Glow in the dark activities and facing fears

The Black-
light torch we used

My greatest discovery so far... tonic water glows under a black light! Over the past few weeks we have been doing some glow in the dark activities. Here I will show the ones that have worked and let you know the ones that have failed! I wasn't very interested in chemistry at school but I sure am now. Learning with the boys is amazing.

I was so thrilled to find out that something so simple could bring a new edge to our activities. And, even more so as it would be something that helped my youngest feel more comfortable in the dark. My eldest has always voiced his fears loud and overcome them quickly but my youngest seems more concerned about things and not so quick to adapt (poor guy hardly has a chance with his big brother around)! The dark was starting to be an issue I was going to have to address and these activities have helped my son to feel confident and enjoy the dark. At first he was quite reluctant but once his brother was set up I was able to work slowly encouraging him to enjoy the moment - and now - no stopping him!

Here are our activities:

First we tried just pouring and enjoying the glow! This was a great starting point as it glows brightly and the boys were able to splash it about in the bath with little concern for cleaning up. They had a variety of containers, jugs and funnels and spent quite a while transferring the liquid from one place to another. And yes, a few drops were consumed but neither were keen on the taste!

Next we tried cornflour and tonic water. This was another super glowey one. The white in the cornflour helped to keep the vivid glow and the boys had a great if messy time playing with this old favorite!

Then, I tried to be a bit more adventurous and made playdough. Big fail! I think the flour and salt are too dense to allow the tonic water to glow so we had to turn the lights on for this one! I also tried letting them draw white crayon pictures and letters but again these didn't really glow. Perhaps a white marker pen on black paper would work but we haven't tried that yet. 

So back to something that worked. Cornflour and tonic water in food bags to do drawing and writing (thick consistency and strong food bags)! We made up some sensory bottles using cooking oil, food colouring and tonic water. I made up several to explore colour and the reaction between the oil and water then decided to try with tonic water to see if it worked under the black light. It did and it was nice clean fun watching the bubbles go back and fourth in the bottle. 

Finally, and probably the most impressive, was Tapioca or Sagu seeds and tonic water. Tapioca is a popular food here and these are known as sagu here. But I see they are available from health food shops. I soaked the sagu in the tonic water for a couple of hours then added more water so they were 'swimming' around. They glowed so bright and they got quite sticky so the boys could press handfuls together. The next night I didn't add extra tonic water and the stickiness intensified so they could make really big 'snowballs'. Then I left the tapioca pearls to dry out. The next day they were able to have  dry play session in the dark and this was really great too as they threw up handfuls and searched to see where it landed!

Sagu seeds

This has been such a brilliant discovery, made even better as it helped my youngest son overcome a fear. We have had so much fun with it and will definitely be repeating these activities in the future. As always I will add a quick conscience note on food use and let you know that the quantities we use are minimal and all in the name of safe play for the littlies. 

If you have any ideas of ways to use our black light further please let us know as we just love it :) 



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My toddler won´t wear....(insert item)

Having worked for many years in the early years setting, i´m used to children turning up in clothing that is inappropriate for the climate or incorporates some form of super hero! Toddlers love to assert their opinions and choosing their own clothes is one way they achieve this. But what about plain refusal to wear something?

We have had an ongoing battle with our oldest son about wearing a hat. Perhaps this seems like no big deal but if he has to be in the 40 + degree sun for even a minute or two, I feel much better if his head is covered. Now winter is approaching and hes had several colds already (the joy of shared germs at nursery), i´m keen for him to use a hat, especially on those windy days when ear infections are almost guaranteed.

So how do I get him to wear one? I searched the net for a fun hat design and made him a personalised hat! He´s quite into dinosaurs lately and I was fortunate to stumble across a simple pattern. I got some fleece material and a couple hours later his hat was ready! So far hes tried it on a few times and has worn it for around 20 minutes at a time so here´s hoping i´m on the right track. Making or buying an item that is linked to your toddlers latest craze usually has a positive impact on the amount of use it gets. I made sure my boy had a look at the designs I had found and got him involved in the making process so he was sure to know it was a hat especially for him. 

