Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Show and Tell with Your Pre Schoolers


Some of you may have children that already do this who are of school age. Others like me may just remember the fun it was to do at school as you took something or someone of great love to school and told everyone about it.

Children between 3-6 love this activity and it is great for building confidence, learning to communicate and developing a deeper understanding in the world around them.

But does it just need to be done in the classroom? No you can be a captive audience for your little one at home and have them pick various objects to conduct show and tell for Mum’s, Dad’s, grandparents, the postman ;-)

It’s a perfect indoor activity for those cooler months coming up in the Northern Hemisphere and the scorchers to occur in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Weekend Watching - Thanksgiving Day Activities & Games : Turkey Stories for Thanksgiving Games

Learn about a fun way to implement play and games into your Thanksgiving holiday this year!

Also if you are looking for more ideas You Tube is full of great fun and creative games to get your children into the holiday spirit and have loads of fun.

Happy Play Times :-)



Friday, November 16, 2012

Friday Fun Facts - Thanksgiving Edition

It would be a miss of us to not celebrate Thanksgiving for our loyal and lovely US friends in this weeks Friday Fun Facts with the big celebration next Thursday November 22nd.

So please enjoy! 

- Yummy turkey which is  the traditional fare eaten on thanksgiving (by 91% of the US Population) was Benjamin Franklin's choice of national bird for the USA.

- If you are in California then guess what your state is the largest consumers of turkey.

- Green bean casserlle must be pretty popular too as 40 million of them are served on Thanksgiving day.

- In 1939, 40 & 41 the date was changed by Franklin Roosevelt to change the date to the 3rd Thursday in November to boost the economy and extend the christmas season - didn't really work out to well as only half the states followed suit.

- The west coast of the US like to consume crab for thanksgiving as this is the beginning of the crab season.

- The first thanksgiving lasted 3 days!

And I believe the tradition is to share what you are thankful for so I am extremely thankful for all the support, encouragement and loyalty from our Happy Play Happy Children readers I truly appreciate and value your support and time to this endeavor.

Happy Play Times :-)


Friday, November 9, 2012

Friday Fun Facts - Dogs

Welcome to Friday and another fun filled factual post!

Things have been really busy around here lately and I was racking my brains to come up with a topic and then as I was cooking up the babies food my gorgeous dog Ruby was sniffing around hoping for a morsel or two to drop - then it hit me lets learn some fun facts about dogs.


(Our Beautiful Ruby)

So here they are we hope you enjoy.

- The earliest form of dog is traced back 40 million years ago WOW.

- Wonder why a dog runs so well? Is it the four legs that power them along?
Well no it is in fact because their shoulder blades are not attached to the rest of their skeleton.

- Kublah Khan owned 5000 dogs a world record - wow I can't even imagine those vet bills, or space, or food......

- Were you born under the Chinese symbol of the dog? You are then classified as loyal, discreet and a little bit temperamental - sounds very much like a dog you just need to add loving and it is a perfect description.

- What have you named you dog apparently the top two male dog names are Jake (my husband had a Jake dog) & Max. For females it is Maggie & Molly (my husband also had a Molly)


- It takes eighteen muscles to move your little dogs ears.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Happy Play Times :-)


(Annabelle and her BFF)

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Weekend Watching - How to Make a Thanksgiving Kids Craft: Thanksgiving Gratitude Tree

I have noticed many people on Facebook are doing a month of giving thanks status updates for November in readiness for celebrating thanksgiving.

It got me thinking how you could get your children involved in this activity. So we went searching and have found this clip for our weekend watching series where it shows how your children can build a tree of gratitude. Such a lovely idea and a great way to have kids learn what they are grateful for and have fun doing so.

Please Watch, Enjoy and Share 

We would love to hear what you are grateful for and what your children are grateful for when doing this activity.

Happy Play Times :-)

Friday, November 2, 2012

Friday Fun Facts - Welcome to November


Welcome to Friday and Welcome to November (Well the 2nd but close enough!)

We are dedicating our fun facts this week's to the month of November the time where the busy end of the year really starts.

Please enjoy and share with your children, family and friends.

November Fun Facts

The national week that is right not just a day BUT a whole week for split pea soup happens in the second week of November every year this year I believe it form November 8th to 11th

Movember happens where men step back to the 1970’s and have the big ‘Mo’ to raise money for good causes related to men’s health such as prostate or depression.

On the 11/11/11 at 11am in Australia we remember our fallen soldiers.

November is one of only four months with 30 days.

US presidential elections are always held in November every four years.

A very historical event that changed my life happened with the birth of my daughters Annabelle & Scarlett on 29th November 2011!

Happy Play Times :-) 

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Dress Up Play for Toddlers and Pre Schoolers

With Halloween just gone and your children having had dress up fun remember it is not time to shelve the fun for another year - dress up for young ones is fun all year round rain or shine.

Dressing up is an important component of role play for children and helps them to learn important skills like:-

  • Using Imagination
  • Thinking Abstractly  
  • Problem Solving
It doesn't have to be expensive, children will find the most simplest things fun and see the potential to dress up in almost anything.

Take the example of my young niece who took a washcloth tucked it into her skirt, then grabbed another one and walked around the house cleaning - was she a cleaner as we thought? No she was in fact Cinderella before the ball!! Abstract, imagination and problem solving all at work there.

As a child we had a dress up box we played with and ours had my Mum's wedding dress in it - do you think my sister & I fought over that....

So you may not want to put your wedding dress in a box but what type of affordable ways and what can you use to build a dress up box with?

Here are a few suggestions:-

  • Visit thrift shops or yard sales to pick up vintage clothes, shoes, hats and accessories children love it being big on them.
  • Go to the dollar stores for goodies like beads, pirate patches, watches, glasses, plastic fire, police hats etc...
  • Get an old tie of Daddy's and make a permanent knot at a safe age appropriate level to be slipped on.
  • Have old handbags, purses, wallets, phones and alike laying around the place will make great additions.
  • I also read that many stores put out Halloween costumes very cheap in the days after the event so you may soon pick up some bargains that way.

Your only limit is your imagination in building the box and the more creative you get the more creative your children can be in creating their outfits and roles.

What role does dress up have in your house as a regular play activity? We are always keen to hear your thoughts.

Happy Play Times :-)