MOMMade: Magnetic Funny Faces

Made this for Baby O sometime earlier this year but never got a chance to post it up. It is pretty simple. All you need is:

An empty square/rectangular biscuit tin
Paper
Magnetic paper
Markers
Scissors
Magnetic tape

First draw a couple of 'faces' on pieces of paper cut to fit the size of the tin you will be using. Mine is half A4. I cut four pieces of magnetic tape for each corner of the paper so they stay on the tin.

Next, draw different types of features on magnetic paper and colour them in - hair, eyebrows, eyes, ears, noses, lips, mouths, beard, moustaches, etc. You can include some accessories like sunglasses and bows. Whatever you fancy really... Cut them out.

Finally, get creative! Place a piece of paper with an empty face on the tin and add features on! Here are some of ours. The possibilities are endless!

This craft can keep a toddler busy for some time. Not recommended for less than two I suppose due to the small bits which may be a choking hazard. Irregardless, I would still advice supervision. Plus playing together is fun!

My Budding Artist

One of the activities Baby O loves is to draw and paint. We started her off with non-toxic Crayola mini chunky crayons since she was maybe about 18 months old? Can't remember now... she was also introduced to water colour painting which she totally loves! I also managed to buy her a box of non-toxic water-based marker pens sometime early this year and she is hooked to them! She started drawing dots and lines initially and progressed to circles just before her second birthday. Soon after that, she totally impressed me by drawing faces! She starts by drawing a circle, then place two dots as the eyes, some squiggles on the sides as ears and a line for the mouth. Sometimes the line is upturn and we get a smiley face. Other times it is downturn and we appear to have a sad face. 

A sad face

She just loves drawing these faces and can spend a looong time 'perfecting' her faces!

Practice makes perfect!

There were only so many pieces of recycled paper that I could find so I had to get her one of these magnetic drawing boards. Got this one at a bargain from Toys R Us! Original retail price was about RM39. It was on promotion for about RM28. I had a RM20 voucher so I paid only RM8+ for this! This Mama loves a bargain!

Limitless creations

And when she had enough of faces, she even attempted to write her own name!! Which I found really amazing for a two year old!!!! Although you will probably think what is that?!? ;-)

Way to go girl!

MOMMade: Homemade Guess Who Lift-The-Flap Book

Can't think of anything easier to do than this with Baby O. A personalised lift-the-flap book! Got the idea from the Playhouse Disney channel where at the end of one of the programmes, the viewer was asked to identify which cartoon character it is by revealing only a partial body part. Immediately went scrap hunting after that. 

This is what we used: 

Old magazines with relevant pictures - we used AstroView for Baby O's favourite cartoon characters. Other option would be pictures of animals or vegetables and fruits.

Used envelopes

A booklet - one made of relatively stiff paper would be ideal. Otherwise I suppose old exercise books/ diaries would work too!

Scissors

Glue

Pen

This is what we did:

1. Look for and cut cartoon pictures out in old magazines. Trim to fit booklet.

2. Cut used envelopes big enough to cover the cartoon pictures with about one centimetre extra as the flap.

3. Mark and cut holes to reveal only certain parts of the picture as a clue for the child to guess who (or what) is behind the flap.

4. Glue the flaps down adjusting the hole(s) ensuring only the selected parts are covered or exposed.

5. Decorate if desired.

Honestly no rocket science involved. You don't even have to be able to cut a straight line! Here are pictures of some of the pages:

Lift the handy flaps for clues!

The many ways to use see-through envelopes!

Incorporating some numbers

And some shapes!

Baby O was really good with this little game of 'Guess Who?'. She could identify most of them easily. The best part is, even though she already know the answers to some of them, she will still go back to the booklet and lift the flaps again and again! 

You know, we can buy less and be more green if we really want to!

Cut and Paste Craft

A few months ago, I decided to introduce Baby O to glue. Funnily enough, she was quite paranoid about having some invisible sticky stuff all over her fingers and kept wanting to wash her hands! She can be quite a clean freak at times. That didn't last too long though as she kept wanting to put glue on everything after that! Anyway, here is how we used our glue. 

We first gathered a bunch of colourful junk mails and brochures.

Then, I cut them out into pieces and put the different colours in different compartments. Baby O however decided that it was more fun mixing everything up.

 

I found this picture of Barbie, cut her up and pasted her on a piece of blank paper. The idea is to 'decorate Barbie's gown'. If you can't find a relevant picture, just draw some simple shapes and paste away! No hard and fast rule when it comes to art anyway.

