he had to apply more pressure. It was funny to see him grunting. I kept the rolled clay in a bigger bowl. I did smooth the top part to give it a better finish. We choose our cookie cutters. I choose a small round one. He was more creative and insisted on using alphabet cookie cutters. We let it dry for a day or two. Little bunny checked the bowl so many times to see it was dry. He sighed so many times" why is it taking so much time to dry?" Finally it did. 

He choose to paint it in orange. I think it looks spectacular. We use it to keep his small toys, small cars, lego people, pencils and crayons. 

I have used air dry clay. I made sure he washes his hands thoroughly after activity was done. Also after it dried and painted, even then we did not use it for food. 

                                                               Pictures taken by me.

How to make Diwali paper lanterns with kids

Teaching children about Diwali becomes a bit tricky when you are living outside India. It comes around same time as Halloween. The heavy marketing by shops brings lot of excitement about Halloween. I was and am equally determined to make my child aware of Diwali.

Lanterns, lights, clay diyas, sparklers are all integral part of Diwali celebrations. Making paper lanterns needs colored paper preferably A4 sized and glue/stapler. I used the easiest design of paper lantern. It is the most basic one which gives ample of scissor practice for kids.We made these last year when little Mr. gifted  was 3 years old and scissor practice was much needed. Cutting and folding paper is good for development of fine motor skills.

We had colored A4 size paper so all we had to do was to fold it in the center. I asked my son to make cuts on the fold. The best way is to demonstrate how to make a lantern and then ask to repeat it. I made the first one to show how easy it was. After making slits in the middle, we opened it and made a cylinder shape by fixing the two sides together. The handles were made from strips of paper. He applied glue but it kept coming out. So later I reinforced it with stapler pins.

With the help of a jute string, we made a string of lanterns. One string had 5 lanterns of different colors. We made  such strings. Decorated windows and doors with them. I still have one hanging over his playroom door. 

First image is from Ao. Second picture is of my son taken by me. Please don't use it. 

Diwali decoration- Faux Marigold wreath

Last year sunny boy (3 years old) and I did a lot of Diwali projects together. The aim was to teach my boy about the festival. Festivals are a important part of any culture. I think it's my responsibility as a mom to make sure that he knows about atleast the major festivals in hindu culture, Diwali being on the top of the list. I made a list of activities which makes a child excited about a festival or event. I feel "getting them involved" makes it special. So I made a long list of Diwali projects and this is one of them. 

To make a faux marigold / diwali wreath, we used a plain wreath from a diy shop, orange and yellow colored wool and glue. The color matches the color of marigold flowers. I made the pom poms with this simple technique.

I made them while he was in school. Later in the afternoon, I gave him the pompoms, wreath and glue. I showed him how to glue them on the wreath. Rest he glued himself, I just made sure he covers all the area.

This is a pinterest inspired project.

80th Birthday party Invitation

A child likes to imitates his parents, especially mom and so I think it is important for mine to see me design creatively rather than buying things from shops. Doing things for family and enjoying the process. Since we don't live in India, my son does not get to see the rest of family( my cousins and his cousins) together or ever. This was a good time to get the family together. Although I must admit that he was only 3,  too young to remember meeting them all. My sister's kids are older and they will definitely remember.

Last year we had planned a surprise birthday party for my father. Our whole family- brother, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles- all are on whatsapp. Many don't have Facebook accounts, many don't even check their email accounts, but whatsapp- oh yes, everybody does check it daily if not hourly:)

I am sure I am not the only one, that's how today's families are like. So this invitation was sent out on whatsapp.

I made this invitation using super cool and easy tools provided by Picmonkey. The chalkboard effect is used as a base and added colorful blooming flowers for surprise element. 

Its important to instigate  I-can-do-it-myself concept in their mind as soon as possible. The I-can-buy-everything-in-a-shop concept is not good at all. 

Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson

Another lovely book by Julia Donaldson. I love the illustrations in the book- very bright, cute and colorful. It is very pleasant to look at and read. It is a story of a baby monkey who is looking for his mother. A butterfly tries to help but the funny part is neither monkey is able to give exact description and butterfly keeps finding the wrong animal. 

The book is a long. My 4 year old son loved to read it at the beginning . After he reached the half the book he  got tired and refused to read ." Mamma, the baby monkey still cannot find his mamma. It is taking too long" I read the remaining half. Honestly even I got a slightly bored by the end.  In my opinion, the book is for 3 or younger who will enjoy knowing characteristics and features of different animals. 

I borrowed it from a library. It would have been lovely if I had bought it when he 2 or 3.