When Esther and William were born

They were so premature

That they spent their first 59 days of life

In hospital

For the longest time

All I could really do for my babies

Was talk to them, sing to them

And read to them

Esther and William’s first ever books

Were by an author called Oliver Jeffers

For Esther

I chose How To Catch A Star

Her name is Persian for Star

It seemed perfect

I had no idea how three years on

This book would have such a different significance for us

This is a book we read together

In loving memory of Matilda Mae

Our baby in the sky

Our star of the sea

This year

As we mark our first year without Matilda Mae

How To Catch A Star celebrates it’s 10th anniversary

And we are joining in the celebrations

By sharing ten ways of enjoying this story

Through messy, sensory and imaginative play

Through active storytelling and small world play

We are going on a journey

From the sea to the sky

And we hope you will come along for the ride

As we show you

That it is possible

To catch a star of your very own

Today Esther and William wanted to play with water

So I decided to recreate our Twinkle Twinkle Star water play from almost one year ago

The sensory play that we used to help The Lullaby Trust

Launch their new name and brand

Today I set out two large bowls

Into them I sprinkled some purple and iridescent stars

I then added some beautiful rainbow coloured waterbeads

And some glow in the dark stars

Sent to us as part of a review package for How To Catch A Star

Esther and William love playing with waterbeads

They love to feel them between their fingers

They love seeing how they react and interact with different materials

Today we added warm water

And colour changing submersible lights

After playing with these for a while

We added some sea creatures and Happy Land characters

We then talked about what we might add to change the water

Esther suggested glitter

And so glitter we added

Esther wanted red and gold glitter added to her water

William chose blue and green to be like the sea

William and I started blowing the water

And moving it with our hands

Whirlpool! William exclaimed

And he was off making whirls and swirls and twirls

In the water and having a wonderful time

Esther went to find a baby

So that she could give her a disco bath

Then she got her out and put her towel coat on

It is so fascinating seeing how my two children

Choose to play when given the same toys or materials

Wonderful!

After a while we decided that it might be fun

To add some bubbles

We poured in lots of bubble bath

And stirred it up

Baby was very soon back in her now bubbly bath

And William was trying to make more bubbles

With his water squirters

And having great fun soaking himself

With the warm sparkly suds

What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon

Bathing with the stars

Exploring water and colour and light

Using our senses to discover and learn

Through discussion and play

We had a lovely time

Catching stars in the blue

And then when we were done

We snuggled together on the sofa

And read a magical story

How To Catch A Star

If you have not read this book

Please do

It is wonderful

Magical

Emotional

And it inspires hope

We have been sent a copy of How To Catch A Star for the purpose of this review