Sensory Crawl 👉🏼 Swipe for a video! 🥰 Rory has really been enjoying ‘touch & feel’ books over the past few weeks - every time I turn the page, she slaps her hand to the page with the different textures. I thought a DIY Sensory mat would be a great extension on this to explore more textures & build on her language; describing what she might be feeling as she crawled across the mat - soft, smooth, hard, bumpy, squishy, etc. 🌈 I taped a few different materials to a hole-y piece of cardboard;
Scarf Pull 🙋🏽♀️ An invitation to practice Balance & Coordination. Rory (8 months) is climbing & pulling herself up onto everything. 😳 This invitation was perfect for encouraging her to pull herself up to stand, balance, reach & pull the scarves from the tubes. Other benefits of this activity include bilateral coordination - meaning she is using both sides of her body at the same time; holding the couch cushion with one hand to balance herself, whilst reaching & pulling on the scarves with
Sensory/Busy Board 🌈 A collection of items that require little hands & fingers to work in different ways, to build fine motor & problem solving skills. We’ve spend the last couple days working on this Sensory Board for Rory. She’s still a little young for most of it, but I have no doubts she will love it over the coming months & years! Most of these items I already had at home. I included items that made different sounds & added some textures too! All the items I used can be found at hardware
Baking Paper Pull 🖐🏼 An invitation to crawl, reach, pull, move & stretch for Rory (7 months). 🤩 As soon as she spotted something new on her mirror, she was off! This is such a simple activity, with 2 supplies you may already have at home; baking paper & painter tape! You could use ribbon too; I opted for baking paper for the auditory element. She could hear the crackle as she scrunched it in her hand & it was also safe for her to mouth, as it doesn’t tear easy. Of course this is still a sup
Cardboard Box Photo Blocks 👋🏼 Help little ones stay familiar with family by making some Photo Blocks! Rory (7 months) has loved rolling, climbing on, knocking & kicking these blocks around the Playroom today; whilst naming & waving at each of the pictures. 👋🏼 We very briefly saw (from a distance) Rory’s grandparents over the weekend after over month of not seeing them; she got so upset & confused by the unfamiliar faces. I think it broke all of our hearts! 💔 These Photo Blocks are a sweet
Duplo Wall 🌈 Another invitation to practice Balance & Coordination; I put our baseplate up on the wall this week to encourage Rory (8 months) to climb up & pull off the Duplo. We’ve got one of our couch cushions in the Playroom for her to practice climbing, standing, reaching & balancing. Other benefits of this activity include bilateral coordination - meaning she is using both sides of her body at the same time; holding the couch cushion with one hand to balance herself, whilst reaching, pul
Hiding loose parts in a muffin tray with Post-it’s! 👋🏼 Low prep, no mess; my favourite kind of activity! This is perfect for developing Object Permanence - this means your baby understands that (you, or) an object is still there even if they can’t see them. 🙈 From here, it also develops Cognitive Development, Memory, Exploration & Language Development! 🙌🏼 Typically I’d do something like this with felt & double sided tape (or velcro if you want to get crafty) for her age (8 months) instead o
Introducing “clean up” to our pre-nap routine; how I am beginning to encourage Rory to help me pack her toys away. 🤪 Rory (9 months next week) is on an ‘eat-play-sleep’ routine with 2 short naps & 1 longer one throughout the day, with a 2/2.5 hour wake time. She knows that before she goes down for a sleep, we read a couple of books. As she gets older, I am incorporating “clean up” to our pre-nap routine. Of course at 9 months old, my expectations are LOW. 🤪 For now, what is important is bein
Puzzle Piece Sticky Wall 🖐🏼 Yet another wall activity because all this little girl wants to do is climb & stand! 😍 If you’ve been following us for a while, you would have seen that sticky walls are one of my favourite activities to set up for little ones as they are SO versatile. Suitable for various ages from 6 months through to Preschoolers, just pick something suitable for your little ones age. You can find some more ideas here 👉🏼 #acraftyliving_toddler If you haven’t heard of a sticky
Foil Blanket ‘Tissue’ Pull - a fine motor invitation to PULL 👌🏼 • Has your little one ever got to the tissue box or wipes container? 😬 You might want to keep them well out of reach after this activity. 😉 I cut a few tissue sized pieces of foil blanket stuffed inside a shape sorter (you could use a tissue box, wipes container, jar, etc) for Rory (8.5 months) to pull. A great fine motor work out. She did this over and over! This was an activity I felt comfortable to have out all day for her
Rory has just discovered that toys exist off the mat... which is great, but also the second she crawls off the mat she vomits on the carpet... every. single. time. 🤦🏽♀️ Loving our Playroom at the moment. It’s our happy place, especially when the sun shines through in the afternoon. #safeathomenotstuckathome @mikro_australia I might need to cover the entire Playroom in mats to save my carpet. 😂 Tagged as many things as I could - tap pic for tags. 🥰 #acraftyliving_playroom
Celebrating Diversity through your Bookshelf & Play Space 🌈 Our hearts are so heavy after all that has come to light over the past weeks. Our eyes have been opened. I don’t have all the right words but know we are listening, learning & reflecting on our privilege that we get to learn about racism, rather than experience it. We are ensuring that we actively model inclusion, acceptance & love for all as we raise our daughter knowing her own Maori & Scottish heritage, as well as all cultures & r
It’s been a while since I’ve shared some favourite books for Babies & Toddlers, so here’s 3 recent additions to our book shelf that we are loving! 🌈 My Little Book of Animals, Words, Colours {Priddy Books} We all know that reading books builds language & communication skills but did you know books with real photographs of people, animals & objects allows your little ones to make pre-language learning connections; associating what they see in books with what is seen in every day experiences. ?
It’s GIVEAWAY time! 🥳 If you’ve been following us for a while, you’d know for years we have used & loved our @mikro_australia Play Mats for all kinds of Play. With Rory learning to climb, stand & walk, means there have been many falls; the soft & squishy mat absorbs the impact of tumbles & saves her little noggin’ getting (yet another) bruise! 😋 They’re so easy to clean meaning they’re perfect for messy & sensory Play; a must have for every household! The winner will receive a Geo/Scandi reve
Grapat Ring Pulley 👉🏼 swipe for a video! 🌈 Yet another kitchen supply lost to the Playroom! Here’s a cooling rack with ribbon & Grapat Rings attached. Rory (8 months) had lots of fun discovering movement with this; perfect for developing an understanding of Cause & Effect; when she pulls down on one ring, the other side goes up! 👆🏼 Other benefits include hand eye coordination & fine motor skills. I’ve had this up for about a week now - at first all she wanted to do was pull hard on the ri