Tag Archives: fun

Guess, smash and splash -kids art activity

Posted on February 18, 2016 | Leave a comment

A messy art activity, teaching kids geometric shapes and colors while enjoying and having fun. All you need is

large white cardboard
watercolors (washable ones)
geometric shapes paper cutout (circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle, rhombus)
toy hammer

Squirt a generous amount of different colors of paint all over and cover up each one with a geometric shape.

Let the kids name the shape and predict which color is underneath, then splat it with their hammer. The color splash will prove them right or wrong!

This educational activity in the same time so fun and crazy. You will hear so much laughs and cheers during the process. It helps your kids practice their knowledge (geometric shape and colors) and develop a love for the creative process, enlarge their brain and set them up as creative thinkers in all walks of life. Without forgetting the use of the hammer requires fine motor skills; let’s exercise those tiny muscles!

Once your kid is done smashing all the shapes, pull them off to reveal an awesome art piece to frame!

It’s a messy game, better be done outdoors if you have space and if not, cover well the things you want to protect from the paint splash. Try not to stress about the mess and let your kid enjoy. Of course shouldn’t be a war zone as well, set the rules and boundaries and leave the space for exploration and amusement. It’s washable paint at the end!

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.

Pretty and practical homemade food ideas for picnic

Posted on November 5, 2014 | 7 comments

It’s now the perfect time for outdoor activities in Doha. Everyone wants to spend as much time as possible and take advantage of the weather especially it won’t be for so long.

I heart picnics! what’s better than throwing a fun picnic with the family and friends, enjoying good homemade food while surrounded by nature. The best thing, we didn’t have to go far to enjoy our picnic, 10 minutes drive and here we are in the beautiful museum park. It was full of people picnicking, but the space was so big that everyone got his private green spot.

I know lot of you find it hard to prepare food for picnic and prefer to buy them ready packed to save the hassle. I will give you great food ideas, so easy and pretty that will make you think twice before having take away.

The aim of this post is not giving detailed recipes but ideas of practical food for picnic and how a small detail makes it look fancy and creative. Yes why not, you can have a casual picnic with beautifully presented food that looks fancy.

1- Grilled Chicken and avocado sandwiches. Very easy to prepare. You can use any type of bread, personally i like beignet bread for its soft texture. Stuff it with the grilled chicken, avocado slices, iceberg lettuce and mayonnaise. You can use any stuffing you like, wrap the sandwich with craft paper and tie it with a twine.

Eh voila the pretty and creative sandwiches yet practical. Now it’s easy to put them in a container or even a zip lock bag.

2- Spinach and Emmental quiche. Any type of flat food prepared in a baking dish and cut in geometric shapes is very easy to be stored, if you don’t like quiche you can have pizza, kibbeh bil sanyeh, tarte….

The best part of lunch is when everyone shares his food. If you are a group of people, no one has too much to prepare, distribute the tasks! This quiche was prepared by my friend Hajar. It was delicious!

3- Pasta, crab and orange salad. Salads are always a hit in picnics. Great as a side or main dish if it has substantial ingredients. Easy to pack in a container and stays fresh up to 4 hours without a fridge.

Salads are colorful and cheerful. Long tubular pasta (casarecce), matching the shape of the crab sticks, orange wedges and corn. Yellow, orange and red go really well with the green backdrop. Serve it with lemon mayo dressing to go with the tangy flavor. There are open ended choices of salads. I am sure everyone has his favorite.

4- Hotdog puff pastry and cheese straws. Very easy and quick especially the puff pastry is ready made. It only takes the time of baking (15 mns almost). You can replace the hotdog with cheese or spinach.

Cutting boards are very practical and beautiful to serve the food. Jamie oliver was a big inspiration in this matter. In previous posts i showed you how to decorate your cutting boards for such presentations.

5- Marbled cake. There should always be at least one dessert to please your sweet tooth especially if you have kids with you. A basic but delicious cake is one option.

It’s so clever to bake them in individual molds for picnic. No need for plates and forks, each can have his part with no mess! One day I will share the detailed recipe (it is Cyril Lignac’s recipe) for this cake because it’s so yummy. Again thank you Hajar for introducing this cake to us.

6- Custard and jello in a jar. This was a fab idea for this type of dessert. You can use any mason jar you have at home, close the lid and here is the most practical dessert ever. It can be any pudding you like.

It was a fun day, we really enjoyed the weather and the green space. It was a great opportunity to play with the kids and unwind after a long busy week.

