Category Archives: way to play

Adding fun to the traditional seeds planting on St. Barbara

Posted on December 3, 2015 | 2 comments

Lebanese traditions say; people plant wheat on St Barbara day as an act of sympathy with St Barbara who was hidden in a wheat field while running away from her father. Nowadays we don’t just plant wheat, we do lentils, chickpeas or whatever grain that grows nicely taking advantage of it to decorate later the Nativity.

With kids everything we do should be fun and attractive or they loose interest. To make this tradition more entertaining, i added to the cups where we planted the lentils, pictures for Nady and Joud’s face. Cut it on top exactly at the beginning of the hair to make the lentils stems look like hair.

And it was a good lesson on how we plant grains in cotton. Follow the images tutorial to see how we did it.

You will need cups, use the shortest possible so you won’t need to fill in with a lot of cotton. Make some holes in the cup to let extra water come out. Soak well the cottons in water before sprinkling the seeds. Don’t put them under the sunlight directly, in a shaded place where they are exposed indirectly to light.

I couldn’t find wheat to plant it so i only used lentils. But if you find wheat they will look much closer to hair.

Let your kids water them daily and watch them growing. They will love seeing green hair on their heads!

It’s a great lesson of patience as well. They will have to wait at least 10 days before having long hair 🙂

For those who were expecting some traditional sweets recipe, click on last year post for maakroun, and bon appetit!

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Posted in DIY, special occasions, way to play

Tagged blog, blogger, DIY, jaymmy, lebanese traditions, lebanon, planting seeds, qatar, St Barbara, way to play

Christmas tree advent calendar – DIY

Posted on November 26, 2015 | 2 comments

Here comes Christmas! The most beautiful and meaningful annual festival when happiness is a small word to what I actually feel. This Christmas comes with double joy, my family doubled in size; Nady and Joud my Christmas star.

It’s not early to set up the festive mood especially when it comes to Christmas decoration. Advent calendar should be ready by 1st of December, so if you are willing to DIY as we did, better for you to go ahead.

Last year we had a reindeer advent calendar, this year we created a beautiful cute forest of Christmas trees to start the countdown to the big day. A fun and simple craft to lay the foundation of a very exciting season. What’s better than the Christmas day is the anticipation to it.

First you need to prepare 24 green cones, made with 200gsm cartons. You can use different shades of green to give it a realistic look.

After all is done, i gave them to Nady to unleash his creativity. Give your kids their favorites materials and watch them being creative; pompoms, paint, washi tape, stickers….

For display, lay them on a white surface or use cotton to create snow. The sky is the limit, use any material for the mood you want to settle.

Now the fun part of this advent calendar is what lays underneath 🙂 Oh yes, sweets and toys. Who doesn’t love a daily surprise gift while counting down?!

If your kid’s age let you take the advent calendar to the next level, don’t just hide sweets or toys under the cones, put words like love, hope, faith….to teach them the real meaning of Christmas.

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.

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Posted in DIY, special occasions, way to play

Tagged advent calendar, blog, blogger, christmas, christmas tree, DIY, lebanon, marmite et ponpon, qatar, seasons greetings, way to play

Fingerprint art project – Surpriiiiise!!

Posted on November 19, 2015 | 2 comments

fingerprint art project

Nady loves the crafty projects especially the ones that involves art and colors. This fun activity takes art to another level. We created an abstract art piece that reveals a surprise at the end.

I started by taping off Nady’s first initial onto a piece of paper. I gave him a palette full of paint and asked him to fill all the paper with fingerprints, dots created by his index to practice finger isolation.

fingerprint art project

Finger isolation is a fine motor activity using one finger to perform a task that will reveal its magic later in writing, tying the shoes, typing on a keyboard and many other skills….

We spent fun time covering all the white spaces on the paper experiencing various colors, mixing and learning difference between dark and light colors.

fingerprint art project

When he was done I pulled off the tape to show him what he had created. He was so happy and fascinated. Process of discovering many types of art medium and the surprise element is so magnetic for kids.

fingerprint art project

Not only was it a fun craft to make, but it was also a great way to teach:

finger isolation (fine motor)
finger’s name (using the index)
colors
shapes (round and dot)
the letter “N”, his name’s initial
And counting

Nady liked it so much, he decided that this piece of art is going to be added to his wall of art.

fingerprint art project

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Tagged alphabet, art, blogger, colors, dots, fingerprint, jaymmy, kids activities, marmite et ponpon, name, points, way to play

Activities for your baby from 1-3 months

Posted on October 22, 2015 | Leave a comment

Most of babies spend the first month feeding and sleeping. At week 5, your baby is awake for longer period during the day, this is prime time to get acquainted with him. There are lot of things to do to support his sensory development and lay strong foundations for learning.

