Babyccino In Space!

Just wanted to put it out there. If any of you want to join our mod moms meet on Monday mornings, now's the time! We're already 3 weeks into our Spring series, but there is still an astronomical amount of outer-galactic fun to be had!! Here are the deets:

While creating this space-themed series, I spent lots of time browsing the www in search of any and all creative concepts revolving around space, galaxies, planets, elements, and anything other-worldly. There is such a plethora of creative people and projects out there - doing creative research like that always makes me reflect on what a magical place the internet is!!

There were many many things that caught my eye, but this animated short film by Pixar called La Luna, totally stole my heart - the way a great film should. Enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/60381274

P.S. We also had a great time with these simple yet wonderful sensory discoveries: Moonsand, Galaxy Dough, and Space Putty (scroll down a bit)!

Book of the Week: The Mitten

So, I'm not complaining. But the weather here has been driving me crazy! A few weeks ago I got an email from Freida's school asking the parents to please send in winter coats, scarves, gloves, and hats! Meanwhile, last Sunday we were swimming all afternoon in our friends pool (thanks Lay!). The weather weirdness has me constantly checking to make sure I bring all of the above with me before leaving the house (with the kids in short-sleeve tees and flouncy little skirts!), and has left our skin (and electric bill!) in limbo as we go from heat to air nonstop. Anyways! As I said, I'm not complaining :)

Rummaging through previous year's winter stowaways has been fun and nostalgic (remembering our freezing cold trip to Chicago!), and Freida was so excited to pull out her little mittens! Mostly because of her infatuation with the book The Mitten. And I have to admit, the story is wonderfully enchanting and endearing...

The Mitten is a Ukranian folktale about a boy who drops his mitten in the snow and one by one animals snuggle inside the mitten for warmth, and Jan Brett draws upon the young readers to be imaginative and inquisitive with her animal descriptions and specifications. Freida loves asking "I wonder why they made room for the owl? Ohh because of his sharp nails!" etc. I love reading books that involve the readers, and Freida loves when I initiate a conversation based on the story - this book is the perfect aid to that.

Plus, famous books like this one always seem to have heaps of learning activities connected to them. Check out these ideas for doing a proper unit on winter and "the mitten".

So, How Was Your Day?

Vacationing in a different city always leaves me pondering my daily productivity. Not like how many tasks I crossed of my "to do" list, but more about how many quality activities I've gotten around to doing. While traveling, the common focus is usually about squeezing in as many activities as possible (...if we're on the beach by 10am we could do lunch nearby at that hot new cafe, and check out the street art exhibit in the afternoon, stop for ice cream, visit our cousins, be by sheva brachot for dinner, make it home on time to put the kids to sleep and still have a late-night swim and some fun in bed...!), and I'm often left wondering why I don't push myself to do even close to that much on a regular day in my regular life!

I'm lucky enough to live somewhere I absolutely love (every time I return home from traveling I realize just how much I love LA!), and I feel like I don't take nearly as much advantage as I should! For instance, Runyon Canyon (gasp below!) is practically in my backyard, and I really don't go often enough. It takes me about 7 minutes to get there and always makes me feel brighter, more alive, and much much happier. If we were tourists vacationing here, I'd probably try and knock out an early morning hike each day! Not to mention the weather - how often do we actually hit up the ocean? Sure, in the summertime we go every weekend, but all spring long the beach trips are next-to-none...

While I was making a plan to figure out how I can accomplish more quality time on a regular day-to-day, I happened upon a site this week that inspired me even more - So, How Was Your Day? is the most simple journal-like content filled website that interviews a slew of random men and women about their day-to-day life, routines, food, and habits. It's almost pathetic, reading these strangers journal-like logs on life, but on the other hand before I'm finished with an entry I realize I've learnt something new about how to be more effective, more efficient.  Plus, it's weirdly entertaining to find that people in similar lines of work develop similar routine habits, and I love reading about all these different business women and how they seem to juggle their lives...

I'm going to try and revert my journal entries to 8th grade-esque, and log my mundane daily doings, for a little while anyway, and see if it helps me fit in more than usual. Starting with this weekend! :)

Have a happy long one!

Cloud Dough

Have you heard of cloud dough? Freida's been finding this stuff sensorially delicious since I discovered a recipe for it online last winter. It keeps her busy forever! This time of year, when it's practically too dark to play outside by the time the kids get home from school, it's nice to have a repertoire of things up your sleeve to keep kids interested, busy, and happy until dinner. I will warn you; this is a messy one. But it will keeps your kids happily occupied for eons longer than plain ol' playdough!

Cloud Dough is made by mixing 8 parts flour with 1 part oil. The original cloud dough recipe calls for baby oil (which works much better and also has the double sensory aspect of scent), but my kids are allergic to artificial fragrances and additives so we went with canola oil which worked as well (you can always through in a couple drops of natural essential oil for the olfactory element). You can make this with 4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of oil, but I'd recommend depleting your flour supply and using 8 cups flour and 1 cup oil - you're going to end up wanting more once it's been mixed. And the kids will be pining for you to make another batch.

The texture of this concoction is so magically cloud-like! At first it seems crumbly like strudel topping in your hands, then it's perfectly moldable like freshly-wet sand, and then it falls once more into a floury heap of left behind cookie-dough. The joys!

Freida loved playing bakery with it all year long (what else is new?) - so I set her up with bowls, spoons, measuring cups and spoons, silicone cupcake holders, playdough pizza cutters etc.. But since the texture is so interesting you really don't need much at all to enjoy it. Just set up a bucket of this stuff over a drop cloth in the kitchen and let them go at until the dinner bell rings!

Paper Play

One of the reasons I completely adore hanging out with kids is that they are constantly reminding me to appreciate the littlest joys in life. Like, shredded paper, for example.

I had originally bought few packs of crinkle-cut packaging paper for my Babyccino "postman" class. And the kids had a really great time messing around with it there - literally, it ended up in every corner of the room! I had stuffed some of it back into a ziploc bag and whipped it out yesterday to entertain Hudi for a bit on a whim...

I had no idea it would be this much fun! Watching her play with the stuff was totally the highlight of my day, maybe even my week! She was so involved and excited and stimulated! Plus, she didn't even try to eat it!

Seriously, this smile is totally worth the few bucks it costs to buy some sensory stimulants! I'm definitely going to be looking into some more common-use materials for her to play with... But for now, here's a link for crinkle cut paper!