7 Comments

Posted in appetizers & salads, astuces, dessert, main dish, special occasions

Tagged blog, family, fancy, food, friends, fun, great food ideas for picnic, homemade, homemade food, how to do, jaymmy, kids, marmite et ponpon, picnic, pique nique, practical

Water balloons sensory play – bath time fun!

Posted on May 13, 2014 | 4 comments

Next in the sensory play series was the limitless possibilities of water play!

Toddlers love water, not only because of the familiarity of their womb environment, but also because it’s one of the most exciting thing to explore!

Giggle, spray, sprinkle, laugh excitedly, drip, pour, funnel tickle, drizzle… and the most fun one is SPLASH! Think of how rich and delightful water is as a play.

Who doesn’t remember water balloons from childhood? I filled about 20 balloons with water and placed them in the tub to extend the bath time fun.

Nady got so excited, he jumped on the balloons, wanted to grab them all at once, squeezing them, twisting them into other shapes and slipping them through his hands.

Water play, fosters learning in all developmental areas. It encourages the development of eye – hand coordination through squeezing, pouring or stirring.

Water play relieves tension by encouraging children to release their emotions. Nady was enjoying expanding the balloons. I tied the balloon to the tap and he was pulling until it splashes. You can hear a lot of giggles!

Water play is such a meaningful experience to introduce new words to describe the situation such as heavy, pull, splash… for instance.

Sprinkling was hilarious! I was enjoying the play as much as Nady. I loved his reaction!

Water play widens the sensory experience as kids put their hands in different textures and temperatures. Running water was like magic for him, he wanted to catch it, he stayed for a long time trying…

You can’t imagine how open – ended is this activity and how it provides opportunities for extended learning. After we burst all the balloons and wanted to end this play, i needed a transitional game to take him out of the water. I thought his stacking cups could help and he found a way to stay in the game. he started filling the cups with the burst balloons and pouring them from one to the other.

It was so hard to end the play! We really enjoyed it and looking forward for the next time with even more equipments 🙂

4 Comments

Posted in way to play

Tagged balloons, bath, bathtime fun, blog, fun, jaymmy, marmite et ponpon, sensory play, water, water balloons, water play, water sensory play, way to play

jungle playdough – Introducing the playdough to your toddler for a great sensory learning and fine motor skills

Posted on April 29, 2014 | Leave a comment

Today we are using the playdough we made yesterday. Click playdough recipe for more details.

Playdough brings out the fun and creativity in your kids, there are open ended games great for hands on, sensory learning. The first very basic game with the playdough consists of introducing the texture to just squeeze and poke . We are all sensory creatures, especially kids they use all their senses when learning something new.

Introducing playdough to your kids can start from age of 15 months. At this age they are not able to create shapes yet, so don’t expect your baby to grab it and start playing. It’s a bit disappointing in the beginning, he can throw it or reject it. Nady was giving me faces and keep on throwing it! You need a gentle introduction, that’s why putting his favorite toys with it can help for more fun.

Nady is learning colors and animals. Jungle playdough is a great fun idea for his first experience.

We started by creating the jungle and introducing the animals one by one inserting their legs in the playdough!

Adding some broccoli trees created a realistic atmosphere. As said Nady likes to taste everything, and he loves broccoli!

Poking sticks in the playdough was so much fun we used popsicle sticks. It’s a great way to encourage his motor skills.

We were shaping balls for him to poke with the sticks.

Mommy loves playdough too! It’s important to talk while playing and introducing new words like squeeze, poke, naming the colors or the things around us. Nady loves the music, we were singing all the time too 🙂

Daddy decided to introduce the legos as well (his favourite).

First he was showing him how to print the lego pattern then he filled them with the playdough and Nady was trying to take it out.

This way we extended more the fun, and we all participated in the play!

When you decide to introduce playdough to your baby or toddler, just make sure it’s safe and at a right pace without pushing too fast.

Easter and spring crafts for kids- beautiful bunny garland

Posted on March 25, 2014 | 1 comment

Two weeks ago we kicked off Easter spirit because we wanted this year decoration to be done by us. Usually this festive season coincides with the spring. Hello to the colorful crafting season!

Crafting should be fun, entertaining and instructive at the same time. My son loves everything hanging and dangling, so we decided to do a colorful bunny garland to decorate his play area.

To start with, you need to cut out bunny shape in different colors. Click on bunny to download a high resolution file of the cut out.