How to raise a nature loving kid?

In the last post, I mentioned why I find it important to instil a love for nature in my daughter. Here are little ways in which I do it.

• Nature walk: I prefer taking Anya to a nature trail anyday than to a mall. Fortunately for us, a couple of lakes are close by. At times, we go for a walk around the lake.We collect leaves and pods. Once home, we put them in a jar. Anya pries them open, looks at seeds and paints them. I like to see her playing with natural stuff. The touch and feel of different textures, observing shapes and colors must be leaving an impression on her.We also walk around in our apartment complex and I tell her names of different trees and bushes. She doesn't remember them all, but at least it's a start. She collects fallen flowers and leaves and never returns home without a little collectible these days.

• Bird and animal watching: Kaikondrahalli lake is a lovely place for bird watching. Many activities are also organised there. A few months back, we went for an animal and reptile census and saw a mongoose, eight toads and two newly hatched water snakes! She remembers these things vividly and narrates them later on. It's always better to learn about birds and animals in this manner than just from books. A visit to a zoo, aquarium, farm is also a perfect choice for kids.

• Climbing trees: There aren't many opportunities for tree climbing in an urban setting. The lake comes to our rescue here as well. Kids are natural at climbing. What better way to interact with nature than to perch atop a branch and feel like the queen of the world! Anya remembers this walk and gets excited when she is about to reach her throne.

• Weather game: I am planning to talk about weather to her everyday. Whether it's sunny, windy, rainy.... basically any excuse to discuss natural phenomena like where do clouds come from, where does the rain go? My brother lives in the US and we have told her that in evenings, we send the sun to him and he sends the moon to us! So she knows about time difference. 

• Watching sunrise and sunset: I feel that sunrise and sunset are biggest natural shows on earth, screened once a day, free of cost! Just imagine, if they were not free events, how much would we have been ready to shell out to watch them.We take them for granted just because they occur everyday. My apartment has two balconies and one balcony is witness to a lovely sunrise and the other to a gorgeous sunset. I admit, we hardly watch sunrise, but sunsets are enjoyed more frequently.

Sunrise balcony- getting ready for the show, behind the coconut trees

Sunset balcony- a color splashed goodbye to a sunny day

•  A vacation close to nature: At least once a year, I like to set off for a holiday close to nature - be it beaches, mountains or nature reserves. I haven't found any camping option with kids in India otherwise that's one of the best ways to bond with nature. 

• Watching Discovery, Animal Planet and NatGeo: I am quite conservative when it comes to screen time. I would like to keep A away from iPad, TV and phone as much as possible. She does demand to watch a 'baby channel' everyday. Sometimes, I try to play Discovery, Animal Planet or National Geographic. She is very fascinated with animals and birds and even asks me not to switch channels when she is watching them. Hope this continues. 

• Grow a little Gardener: I have a few pots in my Sunrise balcony. I let Anya dabble into gardening with me at times. When it is time to sow seeds, I involve her. Sometimes, she waters plants.  It does get messy and I don't do it very regularly, but she has a concept and knows a few plants and their uses. For e.g. if she has a little scrape, she comes asking to apply aloe vera from the garden:)

These days, whenever Anya comes back from outdoors, she invariably carries a pod, pebble or leaf for me. It warms my heart no end. She seems to be on the right track and hopefully a nature lover is being nurtured in my home :)

Growing-up-too-fast pangs!

As a parent, there are innumerable moments when you utter 'Oh no, my little one is growing up too fast!'

One such moment was yesterday when Anya came from school and announced solemnly ' I have got homework to do!'. Now she got homework in her Montessori too but it was more like cutting and pasting pictures, coloring and tracing alphabets et al.This time, she had to write numbers 1 and 2 in a proper square shaped blocks which somehow looked more homework-ey and I had that unmistakable feeling that my little girl was growing up fast!

The first time I felt this pang was when at 5 months, she outgrew her 0-3 months clothes. "It was just yesterday that she had arrived in this world and now she is already too old for 0-3 months clothes?" gaped I incredulously and with a stab of sadness. Another instance was when she started walking. I was ecstatic but then the crawling diminished and one fine day it dawned on me that my little baby only walked and did not crawl any more. She had metamorphosed into a toddler :(

Now when I think about those moments, they come marching...