 

Our masterpiece. :)

Nothing fancy, just lots of learning fun. In the process, Baby O was exposed to lots of new vocabulary - glue, paste, stick, squares, colours, etc. and actions - cutting, arranging, pasting, etc. That's one easy activity for the morning besides just drawing with her crayons! At the same time, making use of all these junk mails instead of just binning them.

Home Craft Projects

We have been embarking on a number of projects simultaneously these few weeks. Firstly, I was ecstatic to find printable magnetic paper. I had something in mind and looked high and low for this special inkjet magnetic paper which we can actually print on. Initially found a shop around Jalan Perak selling them. One piece was priced at RM16.50! Was at the verge of giving up when to my surprise, I found Jusco at Queensbay Mall selling them at half the price! So I grabbed them. Can't wait to use them!

Second project has to do with these...

I have cleaned and dried these milk cartons since months ago so it's about time to do something with them. First phase completed. Not sure when is the next phase...

Project no. 3: While trying to get Baby O to use up her energy one of those days at the mall, I stumbled upon this little family. They were only RM2.50 each and I couldn't resist bringing them home. Now I am wondering if I should give them a little make over and build them a house... 

Finally, this baby... Bought it eons ago. Amount of time used: zero. Brought it up to Penang not too long ago and have a little refashion project that I would really love to embark on. Saw so many of these sites making pretty dresses for their little girls out of old t-shirts and thinking I might just be able to do that too! The big question is, when????

Children Toys in Malaysia

No wonder they say raising kids are expensive! Look at the price of children toys and clothes here in Malaysia and you will know why. For a good quality toy here, you will easily need to fork out hundreds (maybe even thousands! I'm not kidding and we are not even talking about the iPads and Wii!). Comparing dollar to dollar, you can easily get three toys for £20 in the UK and £50 can go a loooooong way! Second hand items still in very good condition sell at merely just a few pounds!

One example is the Leapfrog activity table. In the UK, a new one is selling for £35.75 while in Malaysia, it is selling for RM238.00! Dollar for dollar, can you imagine paying only RM35.75 for this item?? Even after converting, it is still shockingly more expensive in Malaysia!

Comparing second hand ones, one was recently sold for RM69 in Malaysia while it is common to see one sold for less than £5 on eBay! Some were even sold at their original list price of only £0.99!

Some solution to this:
1. Extend life of toys by buying second hand or hand over toys to younger children or donate to a charity. Only problem is second hand toy shops are a rare sight in Malaysia and we don't have many relatives to hand us down items while most friends are still keeping theirs for their third, fourth and fifth child  :(  Those willing to sell me second hand items, I'm willing to have a look! Those wanting to have more space at home, send your unused children toys and clothes this way please!

2.  Home made. Sure bought toys come with lots of sounds and lights but when a toy is crafted together at home, there is a sense of pride and achievement not to mention the special bonding session while sparks of creativity fly all over the place! Besides, it is fun, easy, doesn't hurt the pocket as much and green! Check out lots of ideas online or some of our little projects: play dough, five little freckled frogs, marble run and others which I will continue to post here.

3. Exchange. If you can find people who are willing to exchange toys with you for a few weeks or so, this is a great way to save and try 'new' toys on both sides. Just need to place your trust in each other to keep the toys clean and return them in one piece but don't have high expectations when dealing with curious toddlers. Though it is not easy to break the mental barrier of parents here regarding hygiene etc. it may be worth a try! Start with some small inexpensive ones first and if it doesn't work out, you can always scrap the idea.

4. Review. If you really need to purchase toys, spend some time reading reviews online before your next purchase to know what toys are suitable at what age to get the best mileage and have your money well spent. Hopefully I can help by putting some review posts up if I get a chance.

Any other suggestions out there??

MOMMade: 'Marble' Run [Homemade Children Craft]

Saw this marble run toy on a friend's Facebook photos and thought we can do something similar to this at home! Spent a few minutes brainstorming for a homemade version and then off to scavenge for the parts in the recycling bin!!

This is what I used:
1 empty cereal box
3 toilet rolls
Marker pen
Super glue/ glue gun
Craft knife
Scissors



This is what I did:

1. Draw an outline on the cereal box with the marker and cut it out with the craft knife.

2. Cut a hole on the top of the cereal box using the craft knife to insert marble through.

3. Cut the toilet rolls in half. Place and mark where to place the toilet rolls on the cereal box.

4. Make a crease on one side of the toilet rolls using the side of the table so they hold better.

5. Put glue on the creased side and paste them on the markings. Use as it is or decorate with paints or stickers etc.

After testing it a few rounds, I extended the last roll so it goes right to the end.

