All Things Seussical

We missed out on Seussical The Musical, but I look forward to taking Jacob to see Horton Hears A Who. We love Seuss books, and a movie with a little story and a lot of music is always a favourite of ours. I've heard this is the case, but haven't seen it yet, so don't take my word for it just yet!

I always like taking the kids out on a "date", one on one. It gives them some special time with just mom or dad, and it's always the time that we get those amazing insights into what's going on in their little heads...

Some assembly required...

If you had trouble with the Away We Go train box, you definitely won't want to tackle this one:

Recycled Fun On a Rainy Day

Loopy Lava: fill 1/2 water and food coloring, and 1/2 baby oil. It produces a lava lamp effect when tilted.

Snow Globes: fill half with water and half with corn syrup. Add glitter, beads, paper clips etc. The corn syrup makes the glitter fall slowly for dazzling effects.

Delightful Discoveries (not pictured): fill with rice and small objects like dice, small toys, etc. As you roll the bottle, different objects will come to the surface to be discovered.

Once filled, simply fill the bottle caps with hot glue and turn them on. Let set until dry and you have a great addition to you sensory set! Set these bottles in a sunny window for even more dazzling effects!

What's in Your Glass?

Jacob used to only drink water and milk. A lot of milk. He was introduced to apple juice a little while ago, and now it's the only thing he wants to drink. He's very aware of my attempts to dilute the juice, and is NOT happy about it.

He used to drink smoothies for me in the morning (not a big breakfast eater), but not in quite some time.

So tell me. As we get into summer (really, I do believe it's coming back), what will your kids be drinking? Got any good mixes to send me?

In the Backyard

Summer camps start this week, and most all of you are doing Creatures in My Backyard. Here are some great ideas for bringing music outside. Thanks to Sarah of Loredo for these ideas!

1. Turn up the music and dance together in the backyard. No radio? Sing to your child or, even better, sing together as you dance. Dancing together helps with balance and coordination.

2.Load up the wagon or stroller with stuffed animals and have a zoo parade down the sidewalk, complete with homemade instruments and lots of animal sounds. Imitating animal sounds is a great way to help with language development.

3.Be sound detectives as you visit the park or walk in your neighborhood.Who can notice the most sounds? Who found the most unusual sound? Who heard the quietest sound? Listening intentionally builds attention skills that come in handy in school.

4.Look for outdoor objects that can be transformed into instruments. Sticks,
clean trash cans, pebbles, and sand all can become great soundmakers (and
help children think more creatively).

5. Overturned bowls make great drums in the wading pool. Add 3 or 4 bowls and a set of spoons to drum with, and you've got the recipe for a wading pool concert--not to mention building coordination and strengthening those finger and arm muscles!

Next Week!

The Vancouver International Children's Festival is on next week! Last year we didn't buy tickets to anything, we just showed up, and it was a blast. There is lots to do - musical exploration tents, a giant covered sandbox, a preschool tent, a clay tent, and lots more. It's well worth a trip over the bridge!


Bobs & Lolo, two of my favourite children's performers will be there. They have a new cd out, too!

Get Cooking!

Cooking with little ones often means big messes, but it's lots of fun too. As a bonus, they are learning all kinds of things:
- COUNTING - 3 eggs
- FRACTIONS - one cup of flour, 1/2 a cup of milk, etc.
- SEQUENCING - first we put in the dry ingredients, then we add the wet, etc.
- FINE MOTOR SKILLS - cracking eggs, not spilling the flour when stirring, etc.
- PATIENCE - you might feel like it's an exercise in patience for you, but 18 minutes to bake a cookie seems like forever!

Jacob (3) cooks us dinner at least once every couple of weeks. His favourite is scrambled eggs & toast, but he regularly makes pancakes, cookies, banana bread, and muffins.

Tomorrow I will have him help me make butternut squash and pear puree for his little sister.

Celebrating Innovative Technique

Do you think Mozart, Beethoven, Hayden & the like are rolling over in their graves or celebrating the current trend of playing pop music on classical instruments?

Check out this 80's classic on the violin. Owner of a Lonely Heart? I love it! (Was it the 80's??? I seem to remember big hair, dangerously large hoop earings, and shoulder pads...)

The Art of Minimalism

Can you believe people live in these apartments?
They are available for rent in Japan.
I think my dorm room at university was a little bigger than these...Can you imagine what their bylaws must be like? Whew! Pretty severe, I imagine!
I wonder if they come with a free session with a professional organizer?
Clearly, no children live here.

For those with a touch of wanderlust...

You gotta see this!

Matt is a regular Joe who travels around the world. At each stop, he makes a short film of himself dancing. Clearly, he wasn't trained in any kind of formal dance, but the joy he exudes is marvelous.

