Book Series - Alfie by Shirley Hughes

Friday, November 15, 2024

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Today I am sharing a book series that our family absolutely loves. It is the Alfie series of books written and illustrated by Shirley Hughes. 

The books are about Alfie, a 4 year old boy and his everyday experiences in his life told through stories that are simple and relatable events in a child's life. We love that they are reality based and there are themes of kindness, empathy and problem-solving in each book. There are gentle ways of teaching life lessons in the stories and, despite being first published in 1981, the classic themes don't seem to go out of date for example celebrating Birthdays, starting school, buying new shoes and helping and looking out for friends.

I really admire that Shirley Hughes both wrote and illustrated the books with rich detail and warmth, depicting a family's everyday life with young children.


Alfie Out of Doors Story Book: https://amzn.to/3O8ev38



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Our favourite weaning products

Monday, October 7, 2024

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Today I am sharing some of our favourite weaning products with our daughter (our second child) now that she turned 1 and we introduced food to her 6 months ago. 

1. We love Liewood bibs! In particular this style that is easy to put on and take off, wash, and also small so folds up nicely for travel. We got most of our daughters' from Vinted - you can also find them on the Liewood website here.

2. Baby Kilner Jars - I love the size of these mini jars, they have been perfect for storing different small portions of food for our daughter. The silicone lids are also great and they stack well on top of eachother in the fridge. We also take them out with us to carry snacks in.

3. Nibble bowls - We have collected a large variety of these in our kitchen, they work so well for so many things. I have found that nibble bowls - usually used for things like serving olives - work great and the more flat the base, the sturdier and easier for our daughter to use and scoop food from. Our favourites are similar to these linked.

4. Tiny metal cutlery - We found ours second hand and they are even smaller than a regular teaspoon! They are wonderful and the perfect size for 6-12 months. Our daughter is keen to try and feed herself using them now.

5. Shot glasses from IKEA - These are so tiny at 5CL (50ml), I love them! I found these unopened in a charity shop. They were perfect for my daughter to be introduced to at 6 months. It took a bit of time (lots of mopping up spills!) and we helped her at first but now she is quite confident carefully picking up her glass and drinking from it. We are using real glass (like the rest of the family uses) and teaching her to be careful, and the glass allows her to feel the weight of it. So far we have not broken any!

6. Tiny Milk Jug - We have this one and also a mix of second hand ceramic jugs that are usually used for tiny portions of milk to go with tea. I love hunting second hand to find ones that will be perfect for small hands to use them in our family. So far it has been the adults pouring my daughter's water into her glass but she has also started trying to do this herself in recent times.



7. Cheeky wipes - For every spill and messy meal times. These are small and easy to wash and have a stack on hand for everything. When wiping my daughter's mouth, I hold up the cheeky wipe and slowly tell her that I am going to clean her face with it. I give her a few seconds to understand and process what I said, before cleaning her. She also has recently started to copy the action of cleaning the table with a cheeky wipe, which has been fun to observe.

8. Tripp Trapp Highchair -  We used the Baby Bjorn highchair at 6 months (which is quite small and our daughter grew out of it quickly) and then the Tripp Trapp highchair from around 8 months, with the baby set addition. The highchair goes up to the dining table so that our daughter joins us at the table. This is our favourite highchair because it is such great quality and can be adjusted as the child grows. We have had one for our son since he was a toddler as well and he loves it.

9. Ikea LATT table and chairs - We cut the table and chair legs down so that they are more suited to a child aged 8 months onwards so that the feet can touch the floor when they are sitting at it. We have this in a separate area in the living space and it is mainly used for snacks and drinks.

10. Reusable mini wet bag - so handy for when we go out, we take one with us almost everywhere we go! We use ours for bringing cheeky wipes in. Perfect for cleaning hands and faces on the go, and they can go straight into the washing machine when we are home.

11. Silicone feeding spoons - These are a great size for small hands and for the baby to be able to hold them and feed themselves. 

12. Printable placemat - This is available in my Etsy shop and helps the child to understand where each item goes on the table. It is a Canva template available in US Letter and A4 sizes and so you can move around and edit the sizes and positioning of each item to suit you exactly. We print and laminate ours and it lasts a very long time, plus is easy to clean.

