Did you know that once a child has learned to balance on a balance bike, they can transition to a traditional pedal bike without the need for training wheels?

What is a balance bike?

Balance bikes are pedal-free and they simplify the process of learning to ride a bike.

With a balance bike, toddlers only have to focus on balancing. Once they have mastered balancing on two wheels, pedalling and braking will come easily when they transition to a traditional bike.

How do balance bikes work?

One of the most noticeable things about a balance bike is its low saddle. This helps kids to comfortably reach the ground with their feet, which in turn makes them feel more stable and secure as they are closer to the ground.

The design enables them to use their legs and feet to move forward, stop and steer. To move forward, kids push off the ground, putting them in complete control of how slow or fast they glide.

Do balance bikes really work?

We’ve now had a balance bike for five months (we gifted the bike for Clara’s third birthday — although in hindsight, she could have started riding it from 18 months old) and it has been wonderful seeing her coordination and confidence build-up. The motor skills required to ride a balance bike seems to have come more intuitively than riding a scooter and the balance bike has quickly become Clara’s preferred mode of transport!

I can definitely vouch for the balance bike giving Clara independence and the freedom to explore!

I love that the balance bike has enabled Clara to experiment with coordination and speed at her own pace. She’s been able to easily manoeuvre the footpaths and obstacles like fallen tree branches, gumnuts and tight corners!

How to choose the right balance bike?

There are a number of factors to take into consideration when choosing a balance bike.

I’ve summarised my decision-making into a chart below.

Balance Bike Comparison Chart

	Cruzee Two Balance Bike	Boot’r V2 Balance Bike	Little Nation Balance Bike	Kmart 30cm Racer Balance Bike	Mocka Urban Balance Bike
Bike weight	1.9kg	2.3kg	2.9kg	4.6kg	4.5kg
Assembly	Required	Required	Required	Required	Required
Tyres	Puncture proof EVA foam tyres	Puncture proof EVA foam tyres	Puncture proof EVA foam tyres	Pneumatic	Puncture proof EVA foam tyres
Maximum rider weight	34kg	N/A	27kg	30kg	35kg
Rider height	60cm – 120cm	76cm – 115cm	75cm – 110cm	N/A	N/A
Frame Material	Anodised Aluminium	Anodised Aluminium	Steel	Steel	Birch Wood
Colours	Black, blue, gold, green, orange, pink, purple, red, silver	Black, blue, green, red, pink, purple, silver	Black, blue, green, orange, pink, purple, red, white, yellow	Teal	Natural
Price	$199.99	$69.95 (53% off sale price)	$69.95 (50% off sale price)	$45	$79.95
Accessories included	N/A	Bell	N//A	N/A	N/A
Foot rest					✘
Saddle height	24cm – 48cm	30cm – 43cm	29cm – 39cm	Adjustable	34 – 39cm
Handlebar height	120mm adjustment	70mm adjustment	N/A	N/A	N/A
Brakes	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘

The features that I looked for when choosing our balance bike included:

• Bike weight
  I wanted a bike that Clara could easily carry by herself. The heavier the bike, the harder it is going to be for the child to manoeuvre. Knowing the threenager’s mood swings, I also knew it was very likely that I’d have to occasionally carry Clara and the bike at the same time, so the lighter the bike, the better.
• Tyres
  Foam tyres are lightweight and durable and I like that they don’t puncture!
• Frame Material
  Aluminium frames are lighter than steel and wooden balance bikes. It is also worth noting that in my research, wooden frames seemed to have limited seat height adjustments.
• Saddle height and handle bar height adjustments
  I needed the balance bike to grow with Clara’s growth spurts. We’ve already had to make two height adjustments since getting the bike! Make sure the child can easily walk the bike while standing over it.
• Price
  In the end, I opted for the Boot’r V2 Balance Bike which seemed to be the closest alternative to a Cruzee Balance Bike, but at less than half the cost! (Note the 2016 Boot’r balance bike model is heavier at 3.3kg whereas the later Boot’r model weighs only 2.3kg)

The factors that were less important were:

