Weekend Watching - How To Make a Paper Plate Fish

This weekend's watching clip is a fun simple craft project for your youngster to make their own fish.

And as I am learning fish are a great favorite of toddlers!

If your children are old enough let them practice with kid safe scissors (a skill from the kindergarten readiness list we posted about earlier in the week) for the mouth and then let their creativity run wild making the scales. 

We have everything in the house needed to do this so I for one am going to try this out during the week with the girls.

Happy Play Times :-)

Friday Fun Facts - Polar Bears

This week's Friday Fun Facts is inspired by our recent visit to the Singapore Zoo. 

It is the first zoo trip we have made where the girls were really old enough to enjoy it and pick out familiar animals from books.

One of their favorite animals and displays was the new frozen tundra where they watched a polar bear show and frolicked in a real Igloo!

So this week we want to explore the interesting and fun fact filled world of the polar bear!

• So a polar bear is white right? Actually no they appear white but have translucent skin that when light is reflected off it gives the appearance of white.
• And that so called transparent coat is kept meticulously clean with 15-20 minutes post meals a polar bear will clean itself.
• A male polar bear weighs between 775 to 1200 pounds (351 to 544kg)
• A female polar bear weighs between 330 to 650 pounds (50 to 295kg)
• The polar bear has no natural prey only humans.
• Polar bears are found in Russia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Norway's Svalbard archipelago.
• Polar Bears are determined they are only successful in 2% of their hunting efforts

We hope you learnt something new like we did through this week's fun facts and we wish you all a lovely weekend.

Happy Play Times :-)

What Your Pre Schooler Needs to Know before Starting Kindergarten

I read an interesting article over at I Can Teach My Child on "71 Things My Child Needs to Know Before Kindergarten"

They broad key areas for development are based around:-

• Personal & Social Development
• Language & Literacy
• Mathematical Thinking
• Physical Development
• The Arts

As a parent of toddlers soon pre school age children the list seemed somewhat comprehensive. And whilst we have a couple of years to go it made me think about how we can play with fun and purpose to help prepare our children for this milestone while they are pre school age.

I thought it would be great to develop a series around activities that are fun, develop a love of play and learning in your pre schooler that will benefit these key development milestones.

We have even begun to map out the start of a book of play ideas for pre schoolers so stay tuned for that in the future.

Keep your eyes posted Monday when we launch our first in the pre schooler play series.

Happy Play Times :-)

Yoga for Kids

At Happy Play Happy Children we were very privileged to recently be invited by CBeebies Asia to attend their CBeebies Club Yoga in the Park morning at our local Singapore Botanic Gardens.

The girls had a wonderful time learning about Yoga which is a big part of one of their favorite shows The Waybuloo's on CBeebies - so you can imagine my delight at being invited to attend this event with them!

I was amazed to learn all about how much fun and health benefits children can derive from participating in Yoga such as:-

• It gets them moving and helps with their flexibility and bone development so important to their young little bodies.
• Improves concentration those little minds have to work hard in getting those poses down. They also have to focus on the task at hand and be in the moment.
• A children's yoga class integrates many aspects of learning such as storytelling and music in our class we worked through a story taking place in the forest with various animals.

And whilst Annabelle & Scarlett could not get all the moves you can see them in action below and how happy they were and us as Mum & Dad in spending this fun quality time together....

Perhaps you may want to introduce your child to the fun of Yoga to do this I have included a video from our friendly Waybuloo's to show you and your little ones how to do it!

For more you can visit the Waybuloo's channel on You Tube here.

And if you would like a copy of the sheet that outlines three pages of Yoga moves for your little ones that I received please send me an email to laurambrookesmith@gmail.com or leave your details in the comment sections below and I would be happy to send along.

Happy Play Times :-)

Happy Play Happy Children publisher Laura Brooke-Smith was not financially remunerated for this post but did receive a morning of Yoga and CBeebies goodies for her two children all opinions and sharing are her own.

Get Your Groove On

Who doesn't love a good dance off?
I can tell you your little ones certainly do.
We have had a lot of dance-a-thons in this house recently!

Children have a natural urge to move and dance so it is a great way for you to spend some fun playtime together by putting on a favorite playlist and grooving away together keeping you both fit and moving.

Did you also know that dancing helps your child with body control, creativity and mood enhancements all great reasons to participate in this form of play. 

And because we couldn't resist check out this little cutie pie doing the Paso Doble to his adoring crowd look at how much joy dancing brings him.

Happy Play Times :-)

Weekend Watching - 5 fun activities for toddlers

As you may know from our Friday Fun Facts post we are stuck indoors a bit at the moment!

So we have dedicated this weekend's watching clip to this great video we found on YouTube of 5 fun activities you can do with your toddler inside.

We will be trying some of these out this week :-)

Happy Play Times :-)

Friday Fun Facts - Haze Edition

Welcome to this week's Friday Fun Facts!