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Simple DIY Posting Activity

Saturday, September 28, 2024

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Today I am sharing with an easy DIY posting activity that that my husband made for our daughter. She is 12 months old and I have recently observed her use wooden lollipop sticks to try and post them into various solid objects in the house. 




We used a cardboard box that we had leftover in our house and my husband drilled different sized holes in the top. He also added a little section at the side so our daughter could get them out herself and restart the activity without our help.

We used large cut up wooden dowels to make posting sticks but you could also use wooden craft lollipop sticks, wooden pegs or other similar objects (that are quite chunky).
















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IKEA ALSEDA stool

Friday, September 27, 2024

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A little appreciation post for the IKEA ALSEDA stool! It is made of banana fibre, did you know? We recently got 4 of these from Facebook marketplace and have been loving them at home. They are flat and wide so nice and stable for little ones to climb.


A few uses for them in our home so far…

🤍one or several stacked, to help my daughter get up and down from the sofa independently
🤍little stools for adults to sit on while the little ones are playing on the floor (including in the garden!)
🤍low tables for adults and children
🤍I sit on one whilst doing bath times now, rather than on the uncomfortable floor
🤍older children incorporate them into their play - respecting the stool and material
🤍they stack so nicely and are really sturdy - they have a wire frame inside
🤍great 'maximum effort' work for babies to push them along the floor!
🤍easy for (slightly older) children to carry to where they need to take it or to help younger siblings
🤍they also make beautiful, natural decor pieces when not in use, so I’m happy to keep them out in our living room




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Freebie - First Day of School Signs

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

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Today's free printable is first day of school sign template; available as a pennant flag and a landscape sign. Perfect for your child's first day of school, nursery or preschool. They are editable in Canva so you can change the text to add your child's name, their class name, or add a date if you prefer.


These are available in A4 and US Letter size. Just print and cut out the pennant flag shape, fold along the line and wrap it around a stick. For the landscape sign you could print it and mount it onto card for sturdiness or place it in a frame if you have one nearby.

Feel free to use these for siblings if you would like; for the first and last days of the term or school year. You can then see how much they have changed!

Enjoy!

Canva Template - US Letter (8.5 x 11 inches)

Canva Template - A4 size (21 x 29.7 cm)




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20 ideas for Montessori in the kitchen

Saturday, August 24, 2024

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Having children join in the kitchen is so important for them to feel that they play a genuine, meaningful part in family life. It can take a little more patience and setting up, and of course it's important to offer them age-appropriate tasks and responsibilities, but it's worth it! 

Here are 20 ways to get children involved in kitchen activities...

1. Serving themselves and others (family members, friends when they have visitors) water from a jug / carafe into small glasses. We have loved the tiny 5cl shot glasses from IKEA for weaning, also the medium sized 130ml shot glasses ones for the toddler ages and the Flying Tiger drinking glasses from age 5 up.

2. Having cloths nearby / accessible for cleaning up spills - we use Cheeky wipes

3. Mini cutting board and knives for them to be able to get out and use themselves. You can start off practicing cutting with a plastic dough cutter and then a wavy metal crinkle cutter after that - see my blogpost on cutting in the early years here 

4. A little flannel with a plastic curtain hook sewed on to it, makes a great child-sized hand towel. It can be placed onto a command hook at the child's height in the kitchen


5. Inviting them to get involved with grating, peeling and chopping. 

6. A learning tower for younger years (our son used his from around age 1 to age 4) and then moved on to the Ikea BEKVAM stool which he could move around the kitchen himself 

7. Creating a separate functional IKEA kitchen if there is space to do this (see my blog post on this here)

8. A small tray to carry their things to and from the kitchen



9. Keeping children's kitchen crockery and cutlery nearby or in an easy to access cupboard so that they can help to set the table

10. Having child sized crockery, cutlery, cups and water jugs. 

11. A mini dustpan and brush (we have one similar to this) + floor cloth (this could be a different flannel that is just used for the floor) for cleaning up mess

12. If space allows, offer separate (low down) small bins / trash cans so that they can easily throw away rubbish as they go. We love the Umbra Skinny Trash Cans and have 2 next to eachother; one for general waste and one for recycling



