It's like, at times, like she has been possessed by a Poltergeist, a mischievous, very naughty, attention seeking monster!
So, rather than spend all my time constantly berating her, putting her in time out, and generally making one miserable little girl and equally miserable mummy, we have reinstated the "Activity Monday".
Activity Monday came about when I was working 3-4 days a week as a way to educate, entertain, extend and most importantly, spend time with Mini Miss. It was on a Monday, as that was my set day off!
Now its just Activity day. The benefits of being a SAHM mean I can do more activities more often, as long as Mr Moo is behaving himself! I can REDIRECT her energy, her need for attention into something positive for both of us, rather than being constantly frustrated by her behaviour. This gives her the time and attention she wants in a positive way, and so far, so good, its reducing the negative behaviour!
Yep, its hard. It requires planning. It means letting some things go in the house until the days she is at daycare. That is hard for me. Its meant a reshuffle.
But its so worth it!
So here is our first Activity....
Coloured Rice
Materials Needed:
- Long grain rice (we used a 1kg bag)
- Food dye
- Hand sanitiser
- Ziplock plastic bags
- A container to put it in
- Kitchen utensils to pour, measure, mix etc
The How To:
1. Separate the rice into the bags. We had 7 bags and I used scales to make them fairly even. No need to be that sad and precise, thats just me lol!
2. Add food colouring to each bag, I used about 20-25 drops of each colour to get a nice vibrant colour, add a big dolop (yes, that is a measurement!) of hand sanitiser and seal the bag. The hand sanitiser helps spread the colour and seal it into the rice grains.
3. The first fun part for Mini Miss was mixing the colour in the bag so that it coated each grain of rice!
4. The boring part....letting it dry. Its best left overnight, bags open, out of reach of impatient curious hands! The rice will be stuck together when dry in the morning, but a quick squish in the bag will loosen it again.
5. To prepare what the play experience, I set up the rice in a flat container. Believe it or not, the tray is a kitty litter tray from a cheap shop, clearly NOT used lol! The end result was our RAINBOW RICE!
Mini Miss couldn't wait to get into it. I set around the tray kitchen items such as scoops, funnels, measuring cups, spoons, various sized containers, even a silicone muffin tray for "baking".
Keen she dived straight in....
It was fun. It was messy. It lasts. You can store it in an airtight container and use it again, and again and again!
She measured and poured. When we were colouring the rice we talked about mixing colours. So lots of learning as well as lots of fun!
I got my inspiration for this, and for most of our activities, off Pinterest.
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