Esther and William love playing with water. Whatever the weather they love nothing more than going outside and splashing in puddles. If there has been no recent rain then we create puddles of our own. Along with puddles they adore … Continue reading
Today we tried another new messy craft activity, shaving foam marbling except I had accidentally bought gel instead of foam. We soldiered on regardless and will put this one down to a practice run and a whole heap of fun. … Continue reading
The snow has now all melted in our garden but just before the final thaw we brought some inside to paint on. I put some rather icy snow into our very well used metal roasting tins and got out some … Continue reading
Here in the Edspire household we seem to be going through a rough patch of illness. Between us we have had coughs, colds, conjunctivitis and impetigo in the last 14 days. That is on top of the sleepless nights with … Continue reading
This morning I was up early with Matilda Mae who slept well and so was awake and ready to go. We came downstairs to play in the lounge and get ready for the day. As we are a house of … Continue reading
This Christmas was Matilda’s first Christmas and we had learned from Esther and William that though we wanted it to be special for her she would not really care either way.
In fact during the festive period she was at her happiest rustling wrapping paper from other people’s presents.
And when she was given a wrapped present of her own it did not remain hers for long as it was devoured by her paper ripping siblngs who have an insatiable appetite for presents!
With all of this in mind David and I decided not to wrap our presents for Matilda Mae and instead we created her a My First Christmas Box. In fact she had two of these, a present box and a sensory one. Let me tell you more.
My First Christmas Present Box
I found a large cardboard box and wrapped it in festive wrapping paper. I then put a BundleBean blanket at the bottom of the box on which to place the first layer of presents. Here we put Matilda’s first ever doll from Lamaze, a Tilly Tortoise from Kiddicare Lakeside, a beautiful monkey crochet hat and a Lilliputiens Nicky The Discovery Duck Activity Toy from Play Merrily which is just one of the greatest baby toys I have ever seen!
Over these gifts we lay more wrapping paper. The shiniest and noisiest we could find.
Then we added another layer of toys.
This layer was made up of traditional, wooden toys. A simple wooden aeroplane, a rolling shape sorter and an activity cube.
After a layer of gold paper we added some more presents. A soft stacker from Lamaze, a squeaky Penguin, some WOW bath toys, the book of One Snowy Night, a Haba mouse in a house from Play Merrily and a lullaby star show for her room.
We then added more wrapping paper on top of which we placed her stocking and some pictures made for her by Esther and William.
Inside her stocking Matilda would find a Brio rolling bell rattle, a wooden car, a wooden teething toy and some Christmas board / buggy books.
Her main presents this year were a floral rocking horse and a 7in1 EverEarth Activity Centre that she is sharing with Esther and William. It is a wonderful eco toy that they all already seem to love.
Matilda loved her box of presents. I am glad that we did not wrap them all individually. She had just as much, if not more fun this way and she got to keep the box!
The other thing that we did with all the presents for Matilda and the twins was to take them out of all their packaging and make sure that they were ready to play with as soon as they were found. It meant that Christmas morning was much less stressful and there was far less mess. A top tip to be remembered for next year.
Another thing that we will do again next year is have a Christmas Sensory Box.
My First Christmas Sensory Box
I have been researching sensory boxes for all occasions on Pinterest. It is an idea that I like and these are resources that are not only great fun for children to use but also for parents to create. I can see our Christmas Box now coming out every year and being added to in the way that we are constantly developing our family memory tree.
The Christmas Sensory Box is a box filled with festive things. I included:
red and gold tinsel
white soft furry baubles
white rough bristly baubles
a snow globe
reindeer decorations
snowman decorations
snowflake shapes
old Christmas card pictures
A soft nativity scene and characters
A small Christmas vocabulary book
wrapping paper strips
battery operated fairy lights
cuddly penguins
santa hats
santa decoration
metal snowflakes
Christmas carols CD (to listen to whilst exploring the box)
A fluffy robin red breast
a plastic Christmas pudding
a star finger puppet
an angel
an elf
Sleigh bells in varying instruments
Matilda loved exploring the sensory box and so did Esther and William. They learned the names of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. And of course, Father Christmas. They learned all the words to Jingle Bells and sang it all around the house whilst shaking their bells! The box was a success as a sensory activity and gave us all some shared festive fun. This was definitely the start of a Christmas tradition that I want to continue.