• That moment when she started cooing at other babies rather than other people cooing at her. 
• That moment when she told me that she would go to the play area with her friends and big people were not allowed. She actually started crying when I insisted on following her.
• The first time I caught her under a blanket with the iPad.

It's only the parents who get these pangs because the little ones are extremely happy basking in the glory of growing up. 'I am bigger than you!' is her constant reminder to us these days. A little message to her:

"Grow up into a lovely lady

Just don't grow up too fast

For I want to enjoy these moments

And make them longer last!"

What have been your 'growing-up-too-fast' moments, dear reader? Do share. 

The School Opens

Can you guess the day on which Anya's school started? It was 5th June- World Environment Day. I was so delighted. Green beginnings?

There was a lot of excitement on first day of school as little ones turned up in their new uniforms and gear. The school was only for an hour for the first couple of days. After leaving the little ones with teachers, we parents waited outside and befriended each other. Anya's friend had accompanied her so she happily went inside. When they came out after an hour, they were quite excited to have received a toffee and a sticker.

For a week after that, the school functioned for only a couple of hours. We used to take the school bus in mornings and come back by auto. After dropping the kids, a bunch of Moms used to hang out in a closeby garden and it had become a nice two hour interaction session. Though mornings were a madness, I used to look forward to these two hours of socialisation.  Then came the book collection day. We all got busy in covering and labelling the books, drawing lines and margins in copies. The almanac was filled and handed over, bus routes finalised, phone numbers exchanged. It was a busy week.

Now, regular school hours are in place and Anya has started commuting both ways by bus. She has been going happily till now. Every day, she comes back and regales us with her new learnings and experiences. Her observations invariably start with 'B(P)ata hai....' '(Do you know?)'. Recital of a rhyme, chanting of a mantra, sharing of an anecdote - all this delights me and my husband no end. To add to her charming ways, she now has a new thread of questions for us. She asks "Jab aap chhote the to aap kaunse color ka bag le jaate the?" "(When you were little, what was the color of your bag?" The same is repeated for snack box, water bottle, mode of transportation, contents of snack box....This series is asked once to Mamma and then to Papa. It does transport us back to our own school days.

My darling daughter, as you embark on this journey of fun and learning, I wish you a very happy, fun-filled and stress-free schooling. May the process of learning always be enjoyable.

Back-to-school supplies

After an enjoyable summer break, it's already time for schools to reopen. When the summer vacations started, I was a little apprehensive of keeping Anya engaged. But it turned out to be ok. I didn't enrol her in any summer camp, yet she managed to stay entertained by visiting friends' places and inviting them over, by going to a beach vacation, by playing Mom to her dolls (and even me) and taking them for a vacation, painting and coloring and listening to lots and lots of stories.

Now that it's time to go back to school, we have to start collecting supplies. Anya would be joining NPS-K and we are very excited about her new school. We have already bought her uniform and shoes. Now it's time to take stock of other necessities.

1.Steel snack box- Though she already has a couple of lunch boxes, I am looking for a steel one. I am concerned about packing hot snacks in plastic boxes. So while it's ok to pack a cold sandwich, fruits, nuts or biscuits in a plastic one, I need a steel one for dosa, poha or paratha. I think I will go for a Milton SS casserole style box I saw at a friend's place.

2. Steel water bottle - Last year, I used to give a BPA-free Nalgene or Thermos bottle to her but sometimes she couldn't put on the cap properly. This would leave spillage in her bag. To avoid this, plus to make a switch from plastic to steel, I would like to buy a new steel bottle. I searched a few shops here but either the bottle was too big or the brand unknown. Then I spotted this Thermos Funtainer with her fellow bus mates. It is the perfect size and doesn't leak. Those kids have been using it for an year now. I have to wait till someone gets it from the US because it is very expensive in India.

3.School bag- Planning to reuse the ones from last year till I gauge the full requirement. 

PS: We got a very good deal at 70% discount sale at Mom & Me. maybe, buying after the rush was over, helped us get a good deal.