• Maximum rider weight
  The maximum rider weight ranges from 27kg up to 35kg in the balance bikes I was considering. The equivalent age for that weight range would be approximately 5 – 6 years of age. My research indicated that children can be ready to transition to a pedal bike by around 4 years of age so the maximum rider weight seemed irrelevant.
• Brakes
  Kids can stop by using their feet so brakes aren’t really necessary; I also saw brakes as a bit of a distraction from learning to balance. Sure, using their feet to brake can ruin their shoes but I’m hoping that by the time Clara can ride fast enough, it will be time to transition to a traditional pedal bike with brakes.
• Footrests
  Footrests are useful for riding long downhill stretches but they can also just lift their legs up!

Now for some inspirational videos

To get Clara excited about what she could do with her balance bike, I initially found it helpful to watch a few videos with her. You can check them out here:

Happy riding!

Disclosure: I occasionally use affiliate links to monetise my content. I may receive a commission on products or services that you purchase through clicking on links within this page. This doesn’t affect your price in any way, but helps me with the cost of maintaining my website so that I may continue to share resources to help you embrace play-based learning and mindful parenting.

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What are schemas and how can they be used to enhance learning?

Schemas are patterns of repeatable behaviour which can often be noticed in young children’s play.

The concept of schemas was founded by psychologist Jean Piaget who suggested that children sort the knowledge they acquire through their experiences and interactions into groupings known as schemas.

A child can demonstrate one, or several, or no schemas at a particular time. Learning to observe the schemas can help us to better support their learning and exploration.

The way I interpreted this was to think back to when I’m ‘in the zone’ or in ‘flow state’. It’s always when I’m doing something that I am deeply passionate about; I’m doing activities that I have a natural urge to do. There’s a skill or craft that I’m trying to master.

Schemas can help us to better respond to our children’s behaviour for child-led play. It also enables us to better interact with our children by feeding them appropriate activities, language and questions that support their thinking so can they become deeply engaged.

Cheat sheet to supporting common schemas in how toddlers play

Now what?

Get ready to feel more confident about supporting your toddler’s play!

Observe behaviour patterns and identify which schema your child is interested in. You can then offer toys and activities that help them to make the most of their investigations.

Organise play dates with other children in similar schemas to promote friendship and bonding over a shared interest.

Further reading

Here are a few books if you’re looking for extended schema learning:

Disclosure: I occasionally use affiliate links to monetise my content. I may receive a commission on products or services that you purchase through clicking on links within this page. This doesn’t affect your price in any way, but helps me with the cost of maintaining my website so that I may continue to share resources to help you embrace play-based learning and mindful parenting.

The post Everything You Need To Know About Schemas: The Patterns Of Play appeared first on Mama's Got This.

Here’s what I know now about toddler and pre-school cutting skills —

Why are cutting skills an important part of development?

Cutting allows a child to build up the tiny muscles in the palm of his/her hand, since he/she has to continuously open and close the hand. These muscles are also used when the child is writing/painting or holding onto anything with a grip. For example, a child needs to hold onto a toothbrush, spoon or fork, and pull up their pants on a daily basis.

Cutting enhances the use of eye-hand coordination. This means that the child must be able to use his/her vision, process what they see, and then be able to move their hand while they are looking at something. This can be a difficult task because it requires the brain to be working with two systems. However, eye-hand coordination is used throughout your child’s day. It is used when your child catches or throws a ball, uses a spoon to scoop up the food that they want, and zips up his/her coat.

Cutting also encourages your child to use bilateral coordination. This means that your child can use both sides of their body at the same time. For example, when cutting a circle, a child must hold the paper with one hand (and continuously turn it) while the other hand is opening and closing the scissors and moving forward to cut. You may need to try this to understand the true meaning. Bilateral coordination (using both hands, while each one is doing something different) is used throughout everyday life. For example, it can be used when you are zipping up a coat or pants, washing dishes, opening up an envelope, and driving.

(Source: Kimberly M. Wiggins, OTR/L, is a licensed occupational therapist in New York)

The most important things to do are to observe your child for readiness for scissor cutting activities and then find an activity that captures your child’s attention.