13. A visual timer for setting cooking times, and a 5 or 10 minute tidy up at the end!

14. Inviting the child to get involved with measuring for a recipe. This could include using scales for practicing numbers and counting. Also using measuring spoons and cups to help independence. This is a simple way to measure ingredients and can also help with learning fractions e.g. 1/2 a cup 

For a younger child, you could place an elastic rubber band on a measuring jug for guiding the child where to fill up to (ideal for younger children)



15. A water dispenser so that they have their own supply for drinking water, washing their hands and washing up. Along with a wide-based, easy to push down hand soap. We have used this one before and also I removed the front label so that the bottle was more plain 

16. A child sized apron that is easy for them to put on themselves before they join in cooking - we love Marula Tree handmade aprons



17. Child sized tools including spatula and whisk plus a small glass mixing bowl like this 1 Litre bowl 

18. Helping to load / unload the dishwasher if you have one at home, and also mini washing up brush like this one for hand washing. 




19. A low down, easy to access kitchen cupboard for their own kitchen items

20. incorporating the child's interests into cooking e.g. we bought lego shaped moulds for chocolates when our son was absolutely loving lego. He looked so proud when he was able to make a 3 ingredient chocolate recipe in his lego shaped moulds, completely by himself
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Recipe - Carrot Cake

Friday, August 2, 2024

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Today I am sharing one of my favourite healthier cakes; a carrot cake. It is adapted from the Hemsley + Hemsley book, The Art of Eating Well.


We have been making this cake in our family on repeat as it is so yummy! We recently made it for our son's 6th Birthday party and the family loved it. The candle was £1 from Tiger - find it here: https://tinyurl.com/4fe8wz5a

Usually it's a 2 tier round cake and here is our favourite new cake tin which is great for transporting a taller, round cake plus also doubles up as a nice way to serve and display the cake:. https://tinyurl.com/28fa2pmp It is from Sainsbury's which means you can collect / spend Nectar points on this purchase if you are in the UK :)

but sometimes we make it as a traybake instead - which is easier to transport. You can find the recipe below:

MAKES 1 LARGE CAKE OR TRAYBAKE


INGREDIENTS...


FOR THE CAKE

  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil / butter, melted
  • 250g ground almonds
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon bicarb
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 3 eggs 
  • 3.5 tbsp maple syrup
  • 300g carrots, grated
  • Handful walnuts for decorating

FOR THE FROSTING


  • 2 tubs of Philadelphia full fat cream cheese
  • 2.5 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD


1. Preheat oven to Fan 180 and line the base of two 23cm diameter cake tins (for a whole cake) or a 20cm x 40cm baking tin (for a traybake). Grease the sides with coconut oil or butter

2. In a large bowl, combine the ground almonds with the salt, bicarb and cinnamon

3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the maple syrup and melted coconut oil / butter, then stir in the carrots before mixing with the dry ingredients in the large bowl.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin/s, spreading it out evenly, and bake in the oven for 35 mins until springy to the touch and golden brown on top. Remove from oven and place tins on a wire rack to cool

5. While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting. Add the cream cheese to a bowl and mix in the maple syrup and vanilla extract. Leave in fridge until the cake bases have cooled down completely

6. Spread the cooled cakes with the frosting. If making a 2 layered cake, place each frosted layer in the fridge for a few hours, and then stack them on top of each other.

Sprinkle cut up walnuts on the top to decorate.


 




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Freebie - Clothes Labels in Cursive

Monday, July 29, 2024

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Today's freebie is another set of clothes labels, this time in a cursive font. Perfect for when your child is able to read. You can print and attach these labels to your baskets, drawers and containers.

 If your child cannot read yet, feel free to download my icon version of the 
clothes labels here: https://tinyurl.com/y3n2pfxz)


A set of 24 clothes icons across 2 pages, these are available in A4 and US Letter size. Each is just over 3cm tall (just over 1 inch) and they are just over 9cm wide (just over 3.5 inches) - some widths vary depending on the word length.

I printed mine off, cut them up and then laminated and cut them up again. 
We have stuck ours to baskets and drawers using sticky foam / velcro pads (my son had fun helping with this part!).

Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD - US Letter (8.5 x 11 inches)

DOWNLOAD - A4 size (21 x 29.7 cm)


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