Happening Bangalore

One of the things that I enjoyed abroad but missed in Bangalore were fun events which were free. You just had to walk to the town centre and there would be music, theatre or dance being performed, a juggler displaying his talent, a man on stilts....you get the picture. Significant days would be celebrated by activities and treats for both kids and adults.

Now in Bangalore, I find myself ferrying Anya around from one such event to another. Sample this. In the last three months, we have been to:

• A magic show and a pet interaction session sponsored by an upcoming school. Anya also got to dance with her favorite cartoon characters, play games and paint to her heart's content. 

• A story telling and puppet session at Kaikondrahalli lake.

• A brilliant play on Tenalirama by Bangalore Little Theatre on World Theatre Day.

• A bird and reptile census at Kaikondrahalli lake. (We spotted a mongoose, 8 toads and 2 newly hatched water snakes.)

• Cycle Day: I just visited this event with a friend. I didn't take Anya along this time but next time, she is surely going with me. It's an event organised on last Sunday of every month wherein cycles are rented for free. A stretch of road is cordoned off from traffic and made free for various activities. You can cycle a pre-planned stretch of a few kilometres and afterwards participate in traditional street games like pallankuzhi, hopscotch, skipping rope etc and various other activities. I was thrilled to bits to see games like ashta-changa and chippas drawn on the road. Some people were busy making a rangoli, others were drawing graffiti with chalk. There was a workshop on quilling, a slow cycling competition, endurance games, skateboarding.....you could try your hand at many things and there were volunteers to help you around. It was a morning very well spent and I missed Anya umpteen number of times. She would have loved cycling or making graffiti with chalk. Though there wasn't enough time to indulge in all activities, we managed to cycle, learn a little quilling, compete for slow cycling and try our hands( rather feet) at skateboarding. 

 Bangalore is happening and we are loving every bit of it!!

March, evenetful March

As March marches towards its conclusion, I have to admit, it has been a happy-happy month!
In the first week of March, we heard the unexpected news. Anya got admission into NPS-K.

Now all parents who have gone through finding the right school for their kids, would know the importance of getting admission into a school of their choice. If you are in Bangalore, getting into NPS is considered a big deal. There are parents who want nothing but NPS for their kids and try several tactics to get into one. Then there are others who don't bother about NPS as it is said to be highly academically oriented. We had taken the middle path. We just filled the admission form but took no pains to find out how we could get her admitted or try visiting the authorities. There are discussion boards dedicated to decrypting selection criteria of NPS. Nobody knows their criteria for sure but there are many guesses. I had heard that professionally qualified but SAHM is a positive. A financially well paying job for Dad also works in one's favour.

I can't comment on the selection criteria but here is what we are:
1. Me and my husband are both MBAs.
2. We are a single income family. My husband works in IT for an MNC.
3. I used to work earlier, but gave up my job after Anya.
4. We live 11 kms away from the school
5. Anya will be 3.9 years old when she joins LKG in June.
6. She went to a Montessori in neighbourhood and has finished her Mont 1- just today!

When I got the news, I just couldn't believe it! I was so happy. In fact, it felt like a huge achievement- as huge as when Dinesh got into IIM-A.

The weekend after this news, Anya performed in her first ever annual function. Now that deserves another blog post altogether. 

Bath time fun

Anya has always enjoyed playing with water and being in a bath. Though we don't have a fixed bathtub, she has a small plastic tub of her own. I make her tub ready with warm water, give her toys, empty bottles or natural material like leaves, pods etc. to play with and she can easily spend an hour splashing in water or filling bottles. But as she is growing up, things need to be jazzed up a little bit.  Here are a few ideas that I have tried: 

