play

Toddler Chaos Clean-up

February 19, 2013

I’ve swept up the Art Room. This room is my writing room and has also become my son’s chaos room. He paints here, plays here, and learns here. It is a womb of flashcards, water color trays, brushes, paper, stuffed animals, clothes,  crayons, play kitchen items, toy trains, race cars, and other toddler toys. Ten [...]

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Three Cheers for Dirt!

October 4, 2012

I have to sing the praises of letting your kids get dirty. I mean really filthy, covered from head to toe with muddy, wet, slippery glop. I, like many parents I know have a house too full of every cool, interesting, and trendy toy available. And yesterday my five year old said, “I’m bored.” Hmm, [...]

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What’s the Word? Child Communication and Frustration

August 8, 2012

As adults, we’ve all experienced a language barrier at some point or another. You try and try to understand each other, but for some reason, your wires keep crossing. Depending on what the goal was, you may have just given up, politely disappointed, or angrily thrown your hands up in frustration. Now, consider preverbal babies [...]

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Goodnight iPad: Cutting Down on Screen Time

April 30, 2012

I flipped through this book at the counter of our local toy store the other day. It’s a humorous take on the classic “Goodnight Moon,” which my kids and I have read together countless times. And it is funny; an apt exaggeration of how virtuality has replaced so much of what is “real.” But it [...]

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Magic Mama

March 9, 2012

My mom was magic. She is magic.  But her dust sparkles the most in my childhood mind.  She did it all, and now that I am a mom to a toddler at the same age she was a mom to a toddler and a new born baby, it baffles my mind she even combed her [...]

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Playtime Grows Up

October 21, 2011

Young children play effortlessly. Kids are naturally predisposed to play, and it doesn’t take much to engage a child in a silly game or role-play. Through play, kids express feelings, needs, thoughts and ideas that they might not yet have the words to articulate. Playing together lets parents connect and communicate with kids beyond a [...]

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Quiet is Okay

June 29, 2011

Early on, I remember being in new groups and being shooed away to “go play with the kids.” I have memories of not really wanting to play with a bunch of kids I didn’t know, but they would look like they were having fun. So I’d force myself, thinking that I might end up having [...]

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Mamas Need White Space

October 4, 2010

One of my favorite non-mom blogs is Zen Habits. This week he posted about making space in your life using the design principle of creating white space. Creating white space around the important things and getting rid of clutter lets you focus on what’s important. I loved the post so much that I immediately began [...]

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