Things to do: painting

Outside is the perfect venue for painting. Finger paint, poster paint or tempura paint are all non toxic and (mostly) wash out. Wear old clothes and lay out sheets of paper around the painting area.

I've used mini muffin tins to keep the paint separate as well as a small commercial paint pan, but you know what? The colours all get smushed together in the end anyway and there's no point in trying to establish rigid rules in play for this age group.

The best paint holder so far has been a large plastic plate that helped Gwen to swish it all around, with fingers and brush. Merely applying paint to the paper was a distraction. the main work was created "in the moment" on the plate, eventually mixing it all up into a greenish sort of mud. As with many modern day artists the "work" was in the creating not the finished product, and it was wonderfully fun!

The painting pages are hung on the line and provided a good chance to reflect, snuggle in the sun and talk about the activity. I let her know I loved the way she mixed the colours, swished the brush and stamped her foot into the final product.

Things to do: play with your chickens

Chickens are a delight to keep. The take your scraps, unwanted caterpillars and grass clippings and turn them into eggs. Gwen loves to feed them long pieces of grass through the bird netting as well as help tipping the scraps over into the pen. Sometimes we just sit and watch them, or collect their eggs. On rare occasions, when the chickens have been let out for a bit more grass in their diet, she tries to catch one.

it's not an easy thing when you're not very fast on your feet and it actually takes a great deal of co-operation from the chicken in question. I'm amazed they let her do it.

As a Thing To Do chickens are wonderfully diverse and their eggs are fantasic when fresh. you get to indulge in things like 6 egg custard, meringues, frittata and 2 egg pancakes without worrying about the cost or if the eggs come from happy chickens. they have us very well trained.

Things to do: forage in the garden

An edible garden is a wonderful thing. From the age of 9 months Gwen loved to crawl into the strawberry patch would come out dripping with red juice and full of smiles. Since then the blueberry bush has done it's job and countless herbs have been picked, sampled, sniffed and (almost successfully) fed to the cat.

Gwen particularly loves chewing parsley, smelling sage and rolling tarragon flowers between her fingers.

Peas are in season at the moment and she loves to pick and crunch them, not bad for a little girl who's just starting to get picky about her veges.

Things to do: bath crayons

Bath time is fun and by definition clean, so why not introduce a bit of washable mess and play with some multi-coloured bath crayons? offer one colour at a time and encourage your little artist by drawing something yourself, or asking them to draw you one of their favorite things.

Gwen had been playing with them for months when one day she drew a scribble and proclaimed it a duck. Sometimes she simply enjoys making marks and painting herself or her bath toys. it's a delight to watch.

This evening she drew a snake (dense squiggle that "hiss"ed) and a huge spiders web of wobbly circles("web!") in green. The spider appeared above it ("spy!") and received several kisses. She's 18 months and has just started labeling everything.

If you have some paper handy you can press it onto the wet image to keep a copy. you'll end up with a multicolored bath, especially if you only clean it once a week (but it's cleaned more often if we're in the garden a lot!). Sometimes the faded hues all run together and it can be beautiful.

Things to Cook: the best pancakes ever

1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 cup plain flour
2tbs puffed buckwheat
2tbs puffed amaranth
2tbs puffed millet
2tbs sesame seeds
2tbs almond meal
2tbs sugar
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
a handful of chopped fresh parsley (sans caterpillar, that went to the chooks)
enough water or milk to make it into a pancake batter

mix it all together and let it sit for about 10 mins.

heat up a pan, add a little sunflour oil and cook. flip over when a few bubbles break the surface on the edges. eat warm. serve with a couple of rashers of bacon. no other toppings required.

Things to do: Cooking Together

Having a not very hungry day? Sometimes cooking together is the perfect way to get them to eat.
Mini Banana, sesame, sultana & orange muffins

2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
90g butter
1 banana
2 tbs sesame seeds
1 sml lunchbox pack of sultanas
1 orange

1. Cream the sugar and butter.
2. Add the flour, egg, milk
3. chop the banana and add to the mixer, or mash it in by hand
4. add the sultanas
   
5. grate the orange peel till you have two good pinches and add it.
6. add 1 tbs orange juice or more to taste
7. add more flour if necessary
   
8. spoon into a mini muffin tray and cook at 180 Celsius for about 10 mins, but keep an eye on them, they burn quickly.
   

Serve hot or cold. They freeze well.
Encourage lots of taste testing at all stages of the process. You can even mix with your bare hands if you go outside and have a hand washing station prepared, or even use this brew for a kind of play dough for awhile, experimenting with cookie cutters, rolling pins and colourful food like blueberries and strawberries to color it.

Out and About: A view of things from afar

Mt Gravatt lookout is reasonably close to us and it's recently been revamped with a native garden, playground and cafe, all surrounded by protected bushland and chorusing kookaburras. It's a great place to visit and explore. When Olma recently came for a short stay we all took a trip up the hill.
Gwen particularly loved the native garden and it's murals as well as the two butcher birds who delighted in eating some discarded biscuit crumbs.
It had been raining and she also indulged in another favorite pastime: stomping. We'll have to visit again soon.