Author: nonnativemommy

Thanksgiving cootie catchers

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We’ve had some fun Thanksgiving activities from the Internet in the last couple of years, but I wanted something new for E. that involves a little reading. I didn’t know she’ll be so excited about the cootie catchers that she’ll make her own. But let’s not run ahead.

Recently I’ve found this great blog: brendid.com where you can find a free printable section. There are many cootie catchers to make for several occasions, like Thanksgiving, Valentine’s day, St. Patrick’s day or Halloween to mention a few.

 

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Bren even explains how to fold a cootie catcher if you happento be as ignorant as I was in the field of cootie catchers.

When I handed E. the cootie catcher I was taken aback how excited she became.

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She was reading the questions and jokes by herself and running around the flat to ask everybody (even her 23 month old little sister.) I wish I had taken some photos.

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So the following day we made our own cootie catchers, which was totally E.’s idea. So we took out some coloured paper and started to fold our own cootie catchers.

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E.’s cootie catcher

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Then we numbered the outside and wrote on the inside. I decided to make a fortune-teller concerning the winter holiday season with Christmasy, snowy pictures,

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E. was writing questions about her imaginary Waterland and drew fish, dolphins, whales and anglers on the inside of her cootie catcher.

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Then we played with each other’s cootie catcher, then our native English nanny needed to answer the questions, after that Little L. too.

E. loved the idea of cootie catchers so much we definitely do it again and again and again.

(If you can’t read the questions in the pictures – she wrote them I didn’t help her at all!:

  • left pic: Why did the angler catch the shark?/Why did the whale get scared of the hypodoo? – hypodoo is an imaginary fish)
  • right pic: What kind of dish do anglers make? / Why is the sun gone in Waterland?
    Your answers can be submitted in the comment section. And you can win whatever you ask for if you know the answer 😉 )

 

Thankful booklet

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This year I wanted to make something special for the girls to make them feel grateful for all those people, experiences and fun they’ve had during the year. So I decided to make them a book of thanks.

I needed some coloured construction paper and some pictures of important people, places, happenings that I printed and glued on the half-cut A4 sheets. I also laminated the pages for durability. I punched the upper corners and used a scratch book clip to hold them together. I also added some notes for E. to read.

Both of them appreciated the booklet and we talked a lot about the pictures.

I hope in the future we can add some extra pages to collect all the amazing things in their lives.

Happy thanksgiving!

Match the lids

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Little L. loves taking off and putting on lids of all kinds of containers like plastic boxes, lip balms, jars etc. So I collected a few unused containers, empty bottles and jars to entertain her and help improve her fine motor skills.

Here are the different containers I found around the house.

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I took the tops off and put the all in a shoebox:

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Little feet came to explore:

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She loved finding the matching tops, what’s more she didn’t make a mistake at all. Wow!

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We managed to play with the box once. Ever since the tops and containers have been lying all around except for the lip balm, which is the greatest treasure.

It’s L.’s favourite and whenever she can’t find it she asks for it: Can I get it, Labello? or L. find it

Spider costume for Halloween

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E. has been into bugs lately (the influence of some new kindergarten friends) so she decided to be a spider this year at Halloween. I was looking for a spider costume but couldn’t buy the right one hence I made a spider costume for her instead.

The most difficult part was finding a black long-sleeved top in her size (116). In the 3rd shop (H&M) I managed. The basic garment for the spider costume: black long-sleeved top and black tights or leggings with black socks.

What you need – legs:

  • black long-sleeved top in your child’s size
  • 2 pairs of black tights (I used 60 den tights adult size)
  • pillow filler
  • black thread
  • yarn (E. chose red as it’s more spooky and she said she was a black widow)
  • needles

How to make it:

  1. Cut off the tights as long as your child’s arms are or a little shorter (actually we cut off the leg parts at the bottom and after filling them half way we cut them in the right length)
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  2. Fill up the tights with pillow filler (The thicker the tights are the more likely the white filling won’t be visible)20171026_115807
  3. Sew the openings on the four legs.
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  4. Sew 2 legs on one side and the other 2 on the other side. ( I made E. put on the black top and checked where the legs should go so they are about the same distance from each other. I measured it only on one side and signed it with chalk. Then she took the top off and I folded it half and signed the places of the other legs on the other side too)20171026_150119You can stop here but the legs will be hanging down on the sides.
  5. At the wrist and the elbow parts of the legs I pulled through a red yard (with a big needle) and sewed them to the top. After trying it on the legs slipped down on the yarn therefore with a small piece of red yarn I tied knots under the top legs to stop the slipping.20171026_181541

What you need – eyes:

  • hair band
  • black satin ribbon
  • 6-8 googly eyes (bigger ones, they can be different in size)
  • hot glue gun

How to make it:

  1. If your hair band is black go to step 2. if it’s not then cover the   with the black ribbon (use a hot glue gun and you’ll be ready in no time)20171026_140319
  2. Glue on 6-8 googly eyes on top of the hair band. E. wanted only 6 as she’s got 2 more that makes 8, just like the number of the legs. You see the logic?

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And you’re done. Now you can enjoy the spark in your child’s eyes. Don’t be surprised if your little one will wear it for one more week or even longer after Halloween. She was really proud of her costume in her own reserved way.

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With one of the Helen Doron teachers, Sz., who was also a spider

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Our new schedule from September 2017

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As we are lucky enough to have a new native nanny, N., from Brighton, we have a new schedule for, hopefully, a year.

Monday

Mostly a Hungarian day with some English in the evenings (bath-time, dinner time, bed-time story)

Tuesday

Mainly an English day.
Helen Doron session for Little L. in the morning, English daily routines and playtime in the afternoon
N, our nanny comes to play with E. for 90 mins in the afternoon

Wednesday

Mainly an English day.
Our native nanny comes to L. to play with her in English for an hour in the morning. English daily routines and playtime in the afternoon.
E. has got her Helen Doron lesson in the afternoon. At the beginning of October they start writing too.

Thursday

English day for Little L. For a while our nanny came to her in the morning but nowadays but we rescheduled it and she comes to her in the afternoon before E.’s playtime with her.

Friday

On the whole it’s a Hungarian day with a little English in the evening.

Weekend

Very chaotic. We have quite a lot of fixed programmes on Saturday, which is, for this reason, mostly in Hungarian, so I try to compensate it on Sunday but not with great success. At the weekend we just go with the flow.

What we do EVERY DAY is reading BOOKS in English. Both girls get one or two new books every week. We read at the dining table after meals, before nap time and before bed time. This reading routine eases my agitated mind.

Sorry about the lack of fancy timetable, but I haven’t had time to make one.