Haze edition what do you mean haze???

Well as many of our readers know I live in the usually beautiful tropical Singapore - if you read our BLOG and are from Singapore you will well know the weather phenomena we are experiencing of hazy conditions from the Sumatran burn offs and for our friends from other parts of the world you may not know but currently Singapore is experiencing the worst air pollution from these fires in the history of the country.

Basically the fires are creating a smoky and smelly haze over the country and to see what we mean check out the view from our apartment at 9am this morning!

(The Haze covers the many apartment blocks and buildings that can usually be seen this shot only shows us visibility of one apartment complex over)

It means we are currently relegated to inside activities and boy do I have a lot to share with getting creative in keeping twin toddlers engaged and active in play who are used to spending days swimming and playing in the playground outside! The good news is it seems to be clearing fingers crossed.

Anyway that is the background now to the Friday Fun Facts which we will be dedicating to the 'Singapore Haze' certainly something new to share with your family.

• In 1997 the highest pollution reading recorded from fires such as these was 226 in September on June 21st 2013 the next highest recorded reading was 401 (It was not much fun but hey we can all say we were part of history that is fun for the kids when they grow up!)
• The reading used to measure this pollution is called a PSI which stands for Pollution Standards Index - bet you didn't know that well at least I didn't until this week then I became glued to that little number on a website :-)
• The USA used to use PSI as a standard until 1999 when it was replaced by the Air Quality Index.
• Heavy rains help to dissipate the haze let's hope for a tropical downpour!

So there you have it a few random facts about something you may or may not have ever known about!

We hope everyone enjoys a wonderful weekend be it indoors or outdoors.

Happy Play Times :-) 

Friday Fun Facts - Art

We have just returned from our art class which we now go to on a Friday and while the girls are soundly napping I will take the opportunity to put together this week's Friday Fun Facts on Art.

How creative of me especially since just returning from an art class :-) but in fairness I have been getting ready to participate in a group garage sale this weekend and after finishing at midnight last night putting everything together the girls decided to do something very unusual and wake up every 30 minutes until 6am just as my head touched the pillow. So my mind is not quite creative today lol

Without further ado... here are our fun facts!

• There is an actual brainwave pattern that has been seen with people that are creative.
• Do you think your a perfectionist? How about Leonardo Da Vinci who took 12 years to paint the lips of Mona Lisa - I have simply no words...
• When was the first illustrated children's book published? In 1658 and where was it published? Germany
• Michelangelo was left handed.
• Those ready made mixed paints we all know and love today were not created until 1880. 

We hope you enjoyed these facts and wish you and your families a lovely weekend.

Happy Play Times :-)

Weekend Watching - Water Safety

With summer time and water fun upon the northern hemisphere we thought we should share this video on water safety featuring the 'Despicable Me' characters to help get some tips on keeping your little ones safe this summer.

Happy Play Times :-)

Friday Fun Facts - Water

Annabelle & Scarlett LOVE the water!! I have in fact just put two very tired girls down to bed after taking them to a water spray park at a local mall.

So it made me think about what to write for this week's fun facts and what came to mind? Water especially with summer just around the corner in the northern hemisphere! And our fun filled water day.

So here are some fun, random facts about water for you to share and enjoy with your family!

• Want to know where you use the most water in the home? 63% of it is from the kitchen and toilet.
• Is it hot? or cold? where you are right now? Did you know either way it is water that regulates the Earth's temperature!
• 90% of the worlds fresh water supply is located in Antarctica.
• Pure water has no smell or taste.
• Liquid, solid and gas are the three types of water states. 
• That cotton short your little one wears - has 25 liters of water embedded into it.

Well there you have it hope you found something of use or fun in amongst those facts.

Wishing you all a happy Friday and wonderful weekend.

Happy Play Times :-)

Playing "ROCKS"

We play outside a lot in our household!! I believe outdoor play is essential in a healthy active lifestyle that I want the girls to have.

I will be posting a lot about the types of activities we are participating in at the moment outside which will be great in time for Summer in the northern hemisphere.

But today I just wanted to post this picture of my daughter Scarlett enjoying her rock garden - like mother like daughter apparently I was obsessed with a rock garden I had as a child, that my parents even got me a garden gnome so I had company :-)

(Scarlett Loves to Play & Explore with Rocks)

Playing with rocks is great for exploring different sizes and textures and it is a fun way to develop fine motor skills as the children tend to pick up and move the rocks around into an intricate toddler pattern. I also teach them cleaning up skills as we use the broom to sweep the rocks back into the garden.

Happy Play Times :-)

Friday Fun Facts - Weekend Edition

Our fun facts were delayed this week due to my little bunny Scarlett having her first ever knock her down illness (which we are very lucky has taken 18 months) in the form of tonsillitis and an ear infection. Here the poor poppet is below :-(

She is thankfully on the mend now though and both the girls have gone to the store with Daddy so I can get caught up on things.