 I also cut a little opening at the exit so it is easier to remove the 'marbles'.

 I tried looking for some marbles in the supermarket to use this new toy but couldn't find any. The crystal beads I have were kind of hazardous as they are small. Our plastic bottle cap collection worked but doesn't provide the same feel as a round item. So I made some using aluminium foil! Just tear some pieces up and squash them into a ball! Doesn't have to be perfectly round. The aluminium 'marbles' can be of different sizes and you can make as many or as little as you want whenever you want them!






This is what I encountered:
I placed the rolls too near initially and the 'marbles' just jumped right off the first roll so I had to remove and place the rolls further apart.

This is what I will do next time:
1. Use either blue tack or not-so-sticky tape to put the toilet rolls in place and do a trial run first before actually pasting them on permanently with glue.

The best part about this toy is:
Promotes creativity and helps develop child's motor skills!
It took us only half an hour to construct!!
The parts are easily replaceable!!!
Cost is extremely low!!!!
It is green!!!!!



Caution:
We were so excited with our new toy that we played with it past Baby O's nap time window which was a disaster as she completely did not want to nap after that resulting in an overactive and cranky little toddler!!

Now this simple and easy one is done, time to brainstorm a more complicated one like this:

Baking Chocolate Chip Cookies with Baby O

Recently, I bought Hershey’s Cocoa Powder and Hershey's Chocolate Chips to bake Martha Stewart’s Cream Cheese Brownie. Attached to the products is a mini Hershey’s recipe book with all sorts of chocolate goodies. So I decided to try the chocolate chip cookies recipe with Baby O as our little activity today.

Baking is such a great activity with toddlers. It is one of the activities that stimulates all senses! The child is able to see all the action and ingredients and tools, hear the clanging and noises spoons knocking on bowls, touch the different textures of the butter or cookie dough, smell the aroma of the cookies baking in the oven and finally taste it! Yum yum! On top of that, baking also develops language. During the activity, words like big, small, round, brown, crumbs, mix, fast, slow, and uh oh! (very often) can be related to relevantly. Have I mentioned that it is also therapeutic for the parent?


For parents who would like to conduct this baking business with their young ones, I recommend you to:

1. use a simple recipe with not too many ingredients - it will be a handful minding a toddler and trying to get everything together. You wouldn’t want yourself of your toddler getting frustrated so keep complicated recipes for yourself another time. Chocolate chip cookies is a good start.

2. bake something that the little one can enjoy later too - after all, he/ she did help out. It is only fair for him/ her to enjoy the fruit of his/ her labour! So go for something light or reduce the amount of sugar or omit the salt and use unsalted butter. You might even want to substitute chocolate chips with raisins.

3. expect mess, maybe loads of them - use a clear space and prep toddler with apron/ bibs/ clothes you don’t mind staining.

4. keep the communication going - this might be one of the most important step for the activity. Explain the steps while measuring, mixing, etc. Tell him/ her how the scale or oven or mixer works. Show him/ her how you crack an egg.

5. use a low surface - we prepared our cookie dough on an IKEA Lack side table which is at the right height for Baby O to participate and see all that is going on. If you don’t have a suitable low table, another suggestion is to prop your child on his/ her highchair while you prepare on a surface next to him/ her.

6. clean up together - don’t expect your toddler to wash the mixing bowls but you can always wipe the surfaces, put things away and wash your hands together to instill the responsibility.

7. take it easy - you’re not going to make a living out of this so just enjoy the process (and the cookies) together!

Note: Baby O is 19 months old at the time of this post. You can also start baking with babies. That's right! Sling them on you or put them on their high chair and dictate all the steps that you are going through to promote language development. It's never too early!

MOMMade: Five Little Freckled Frogs

We have designated Tuesdays our craft day. This Tuesday, we worked on an idea that has been stored in the back of my mind for some time now. So off to gather some scraps and have some fun with Baby O:

Materials
empty card board boxes
kitchen towel roll
colour markers/ crayons/ pencils
scissors
craft knife
pencil





1. Sketch five little frogs (about 3 inches high) on a piece of card board. Don’t forget to add little freckles and a little tab at the bottom of your frogs to insert onto the speckled log later. Colour them in and cut them out. Alternatively, if you don't mind my frogs, you can print them out, paste them on a card board and cut them out.

