A Little Bugs Life

In correlation to the insect life cycle unit, I picked up a little "bug house" for Freida to collect and observe the little buggers. She was, to say the least, ecstatic! I guess it was about me giving in to her bug-loving nature, and actually aiding in her insect-collecting activities...

She now totes the little mesh bug house like this seasons "it" bag!

To my shock (and disgust!) she veered toward collecting the slimy variety, namely: slugs, snails, and worms! Nasty lil' things!

Thankfully, she found it just as exciting to feed them (leaves, flowers etc.) as to catch them...

You can get a bug house like this one, here.

First Lesson in Life Cycles

The arrival of Spring heralded a new era in Freida's little education. I decided to start doing some actual teaching, through proper "units". This will be the first in a series of (hopefully) many, in attempt to be the first to teach my little lady about the facts of life - on a 2 year old's level, of course! :) Freida has been obsessed with butterflies since she was about 6 months old (she was watching her cousin's Wiggles DVD and upon seeing "The Butterfly Flit" her breathe grew rapid and her little toys didn't cease twirling!), and I figured Spring would be the perfect time to introduce the concept of Life Cycles - via the classic childrens illustrations of Eric Carle.

I broke out the over-sized board book that I had bought a few months earlier, and popped in the included audio CD of the author reading the story of this iconic and beloved little green critter...

Naturally, she gravitated toward "Saturday" - the day he ransacked a picnic...

She always loved that Press 'n Go caterpillar toy (I think it's actually meant to be an inchworm), and she was really interested in learning about how he was born and what he eats etc.

Once we bonded enough with the story itself, I let her play with some story-theme stick-ons (I had found for $2 in Marshalls) which ensued into a full-on foods matching game.

I think the life cycle aspect is really well brought out and easily graspable in this book...

Also, I decided to go with this book as a start to learning in "units" because aside from the life cycle concept, this book can be an awesome art reference (collage style, tissue paper art, an introduction to abstract etc.), a start to the calendar (as it goes through the days of the week), an early and easy-enough math lesson (counting the fruits),  a lesson in cause and effect (poor little guy ate so much he wound up fat and with a stomachache!), etc.

I'll post here and there about this unit as we make our way through this sort of learning exploration for the first time.

For now I'll leave you with a little video, celebrating The Very Hungry Caterpillar's 40th Birthday:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYG1tLt5GCQ]

Also, check out this totally wicked project - felted food to accompany the book!!

Soft Rock

One of our friends (Thanks Zarina!) recently gave Freida an itty-bitty guitar, and while she's now just old enough to appreciate the string variety, I would love to have happened upon this stuffed pillow version when she was just learning to stand and obsessed with the real guitars in the house. For now she's been having a blast practicing strumming and plucking at the acrylic 4 string guitar, but I'm secretly planning an intervention - I'd love to order some wooden Ukuleles for all of us to learn together this summer...

But back to the super-rad find - electric guitar pillows! How seriously rock 'n roll these would be strewn across the bed or couch in a boy's room, or residing lonely on a nursery rocking chair, or even claiming some space on the family room sofa! Soft and colorful, these stuffed guitar pillows are screaming for some soft-rock love songs...

Guitar Pillow, by Gabriela Pardo $55

(Those of you reading from Israel can find this and other designs by Gabriela Pardo and other posh and modern baby gear at a new Tel-Aviv shoppe called Peanuts.)

Purim Shpiel

With Purim around the bend, I thought I'd get Freida familiar with characters from the Magillah and peak her interest with the gist of the story. One morning this week we whipped out some card-stock, markers, and old discarded toilet paper rolls (which made these guys super easy for her little hands to grasp), and got on the Purim-puppets bandwagon (yes, I know Queen Esther looks like a transvestite - it was 7am!!).

She knew a bit about Purim from some songs (and by "a bit" I mean she knew Vashti had pimples and we yell at Haman), so I thought I'd clear a few things up with here. Boy, was I ever in for a surprise... She was so disturbed from the tiniest little hint of hatred in the story. She couldn't handle the fact that we don't like Haman, and she really didn't want to contend with discarding Vashti just because she wasn't all that pretty. She kept going in to grab Haman and give him a big hug! I was so shocked!! Here I thought I was being a good mom and teaching my little love about the Persian miracle, only to wind up feeling like I left her in the wake of utter disturbance...! And believe me, I didn't teach her anything meagerly grave - in our version, Haman was sentenced to a time-out.

After I finished up that awkward little class, she wanted to Skype my mom and do her own puppet show for her. In the middle she started giving Haman and Vashti hugs, so my mom gave the explanation a shot. It came out like this, "Haman was mean to us, that's why we don't like him anymore." Really? Is that what I'm teaching her? I mean I know that concept is important, but should I really be teaching her that at 2 years old? Anyways, the fact that it didn't go down so well taught me a good lesson in parenting... But at least she had fun with these little guys!

For now we'll just have puppet free-play, sing happy songs, and try again next year. :)

Hot Water

I love when I spot some well-designed version of childhood essentials on the market! Yes, this water table is outrageously overpriced, but just seeing a serious upgrade from the plastic-bulk preschool staples gives me peace of design-mind; for it will eventually trinke down into common-place, affordable, and much-better-looking playspaces. I'm already feeling the summer heat! You can find it in 4 beautiful color combos here.