• Water polo: I made her sit in her bathtub, filled another small tub with water and kept it at a distance. Then I gave her a big rubber ball which had to be thrown into the smaller tub. She had fun aiming the ball. Sometimes she made it, sometimes she didn't but at all times, she had fun.This activity would be more fun with a sibling around as they could take turns to aim and field. With Anya being alone, I had to be around all the time to hand over the ball back to her. I like activities where she is self-dependent and I am free to do my stuff but anyway, it was good for a change.
• Sink or float: I gave Anya a few things like pebbles, leaves, twigs, ball, blocks etc. Then I showed her the concept of float or sink. She wasn't much impressed. I repeated the activity after a few days and she wasn't interested still but I am not giving up. After a couple of years of parenthood, you learn that nothing goes waste. It might seem that things are going unregistered but they always register. If you are consistent, kids surprise you one fine day by just uttering that word or demonstrating that concept.
• Water gun: Which kid doesn't like spraying water! Hand over a sprayer or a water gun and ensure endless hours of fun.With Holi just gone, water gun is already in bathroom. I will leave it around for some more time.
• Empty bottles: Give empty bottles of different shapes and sizes. It's better if they are transparent. Anya simply enjoys pouring water from one to another.
• Paper boats: I had forgotten how to make a paper boat. I learnt it from a friend and made one for Anya to float in her tub. Alas, the boat didn't last long! Anya sank it and the next I saw, she had turned it  into a soggy ball. At another time, I gave her a boat shaped pod and she had a lot of fun floating it around. She even put a few passengers in it and watched it float, topple, balance. 

While searching for more fun activities, I found these:

• Coloured ice: This activity is great for teaching colors. Anya knows her colors now, but she loves to play with ice cubes. So I am going to try this activity in summers. Planning to freeze ice using natural colors - beet root for red and mint leaves for green. You can use food colours too.Can't wait to see how she reacts to this special treat.
• Making rain: Give a strainer to kids. When they dip it in water and lift it up, there will be some rain....for dolls!
• Painting: What better place to create a mess than a bathroom where you can wash your kid plus the walls immediately afterwards. Give some colors for finger painting, stick a few sheets on bathroom walls and let them have fun. 

I will keep on a lookout for more ideas and keep adding here. Have a fun-filled summer!

Fun way to learn - Vegetable Sorting

Kids just need attention and interaction. With a little imagination, any activity can be turned into play. Here is something I would like to share that worked so wonderfully one evening.

After shopping for vegetables and fruits, I requested Anya to help me put them away in fridge. She totally took charge of the chore and asked for bags for storing. She wanted an audience and I was more than willing to put up my feet. She patiently sorted brinjals, potatoes, shallots, carrots, coccinea, capsicum, cheeku, pomegranates and bottlegourd and placed them in bags or baskets. With this exercise, she not only revised her veggies and fruits but could also touch and feel them. She commented on the size of potatoes and shallots, observed if they were clean or dirty and felt if they were light or heavy. To sneak in some more learning, I asked her to count carrots. She counted them as she put them in a bag. After she had sorted and bagged everything, with a little help from me, she put them away in fridge. All the while she was doing this task, her only request to both me and my husband was to come and watch her. We all need attention and appreciation!

As a reward, she was given a carrot to eat which she relished. I was on cloud nine! She not only finished my chore, she also ate a carrot without any coaxing. This set me thinking, that apart from learning names of vegetables and fruits, this simple chore could be used to build many other concepts:

• Colors and shapes - Ask kids to separate everything on the basis of color.
• Ascending and descending order - Kids can be asked to arrange carrots according to their length.
• Comparisons - Ask them to select three potatoes and tell which is big, bigger and biggest. Let them lift a coccinea, a tomato and a bottlegourd. Ask about heavy, heavier and heaviest. 
• Basic arithmetic- Counting, more and less, addition, subtraction etc. can be practiced as appropriate for age. 
• Guessing- This can be played in multiple ways. Depending on your kid's age, you can blindfold her and let her feel the vegetable. If she is able to guess, give a high five. If she isn't able to guess, give hints. (Anya calls a hint as a 'reason'. When she is stuck at answering, she cutely says 'Papa, give me a reason') For e.g. for a tomato you can say, it's round or oblong, it's red when ripe, it is juicy, it is sour, you love it, it has many seeds.....
• Stories - I recently read a story called 'The Stone Soup'. This story can be perfectly enacted using all varieties of vegetables. Click here to read the story. Arm your little one with a pan and you all can take turns to be villagers contributing vegetables!
• Role Play - Ask your kid to be a green grocer and you can be a customer. Go shop for 5 tomatoes, 7 onions and so on. For little older kids, you can include prices too. 
• Painting - If you are game for some mess, you can indulge in veggie painting. Ladyfingers are my favorite stencil and beetroot water, my favorite color. You can try painting with capsicum, cauliflower, beans, mushrooms, corn, peppers.....