Take a moment to dance with your little one in the grocery store, the bank, the drycleaners. Maybe someone will join you. Maybe you'll just get stared at. Either way, it's good to get a little dance in your step!

Are You EPIC?

EPIC is a new kind of exhibition celebrating leading companies who care about the consumer. The community. The planet. And they're making great products and offering exceptional services that don't compromise style or function.

Join them this weekend as they introduce the new breed of environmentally friendlier, smart, stylish products and savvy services that allow shoppers to feel good about their purchases in more ways than one.


Take a look at the winning video from their competition here.

Have You Heard?

The North Shore's favourite Kindermusik educator, Jessica Hansen, sings grown up songs too! Not only that, but she and her sister write the songs. They haven't performed in a while, but we're hoping that when they do, they'll let us know.

In the meantime, you can check out their site and listen to a few clips here.

The Perils of Procrastination

For our Imagine That class on Saturday we were to make something that we might find in the city: a building, a person, an animal, etc.. We left our homework 'til Friday.

Jacob decided that he would like to make an ice cream cone (my pregnancy sweet tooth lingers on and I had taken the kids out for a cone earlier in the week). Little did I know, paper mache takes more than a few hours to harden up - especially when a 3 year old is in charge of the sloppy stuff. We tried using the hairdryer, but it didn't work.

So, we made a diorama of the aquarium instead. It's Jacob's favourite place to go in the city. A whole bunch of finger paint (and a second bath later), we have our project completed! (I didn't get the camera out in time. Today it is an empty blue box with holes on the top. It DID have aquatic creatures dangling on ribbons that one could pull up and down to make them swim. Clearly not child proof!)

Kate & Kiana brought their statues to class too. They were beautiful! Good job, girls!

PS: We used the hairdryer on the diorama too. Next time I'll look into the homework thing by Tuesday!

The Symphony!

If you haven't been to the Vancouver Symphony's Tiny Tots yet, you really must. We're off to see them tomorrow morning at the Queen E.



Linda & Lisa are early childhood music experts, and introduce the tiny tot set (4 & under) to the musical instruments found in the symphony orchestra. Four instruments are brought in at each performance and played by young, local musicians.

It's lots of fun - short & sweet. Tickets are available through the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra online.

Who Are You?

I took this personality test and was surprised by some of the answers. Not surprised so much as reminded of my priorities, I guess. It's quick - only 4 questions - but very interesting.

Try it! It might make you enjoy your weekend more...

Rediscover the Library

I heard about a great new feature at the West Vancouver Library! They have book bags for various ages. Rather than running around the library with babies and toddlers in tow, they have canvas bags full of 5 theme related books, a cd, and puppet. You sign out the bag just as you would a book. What a great idea!


The library also has some great books online. This isn't something I ever thought I would use, as I'm a big advocate of paper books (one of my pre-baby lives was as a book store manager). But it's really quite fun, and another way to get toddlers and preschoolers reading, tracking, and using fine motor skills.

Yay, You!

What a computer should do.
Click HERE to feel good.

(Enter your name, it's worth it!)

Finger Painting Gets Fancy!

It's cold and flu season, especially here in Vancouver apparently. Remember to keep your little ones at home if they're suffering from anything that oozes in technicolour. You are more than welcome to do make-ups during the semester at any age-appropriate class. Some classes are full, so make sure to call or email if you're coming to a make-up.

Here are some fun things to do with your hands if you find yourself at home with a whole lot of time. These pictures make me think of Zoo Train, one of my favourite Our Time camps! Have fun making all of the animal sounds with your little one.

Sharks, Turtles, & Octopi - Oh My!

Warren & I went scuba diving this morning. It felt great to get out there again - especially in the warm water!


White tip reef sharks lurking in the coral.


Lots of enormous turtles. Good news: they are no longer on the endangered species list, but they are still protected by State law.


A wonderful find! A little octopus that gave us quite a show!

And I was singing songs from Creatures at the Ocean the whole time!!!

Whale Watching

We've got some calmer weather, and so we went for a whale watching tour with The Pacific Whale Foundation. They have naturalists on board to explain all that you see (or don't see). We got lucky and had lots of breaching whales, some dolphins that came right up to the boat, and a bunch of sea turtles as we were coming back in.

Jacob liked the dolphins the best. Piper slept nearly the whole time on my lap in the bowels of the boat. Fortunatley, I've been on a few tours before, and didn't feel too left out.

Check out the site above, as there are lots of neat video clips of whales for little ones to watch with you.

Sorry for the lack of posts and photos. Poppa likes to use his camera (actually, it's Granna's), and we don't have the right plug to upload all of his amazing pictures! We'll try to use ours a little more regularly!