So I thought we would do our Fun Facts on those little critters called tonsils!

• For 30 minutes after tonsils are removed they actually can bounce high like a little rubber ball - now how cool is that I wonder of doctors do that :-)
• Tonsils are shaped like half moons.
• Infected tonsils make you snore (yes this was true for Scarlett we could actually here her!)
• A baby has small tonsils that grow then between ages 3-7 they are large and from 7 onwards shrink.
• 1 in every 10,000 children have their tonsils removed.

I hope you learnt something new in amongst those facts. I did and I bet your children will think the bouncing tonsil ball fact to be pretty cool.

Happy Play Times :-)

Our 18 Month Old's Top Five Play Activities

Well as we are soon hitting the big 18 month milestone I am in awe of how far these tiny babies have come in such a short time!

So I thought I would do a list of the five activities in no particular order that they are currently loving to be used as a guide for people looking at play ideas in this age group.

Play Grounds and Play Equipment
Whether it is inside (such as a play cafe) or outside in the park or the small play set we have at home they can not get enough of the climbing, sliding, swinging and all round fun play equipment provides! It is great for there physical capabilities but also social as they start to interact and play with other children at the playground.

(Getting our Playground Play On)

Water, Water Everywhere
Whether it is swimming (and luckily we can do that everyday in Singapore as the tropics are always hot and the condo has a pool) through to their water table, water parks or simply playing with the hose and taps. They can get enough of this wet and wild fun.

(Water Play Time)

Simulated Real Life Play
As they are growing older and becoming much more aware they are little mimics and they to love playing house. They make Mummy a cup of coffee at their kitchen or a sandwich for her lunch and serve it up to me. They love to be given a broom and sweep the floors or dust the tables with a cloth. Push their baby in the pram, feed the baby, brush the babies teeth. They are Mummy's best little helpers. And it makes you realize how much they pick up on with the everyday when they incorporate it into their own playtime.

(Helping Mommy with Chores is Fun)

Reading, Reading oh and did I mention Reading
This one makes me very happy I have always tried to instill a love of books into our girls since they were born. When Scarlett was in NICU every night I would go and read her stories  and we have read everyday since.
Now they will want some quiet time and sit in their chairs with a book looking through it, they bring me books to read (they know Mommy stops almost anything for story time!) and they can not go to bed without picking a book they want to take into their cot.   

(Annabelle loving her books)

Build it Up - Bring it Down
They are now understanding how to put blocks together or stack things on top of each other with enough competence to build something themselves so that they can squeal in delight as they knock it over and start again. So our Duplo (LEGO) set gets a big work out in this house and I swear no matter how well I tidy up we are always stepping on a LEGO piece.

(Serious building going on here)

What were your 18 month old's favorite activities?
Please share in the comments section would love to hear from you.

Happy Play Times :-)

Delayed Weekend Watching Clip - Kids Crafts : Simple Art Projects for Children

We hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day this past weekend.

I certainly did and I also put down the technology to focus on family activities.

So hence our weekend watching clip was delayed but we still wanted to share something with you and hope you enjoy these great art project ideas you can try with your kid's this week.

Happy Play Times :-)

Repurposed Baby Goods for Toddler Fun

In this post I am going to share a quick tip of something my girls love, that cost us little to begin with (we bought my favorite Ikea!) therefore has little resale value and we have repurposed it into a fun toddler activity.

It not only keeps toddlers happy but keeps Moms and Dads fit doing the pulling :-) and hey we can all use a little extra exercise right?

What is it you ask?

The baby bathtub....

See the below picture of the girls enjoying the fun!

(Annabelle & Scarlett enjoy playing in their old baby bathtub)

All we did was get an old towel along with their baby bath put them inside and pull the towel around the house to make a Boat? Car? Spaceship? you get the point leave it up to your imagination what you want it to be.

The outcome is the same squeals of delight from your little one having great fun playing a game with Mom or Dad.

I personally use the boat and sing "Row, Row, Row your Boat" while Daddy likes to think he is taking them in a race car.

We will be sharing some other repurposed baby goods for toddler toys in upcoming posts so please keep an eye out.

Do you have any suggestions of things you have done with baby products to amuse your toddlers for fun? Please share we would love to hear.

Happy Play Times :-)

Weekend Watching - Water Play and Music

My children LOVE water play and they LOVE music!

So when I came across this weekend watching clip I could not resist.

We will be trying out some of the ideas during one our afternoon water play sessions this weekend.

Perhaps if the weather is right where you are you may want to give it a go?

We can compare notes on how the children found it.

To get you started with how to incorporate water play and music play together see the You Tube video from Child's Play Music.



Happy Play Times :-)

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.

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 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 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)