Teaching Numbers, Shapes & Colors

It is such a fun role as a parent to teach our children all about the exciting world of numbers, shapes and colors.

I love teaching Annabelle & Scarlett new things and seeing the excitement and enjoyment they get as they grasp something or learn something new.

And one of the tools I use to show them about numbers, shapes and colors is the learning train on YouTube which reinforces the everyday learning we do such as counting the light poles on our walks, naming colors of the clothes as I fold the washing or reading the Sesame Street shapes book.

I have embedded the numbers, shapes and colors video below for you to review and show your youngster if you choose as part of their learning.

Happy Play Times :-)

NUMBERS TRAIN

SHAPES TRAIN

COLORS TRAIN

Doctor, Doctor - Childhood Imaginary Play

Cough, Cough goes Annabelle & Scarlett as we jokingly say to them 'oh that's a terrible cough do you need to see Dr Wong' who is our family pediatrician they giggle and tell me yes - I swear these children love the doctor :-)

But one of the reasons why is from the age of one onwards our doctor said to buy them a doctors kit and doctor dress up. The reason for this is it made them more positive about seeing the doctor because it becomes a normal part of their play which in turn is also great for setting up the imaginary play skills children need to develop.

And then just this recent weekend I saw a little boy at the playground who was 4 wearing a full doctors scrub outfit trying to play doctor with all the kids around and proudly declared to me he WOULD BE a doctor when he got big :-) 

Playing doctors, policeman, fireman etc... really is wonderful for little ones as it is something they see in their everyday life and can relate to and it is also important to remember it is never to early to encourage this type of play and to make tools accessible to them to get lost in another role and world.

What are your thoughts? What do your little ones love imagining they are and at what ages? 

Happy Play Times :-)

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 :-)

Learning New Words

A quick post today about toddlers and pre schooler's learning new words.

And it is to have a copy of books such as 'My First 100 Words' or a 'Big Book of First Words' truly they are a must in any home of toddlers and pre schoolers.

We use this version and it is a well loved, favorite activity for the girls to go through - if we ask them for a book they drag this out currently nine times out of ten.

Children love to pick out familiar pictures, name objects and pointing out objects they don't know for you to name so they can learn new words all important components of developing speech and learning to read.

Does your house have a similar book? Did your little ones benefit from them?

Happy Play Times :-)

Similar One Hundred Word Books From Amazon That Your Little One May Love

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.

Let's Jump like Little Bunnies!

Do you know one of my favorite things I love seeing my daughters trying to master currently?

Jumping! It is more a bounce but gosh they love to do it and they practice with such diligence :-)

One of the games I am playing with them at the moment to help them jump but also to help them listen to instructions is 'Hop Little Bunny'

The premise is they lay down on the ground and pretend they are sleeping while I sing...

See the little bunnies sleeping till it’s nearly noon
Come and let us gently wake them with a merry tune
Oh how still, are they ill, wake up soon

Then we start with a great gusto in waking up to ...

Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hopHop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop 

There are other actions to this song such as birds and alligators but we currently just do bunny however all the words can be found at Bus Songs.

And believe me this is also great exercise for the little ones another added bonus.

What are some of your favorite action songs to do with your children. We would love to hear!

Happy Play Times :-)

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 :-)

Green Light Red Light Playtime Fun

A fun game to play with your older toddler or pre schooler is the traffic light game.

My girls are a little young to understand the concept fully but we did this the other week at one of our playgroups and they understood the older children moved and stopped so if you have younger ones it can still work if they have an example to follow.

Essentially the concept is you stand at a point in a room where your children have space to move so a lounge room, hallway or entrance is probably good - or better yet get them outside to play it!

You call green light they move forward, when you say red light they must freeze in the spot, then again call green light etc... until they reach you and then you chase them back to the beginning and start all over again.

It is a great energy burner and a fun way to help listening skills and learn instructions.

We hope you have fun with this one.

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 :-)

Our Favorite Old MacDonald Clip

So we are currently in the throws of loving animals, learning their sounds and imitating them.

I searched through You Tube trying to find an appropriate Old MacDonald clip but they were either to cartoony, to boring and the kids wouldn't be interested.

Then I cam across the Fox Pail version and it has everything you could want, cartoons, but real life animals on the farm and realistic sounds they also love Jack the dog who makes an appearance.

They are giggling, clapping and mimicking along with it and I feel it has helped their understanding and development in addition to the other animal activities we do.

We have embedded it here if you want to check it out and show your little ones.

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 :-)

Piles of Pipe Cleaner Fun

This is an activity I did with the kids on a rainy day.

I call it Piles of Pipe Cleaner Fun.

It was essentially getting a bag of pipe cleaners in my bag was 100 (hence the piles) which I picked up at a dollar store and then used various shaped bottles.

The aim of the game was to pick up pipe cleaners and fill the bottles up with them - while of course they were exploring all the other wonderful things about pipe cleaners.

For the children it is a fantastic activity for fine motor skill development, concentration and they were fascinated by the colors, textures and bendy shapes they could make with the humble pipe cleaner.

The activity is inexpensive as you already have the bottles lying around home and the pipe cleaners are only a $1 if you search.

The age range is probably 1 year old to 2.5 year old would enjoy the fun 

Would love to hear how your children find it if you try this idea out. 

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 :-)

Taking the Time to 'Just Be' in Play

I am a big one for giving my children the time to enjoy the simple things.

Children need stimulation and engagement but sometimes they just need to stop and watch the world go by.

So this is a just a quick post to remind us of taking things back to basics with children's play.

One of our favorite quiet play times is to just sit and look out the window and see what is happening below us. I point out interesting sights or name objects but we are taking the time to just be...

What simple quiet activities do you like to do with your children?

Happy Play Times :-)

Little Artists...

We have recently begun to explore the fun and creative past time of art creation.

Starting with a recommendation from a friend who was taking her children to an art class called Mucky Pups at around 14 months of age we decided to give it a go!

Below you will see the girls very first art class project - which I think this Mommy will proudly displayed on my fridge forever!

We now also brave getting down and arty (or should that be dirty!) at home.

Some of the projects we undertake with our toddlers are:-

• Hand Prints - We make a cut out of my hand and then dip their hands into it and make hand print patterns on my hand shapes.
• Finger Painting Fun.
• Bubble painting - This one can be a bit messy but you get dishwashing detergent add your non toxic child friendly paint (Crayola do a great line of this) to a plastic cup then Mommy's or Daddy's blow through a straw until it is bubbling over and then the kids take the bubbles and make patterns on their paper.
• Using different objects to create patterns and textures - Items such as toy cars, spatulas, paper towel rolls, straws, sponges etc...

Painting is a great way for kids to learn important skills such as:-

• Exploring Creativity
• Development of fine motor skills.
• Improvement of Self Esteem through accomplishment of task.
• Having FUN!!

It really is a great bonding activity for you to do with your kids and from my personal experience their attention level is captured longer than with other activities.

Do other people have ideas they wish to share with us on their kids painting activities and things we could all try? As always we would love to hear your feedback.

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 :-)

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 :-)

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 :-)