The bottomline is, the kid should be having fun. Let her lead and just play along. If you find an opportunity, introduce any of the above concepts. Books and charts are fine but this is a more interesting way to learn about vegetables and fruits.

Do you also have fun with veggies and fruits? It would be lovely to hear more ideas. 

Anya's Animal Themed Birthday Party - Return Gifts

That eternal question.....to give or not to give return gifts? If yes, what to gift?

I battled the first question and reached the conclusion that till the time I don't say 'No' to accepting gifts, I can't say 'No' to return gifts either. So the only question was what to give. I had decided last year that gifts had to be meaningful and environment friendly. Since this was a jungle-animal theme, a plant would have fitted the bill perfectly. But it was red flagged by hubby and my sis-in-law. They felt that such young kids wouldn't be thrilled with a plant. So I went ahead with my next idea: books on animal themes.

As for return gift bags, I couldn't find any paper bags which were economical. Last year, hubby dear had done an excellent job of making paper bags. I wanted him to put to use his knowledge again. He tried his best to wriggle out but as the D-day neared, he resigned to his fate and armed with a pile of newspapers, gluestick and a pair of scissors, he made these 18 return gift bags. Attaboy!

Then he took animal face print-outs which Anya helped him color.

There was no need to put handles as the bags didn't need to hold anything heavy.                            

Anya's Animal Themed Birthday Party - Food & Fun

To make the menu sound more fun, I tried to give wild names to the dishes. Here's a peek at the menu :

1. Jungle juice - juice and soft drink
2. Beetle wings - potato chips
3. Animal crackers - mathri
4. Bhaloo cutlet - veg cutlet
5. Corn whale - corn bhel
6. Paw bhaji - pav bhaji
7. Wormy doodles - noodles
8. Dragon dhokla - khaman dhokla
9. Golden eggs - mini gulabjamuns
10. Forest fruitsticks - assorted fruits on a toothpick
and of course....a cake!

Jungle menu card

 I had these zebra and leopard stoles which came in handy. I just thew a transparent plasic table cover over these and a perfect backdrop for animal theme was ready.

I made these mathris in mini animal shapes. Kids loved it. 

In keeping with the theme, I planned following games:

Feeding the monkey: I covered a wire-planter with a paper cut-out of  monkey and hung it on a wall. A tennis ball, which was supposed to act as a banana was given to kids .They had to throw this 'banana' inside the 'monkey's mouth'.

Guess the animal: Anya's Papa prepared a slide show with different paw prints. Kids had to guess the respective animal. The one who gave the maximum correct answers won a prize. Even parents participated whole-heartedly and we had a lot of laughs with the guesses. 

Tip: A variation could be guessing animal sounds.

'Jungle me mangal' dance: This is a classic newspaper dance where each kid had to pair with her Mom and dance on a newspaper sheet without stepping out. As the music stopped, the sheet had to be folded into half and the dancing would resume. This brought out all animal instincts in participants and drew a lot of laughter. Both parents and kids had a gala time. I am a child at heart and always like to participate in games etc. So I was keen for games for parents too.

You are caged: This game was done twice - once for Moms and then for kids. It is a version of musical chairs. Moms formed a circle and had to pass a hoola-hoop through themselves before passing it on to the next Mom. Music played all along. When music stopped, whoever was left holding the hoola hoop had to do a small act and go out. The one who was left last, was the winner and got a prize. 

After repeating this game with kids, we headed to burst the pinata. Kids loved collecting candies, erasers, pencils and nuts.

We then had cake cutting followed by dinner.

Anya's Animal Themed Birthday Party - Lion Cut Out

I wanted to do an animal, preferably a lion cut out. The idea was to paint whiskers on kids and then take a picture at the cut out. I gave some thought to this matter and came up with a brilliant idea. I say it's brilliant because I could do one of my favourite things in the world - reuse:) Let me elaborate. I had these surf boards from last year's Hawaiian themed party. Yes, I'm a hoarder and nothing gives me more pleasure than to reinvent stuff.

