Kiddley reader Anne Margaret at Ten Ten wrote in to let us know about this terrific activity – crayon cookies! She found the recipe in the book Scribble Art: Independent Creative Art Experiences for Children, (which has just been added to my wish list!). We are starting to accumulate a large amount of broken crayon odds and ends around here and remaking them into muffin shaped composite crayons seems like a fun way of giving them a useful second life. Thanks Anne Margaret.

Images courtesy of Anne Margaret.

Ralph’s World is the debut CD from Chicago musician Ralph Covert. Like the other kids CDs we love at Kiddley HQ, this one features a great collection (18 in all) of fun and memorable songs. Ralph’s original songs are supplemented by a few standout covers, including “Take a Little Nap (the disco song)”, an age-appropriate version of Get Down Tonight, and “Winnie the Pooh/The Wonderful thing about tiggers”. Many of the tracks feature kids singing along in supporting roles, which always seems to make music more enjoyable for AJ.

You can listen to the first four tracks in their entirety on the australian Ralph’s World site. Here are a couple of our other favorites:

09 The Name Song:

15 Drivin in My Car:

I love making up trail mix (or “gorp” as some like to call it) to put into a little bag and pack in AJ’s lunchbox. Trail mix is also great for adding to a travel bag for a long car trip, packing for a hike or serving up for kids to munch on at the movies, a sleep over or out camping etc. If you can get your kids involved in choosing the ingredients and helping mix it all together it is almost guaranteed that they will munch it down happily.

A great idea is to make a big bowl of your mix, and then scoop it into little snack snap-lock bags and then store them in an airtight container so they are ready to go when you need them.

I have been having a look at various recipes online and have come up with a long and clunky list of ingredients for you to scan through (see the extended entry) for ideas but I have also included some of our favourite mixes. I think the thing to remember that there are no hard and fast rules about what and how much to include in your trail mix – it’s all about personal preference.

AJ’s Bestest and most Favouritest
Sweet and Savoury combo
Any or all of the following:
Tiny teddies (replace with any other favourite mini cookie)
Pop corn
Lightly salted pistachio nuts
Lightly salted roasted cashews
Dried apricots
Dried apple
Saltanas
Puffed Rice
Shredded Coconut
Mini Marshmallows (sometimes – and don’t add these to store, add them at the last moment)

Kiddley’s Crazy Mix (for special occasions)
M & Ms
Sultanas
Dried banana chips
Small pretzels
Various nuts but definitely including peanuts, brazil nuts, pistachios and cashews
Plain corn chips

The Kiddley Classic (for healthy folks and every day munching)
Peanuts
Cashews
Dried apricots
Dried apple
Puffed corn
Sultanas

Asian Explosion (for kids into spicy yumminess)
Japanese rice crackers of various kinds
Crispy chow mein noodles
Spicy Peanuts
Wasabi Peas (hot hot hot!)
Indian chickpea crisps

The extended mix for you to choose from
Pop corn
Soy nuts
Dried cranberries
Dried blueberries
Dried pineapple
Dried apple
Dried cherries
Dried apricots
Sultanas
Assorted nuts, either lightly salted or unsalted
Marshmallows (mini or otherwise)
Chocolate chips
White chocolate chips
Peanutbutter chips
Butterscotch chips
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Raisins
M & Ms
Mini pretzels
Breakfast cereal
Rice crackers
Chickpea chips
Wasabi peas
Corn chips
Pretzels
Shredded coconut
Crispy chow mein noodles
Small cookies
Puffed corn
Puffed rice

Recently I found a brochure in my Maternal, Child Health centre which was advertising classes to teach you and your baby how to use sign language to communicate before it can speak (as young as 6 months). I was quite intrigued. I did wonder if teaching babies to sign might have adverse effects on normal speech development, but the things I can find on the web all say that there shouldn’t be any problem with this at all (though perhaps they all have a baby sign language video to sell so who knows…)

So if you feel a strong desire to find out what your baby is thinking or needing then perhaps the two of you learning a few signs won’t go astray.

Here’s a photo dictionary of signs you could try (candy?? you’re asking for trouble if you teach them this one in my opinion!) or you could make up your own. The recommended dose is to start with between three to twelve signs and see how you go from there. When you are doing each activity make sure you show your baby the sign and eventually your baby will understand and make the sign themselves. Consistency is the key – use the same sign each time you do the same activity. It might take weeks or even months but eventually they should cotton on.

Some resources:

Signing with your baby has some great tips, how-tos and the afore mentioned excellent photo dictionary – ultimately trying to sell products and classes (FYI) but a really imformative site.

An ABC (US) news health report on baby signing.

Comments on Blogging Baby from parents and carers who have tried it. Definitely worth reading through.

Baby Signs website (via Blogging Baby)

Kiddley reader (and good friend) Lara sent us a couple of suggestions today for encouraging kids to get their daily tasks done.

She pointed us to DLTK’s Custom Chore Chart, an online generator which lets you set up your own chart ready to print off and pin-up so that your kids can check off their tasks as they complete them. It’s a simple little html table thing, but doing it this way is a lot easier and quicker than ruling up your own chart on a piece of craft paper.

Lara also says:

“I’ve also been making hand drawn simple task cards which I have laminated and will put in the order I want the tasks completed with a reward at the end. This is so I don’t have to repeat myself 100 times to get anything done – ie. ‘get dressed, shoes and socks on, brush your teeth, wash your face then TV on’.”

If you like the sound of organising your kids with task cards, their is an in depth discussion on Technomom.com which tells us about one family’s system for rewarding (and penalising) older kids with tokens for completing their incredibly detailed, daily task cards.

For parents who are keen to avoid handing out the usual bag of sugary-artificially coloured and flavoured junk that seems to be the main-stay of the take-home party favour bag, we have got together a few alternative suggestions.

Firstly, the Kiddley reader who triggered the idea for this post is Carol of Kidding-around. Instead of letting her kids distribute sweet-bags or donuts to class mates on birthdays (their preschool, like our preschool, has a no-homemade-treats policy), they put together mixed music CDs of their favourite tracks. The kids design the cover art (above) and make a copy for each class mate. This would also be a wonderful gift to hand out at the end of a party to each guest. Check out (sm)all ages for some tunes to include that go beyond Barney and the Wiggles.

I also happened upon a list of favours for a 1st birthday party on Sprout. Rubber ducks, bubbles (to watch rather than playing with alone), sand toys (pails, shovels, rakes, molds etc), homemade t-shirts, egg-shakers and beach balls.

Other ideas for things to include in a favour bag (of varying expense):
Coloured chalk
Rubber balls
Sunglasses
Water squirters
Coloring books
Novelty erasers
Mini paint sets
Stickers
Pocket flashlights
Notebooks
Balloons or balloon animals
Plastic animals
Plastic, paper or shell leis (flower necklaces)
Packets of mixed flower seeds (for a spring party)
Gift certificates (such as passes to movies)
Polaroids of the party
Jacks
Keychains
Disposable cameras
Crayons or colored pencils
Beaded necklaces
Marbles
Yo-yos
Lip gloss
Plastic costume jewelry
Mirrors
Temporary tattoos
Hair bows and clips

Clever ways to packages up party favours:
How to make a party cracker
Make a surprise ball – Megan’s were made for Valentine’s Day – but you could fill these with lots of different things

Tiny Pinatas (all from Not Martha)
Decorate a small tin (a small potato chip or nut tin would be perfect) and fill it.

Update: please respect your country’s applicable copyright and fair-use laws when putting together your party favours CDs.  Thanks!