Your baby’s brain expands in size during the first three months, growing about 5 centimeters. HEARING your voice, SEEING your face up close and FEELING your touch are the best learning activities!

Hearing activities: After 4 weeks, your baby can tell the difference between familiar voices and other sounds, as he becomes a better listener. Talk to him using a lot of repetition, sing your favorite lullabies, fill the house with music without limiting yourself to children songs. Describe what you see around in the room or even if you have things to do, your baby will still enjoy hearing your voice from across the room.

Despite your baby is not able to add to your conversation yet, but you will be amazed how he becomes in tune with his environment, you will notice him looking to see where certain noises are coming from. He tries to communicate with coos, arms and legs movements and a charming toothless smile that will make you forget the sleepless nights and fatigue. Don’t forget to coo back, or copy the sounds he makes, he will like it and carry on the conversation 🙂

Seeing activities: Your baby loves looking at your face and playing eyes to eyes game. Get really close to him (he sees best up close), do facial expressions, play peek-a-boo type of games, shake a toy (rattle) or move his favorite doudou to see if he follows the movement. Take advantage of the changing diaper time and the bath time to play with your baby, you will be in a position where he can see your face up close.

As you know, unlike baby’s hearing (which is fully mature by the end of his first month), the sense of sight develops gradually over 6 to 8 months. At first your baby can’t focus farther than 20-30cm away, just the distance to the person holding him. That’s why you see most babies eyes at birth are wandering randomly or even crossed sometimes. Everything looks blurry in the beginning. At one month he starts focusing and tracking a moving object. At two and three months his brain learns to distinguish colors. As a result, he can now see bright primary colors and more detailed and complicated shapes. Encourage this development by showing him pictures and toys. Now his musical is more entertaining, not just for the sounds but for the hanging toys that he starts now stretching his hands to grab. Try also the mobile projecting light, he will be amazed every time it changes color.

Touching activities: it’s gym time! Gently move your baby’s arms and legs to exercise. Raise the arms above the head then down, bend the legs up and down or gently massage the joints, using the proper words like open, close, up and down…

Wiggle your baby’s finger and toes while counting them, clap your hands while he is curling his tiny hands around your finger. Most parents love how their babies curl their hand when they give them their index. Such a beautiful grip that warms the heart!

Have you ever danced with your 3 months baby?! hold him tight, put a nice music, turn and sway to the beat and enjoy! Make sure you are supporting his neck with one hand.

Give your baby a space to stretch and move his arms and legs. These movements can help your baby strengthen and tone his developing muscles.

Tummy time is essential from day one to help your baby grow strong. Experts find that babies who don’t spend time face-down often have some delays in their development of motor skills. On his tummy, he’ll start to push off with his legs, this is the first step in getting ready to crawl. Make sure your baby isn’t hungry or tired for the tummy time and don’t place him on a full belly to avoid spit up and acid reflux. The best time is after an hour from feeding.

Some mothers do these activities naturally, following their instinct, i believe our grand mothers and great grand mothers didn’t have access to internet or didn’t attend coaching classes and it’s amazing how they raised healthy and happy babies. Always trust your motherhood instinct and follow your heart. You are a great mother by nature 🙂

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Blotto art – foster your kid’s imagination

Posted on October 1, 2015 | 2 comments

A fun art project that always allured kids with its surprise element. What is really fascinating about blotto art is that each time your kids reveal a new painting; No two are ever the same.

To create a blotto painting:

fold a white paper in half,
open it to put drops of paint in the center,
close it again and rub gently the paper to help spread the paint
and finally open it to reveal your surprise blotto art!

Unfolding the paper was really fun! The look of surprise on Nady’s face was priceless. Each time and before revealing the painting, he was trying to imagine what it looks like. We did so many and it was hard to stop this project, Nady showed full admiration.

It’s a great fun project to fire your kids imagination. After revealing the final blotto paint, ask your kiddo what he can see and enjoy their creative imagination.

All parents should favor the imagination of their children and feed this power. It’s like revealing the natural genius in them. A child with a good imagination is a happy child. He is more alert and present ability to cope with life’s changes, and more likely to grow into a secure adult.

Imagination ignites the forces of creativity in your children. A creative child, is not necessary growing into an artist adult. Creative people see things in different ways and find solutions to problems others might miss. Problem solving and innovative thinking begins with the power of imagination. Leaders are creative people!Back to our blotto project, to extend the fun we decided to add objects to the paintings after giving them identity. We enjoyed sticking wiggling eyes, feathers, pompoms…

Leave the freedom of imagination to your kids, don’t force a yellow spot to be the sun, sit back and watch him spark his brain to forge imagination pathways of its own.

The first few years are really important for your children mental development, expose your toddlers to new experiences especially the pretend play to help them grow up as problem solvers.

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.