I took away the hibiscus flowers (those of you who know me well, would have guessed it...I have saved them too!!), and started contemplating. It struck me that these surfboard colors were perfect for a lion - I wouldn't even have to repaint! 

I drew  the lion's face on the rust board and the torso on orange one. Then I cut them out with a pair of sharp scissors. The face was joined to the body with allpins and toothpicks. To support the lion, I placed a bamboo pole behind it.

I retrieved the grass from my friend's work. As the color had faded, a green coat was done and it looked as fresh as new. I placed the grass at the lion's feet, which also saved me the need to draw the lion's paws! Yeah, smart me:) I also gave a fresh coat to the lion's body and face.

I had a wish to use this IKEA leaf as a prop somewhere in the decor because it was so apt for the jungle-animal theme. I placed the lion under the leaf. The way it all came together was fantastic. 

I fell in love with the lion and so did my guests. It's another matter that, ironically, I had a tough time keeping the lion safe from kids:) 

It was very satisfying to make this cut out and to know that kids enjoyed it so much!

Anya's Animal Themed Birthday Party - The Decor

I chose this theme partially because there were some drawings from Anya's first birthday which fitted the theme. My sister-in-law is quite an artist. She, along with my niece, had made these lovely animal sketches which came in handy.

Snails on a trail

Merry mushrooms

Friendly frog

Buzzing bees

Their labor of love shines through.Though I like all drawings, my favorites are frogs and mushrooms. They are so bright and cheerful, my spirits soar every time I look at them.

A friend of mine was kind enough to lend a set of animals from her daughter's birthday party. She is another excellent artist. Ain't I lucky to have such family and friends!Check out these brilliant animals:

She used colored sheets for making these animals. There was no painting involved though there was a lot of cutting and pasting. She used a double sided tape to stick spots, stripes, ears and eyes. How lovely the animals look!

I made an arch with all these animals and put the birthday banner in middle. I wanted fresh palm leaves in my decor to give a jungle look. Luckily, I found freshly cut palm leaves with the gardener and got them home. The good thing about palm is that it doesn't wilt fast. So I prepared the arch of palm leaves a day in advance. They held well with simple cello tape.

Animals gathered at Anya's den to celebrate

What was my contribution to the wall? I made the banner and enjoyed doing it.

Anya's Animal Themed Birthday Party - Birthday Banner

For the last two birthdays, I had used a store bought banner. This time around, I wanted to make one.(As other decor was taken care of, I had time to go into other details). Google gave enough ideas and my heart was set on making a pennant style birthday banner with animal spots and stripes. I finally made it and was quite happy with the way it turned out.

I chose white and rust colored sheets.White was an obvious choice for zebra stripes. Rust was apt for giraffe and leopard spots. The steps to create this spotty, stripy banner are simple:

• Take any thick sheet. Draw a triangular pennant measuring 8.5 inches at the top and 10.5 inches on each side. Cut out one pennant and using this as a stencil, cut out the rest. I made 6 white and 7 rust pennants: 6 for zebra stripes, 4 for giraffe spots and 3 for leopard ones. I did not include Anya's name in the banner. If you want to paint your kid's name, get ready to make more pennants.

• Using a circular shape, trace a circle in the middle of each pennant. This is for writing the birthday alphabet.

• Draw spots and stripes. Paint them using acrylic colors. If you are comfortable, you can paint directly without drawing first. I wasn't so confident, so I drew them first and then colored.

Leopard spots

Zebra stripes

Giraffe spots

The coming together of banner

My hard work paying off

There it is!!

4. Let them dry. Glue a string at the back of pennants and voila! Your customised animal themed banner is ready.

The final look

It was a lot of fun doing the banner. There is something about DIY which gives satisfaction like little else. While making the pennants, I could picture lithe zebras grazing in savannah, languid giraffes munching from trees and agile leopards stalking their prey. So much so, it has left me longing for an African safari! I hope my wish gets fulfilled soon:)