The Monarchs are Hatching

Our driveway is lined on one side with swan plants which a few weeks ago were covered in hundreds of monarch butterflies. So many, we thought they might eat all the plants and then die. They then started to climb up the fence ready to build their chrysallis’ and some even crossed the driveway to hang on the fence on the other side. One very brave caterpillar trekked all the way to the plant outside our front door.

The boys have spent hours on the driveway watching and cataloguing the caterpillars and occasionally helping them across the driveway so they didn’t get squashed by a passing car. Last week we had little green crysallis’ hanging under every horizontal post on the fence. The interesting thing was that they hang upside down as caterpillars for almost a day before the crysallis is built. Then, before you can blink, they are covered in a green sac.

We also ended up with a few hanging inside on bulldog clips as they were accidentally relocated closer to the house by a small person (luckily without squashing them). 

Now the butterflies are starting to hatch out. Photos and video below:

Monopoly for Future Success

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post (sounds like a confession). We’ve been moving house so things are even more chaotic than usual. My eldest (5) always has a half hour or so of ’special time’ after my youngest(3) goes to bed each night. He usually chooses to draw pictures or make lego creations, but the other night he asked to play Monopoly.

I remember reading ages ago that many successful business people and entrepreneurs played Monopoly a lot as children and they thought it had played an important part in teaching them about the world of money and business.  Thought I’d have a quick check to see if I could find a reference to this and found this book – Everything I Know about Business I Learned from Monopoly  in which Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Donald trump and other reflect on the lessons learned from “the world’s greatest board game”.

I Like to Move It Move It

You’ve all probably noticed how cold it’s been lately and with all the rain, the kids have had a lot of inside time. Fine for a while but little boys need to jump and run so you soon get wrestling and fighting and destroying the house type activities.

As soon as things get out of hand, we put on Connor’s favourite CD really loud and the boys boogie all over the lounge to the music, making up crazy dance moves and then trying to copy each other.

Our current favourite, which is brilliant for dancing to is the Madagascar Soundtrack with “Move It, Move It” sung by Sascha Baron Cohen who plays King of the Lemurs in the movie. The CD also features “Stayin Alive” by the BeeGees, “What a Wonderful World” and a whole lot of other classics.

Buy Madagascar Soundtrack (NZ$ with free delivery)

Could be your chance to teach the kids some of your own dance moves before they’re too old to be embarrassed.

The Auckland Domain – Let Them Run

Last Saturday we met family at the Auckland domain for a picnic and chance for all the grandkids to run around and play together. I have been to the Museum recently and driven through the domain years ago but was really blown away by the sheer size and variety of things to see and do at Auckland’s “Central Park”.

For little boys who like to run, here are some of the places you should check out:

• The duck ponds
• The Wintergarden and fish ponds
• Large groves of trees (perfect for hide and seek)
• Huge fallen down tree (near duckpond and perfect for climbing on)
• Autumn trees (throw the leaves up in the air)
• Band Rotunda

Photos from the weekend below:

  

The kids had a real ball. No playgrounds…just their imaginations.

Learn to Spell the Fun Way

Now that my eldest is at school, we have daily spelling words to learn. Last week, I talked to a friend who has 3 boys at school and she mentioned an idea she got from a show which was airing on TV3 called “Make Your Child Brilliant“. The book by Bernadette Tynan is about bringing out the strengths and talents of kids in different ways.

Teach boys how to spell – using plastic or magnetic letters. Put them all in a basket and have the boys fish out the correct letters for the word they are spelling. They can lay the letters out in front of them, put them on the fridge or wherever else suits. Apparently one show profiling a boy who loved swimming, had all the letters in a sink full of water for him to fish out.

Here are a few products you could use:
Click on the links to purchase in NZ$.

Klutz Magnetic A – Z Book
A brilliant cross between a book and a refrigerator door. Three of this book’s pages are heavy-gauge steel, silk-screened with helpful art.

Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Set
Children can place any one of the letters into the magnetic letter reader to hear fun phonics songs that teach the letter name and sound and everything attaches securely to the refrigerator!

Alphabet Flash Cards

Bus Stop Game – Learn Counting

The boys played a really fun game called “Bus Stop” at a friend’s place a couple of weeks ago. It is really interactive, lots of movement to keep boys interested and teaches the kids counting, adding and subtracting without even realising they’re doing it.

You put the round centre part together like a big puzzle. It has pictures of a circus, houses, train station etc all around the inside while the outside has spaces with bus stops on them. Everyone playing gets a big bus and throws 2 dice. You count the total to move around the board, then count the total of one dice to find out how many people to take on or off the bus.

There is a whole box of different people to choose from which makes for more fun. We played with two 3 year olds and they loved deciding who should get off the bus first. They counted everything slowly but got more confident as the game continued. We have a few different games from Orchard Toys and they are all educational and very good quality. Our other favourites are Shopping List, Traffic Jam.

• Buy Bus Stop Game (NZ$)
• Greedy Gorilla Game
• Shopping List Game

Birthdays, Bunnies and Butterflies

If you live in Auckland and are looking for a fun place to take kids of different ages, Butterfly Creek, next to Auckland Airport is fantastic. It is located on farmland and you can’t believe you are anywhere near a city or airport.

The Butterfly House

On the way to the butterfly house, you pass the big saltwater aquariums with lion fish, nemos (clown fish for the uninitiated), Dorys and lots of others the kids recognise. They are also setting up a tarantula exhibit, due to open soon. Inside the butterfly house is hot and steamy with over 700 free flying exotic butterflies. They zoom by, landing on plants and often on people too. You can see crysalis’ hanging up in rows and we even saw a butterfly hatching out. The kids were totally fascinated.