2. Cut open the kitchen towel roll from top to bottom. Fold back about an inch of the roll from the opening to allow the log to stand on its own. Colour the top of the roll in as the speckled log. Colour the folded part of the log as water.

3. Mark on the speckled log where you want your freckled frogs to be and make a slit the size of your tabs with a craft knife.

4. Insert tabs of freckled frogs into slits on speckled log. Ta daa!

5. Remove freckled frogs one by one while singing:



 
Five Little Freckled Frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Then there were Four green freckled frogs. Glug! Glug!

Four Little Freckled Frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Then there were Three green freckled frogs. Glug! Glug!

Three Little Freckled Frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Then there were Two green freckled frogs. Glug! Glug!

Two Little Freckled Frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Then there were One green freckled frog. Glug! Glug!

One Little Freckled Frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs. Yum! Yum!
He jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Then there were no green freckled frogs. Glug! Glug!

Note: There are many versions of the lyrics but they all sound the same like this:


Caution: Don't forget to supervise the curious little ones and use all sharp tools from a safe distance.

Pasta Play

One of the mommies at church had a container of colourful fusilli for her little son to sort in the creche during service one of those Sundays. What an excellent idea! While grocery shopping, I headed to the pasta aisle and bought a pack of multi-coloured pasta in different shapes as a modified version to the one I have seen. A pack of 375g costs only RM4+. I also added in some of our wholewheat fusilli at home and voila! we have a new activity! Brilliant when used together with another container of any kind with compartments - a pill box, chocolate or cookie box, ice cubes, empty egg carton. I had no idea how occupied a little toddler can be with a handful of pasta shapes!

Type of activities:
Sort by colours and shapes
Cooking - Pretend play
Counting
Stringing

Encourages:
Eye-hand coordination
Motor skills
Language development
Imagination
Concentration
Creativity

MOMMade: Homemade Play Dough

Lots to do but can't help taking a break and put a post up!! ;-)

This is so easy to make and made of 100% edible ingredient though I wouldn't eat it due to the high sodium content! I can only imagine how it tastes like!

What you need:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
Food colouring

Method:
Mix flour, salt and oil in a bowl. Slowly add in water. The play dough will look sludgy at this point.  Cook over medium heat, stirring until dough becomes stiff. Turn off heat and leave the play dough to cool. When cooled, knead the play dough with your hands until they come together and form play dough! You can use it as it is. I have divided the play dough into four separate balls and added food colouring into each ball. You can also use vegetable juices like dragon fruit, spinach and carrot to make pink, green, and orange coloured play dough. Put the coloured play dough in separate containers to avoid the colours mixing - let the toddlers do that bit for you! I have been keeping the play dough in the refrigerator when not in use. The play dough are exactly two weeks old now and they still feel soft and look like how they were two weeks ago even though they have been messed with. Let's see how long it will last!

On hind sight, I should have used cooled, boiled water instead of tap water. Reason being the play dough will probably last longer. Second reason being should Baby O decide to put any play dough into her mouth, it is a tad safer and hopefully won't cause her any tummy ache(??). I doubt this makes any sense as the other contents of the play dough will probably be the culprit and not just the water alone. Regardless, please supervise your child(ren) at all times during this activity.

Another tip would be not to cook the play dough in a non-stick pot. I did that and the undissolved salt scratched the surface of my pot. :(

Happy play-ing dough!

Wonderworld Work Bench ‘N’ Box

This is such a beautifully crafted toy with vibrant colours! Since Baby O is only 14 months and this work bench is recommended for 36 months and above, I intend to only introduce her to the hammer and nails while keeping the rest like the nuts and bolts and screwdriver for future use so that she will not get bored of the toy by the time she is ready for it. Anyway, toys should be rotated to reach their maximum potential.

Work benches are recommended at this age as it works the motor skills and improves creativity amongst other skills. (Baby O creatively used it as a sitting stool!) Activities like shaking a maracas or hammering on a work bench also help babies/ toddlers to release stress! This particular Wonderworld Work Bench ‘N’ Box is made of environmentally-friendly replantable rubber wood and water-based non-toxic colours. When not in use, the bench can be flipped over and turn into a carry tool box. Made in Thailand and available at a pretty reasonable price of RM106.90.

