Why I Invested in a Grimms Large Stepped Pyramid
“Blocks are blocks.” I said this just recently on Instagram but if you haven’t seen that yet, there it is. There are and will be many options in the market from cheap sets to the pricey ones. Believe me when I honestly say, any blocks is better than none. Having blocks in your toolkit […]
Magnetic Tiles Review: Magnatiles vs Playmags vs Connetix Tiles
Let me first start off by saying magnetic tiles are THE number 1 played with toy in our house. If there’s only ONE toy that I can recommend for children, it would hands down be this. NO COMPARISON! They are never rotated away and have been out in our play area every single day […]
The Benefits of Working on A Vertical Surface for Children’s Development
I’m all for raising creative and independent children through play and I believe the easiest way to accomplish that is having a prepared environment in the form of open-ended toys and resources. There is so much that a good-quality open-ended toy or resource can do in terms of encouraging independent play and creativity. Children can […]
How to Encourage Independent Play With Toddlers
Parents all want children who can play independently because we just need 10 minutes to drink our coffee hot, do the chores, prepare dinner etc. But did you know that there are lots of benefits for children to engage in independent play too? These include the space for creativity to flourish, the ability to self-direct […]
13 Favourite Art Supplies for Toddlers That Encourage Creativity (with Limited Mess)
Whenever I post pictures of our dedicated home art space on my Instagram account, there will always be comments and messages asking what are some must-have art supplies I’d recommend for toddlers when starting to stock an art trolley or an art space for the first time. Where to Start? There are a bazillion art […]
Top 10 Must Have Open-Ended Toys in Our House
Following on from the previous blog post where I talked about the “No 1 toy in our house“, I’m finally putting together a post for open-ended toys to answer one of the most popular questions I get asked about play and that is “What are your favourite/best/must-have toys for kids/babies/toddlers/preschoolers?“ Now before I go ahead […]
The No. 1 Toy in Our House: 10 Ways My Kids Play With Magnetic Tiles
One of the most common messages I get on my Instagram account is “What are the favourites/most-played with/must-have toys in your house?” Well today I’m casting the spotlight on our ‘Most Played With Toy’ and sitting WAY at the top of this leader-board are our Magnetic Tiles. A Bit of Background We’ve had the […]
A Dedicated Art Space in the Home (Part 2) – 10 Skills Children Gain From Having A Space to Create Independently
This is Part 2 of a 2-part series I’m sharing about setting up a dedicated art space in our home. In the first part of this series, I shared the inspiration behind and the reasons why I decided to make space for creativity in our very tiny home, the rationale behind the choice of location […]
A Dedicated Art Space in the Home (Part 1) – Making Space for Creativity in Our Household
A little after my firstborn turned two, which was also just after we completed the 31 Days of Invitation to Create challenge, I decided to set up a dedicated art space in our home for our children to create freely and independently whenever they chose to do so, though at that point in time and […]
Transform Playtime with 27 Simple Fun Ideas for Developing Fine Motor Skills
GUYS!!! BIG NEWS!! It’s literally been MONTHS in the making but I’m so beyond excited to announce the launch of two amazing products that will help you TRANSFORM PLAYTIME. The first is a specially curated FINE-MOTOR SKILLS box by the amazing The Creative Toy Shop, packed with lots of tools and materials for helping your […]
Play Teaches Skills That Aren’t Just Academic
Days like today, I’m so glad I always take heaps of photos of my children’s play. Tuesdays are hard days for me as the hubs work the afternoon-late night shift so basically I do the entire crazy witching hour before dinner time on my own, then dinner, bath and bedtime routine for both kids, with […]
REVIEW: Invitation to Create with Rice Cereal Paints (Soundsations’ Sensory Play Prompts)
It’s been a while since I set up #toddlerartinvitations for my girls so this afternoon while they were playing out in the yard, I set up a simple invitation to paint with rice cereal paints and old makeup brushes (thanks to my SIL who did a massive cleanup of her things recently 😆✌🏼). Click here to see […]
Currently On Our Playshelf (Jun 2018)
Thought I’d share what’s currently on our playshelf since it’s been awhile that I’ve done one and we’ve changed things up a bit since our last one (click here to see all our previous setups). I rotate the items on our shelf more often than these shelfie posts I do and the reason why I […]
REVIEW: Invitation to Create a Small World with Wild Heart’s Play Sensory Playdough Kit
So so stoked to receive a special little package in the mail this morning and it couldn’t have come at a better time to entertain Miss 2 as I woke up with a massive headache today (thanks to a certain tiny little person who cried off and on pretty much the entire night). This stunning […]
Knowing The Child, Knowing Their Interests
I walked into the girls’ room this morning while they were playing and saw these connector manipulatives strewn across the entire floor. They were not playing with them and were engaged in something else. One rule I try to enforce in our household is if they’re done playing with an activity, it needs to be […]
PLAY IS – Learning Resilience, Perseverance and Mental Strength to Face Setbacks
So we had quite the morning today. I know this picture exudes peace and calm but the process of building the structure pictured here was nothing like it. In fact the construction in this photo was probably the fourth or fifth version of its kind before I managed to quickly snap these few shots before […]
REVIEW: Invitation to Sort Colours With Soundsation’s Crystal Discovery Kit
They say “Good things come in small packages” and it really was the case with this particular Crystal Discovery Kit that we received from Soundsations earlier this morning. These look beautiful in photos but the colours are even more stunning in real life Here’s a close up of the gorgeous details! Miss 2 was most […]
Same Invitation, Different Learning Processes and Outcomes
So yesterday post afternoon naps for both girls, we were out in our yard playing for the whole afternoon til just before dinner. Miss 2 asked to do some painting so I simply set up an easy primary colours painting invitation for her on a paper plate so I could keep my eye on bubs […]
Creative Mum, Creative Kids
A few days ago, I set up a toddler art invitation for my 2yo, an invitation to create fireworks using cut up recycled toilet rolls (see it here). Well at the end of the session, there was still quite a lot of paint left and not wanting to waste them, I decided to get my […]
Would You Consider This Art?
Would You Consider This Art? We spent nearly two hours out in the yard yesterday evening. What started off as painting the yard with a paintbrush dipped in water, became wet chalk drawing on the pavement, became scavenging the yard for rocks and leaves and dried flowers, became sorting and arranging the natural materials onto […]