Needle Felted Carrots

Last week I attended a needle felting class to learn how to make fruits and vegetables.

The teacher had samples of carrots, beets, pears, and a pumpkin.

We started learning a carrot and I was so excited by how easy it was that I decided to make a little garden of them for my grand daughter.

She loves them.

We found a couple of rabbits for her to feed, instead of herself.

The carrots are different sizes as they do take time to make and I wanted to get 5 done during class time.

So one for her and

one for the rabbit.

She harvested all the carrots with no problem until she reached the last one.

It was stuck in the ground and she pulled and pulled

but it wouldn't come up.

She let go and signed for help.

I showed her how to use two hands.

One to hold the container in place and the other to pull the carrot.

Yay it worked!

When she was finished feeding herself and the rabbit she put all the carrots back into the garden.

Ready for another picking tomorrow.

Individual Smoosh Painting

We did an art activity with the Little One and her cousins last month.

Start with a canvas board and give your little one pieces of tape to stick down.

I think this was her favourite part of the activity.

Next squeeze paint all over.  I chose the three primary colours.

Then cover it with Saran Wrap and tape it on the back.

Finally put it on a flat surface and let them smoosh.

When they are done take the Saran Wrap off, let the paint dry a bit and then peel the tape away.

The Results!

 At the same time that the Little One was painting her even younger cousins were starting.

It was a beautiful summer day so we did this outside.

They are just crawling and I noticed that they used their whole bodies more than their older cousin.

Occasionally they would stop to try a pinch and a poke.

Then head off crawling again.

Their mom did the tape work for them.

Another Recycling Gift

Do you recognize this?

If you've been to a hospital lab and had blood tests you might recognize that it is the foam that the vials stand in.

Last time I was there, the last vial came out and she threw it in the garbage so I asked for it.

I thought it would be perfect to hold the Little One's crayons.

We showed her how to stand the crayons up in each hole.

Look how she moves and reaches and controls where she puts the crayons. 

 Lots of drawing has been happening.

The holes work well to help move it too.

Try it!

Singing and Signing, What Fun!

Here's a video of my grand daughter and I signing the song

On Top of Spaghetti.

She is 19 months old and communicates through voice and signs.

You may notice that some of her signs do not match mine and that is because her fine motor skills are still developing.

One example is the sign for 'spaghetti'.  It is made using both baby fingers but she uses her thumbs.

As your baby begins to use sign you will recognize how they sign each word.

Memory Matching Game

A new card game.

I took pictures of items around the house.  

Items that the Little One are familiar with.

I took pictures of eight things and made double copies.

The game is just like Memory or Concentration.  You turn over one card then pick a second if they are the same you keep them.  If they don't match you turn them back over.

 Signs that we worked on were same, different, your turn and my turn.

 The first time we played we used four matching pictures, so eight cards.

Then second time we played we used all eight pictures for a total of 16 cards.

 Opa joined in the game.

She was pretty excited to find two the same.