This Mama’s little kitchen helper

Since succumbing to the flu a few days back, Baby O has been stuck to me like glue as she reached the peak of her separation anxiety. Preparing meals was T.O.U.G.H. with no one around to keep her occupied and away from me. The TV (only used in times of desperation) didn’t do any good either. She also refused to stay in her playpen in the corner of the kitchen even though I am in sight. I was getting a little fed up with my limitation. Quick! Think of a distraction! Out came a colander, some measuring spoons, an empty plastic container and an empty (and clean!!) milk carton. My sous chef instantly went to work to dish up the most delectable (and invisible) gourmet dinner while I stir-fried some vegetables and cooked steamed rice! Ahh... another ‘genius’ moment! *Gleam!*

Do note though that I DO NOT encourage Baby O to play in the kitchen. I had to ensure that she is in a safe corner away from where all the action take place. Somewhere I won’t trip on her or her ‘equipments’ on the floor. Whenever I move around, I made sure she has not suddenly appear near me especially when handling the knife or hot water! Pot and pan handles are turned in and nothing is jutting out from the work top that will tempt her to reach up for it. She also understands not to open drawers and cupboards around in case they catch her fingers. I usually only work in the kitchen when Baby O is safe in the playpen, seated on her high chair, having a nap or when someone else is looking after her. She is however not entirely forbidden and frequently makes and appearance in the kitchen so she knows what is going on in there. Who knows? I might have a Nigella Lawson in the making!

Wooden Blocks

I have finally found it! I was looking for some wooden ABC blocks for Baby O. I like the classic looking ones with carved out alphabets/numbers. A friend has kindly sourced and recommended the Haba wooden building blocks. They come in beautiful colours and whimsical shapes. Haba wooden blocks are from Germany and claims to be made of hard wood with completely non-toxic, child friendly finishes. However, they are a tad pricey. The 25 pieces of Eeeny, Meeny, Miny, Zoo blocks are priced at $49.99 online. Besides the make, the price has to be right too. So, let's KIV that....

Then, I asked Mr Google for 'classic wooden blocks' and he showed me these from Uncle Goose going for $33.99. Also made from non-toxic inks, these 28 pieces made-in-the-USA blocks just ain't classic enough for me. 

The same friend then recommended me The Baby Loft which stocks the Wonderworld ABC Touchy Wooden Blocks. Made from rubber wood and non-toxic colours, this Thai product is priced at RM108.90. Not too bad but didn't spur me to buy them immediately.

Then one fine day at Toys R Us, I saw these on the shelves staring right in my face saying 'Buy Me!'.  These Imaginarium wooden blocks seem to check all the right boxes! Besides being wooden and carved, it comes in ABCs (both capital and lower case!) and 123s as well as pictures.

Building blocks aids a child's development in numerous ways - touch (the carved letters), cause and effect (stacking up makes a block tower/ knock them and they fall), fine motor skills (pick/ stack/ knock), size/ shape/ colour discrimination, visual stimulation (match the blocks).

I couldn't wait for Baby O to open the box up and play! While waiting, I went searching for reviews on Imaginarium. I noticed one review on the blocks I bought mentioned something about having the same letters on different surface instead of having different letters to be able to build more words. I didn't think much of it until the time came when we (excitedly) opened up the package. Three things struck me almost immediately:

1. The contents are made up of 1/3 blocks and 2/3 packaging! Very misleading indeed! Yes, cleverly hidden behind the alphabet blocks is another empty box that helps to put everything into a presentable manner. Tsk, tsk, tsk...

2. The blocks are pretty lightweight and have sharp corners. I suppose being lightweight is a benefit when it comes to being handled by tiny toddler hands and fingers. The sharp corners will probably wear off eventually (looking at how they are being handled!). 

3. The same capital and lower letters appear on the same block together with a corresponding picture. Eg. 'M' appears with 'm' and a picture of a monkey. This is great for learning the ABCs in upper and lower case and in association with an object. Then the review mentioned above flashed back at me saying 'See! Told you so!' when I tried putting the blocks together to spell the world 'BABY' for Baby O. There are 2 blocks of its kind so there are 2 'A's and 2 'B's and so on. To my dismay, the letter 'Y' appears together with the letter 'B'. So its B(Y)-A(Z)-B(Y)... and insufficient 'Y' blocks as they have been utilised as 'B's! Yikes! I guess this can also be easily remedied by .. erm.. buying another set??!?! For the time being, it'll be just building wooden block towers and knocking them down, Bab O!