And doesn´t he look great?  

Find more fun templates here and create your own cool hat

Repetitive behaviour - why toddlers love repetition

Toddlers often become obsessed with one toy, book, song or action and will repeat something again and again.

 

Our boy just loves trucks!

 

The reason for this behaviour? Well, we all love to be good at things and be an expert on a subject. This is a toddlers way of perfecting a skill and becoming an expert. When our son began throwing, it was a difficult time for us. With a new baby too it was unwelcome behaviour and we had to address it quickly to avoid accidents. Of course we told him off wen he threw toys and have even taken toys away for periods of time when he continued to throw them. But this wasn´t enough. Throwing is an important skill in the right context. So we gave him opportunities to throw. Taking him to the muddy field where there are huge puddles to throw stones in and to the beach where he can throw shells into the sea or the forest where he can throw sticks for the dog to chase. All these activities allow him to perfect his new skill while diverting the throwing from inside. He also had a purpose to his throwing (a splash in the puddle or sea, the dog chasing the stick). We now have small balls in the garden which we throw around and use in the paddling pool and the amount of toys thrown in the house has reduced dramatically. And, I must say, he can throw better than his mummy right now!!!

 

His other obsession is trucks. He just loves them! There is a road close to our house where trucks pass by all day long. His favorite passtime is going for a walk to watch them. We have put a chair by the window so he can get up and see the trucks anytime he likes and when we are out we let him go near parked trucks so he can touch te wheels and marvel at the size! He has become a truck expert!

 

 

 

To allow him to develop his love of trucks further I made him a simple game. I cut out felt squares, rectangles and circles in two colours (you can do more colours but so far I haven´t had time)! Then I covered a piece of cardboard with a piece of material and the game is ready! Now he can use the shapes to create his own trucks. It´s a great way to encourage the learning of shapes and colours too and very inexpensive and quick to make.

And then there were two - preparing your toddler for the arrival of a sibling

So the hospital bag is packed. The crib is awaiting. But what about your toddler? The often anxious expression and the sudden increase in tantrums signals something, but what´s wrong? ´mum what´s going on´? How you prepare your toddler for the arrival of a new baby can significantly reduce the fear, anxiety and general stress that may be felt by all family members. Here´s our story so far.

 

The first thing we have been sure to include is that we do not make any changes to our son´s routine in the weeks leading up to and the few weeks after his brother´s arrival. Any change in routine is difficult to adapt to but this will intensify dramatically with the arrival of a new family member. We began potty training over 10 weeks before the due date and changed the bedtime routine slightly to incorporate the new baby when he arrives. This includes my husband getting up in the night and having bath time in a slightly different way. Our boy adapted to these changes fine and now they will be much smoother when his brother arrives. I´m sure he may digress slightly with potty training and become a little more insecure at night but if we continue to be consistent, these changes should be minimal and he should adjust to his little brother much more calmly.

 

Preparing for feeding time! This was a major concern for me as I plan to breastfeed and as you probably know the first weeks can be slightly horrendous even without a demanding toddler at your side demanding attention. I remember my son took around 40 minutes to feed in the beginning and its not easy or convenient to move around whilst feeding your new baby. First I sat down and thought about our day. The baby will probably have around 8 feeds in 24hours three of which will be overnight (before bed, in the night, first thing in the morning) so I would only need to solve 5 feeds. If my husband is home from work in time for the evening feed this is reduced to thinking of 4 feeds. So not too bad. Getting the baby on a rough 3 hour schedule should leave us calmer. But that's still 4 lots of 40 minutes and you know how long 40 minutes is in the life of your toddler. I figure one feed can be with a movie or tv time as we watch some tv during the day so I can see how the day is going and use the tv time during the most erratic of the feeds. So that leaves 3! My son loves reading, so books will be piled high next to the sofa where I plan to feed. I have made some mystery bags for him to explore by my side. These include random objects beginning with the same letter. So our ´S´ bag contains a small saucepan, a star, a seal, a sun and some shells. This should keep him busy and also give him more language skills. We have a variety of finger puppets too which he loves to put on his fingers while we sing nursery rhymes. We have the famous ´Nemo´ fishing game which I should be able to play one handed. I will have to remember to have his water bottle and perhaps a snack handy too so that he has everything he needs for the duration of the feed. I think we´re ready to go?!

