Let's go to the Zoo!

To get rid of kids from the screens is a big battle, I know, but LO isn't that addicted to screens. But that was an old story😭. Now in this lock-down, Oh my God!, I'm constantly struggling to keep him off the screen😕. 

So when I find an activity that he loves and keeps him engaged for hours, I feel a big comfort😊! Activity with animals is always a big hit with LO. But this time I don't want to make him bored with the usual free play. So we decided on this! Me and LO were thinking to make a miniature zoo model for so many months. Right time to implement it fell in this lock-down! 

LO and his cousin brother (my nephew) are so fond of animals and animal toys. They would literally play 'only' with animal toys for months😮! And we missed my nephew a lot while doing this setup. He got assurance from me right in the beginning that we should build this zoo again, once his cousin is back after lock-down!

To start with, I browsed the map of few real zoo's on Earth to get some idea. And finally we decided to make this setup. LO named the Zoo as "Indian Care Zoo"!! What does that mean? He had no answer though!😀

We started by drawing a rough map of the zoo and decided what all animals to have, the habitats, vehicles if any, figurines👫, blocks, color papers etc. We used pistachio shells for making boundaries of certain habitats, wooden and magnetic blocks for some, trays, vehicle track for the shuttle station🚉 and so on. Let me list out the habitats we had on our zoo.

1. Congo Gorilla Forest🐒
2. Lion's Den🐾
3. Butterfly garden🐝
4. Children's park🐕🐄
5. Tiger's Mountain🐅
6. African plains 🐂🐴(along with the shuttle train)🚊
7. Aquatic animals🐙🐬
8. World of Reptiles🐍
9. Jungle land🐘
10. Jurassic park
11. Insect's house🐛
12. Car parking 🚘

Trust me, it would take hours to complete this activity! A real 'time killer' for kids this summer! 

We had a river named "Indian River", named by LO, flowing between children's park and tiger mountain, and built few bridges across it.

LO helped me out in writing out the name boards of few habitats and sticking the same. We had a good discussion on deciding the names of the habitats and yeah also about what habitats to have!

And finally..... !

After completing few setups, he asked if I could help out and yeah I did to keep the momentum of the play going😊(Mommies are always willing to help😁)

Jungle land and Aquatic animals:

Jurassic Park and Car Parking:

 We had even ticket counter and security people at the gate. And also look at our traffic police man!😁

Children's Park and Tiger Mountain:
We placed all the domestic animals in the Children's Park. A separate Hippo house made of magnetic blocks nearby it. The Tiger Mountain had only the Tigers, Leopards, Jaguar and Cheetah.
And do you know what's the difference between Leopard, Jaguar and Cheetah? Click here to know!

African Plains:
The African Plains had Elephant, Giraffe, Deer, Fox, Zebra, etc. This habitat is aided by a shuttle to go on a Jungle safari!

The Congo Gorilla Forest: 

LO placed few gorillas, monkeys, hyenas on it. I would strongly recommend you to visit Bronx zoo's site to explore interesting facts about Congo Gorilla Forest.

LO didn't allow me to cleanup the zoo for the next two days!

Initially we did animal wash. Yes! Put your kids to work!😊

Please leave your comments in the comment box below.

Happy Parenting 😊😊

Put your kids to work!!!

Yes, put your kids to work alongside you, to develop the habit of helping others. Moreover I feel doing tasks together can contribute to strengthen our relationships. LO, right now is in his kindergarten, love to help me in household activities, sometimes he wanted to do all by himself. And while doing so he would say "Ma, you please go and do some other work!!!". I can't resist instructing and correcting him, and he completely doesn't like me interrupting in his work, because of his overwhelming desire to be completely independent!! Now I have corrected myself and understood the ill effects of 'helicopter parenting'! Now I'm resisting myself from not interrupting him! Silly me, parenting is a lifelong learning process, I understood very late! 

But with the toddlers chores may only be completed with your help each step of the way. While their help may not be as helpful as we would think, keeping their enthusiasm and the habit of helping alive is worth the extra work!Ok, Let's get into chores.

LO's vehicle wash!  

Just give them soap water, brush and dipper! Sit back and watch the fun. What would kids do if they are allowed to play with water, that too in this summer! That would be a never ending play! This chore turned out to be a two-in-one for LO, both fun play and vehicles clean up.

He cleaned up his Bicycle, Tricycle, My Black scooty, Red scooty, and his Skateboard scooter. And finally his school bag too! 

Water with soap in a tub. Its bubbles time!

And finally he let the vehicles dry in the sun.

His school bag too had a clean wash!

Happy Parenting😊😊😊

Please post your comments in the comment box.. It means a lot to us...

Make Colorful Leaf Silhouettes - Leaf printing for kids

We are back with paint and brush!😊But this time we have collected some leaves too!🍃🌿🍀Yes, let's do Colorful Leaf Silhouettes! Would be an apt activity for kids to try this summer. Just a random print with leaves to explore their shape and texture on printing them😎 Also check out earlier post on Nature painting!

Lets see how we did it. Me and LO collected leaves of different shapes and size from our garden. We used Kids safe Crayola paint. (You can also use water color, and if doing so don't let the brush too watery). Apply the paint generously on one side of leaf, we did with the upper side of leaf. (No need to mix water with the paint). Flip the painted side on paper carefully. Press gently with your palm. 

Remove the leaf carefully to see the magic. The texture made by the veins and vein-lets is pleasure to watch!😁

Likewise try with all the other leaves, with different colors.

Meanwhile when we let it dry, LO was busy stacking the paint bottles😁

Another way to make leaf printing is take a big leaf and make spots of different colors.

The first try wasn't suffice, so we filled the gap with more colors.

And the final print!

Another way you could try is make the outline of leaves pop! Place the leaf firmly on paper, and trace the outline of leaf using the brush with color of your choice. I love the way the colors make the leaves' outline pop!😊

Make a try with your kids and let me how it turned out. Please share the snaps of your children's  masterpiece.

Happy Parenting!😊😊😊

Give a positive entry : Kid's door decor idea

I always wanted to make kid's room very colorful and attractive. We don't have separate room for LO (yet), so we take control over the entire house! We hang, paste where ever we wish!😀 Check out our Alphabet on wall Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 posts here👆. This door decor idea is for big children who are in Kindergartens. I have compiled words that would create a positive vibe. So decided to put at the entrance, on the door. LO and my niece nephew liked it very much😍What other big recognition would I need? 😍😊

I used the back side of gift wrap paper, since i didn't have any bigger size paper.

Happy Parenting😊😊

City at Night : Paper collage for kids

Making collage is one of my favorite activity (!😜) when I do with LO! Collage always finds a place in my repeat-list, because it's of no mess since there is no paint involved😀. Now LO is close to 6 years and he is doing his best when handling with scissors. So I can just sit back and watch😎! Not exactly though, I help him almost in every step and have discussion about the colors, shape and size of the paper to be cut. We loved this night city collage inspired from artsycraftsymom.com. Hope we have done a decent job! Try this collage and let me know your experience with your kid.

Happy Parenting😊😊