Summer bikes!

This Summer, Micaela and Oriol had their first bikes without training wheels. Micaela’s legs have been a big bruise for weeks, while she was learning to pedal, but now she comes back and forth, and runs, and stops… and then it all starts again!

Uri has a bike without training wheels nor pedals. He put his feet on the floor and gets up speed and then… he goes, goes, goes!

Last weeks we’ve been looking for suitable parks and squares, where they could practice with these new artefacts! This Summer will be remembered as “The Summer when they both rode on their own!”

Haunted squids

As you know (or maybe not, ejem), I really enjoy those moments with kids when I can share my daily works with them and in the end we come up with something unexpected and funny. It happened a few days ago, when I was cooking some squids in ink with rice for lunch.

I was there, with the ink packages, and I started thinking how it would be letting some ink to Micaela, with a paintbrush… And she painted some squids. What about thining down some ink with water, drop it on the paper and raise the sheet, so the ink slips down and draws the squid’s legs? But it didn’t work properly… But, alas, we found something better! Yes! We took a drinking straw and we started blowing and it proved wonderful. We came up with these haunted squids!

Micaela and Uri had a nice morning testing and exploring other natural ways. And, of course, we ate our squids in ink. They were fabulous!

Have a nice week!

 

Precious findings

First time I got pregnancy (that’s 7 years ago!), I was all day thinking about how it was going to be. My little baby girl was born, and started growing up, and since then my ideas about motherhood haven’t stop changing.

Among all my precious findings, a few days ago I read somewhere on the net this one: “A good example has twice the value of good advice”. And yesterday we had a chance to experience it. Just going out altogether, to the park, with their bikes and  our ping pong paddles… and enjoying live for the present.

These days reinforce my confidence and I feel glad because I know there are many ways I can help my little ones on their learing path.

Into the woods

On these hot days, I feel some relief recalling the smell of wet grounds, springy fallen leafs, sunny or shady mushrooms, dark roads (too much for my camera!), the dancing waters that are always playing hide and seek…

Recalling those trips into the woods, where kids can play with Nature on a normal way –are there better toys than sand, water, mud, branches? And where we can fill up our tanks of patience and listen to them, calmly, to catch the words they say aloud and the ones they think silently (so we must read in their minds)… And a lot more things, of course!

Seaside collection

This summer we have our first seaside collection. I bought some jars so the kids can keep their salted treasures: shells, mussels, conches, some sand, polished glass, and some nacre too!

Children at home can do a lot of things with these treasures! Natural plays are fantastic, always. I use to put a tablecloth on their little table and let them imagine, carry out experiments. Yesterday I added some pieces of felt on the tablecloth: two white “boards” and some more with blue shades. Oriol had a funny morning trying to sort his stuff: first all the shells in the white square, then all the mussels, now only the stones… Micaela did some works with green, brown and white glasses. Natural toys are always warmer than the manufactured ones; they are special after you picked up them all and washed them and sorted and keep them on a very special shelf.

What will be tomorrow? No one knows…