 

The next area of planning concerns where the baby will ´play´. We intend to put the baby on the floor from an early age to allow him to gain all the necessary and important motor skills. As he will move very little at the beginning we have got a blanket which he will lie on. Our son came with us to choose it and when we got home we put it on the floor and explained to him that the baby would be here and it was the baby´s space so he must not walk on the blanket. We all practiced walking around the blanket and it was a fun activity for the three of us. Our son was so excited about the blanket however, he just wanted to touch it and pick it up. So, I got him a blanket too! He now has his space too! We practiced walking around it and he is allowed to run over it and pick it up and choose where it goes and this has been a huge success so far. Lets see how we get on when there is a little baby on the other blanket!!!

 

We moved the moses basket into our room early and prepared our sons room for the arrival of his brother. This was probably one of the biggest changes and we did have a slightly adverse reaction from our boy. We have decided our second son will also sleep on a matress from an early age and sleep in his brothers room for nap time to start with in the hope they will be able to share a room when the time comes to move the baby out of our bedroom. We got a second matress, pillow and covers. We explained to our son that the baby would sleep there when it comes. He didn´t seem to mind the second matress and we refer to it as the baby´s bed and he never asks to sleep there or seemed to have any negative feelings towards it. The moses basket was a slightly different story! It had been in the spare room since our son had finished with it so he had seen it around but was never very interested. As D day got closer we prepared the basket. We washed the sheets and sorted the matress and gave the basket a light wash and told our son the baby would sleep there - so far so good. A few weeks ago I moved the furniture around in our bedroom, had a good spring clean and moved the moses basket up there too. I din´t think to talk too much about it but when it came time to have his bath our son went into our room and saw it. He looked for a moment then turned away. I picked him up to show him inside (all ready for baby) and explained the baby would sleep in mummy and daddy´s room when it was very tiny. He wouldn´t look at the basket and pushed away from me to go down. I put him down and he had his bath and got ready for bed but did seem a little quiet. When we put him to bed that night he cried a lot and woke several times in the night not just that night but for several nights. Clearly he was unhappy about the idea of the baby being close to us but over time he has adapted and (for now, baby still hasn´t arrived) seems fine with the basket in its current location! This is a great example of why preparation should start weeks in advance. I was just imagining if this reaction had happened the night we brought the baby home. Newborn crying + toddler crying = mummy sobbing!!! So glad we avoided this (though that's not to say we won´t have an adverse reaction the night we do bring baby home)!

 

The next big thing was arranging for someone to stay with our son while we are at the hospital. I have never spent a night away from my son and am extremely anxious about this. I will be in the hospital for two nights which is standard procedure here in Brazil so some hefty planning was needed! My husband will be present at the birth and for as much time as he possibly can. He is allowed to stay at the hospital with me but we think it may be too much for our son to spend more than the necessary nights without one of us as he is still very young. Really we were at a bit of a loss as to who we could ask but have a wonderful neighbour who will be stepping in to help us out. She has two older girls so has already been through it all before. She speaks English so he will have no problems and she sees him quite regularly so he won´t be confronted by a stranger if he wakes in the night or we have to dash off during the day. Also her girls are wonderful with him and he enjoys their company very much, completely forgetting about us when they are around. These factors leave us very calm when thinking about leaving him for the necessary time and know that he is in good hands.

 

So far these are the steps we´ve taken to reduce the potential stress of the baby´s arrival. For sure we will have some tense moments but if we keep in mind that it is temporary and that it is fear causing them we will be just fine. Our son just loves giving his ´baby´ or my tummy cuddles and asks several times a day (probably comfort from me more than the baby but its very sweet either way). Throughout the pregnancy we have spoken to him about the baby and he seems to love him just as much as we do. Not we anxiously await his arrival in the next few weeks and will let you know if our preparations were adequate! Any tips would be great so please leave us a comment :)