Here are two fun cutting practice activities that were a hit for us:

Playdough Hair Cutting

Playdough (see my homemade no-cook playdough recipe) is the perfect choice for early cutting practice because it is soft and easy to cut. Plus the resistance of the playdough provides essential feedback to the child. Another advantage of using playdough for scissor cutting practice is that it is reusable and nothing goes to waste!

While rolling the playdough into a ‘snake’ is a good start, some children may not find this very interesting for long. This is where the magic of role play comes in! Using playdough ‘snakes’ as hair on dolls, you can create your own hair salon dramatic play area!

The 21cm Miniland Doll suited this activity perfectly as it doesn’t actually have hair which won’t get knotted in the playdough.

We had an absolute blast laughing about the different haircuts that hairdresser Clara gave her dolls.

It’s worth mentioning that you need to keep a very close eye on your budding hairdresser to ensure the only hair they cut is on their prop

Pizza Cutting

On the quest to find a printable that could provide fun cutting practice, I wasn’t satisfied with what I found so I made my own!

I know having pineapple on pizza is controversial but it is Clara’s most favourite pizza topping. I originally started with just a Hawaiian pizza but then I couldn’t help myself and I ended up with four different flavour variations!

You can grab the FREE pizza cutting printable in black & white or buy the full colour version for just $0.99.

The idea is that beginner cutters can be given the challenge of cutting straight lines to form pizza slices. More advanced cutters can cut around the pizza to master curved edges.

You can even incorporate the pizzas into a bit of dramatic play fun and set-up their very own pizza shop!

Have your kids mastered scissors cutting?

I’d love to hear about your tips, tricks and favourite activities for scissor skills and cutting practice. Leave a me a comment and let me know how you are going with teaching scissor skills!

Disclosure: I occasionally use affiliate links to monetise my content. I may receive a commission on products or services that you purchase through clicking on links within this page. This doesn’t affect your price in any way, but helps me with the cost of maintaining my website so that I may continue to share resources to help you embrace play-based learning and mindful parenting.

The post Fun Cutting Activities To Help Strengthen Toddler & Pre-School Scissor Skills appeared first on Mama's Got This.

Like many parents, I have a Peppa Pig obsessed toddler. We don’t even own a TV but that hasn’t stopped the invasion of Peppa Pig toys in our home. On the bright side, I’m astonished at all the hilarious phrases she has picked up and some of the episodes have certainly set the foundation for some quirky dramatic play scenes! (My favourite at the moment is when we re-enact The Secret Club episode and make up funny secret words)

We’ve seen so many re-runs of each episode that I’m pretty sure Clara and I can repeat the script word for word!

The beauty of re-watching an episode over and over again, is that repetition promotes curiosity. One of Clara’s favourite questions to ask a barrage of whys. A toddler’s curiosity is such an amazing and wonderful thing and I love how hungry she is for more information. Sometimes we’ll pause an episode for a giggle or so I can provide some commentary. More often that not, this blossoms into a whole delightful conversation!

Although we usually don’t make screen time as part of our day, Peppa Pig has become so ingrained into our lives that we’ve even begun turning it into sensory play activities!

What is sensory play?

Sensory play includes any activity that stimulates your young child’s senses: touch, smell, taste, movement, balance, sight and hearing. Sensory activities and sensory tables facilitate exploration and naturally encourage children to use scientific processes while they play, create, investigate and explore. Spending time stimulating their senses helps children develop cognitively, linguistically, socially and emotionally, physically and creatively.

Why is sensory play important?

Research shows that sensory play builds nerve connections in the brain’s pathways, which lead to the child’s ability to complete more complex learning tasks. Sensory play supports language development, cognitive growth, fine and gross motor skills, problem solving skills, and social interaction.

Sensory play is always a hit at our house! The best part is that it’s a fun way to engage in meaningful and independent play! So here are three sensory play activities that enhance Peppa Pig stories!

