Utilising a 3 Hour Nap

This afternoon baby B had a rare 3 hour nap.
This allowed me to have a good stretch of quality time with C and I was determined to make the most of it.
First we got out the playdough.  I had been intending just playing with the shape cutters however C immediately ran to get her plastic animals... the result of a previous activity making footprints in the dough.
The animals walked along train tracks, up hills and over bridges.
C is really in to imaginative play at the moment and was in her element.

Our First Attempt at Moon Sand

So this afternoon C and I played with moon sand in the garden.
Well, Mummy played with moon sand while C pottered around, played with the rabbit and guinea pigs and generally just enjoyed being outside.
This is the first time I have made moon sand, yet I was pleasantly pleased with the results.  For this first attempt I used Sunflower Oil in case C decided to taste it but I needn't have worried.
C is still not a huge fan of messy play and does not really enjoy getting her hands dirty, however she did show an interest in the sand and stuck her hands in it in between watching me build sandcastles and shapes.
She enjoyed knocking down the sandcastles I built and was intrigued by the fish and boat shapes i made with the moulds.  The moulds were part of a beach set that I had when I was a little girl and are still going strong!
Mummy found the moon sand very therapeutic and played with it for hours while watching C potter around.

18 months old

 

My beautiful daughter is 18 months old today!

Another milestone in her little life.

15 months old - Introducing Messy Play

Celeste has just turned 15 months old and over the past few weeks my Mum and I have been introducing Celeste to a variety of messy play activities.  Thursdays have become messy play days in our house as it is the day my Mum looks after Celeste so I am able to work.  I do however set aside some time to join in with the messy play activities as these currently do not last much longer than 10-15 minutes due to Celeste's still short attention span.

Messy Play - A Birthday card for Daddy

Yesterday was Daddy's birthday. Unfortunately he was away on a business trip, but C and I spent some of the afternoon making him a birthday card.

 

I haven't done much messy play with C before today as she is not very keen on getting her hands dirty and we have not had a messy area where it has been safe to let her loose.

Luckily our new playroom (once our sophisticated sun lounge) is almost finished so while C was down for her lunchtime nap I put a plastic sheet down on the floor and set up the red, blue, green and yellow poster paints into trays.

Due to a slight oversight on my part we had no paint brushes however i cut up some kitchen sponges into a variety of shapes to use for printing, and of course there was always hands and feet!

Once C was awake I stripped her down to her nappy and led her into the playroom. She was immediately very interested in the items laid across the floor. We say down on the mat and i showed her how to do some printing. I then handed her a ready painted sponge and watched her press it to the paper.

Next, to my surprise, she reached for the tray of blue paint and stuck her hand right in. I suspect it was quite cold to the touch and she seemed very unsure about what she had done. I reassured her all was OK and showed her how to make hand prints on the paper. Unfortunately at this point C decided she did not like the sensation of paint on her hands any longer and strongly indicated she wanted to be cleaned up.  While cleaning up her blue left hand she then stuck out her right and stuck it straight in the tray of green paint. This was quickly followed by a howl as she did not like the feel of that either.  I quickly used up the paint on her hand by                                                                 making a couple of green hand prints, then cleaned her up.

Once clean she was still very interested in everything that was on the mat and kept prodding and poking the sponges. I think there is some hope for our messy play in the future, once she realises that it is OK to get dirty as you can always be cleaned up afterwards.

After C had gone to bed that night and the paint had dried, i cut out the best of C's solo work and mounted it on a handmade card for Daddy. 

We hope he likes it!