   

The Train

The train is a favourite with the boys in particular. The kids sit in open-air carriages and do 2 cicuits of the property and lake, going past birdlife, sheep and other animals from the farmyard. The driver blows the whistle as he comes through the tunnel too and there is a really coll little platform where you board then train. This visit the kids were a bit older so they got to go ina carriage on their own without me (very exciting).

The Farmyard

This consists of an outside farmyard with goats, piglets, cows, horses, chickens, alpacas and sheep and a big barn full of rabbits, guinea pigs, ducklings and chicks. Staff have a number of animals out at a time so kids can sit quietly on the haybales and pat a bunny or hold a guinea pig on their knees. It’s a great place to calm everyone down and the kids just love interacting with all the baby animals.

   

Marbles Still Roll – Indoors and Out

Having grown up with only a sister, I had never understood boys fascination with marbles. Nice colours, roll them along the ground, not too exciting… or so I thought.

Indoor Marble Runs

The first thing which happened was that we got given a marble run for Christmas. It is wooden and can be set up in a miriad of different ways. Following the instructions very carefully, I helped the boys set up a modestly sized run one rainy day at home. The first 2 test runs ended in disaster but we adjusted a couple of ramps, added plastic lids with a lip at the bottom of each chute to catch the marbles as they came hurtling down and we were away.

The kids (and myself I must admit) had so much fun popping the marbles in the top then watching them spiral down to go through a series of holes to eventually pop out first one side and then the other. We later progressed to seeing what happened when we put lots down at once (slight traffic jam in one spot) or putting a plug at the bottom of the spiral, filling the whole thing with marbles, then pulling the plug. Very exciting. I think I finally understand.

• Buy a Marble Run Kit like ours…
• Fridgits is a magnetic marble run for your fridge…

Outdoor Marble Runs

Last month we met some friends at Lloyd Elsmore Park in Pakuranga so the boys could practice their cycling on the paths and track criss-crossing the park. They had mentioned meeting at the Marble Run but, I have to admit, I had no real idea in my head what it would look like. We found it on a grassy knoll directly across from Howick Historic Village inside the park. It is a beautifully landscaped area with metal sculptures and a series of open metal pipe marble runs amongst the native plants and flaxes.

The boys popped their marbles (the big ones are best) in at the top and ran across wooden bridges, down steps and around garden ( sometimes over it in their excitement) to collect their marbles at the bottom. There was an occasionally search in the bushes for marbles which had gone off the rails but overall heaps of fun in a location including miles of bike tracks, great picnic spots, a FREE heated swimming pool complex and a really fun kids playground. Needless to say that we’ll be back.

DIY Marble Runs

Of course this led me to ask my husband if he could make a marble run in our garden (when we get one). He thinks yes, but possibly in wood and maybe raised off the ground slightly so bark and other bits can’t cause marble jams so easily. Will keep you up to date. A guy at Lloyd Elsmore mentioned that his wife, a landscape designer was creating a marble run in a client’s garden but I can’t find anything on the internet about it. I would love to see photos if anyone has any.

Apparently marble runs are very good for developing kids maths  and problem solving skills.

Help for Left-handed Kids

My son who has just started school has always been left-handed but until now I haven’t really given it too much thought. At one of our school visits, another Mum mentioned that there is a Left Hand NZ website where you can find out how to best teach a left-handed child to write. They also have a great range of left-handed products to make everyday tasks like using scissors a breeze.

I then started to notice how much harder some things are for left-handed kids. Doing dot-to-dot type drawings, the child’s hand is covering the next number so it is really hard to keep up any sort of flow. Even writing letters is more difficult.  I visited the website finally today and it is well worth a look. Some of the tips like changing the angle of the paper when writing could make a huge difference to kids learning to write.

• I filled in a short questionnaire to receive a free information sheet for Parents of left-handed children
• You can order a stationery set with left-handed scissors, ruler, pencil sharperners etc
• There is a Handwriting Workbook for parents and teachers
• There are other products such as wooden spoons, potato peelers etc

This article about Handwriting by Nikki Soames is also worth reading.

DIY Art and Craft Table

My boys have never been much into art and craft. At kindy and pre-school, they were always the ones who ran straight outside to the sandpit and monkey bars.  All that changed a couple of months ago.

My Dad made a little table with a removable top on it for the boys room ages ago and it was always covered in trains, cars, trucks which mostly just sat there. I decided to clear it all off and turn it into an art and craft table. Going on experiences at kindy and Pennie Brownlee’s book, I set it up like this…

What You Can Have on your Table

• Chair at each end
• Laminated mat at each end
• Box of paper in the middle with different colours, weights, types etc
• Plastic cups full of felts, pencils and crayons
• Water colour paint box with a little dish for each boy
• 2 ice-cream containers full of bits like bottle tops, ribbon, popsicle sticks etc
• A box of old birthday cards and wrapping paper for cutting out
• Glue, scissors, staplers, hole punch, sellotape

It worked like a charm. The boys sat straight down and started creating. Connor (3) spends most of his time cutting and gluing, then embellishing with his favourite red, yellow and orange pastels. Kyle (just turned 5) makes all sorts of amazing pictures with paints, felts and other bits. He painstakingly writes his name and MUM on all of them plus asks me to write other words for him to copy.

The kids use the table everyday now and my only problem is where to put all the lovely creations.

This train table is exactly like the one we use. It is made in New Zealand. Buy table (NZ$)