And one of the most magical memories for me of this Christmas, Matilda’s first Christmas, will be the 20 minutes or so we had together with this box of festive sensory fun before anyone else in the house got up. It was lovely! Made the start of our Christmas just wonderful!
Long may magical Christmas mornings continue!
What tradition did you start this year that you will definitely continue in Christmas future?
With Christmas just around the corner we are launching our Festive Forecast where we will share some of our best loved toys for Christmas. Today I want to tell you about Matilda Mae’s new best friend, the Galt Activity Pony. … Continue reading
In the summer we were sent a puzzle to review by the awesome Orchard Toys. This review is well overdue but we have been thoroughly toddler testing the Jungle Express Jigsaw. Esther and William adore it and we have completed … Continue reading
Back in July Esther and William were given some birthday money from their Great Uncle and Aunt. I decided to use it to buy them some puzzles from Toyjeanius. I chose three puzzles and a wooden shape sorting stacker.
The puzzles, by Djeco, have become firm favourites in our household and make great early morning activities.
We like to spend our puzzle time in the lounge in front of the log fire. It is a lovely way to start the day.
The first puzzle we call the tummy puzzle. The puzzle is made up of 10 animals with circles missing from their tummies’. There are also 10 coloured circles, each of which completes one of the animals.
Tummy Puzzle
Esther and William love matching the tummy to its owner. For some reason the black dog is their favourite animal, I honestly do not know why. This puzzle has helped Esther and William to identify their colours and to think about complimentary colours such as orange and yellow, and purple with pink. It is also teaching them to share and to work together!! This is very important for any toddler but even more so I think when you are a twin.
Tummy Time Together
When Esther and William have finished playing with this puzzle they know to put it away straight away so as not to lose any of the pieces. We put each piece safely back into the box and as we do we say goodbye. Goodbye Owl, goodbye purple tummy. Goodbye Lion, goodbye orange tummy.
Goodbye!
At first they could only complete the puzzle with the aid of an adult but now they can get it out, complete and put it away all on their own. A fantastic value for money present and would make a great Christmas stocking filler.
Adult Aid!
I feel the same about each of the three puzzles actually. They are so simple, so very pretty but also educational and great value for money. They foster independence in very young children and develop their language and social skills. I think they have been a fabulous find for our family.
Miss Independent
The second puzzle, like the first, involves animals with bits missing from their bodies. This time each piece is not only differently coloured but also a different shape. This is another activity that has really helped to develop Esther and William’s vocabulary and their knowledge and understanding linked to shape, colour and pattern. They love this puzzle so much that they are now able to confidently place the octagon in the cows tummy and tell you what the polygon is called! That is good knowledge for any toddler, especially my premmie two year olds! I am one very proud mummy!
Pattern and Shape
Esther and William also make links with this puzzle. For example, they know that the toucan in the puzzle is like one of the birds in the Night Garden. They know that the diamond in the penguin’s tummy is like the kite on their playroom wall. These Djeco puzzles are fun ways to extend toddler learning.
The third puzzle is again about animals and matching. This time you have to match the animal to its home.
Habitats
The horse lives in the stable, the honey bee in a hive. When Esther and William first tried this puzzle back in August it was far too hard for them but now they can do it with ease. They have learned which animal belongs in which home. They can do it on their own!
Home Alone
Well, most of the time they can, when they are not distracted by the car mat!!
We have not been asked to review these puzzles from Djeco and Toyjeanius but with Christmas on the way I thought I would share them with you as they would be perfect stocking fillers for younger toddlers.
Priced at £6.95 they would make great little gifts from Santa too.
Each of the three puzzles is available to buy at www.toyjeanius.co.uk.
Following on from yesterday’s transport themed art session today I decided to explore ramps and bridges during some Matilda free time with Esther and William this morning. Getting Matilda into a routine is making magical moments like these possible. And … Continue reading