A Lesson in Animal Camouflage

Remember those water beads that I got at the Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago? Well, the kids keep requesting to play with them, so...we do.

I decided to talk a little about animal camouflage today? Which animals blend in? If they blend in, how does it keep them safe?

"It's like they are hiding. They are right there, but you can't see them. Foxes can't see them either. Foxes eat lots of things." -G

 It was fun then then Babyzilla dumped the bowl! Oh my. TOTALLY toddler.

I noticed that the water beads were a little slimy and a couple had black on them. Time to wash our hands really well and pitch those water beads.

Note to self : water beads can go bad.

The animals are from Safari Ltd Pets Toob. I bought it, because we are still planning our Pigeon's Pet Shop soon. But these little animals were the perfect size to camouflage.

Have a fun and playful day
Mel

My Safari Ltd Wishlist

If you have read any of my blog posts or seen my Pinterest boards, you know that I LOVE Safari ltd. toys.  They have a line called Incredible Creatures (see my St. Patrick's Day card post) which are bigger and chunkier than their other lines.  If they asked me what animals to create (that would be a dream!), I already have my list ready.  I definitely think they need a duckling and a chick for Spring.  I would buy 2 or 20 :).  But maybe some more birds and woodland animals would be good, too.  G age 4 helped me come up with this list.  (I am such a bad influence on her hee hee). So, if you are reading this, Safari Ltd., you know that you have big fans here in Ohio and a couple suggestions!

Have a fun&playful day

Mel

My Safari Ltd Wishlist by melanieshanks on Polyvore

Safari Ltd St. Patrick's Day

Hey Everyone!
I am sooo excited to share this with you.  I am making St. Patrick's Day cards for my nieces and nephews, my daughter at college, friends and family with these incredible Incredible Creatures from Sarafi Ltd.

First of all, these toys are amazing!  If you need the perfect birthday gift...here you go.  Just look at their cute expressions!  I paired them with some St. patty's Day themed buttons and click, click, click. (Yep, I am a bit of a shutter bug!)

I printed these photos at CVS with a white border in a 4x6 size - they make the perfect postcard. Here are a few of them.  I wrote corny sayings on them like "Lucky to have you" or "Lucky to be your Auntie Mel".

The lady at CVS smiled when she saw them and asked, "What are you doing with these?"  I explained and she said, "Oh! my nephew in Indiana would LOVE these."

I mean, who wouldn't smile if they saw these in their mailbox?

Sending out a little HAPPY this St. Patrick's Day!

I think I am going to get one of those calendars that celebrate all kinds of uncommon holidays like International Pancake Day or Wear Silly Sock Day and make cards for EVERY holiday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Have a fun and playful day!
Mel

Reggio to Rainbow

I have always loved the Reggio approach to education.  I incorporated a lot of its aspects into my classroom once upon a time.  The above photo was on Pinterest and comes from atelierpourenfants.blogspot.fr  I was so inspired by it.

I went in search of clay and decided to go to my local dollar store, because it's inexpensive and didn't know how well the project would go over. They only had rainbow clay and that's okay. 1) G loves rainbows and 2) it was cheap. I didn't want to invest a lot of money in clay if G was interested.

But G WAS interested - intrigued even.  She loved molding the clay aka tree bases and adding different twigs to make the trees - big and small, straight up or "very branchy".

Roo, who is 20 months, also LOVED making the trees.  She spent about 30 minutes making her trees.  She likes to do everything that big sister does, but also this is her kind of project.  She likes to figure things out.

The above was my Rainbow Forest.

This above photo is G and Roo's Rainbow Forest.  G has plays to expand her Rainbow Forest.  "We need to make it big enough for all the animals of the world." She said.  I had to go pick up 4 more packs of Rainbow clay.  In between breakfast and preschool this morning, we were making more trees for the Rainbow Forest.  I smile, because I think in true Reggio fashion, we have a project lead by the child's interest and it is a project that it being added to and growing with the child's thoughts and imagination.

Have a fun and playful day
Mel

My Big World Etsy Shop Launch Today!

 I launched the reopening of my Etsy shop today!  I am so excited to share this with you.  It's been a labor of love (and some crying, too!) for the past several months.

 There is a saying that goes something like, "there is good in the bad."  When my father in-law was diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer in September 2014. that's all we could think about.  I needed a distraction, something to take my mind off this.

 I needed a project.

 So in between visiting them and helping out and working, I started sewing.  It was therapeutic and a good distraction.  I am passionate about early childhood education (as most of you know) and I am a self-proclaimed geek when it comes to small toys like Schliech, Safari Ltd., Papo, Peter Rabbit, Tinkerbell, etc.  So why not combine the two?

 Playscapes are landscapes for imagination.  All hand-stitched with tiny details, these wool felt play mats are designed to encourage children's imaginations.  Maybe Peter Rabbit is in Mr. McGregor's garden again or...

 Maybe the fairies are hiding their treasures in this cave or the animals are having a camp out or...

 Maybe Hello Kitty and her friend are tending to their garden in the forest beside a stream of lily pads.

 Or maybe Mama Bear is watching her cubs play with their toy boat by the stream.  The possibilities are endless really.  Each whimsical playscape is all hand-stitched and filled with tiny details like tufts of grass, enchanting gardens, caves, twisting streams, hollow logs, stone pathways, 3D bridges, mossy patches, ponds, etc.  I have 4 to 6 hours in each playscape, but I love how they turned out.

Each one is approximately 15 inches by 15 inches.  Ready to ship. Ready to play.  There's a link over to the right hand side that will take you to my shop.

Have a fun & playful day!
Mel

Feed the Animals

Ever see those signs that the park or zoo?   DO NOT FEED the animals!  Well, I am going to turn that thinking upside down.  I am saying feed the animals - well, maybe just the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks.  It's late winter, supplies are low.  It could be a fun activity to do with the kids.  Set some seed out then maybe make some birdseed playdough found on two-daloo.com with Safari Ltd birds or  cookie cutter shaped bird food found on apartmenttherapy.com

Stay warm and have fun!

Have a fun & playful Saturday!

Mel

Craft Day Tuesday - Play with Your Food!

I am fortunate that all the kids that I know love their veggies!  My girls growing up loved mixed veggies - both cooked and raw.  A certain 4 year would choose broccoli or carrots over chips! Let's make food fun.

We made these simple veggie puppets with just a few items - veggie cutouts found at the dollar section, googly eyes (googly eyes make everything more fun!), popsicle sticks, tape, and a marker.

Tape the popsicle stick on the back, glue on the goggly eyes, make a happy face and...ta-da! You have veggie puppets.

So cute, right?

Baby Chameleon from Safari Ltd decided to get in on the healthy eating fun!  The fruits and veggies are from Safari Ltd Toobs.

Safari Ltd's motto is "toys that teach" - it's so true!  There's so many things you can do with this fruit and veggies toob - sorting, counting, pretend play with little animals, garden pretend play, talk about foods from around the world...sooo many ideas racing in my brain right now.

Or you could totally make a fun lunch landscape for your little ones to devour like this one.

(Above photo Parents Magazine)

Have a fun & playful day!

Mel