Bath toys

Bath toys... Who hasn't had the problem of toys that get mouldy inside because it is near impossible to empty all the water?

Recently I came across a brand Olie&Carol that makes bath toys from 100% natural latex. I am very much interested in those toys and I'd love to get a boat and a duck:

 But I still need to find a shop close to me, or at least an online shop in Germany that would have both in stock.

In the meantime I am getting rid of the other toys and I am not buying new ones. The other day though, I decided to make some new toys for the children's bath time:

T. (2,5yo) tried to practice cutting in a straight line while I made some more advanced stuff ;)

In the end I did not get time to get much done, but at least they have a few elements to play with for now. Elements that include numbers from 1 to 5. At some point I'll make more numbers and letters, as well as signs: + , - , = etc.

What do your children play with in their bath?

Summer calendar

In a month N. will turn 3. She is such a big girl now, it is amazing how time flies. In September she will be going to the Kindergarten and spend her days there instead of staying home with T. and me. It will be a drastic change, but she seems keen on the idea. Last week I told her about her birthday AND the Kindergarten. I also got her a book:

Since then, every single morning she wants to read that book and she asks if today she is having her birthday and whether tomorrow she is going to the Kindergarten. When I tell her that no, we still have a while to go, she asks if instead she can go to school then - she knows about school because her uncles are still young and going to school ;) .

This was driving me mad, so after talking with my mother about it, I decided to make her a calendar. She would be able to cross every day off the calendar. While browsing the web a little bit, I got onto a blog "Idées à nous" which has a lot of activities to offer for pre-schoolers. The one I picked was the Summer 2014 Calendar. I printed the stuff and got N. to work on it. She was over the moon. She loves drawing, colouring and DIYing ^^

Ever since we finished the calendar, she is less insistent about what is happening when. It is definitely good for my nerves ;)
We have included the different summer birthdays as well as our trip to the grand-parents (symbolized by two planes since I will be flying with the children).

What do you think of it?

Learning letters and numbers

N. has been interested in learning her letters and numbers for a while now. She likes the notion of sitting at the table and doing to "work" - how often during the day do I hear "I want to work Mummy!".

She now has a set of three working boxes:

 I found some material online on French pre-school websites. The first and smallest of the boxes contains the alphabet printed on paper and plastified:

I like that the letters are written in different ways, that there is a corresponding word as an example along with a small image.

The second box is for counting:

I have always been terrible with numbers and maths, and I am hoping to help my children love this particular subject (my husband being a scientist, he probably will be helpful too :-p ). I like the visual: the number, how it shows on a hand and the dots.

And finally the third box, the biggest, contains hours of work on my part! I made N. a felt colourful alphabet that she can manipulate at will. Most letters are at least double, some are even quadruple! Only the Q and X are single. I based myself on how often I think letters come up in French words (language I use with N.).

 N. and her little brother are big fans of the felt letters. She can identify the A, P, and O quite well, but the other letters are still a blur. I guess it is normal at her age. She finds it fascinating though when I use the letters to form words and tell her what is spelt.

I would be interested in other ways of making learning fun for children. So do not hesitate to share your knowledge with me with a comment please! :)