Birthdays and travelling with toddlers
Our wonderful twins turned two today. It’s amazing to look back at their birth photos and remember how it all began. Our three eldest chose to make gifts rather than visit the Mummy and Daddy shop and...
View ArticlePreparing for a new baby: menu planning
A new baby on the way always prompts me to think about the areas that will need re-organising to make life as easy to maintain as possible. A small amount of preparation now goes a long way towards...
View ArticleBuilding Focussing and Concentrating Skills in Toddlers
Patrice Walker was one of the speakers at our big GEMS night recently and she gave an excellent introduction to developing focussing and concentrating skills in our toddlers and young children. She...
View ArticleRoutines: Room time
Amazing things can be created in room time! At around 18 months to 2 years of age, a toddler is ready to transition to room time instead of playpen time. Having said that, my two and a bit year old...
View ArticleRoutines with a newborn
We now have a lovely updated colour-coded routine on our whiteboard. Of course, the 8th person included in this routine is a baby that hasn’t actually been born yet so things may need some tweaking...
View ArticleQuick food for busy families: Pantry mixes and (nearly) instant meals
With an 11 day old baby in the house, time for leisurely cooking just doesn’t exist. As part of my quest to prepare for our new baby ahead of time, I have a fully stocked freezer full of meals. As...
View ArticleNo (or low) sugar snacks for kids: Morning and afternoon tea snack ideas
I do not remember why the children are eating cereal in their PJ's on the floor! There must have been a reason at the time! My children have bottomless stomachs in the morning. It seems like the last...
View ArticleMore pantry mixes; almost instant meals and snacks
Our latest blessing is 3 weeks old today and while my husband is still on holidays and the children are having a break from school for Easter I have been making up and trying out some more pantry mix...
View ArticleGetting dinner on the table
Highchair time at our house – 3 in a row! I like to cook for fun. It’s enjoyable to potter around testing new recipes and trying them out on friends and family. I don’t so much enjoy having to get...
View ArticleHospitality V’s Entertaining
Are you hospitable or do you like to entertain? At first glance it seems like the same thing but it really isn’t at all. There is a difference between showing hospitality and entertaining. Setting out...
View ArticleArsenic hour and toddler meltdowns
Arsenic hour is that late afternoon time period where the short people in the household tend to have their meltdowns. Slightly hungry in the lead-up to dinner, tired from a day full of stimulation and...
View ArticleToddler busy boxes
Toddler busy boxes are part of our flexible daily routine. They help me to homeschool older children or get some chores done while my toddlers and preschoolers are well occupied on a worthwhile task....
View ArticleHow do you store children’s jigsaw puzzles?
The “after” photo. All those melancholy organisation junkies out there say aaahhhhh! After unsuccessfully searching for a suitably priced storage solution for our woefully disorganised jigsaw puzzle...
View ArticleToddler busy bag exchange
A good friend of mine recently hosted an activity bag exchange for young children and toddlers. Each Mum involved made 13 copies of an activity of their choice. We all got together for a chat and to...
View ArticleMega list of highchair and table activity ideas for babies and toddlers
How do you keep toddlers and preschoolers well occupied while you homeschool older children, cook dinner or make an important phone call? In the interest of getting organised and answering this...
View ArticleMega list of table activities for preschoolers
Following on from yesterday’s post (list of highchair and table activities for babies and toddlers), here is my collection of preschool ideas to use for any time a quiet, attention grabbing activity is...
View ArticleMega list of table activities for school aged children
Here is the last post in a 3-part series of table activities for babies to school-aged children. Today’s chart of ideas is for the older group. By this age, my children are usually free to choose their...
View ArticlePreschool at my house – large family homeschooling (with toddlers!)
Fingerpainting – 5 minutes of actual finger painting (in the bottom of the tubs) then 45 minutes of cleaning up! First the tubs, then the kids. They did seem to have fun though. I have been asked a few...
View ArticleSharing bedrooms; pros and cons
To share or not to share? Bedrooms, not beds that is! Some of us have a choice and others have children sharing bedrooms as a necessity. Over our parenting years we have experienced both – siblings in...
View ArticleFlowers of Godly character
After holidays, sickness and general out of routine grumps hit our house recently, we needed something to lift the tone of sibling relationships. We have used several different systems for boosting...
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