We’re right in the middle of winter--the weather is often pretty miserable outside on most days. This is the time in winter where I’m pining for warm and sunny days. But for now we’re staying nice and dry indoors and humming long with out usual hustle and bustle of activities… The Monkey Game Earlier this month we celebrated Grace’s fourth birthday . I thought I share one of the party games we prepared which was a version of this game I came across via Pinterest . Nathan helped design a simple board game and I made a giant monkey face with my stash of construction paper. To play the game, each player took turns to throw a dice and move their counters along the board. At the end of their turn, each player then gets to feed the giant monkey a piece of fruit. Spiders and Spiderwebs We had a big week of spiders this month. A couple of girls had freaked out over a spider on a spiderweb they came across in the garden one time. So I thought to extend on that encounter into some learning acti...

And here she is…. Presenting four-year-old Grace! After months of talk of the big day… “ …I like to have a monkey birthday! “ …with a monkey cake “ …the cake must be brown because monkey is brown “ …and we must have banana sweets “ …actually I change my mind “ …I don’t want a monkey birthday anymore “ …I want a SUPERHERO monkey birthday!” Everything finally came together in one small but happy celebration. I have to admire the fact that despite the overwhelming influx of obsessive princessy talk amongst her peers, Grace did not waver one bit from her theme of choice. One must admire a girl with a mind of her own. In the weeks leading up to the big day. I admit that I harboured some doubts over that mind of hers though. Where does one draw the line between ‘independent thinking’ and plain obstinate stubbornness? There were many times when she would explode over the most inconsequential things. Blankets not arranged a particular way. Not being able to wear a particular outfit because it ...

So we’re finally past the halfway point of the year. Things have begun to cool down rather rapidly recently. But we’ve been keeping nice and cosy indoors and keeping busy with lots of activities… ‘S’ is for Snake We’ve been focusing a lot more on letter sounds. And this month one of the featured letters was ‘S’… for ‘Snake!’ of course. A favourite book that tied in perfectly was ‘I Saw Anaconda’ by Jane Clarke. I made some snake toys using my scrap fabric stash to make a snake corner. And we made spiral snakes which was good practice for cutting curved lines ‘L’ is for Lemon We read ‘Millie-Mae and the Lemon Tree’ by Natalie Marshall which featured Millie-Mae making lemonade. So of course we had to make our own lemonade too. Squeezing lemon juice from lemons was good practice to build up hand/arm strength. We used the extra lemons to do some fruit stamping with paint. Freshly baked Baugettes Our top favourite book this month was ‘Nanette’s Baugette’ by Mo Willems. Learning and recognis...

Since my last ‘what I’ve been reading’ post , a few people have remarked that my choice in books seemed rather morbid. It was nice to spark some conversation on good reads so I thought I’d share more on what’s been on my reading list. I’ve also started getting into podcasts and audiobooks as well, which I find to be a good ‘pick-me-up’ morning routine, listening to a good book while I brush my teeth. Australian History in 7 Questions by John Hirst (Simple, straightforward, and to the point. Not having studied in high school here in Australia, I found this a good book to tie some of the bits and pieces of general knowledge I knew of Australian history together) The Charisma Myth Mastering the Art of Personal Magnetism by Olivia Fox Cabane (This was a typical ‘self help’ type book which laid out very practical tips for ‘mastering the art of personal magnetism’ as the author puts it. Which essentially was about leadership. Some of the chapters seem almost lifted out of Dale Carnegie’s ‘Ho...