Today we
received a lovely new building set from Learning Resources to review called
Candy Construction. It’s a set of rods
and connectors that can be used to create all sorts of different
structures. It’s great for developing
Ethan’s Creativity as well as his Physical Development in putting the pieces
together.
The set is
available to buy from the Learning Resources website and sells for £27.95. The recommended age range is from 4 years and
up, so Ethan is a little bit young for it, but still got a lot out of it. The set itself is really well made and good
quality, it comes in a box with a carry handle (which I really appreciate, I
like a place for everything to go) and I definitely think it’s good value for
money.
Ethan was
excited to open up the box and unwrap all of the little pieces, he doesn't eat
a lot of candy, but he did recognise the pieces that look like chocolate and
thought that was quite funny! The first
thing that we tried to create was a car (of course) which was quite fun, and
then we made a house. I followed the
instructions in the booklet that’s included, often doing one side of the house
first to show Ethan and then giving him the opportunity to copy what I had
done. He was able to follow my
instructions and put the pieces together, only needing help to click them in as
he’s not quite strong enough to do it himself.
We had a lot
of fun building with this set, it’s lovely because it’s very different to the
other block construction sets that we have.
I look forward to building lots of different things with Ethan and
seeing his creativity begin to shine through.
· * This
has been a review post, Learning Resources sent me the Candy Construction set
to play with and write an honest review. For more about our review process, please
click here *
Today Ethan and
I used a kit to make Gruffalo cookies, it seemed like a good first attempt at
baking since Ivy has been born. Ethan
was able to help out with a lot of the process, which helps him to understand
how food is made as part of his Knowledge and Understanding of the World.
Ethan was
very excited to be doing baking today, he loved stirring in the ingredients and
making the cookie dough. He then helped
to roll out the dough and cut out the Gruffalo shapes with the cookie cutter. Then after the cookies had baked he helped to
make the icing and to decorate the biscuits with chocolate sprinkles to look
like the Gruffalo’s fur. He was so proud
of the finished cookies and couldn’t wait to eat one, and then to give one to
Daddy when he got home.
For the first
few weeks of Ivy’s life I wasn't concerned about tummy time at all, as I
carried her around all the time and she often slept on me, so her head
definitely wasn't in the same position in her crib. But now that she’s having more alert time and
spending more time laying down, we've been trying to do a bit of tummy time
everyday to ensure that she doesn't have any flat spots on her head and to
encourage her to build up the strength in her neck to lift her head as part of
her Physical Development.
Instead of
just laying her down face first on the mat, I've started off by using a rolled
up blanket to prop her up and get her started.
She’s a bit too young to be playing with toys on the mat to keep her
occupied, but I have placed a mirror in front of her to tempt her to lift her
head and admire her beautiful reflection.
I didn't have a tummy time mat for Ethan and don’t have one for Ivy either, I would be curious to know if other people have found that they make
much difference.
Ethan is
absolutely loving building with Duplo lately.
We have a few sets already, and the very lucky boy was bought a new set
from his Nana when we were at the mall the other day. I would have to say that it’s his favourite
so far, it's the My First Police set, with the police car and the motor bike, and he is playing with it
constantly! Lego is great for his Creative
Development as he creates worlds for the Lego men to live in.
It’s been so
much fun watching him learn to build with Lego, we gave him his first set when
he was 1 ½ and he could barely even stick two pieces together. Watching him build towers now is fantastic
and makes me very proud. I've also
signed up for a free Lego magazine, which is aimed at older children, but Ethan
still loves when it arrives. It came
today, just in time to distract him from a tantrum and keep him and Nana busy
while I made his lunch. He loved
flipping through the pages and trying to recreate the structures he saw, he
made a lovely traffic light and a skateboard today!
For Christmas Ethan was given a climbing frame from his Aunt, it's the Little Tikes Double Decker Superslide. I don't know how I haven't written about it yet (distracted I guess) but he absolutely loves it! Finally being in a house with a garden means that we're lucky enough to have the space to run around and have a big climbing frame. It's great for Ethan's Physical Development, climbing and manoeuvring his way around. It also makes life bit easier with 2 children, as it means that Ethan can still play outside and burn off some energy on the days that things are just too hectic to leave the house.
The climbing frame arrived in a enormous box, and Ethan had to wait patiently, seeing the box everyday for a week, before we were able to put it together. Ethan's Daddy and Grandad spent an entire day constructing the climbing frame, and it definitely wasn't as easy as it looked (their little helper may have slowed them down slightly) but it was all worthwhile to see Ethan's face light up the first time that he went on it.
He loves climbing up the sides, going down the big and small slides, through the tunnel, playing with the steering wheel and pretending to have a shop on the lower platform. It's just great to see him having so much fun in his own backyard.
Today we went
shopping at the Westfield mall in London.
Our main aim was to buy some cute new clothes for the kiddies, but of
course it’s nice to have somewhere for Ethan to play between shops to keep him
happy. This is great for his Personal,
Social and Emotional Development as he adapts to playing in different areas
with unfamiliar children.
We went to
the play area, and I have to say that I was a bit disappointed. For such a large shopping mall, the play area
is very small. It’s also right in the
middle of the mall, which means it’s in the way of people trying to walk
through and there’s not a lot of space to park prams. Unfortunately, Ethan wasn't keen on it. It was very crowded and he very politely kept
saying that he had to wait to do things until another child was finished. He walked through the tunnel a couple of
times, but then he was done. He was much
happier to sit on the electronic cars and things that are in the small
passageways across from the lifts.
On a side note,
I have to say that I do really like the family rooms in the mall. They are quite big and spacious for changing
nappies, there is a big tv and another ride on car that kept Ethan occupied
while I changed Ivy and there are also private feeding rooms.
