008/366 Bookworm Babies

Esther and William love books. They love being read to and they love looking through books themselves. We have lots of different book boxes that I get out for them at different times. They love animal books as they can … Continue reading

Edspire Festive Forecast: My Wonder Cube!

If you are looking for a last minute present for a baby or toddler I have the perfect gift recommendation for you, My Wonder Cube. My Wonder Cube is an innovative learning toy for babies and toddlers. My Wonder Cube … Continue reading

Edspire Festive Forecast: Djeco 5 Sided Cubes from Toyjeanius

Back in July we reviewed Djeco 5 Sided Cubes from Toyjeanius and we were so impressed with these beautiful stacking cubes that I wanted to highlight them again as part of the Edspire Festive Forecast. These cubes are wonderful for … Continue reading

Fudgy Comes to Stay: A Review

Esther and William will be 7 months corrected age next week. Developmentally they are at the stage where they love cuddles with people and stuffed toys. They are starting to develop preferences for certain toys and stories. They are beginning … Continue reading

047/365 Barefoot Books Rhyme Time

Barefoot Books sent me a collection of their children’s titles to review including Clare Beaton’s Action Rhymes and Nursery Rhymes. These small and sturdy board books are perfect for chubby baby fingers and soggy baby gums! They would make lovely … Continue reading

A Day in the Life …

A Day in the Life of Esther and William

As a first time Mummy of twins I am beginning to wonder if I am doing enough for my little ones.

Here is a typical day at home for Esther and William, how does your little ones typical day at home compare?

6.00 Esther and William get up and have breakfast and a play with Daddy

7.15 Daddy takes Esther and William out for a 4/5 mile run in their pram

8.30 Mummy welcomes Esther and William home. We go in to the playroom for time under the gym and on the Jumperoo. During this time both babies will also have some milk.

10.30 Nap time

11.30 Both babies up and playing on a circuit of activities in the lounge. We have a chill out zone, the gym and a sitting up area also space to practise crawling.

12.30 Lunch and milk

1.30 Nap

2.30 Playtime with Mummy and story time. I try to change the toys and activities whenever they have a nap so that they do not get bored and can find something slightly different when they wake up.

4.00 Mummy takes Esther and William for a walk in their pram or nap time if raining

4.30 Play and dinner

5.30 TV Time

5.40 Bath time – this includes an all over wash before the bath and any medications / supplements needed

6.15 Bed time

I encourage Esther and William to play independently but they are not very good at it. I worry that I do not spend enough time talking to them. I wonder should I try to have some individual time with each of them?

I often think that with one baby I would put them in a sling and go out to town for coffee, read magazines in a cafe, meet friends, go shopping. We don’t do any of that because it is just impossible on my own.

What does a day in your little ones life look like?

Here are some pictures to illustrate our days x

Active under the gym

Gym, Mirror Talk, Bouncy Chair, Sit Up Play, Cosy Snooze Corner

Playing together, learning to crawl

Gym, Sit Up Play, Chill Out Corner

Sitting and Chilling

Concentrating

On the Move!

Getting to Know You

Independent Play

Jumperoo or Jump A Poo more accurate in our house x

Story Time

Book Review Owl Babies

This book by Martin Waddell I adore. It is such a simple, repetitive text but with much that can be read beween the lines. In our house this book is often performed with finger puppets! I find this text perfect for performing or reading aloud, gving each owl baby a distinct voice and character of its own. The text in parts is poetc and reads much like a lullaby. It is a classic bedtime tale.

Three owl babies, Sarah and Percy and Bill, are waiting together for their Mummy to come home from hunting. They are worried that she might not return and Bill in particular really wants his Mummy. Together they wonder where she might be and when she will be home. They huddle together for warmth and comfort until soft and silent Mummy swoops through the trees to Sarah and Percy and Bill.

This book is also perfect for use in the classroom for children aged 5 – 7.

My favourite activity is to use puppets or sequencing cards to retell the story.

You can split a class into three groups and ask each group to read the speech of one of the owls and try to imagine what that owl is thinking and feeling. The children could then extend their character profiles by using their understanding of the three personalities to try imagining how they would each respond to other situations, such as learning to fly, making a new nest and finding their own food.

During a shared re-reading of the story you can ask children to listen carefully to the babies’ speech and decide at the end of each page whether the owls are getting more nervous as the story progresses. A nerve chart/graph can be used to support visual and kinaesthetic learners. Understanding characters’ motivation for their actions is an important part of reading and understanding narrative fiction.

Ask children to think how a trio made up of their own friends and family would respond differently to various situations. Encourage children to think of times when they have been scared or excited and when they have reacted differently to a family member or friend. Think about actions, words and feelings. Role play could be used to explore different situations.

A great tool for the classroom is Role on the Wall. Draw an outline of each owl baby on the wall and then write key words about their character on to the outline. What they look like on the outside and what they think and feel on the inside of the outline. This is a good plenary activity that can be used after characters have been explored through role play.

As well as being a beautiful simple story, Owl Babies also exemplifies theuse of a full ramge of punctuation marks in context. This book is a great resource for sentence level work in literacy. How many different words, for example, can children come up with to replace ‘said’?

For a book with so few words, there is so much to be gained from sharing this story wih children in your classroom or your home.

Why not try these ideas linked to the text?

Ask children to write a set of Keep Safe rules (procedural text) for the owls when their mother is a way or for themselves in a given situation – in the playground, in the classroom etc.

Compare Owl Babies with the first chapter of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark to compare the feelings of the Plop with Sarah, Percy and Bill.

Ask children to compose a speech by the mother owl to make the owls feel better. The Owl Mother puppet can be used for children to deliver their speech through. This could be a good paired activity.

Make a class reference book called ‘All About Owls’, use the information text included as an introduction to the text type and as a model for children’s own text.

Incorporate the use of ICT and create a web page, ‘All about Owls’.

A fantastic resource and a right good read!

Mummy and Esther and Will!

Tots 100 Learning Through Play

Zu3D – Learning Through Play in the Early Years

For this month’s Tots 100 Blog Hop I am submitting the post above. It tells how animation and Zu3D software in particular can be used throughout the early years curriculum to encourage and enhance learning through play. Animation can be seen as digital role play for children of all ages and is a great way of using technology with small children. It is easy to do at home as well as at school. It fosters sharing, team work, speaking and listening skills.

This month’s Tots 100 Blog Hop is being sponsored by MEGA Bloks. These kits would make great animation models providing children with characters and props for their stories and even plot ideas.

To find more ideas to help children learn through play, hop on over to Tots 100 to read the other entries in this month’s Blog Hop.

And please don’t forget to read the post I have chosen to submit this month:

Zu3D – Learning Through Play in the Early Years