Inspired by Season 3 Episode 30: Sun, Sea and Snow

Mummy Pig and Madame Gazelle go for a swim in the icy sea! Watch this episode here:

I brought this to life with sea theme props, ice cubes and blue food colouring.

Playing with ice opens the opportunity to discuss temperatures and textures — how the ice feels freezing cold on our hands, how it’s smooth and slippery, and what happens when it melts and disappears. We also joked about how it would feel if we bathed in the icy water with Madame Gazelle and Mummy Pig!

You can also offer different empty containers for scooping, catching and filling. The wonderful thing about open-ended play is that it’s child-led play and they can take the activity to any direction they feel like.

Inspired by Season 1 Episode 1: Muddy Puddles

You don’t have to wait for a rainy day to jump in muddy puddles!

Ooblek is basically cornflour (or cornstarch depending on where you are in the world) mixed with water! To make brown ooblek mud, simply add cocoa powder and adjust to the right gloopy consistency and colour.

The measurements are approximately:
1 cup cornflour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
½ cup water

If it’s too runny, add more cornflour, and if it’s too thick, add a few more drops of water.

Watch the episode of Muddy Puddles here:

Clara cracks up when Daddy Pig says “it’s only mud!” and then wipes Peppa and George clean.

To set-up this scene, you’ll need two tubs. One for the ooblek mud, and another filled with soapy water (simply add a few drops of dishwashing detergent to water). I also offer some cleaning brushes, sponges and a tea towel.

This activity can get messy so it’s best to set this up outside where kids can get wet and wild!

A bonus with ooblek mud is that it washes off with water and it doesn’t stain clothes!

Inspired by Season 2 Episode 15: Sports Day

Kids love digging their hands into cool feeling textures like kinetic sand! I love kinetic sand because it’s moldable and squishable but sticks to itself so it’s really easy to clean up!

In the ‘Sports Day’ episode, George and Richard Rabbit compete in the long jump competition.

Watch the Sports Day episode here:

Set-up the long jump scene by pouring a layer of kinetic sand in a tray. Clara likes to arrange the grown-ups around the tray to watch the children. This is a great opportunity to practice counting and grouping similar objects together (grown-ups vs children).

You can also use different objects to build molds or for digging and jumping into. The possibilities are endless!

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It’s worth noting that although commercial playdough is non-toxic, it often still contains a cocktail of harsh chemicals and synthetic ingredients or fragrances. According to Wiki, “Play-Doh’s current manufacturer, Hasbro, reveals the compound is primarily a mixture of water, salt, and flour, while its 2004 United States patent indicates it is composed of water, a starch-based binder, a retrogradation inhibitor, salt, lubricant, surfactant, preservative, hardener, humectant, fragrance, and color.”

No-Cook Nautral Coconut-Scented Playdough

Print

Prep Time: 5 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.7/5

( 3 voted )

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain flour
• 4 tbs cream of tartar
• ½ cup salt
• 1½ cups boiling water
• 2 tbs coconut oil
• natural food colouring

Instructions

Combine all the wet ingredients in a large bowl, then add all the dry ingredients.

Mix until well combined then allow to cool slightly. Knead for a few minutes, adding a touch more flour if it is too sticky. 

Store the playdough in an airtight container or zip-lock bag at room temperature, out of direct sunlight. 

Notes

You can add fresh herbs, flowers, fruits, seeds and spices for a gorgeous array of scents and textures

Here are also some brilliant playdough tools I’ve found:

Disclosure: I occasionally use affiliate links to monetise my content. I may receive a commission on products or services that you purchase through clicking on links within this page. This doesn’t affect your price in any way, but helps me with the cost of maintaining my website so that I may continue to share resources to help you embrace play-based learning and mindful parenting.

The post Easy homemade no-cook playdough appeared first on Mama's Got This.

In my childhood, I dreamed of camping beneath the stars — using bed sheets hoisted up between two dining chairs to create a pretend tent and sofa cushions for a makeshift bed, my siblings and I often let our imaginations run wild. I remember suggesting to take this outside to the backyard for an overnight adventure but my parents must’ve talked us out of it. Growing up, we also played a lot of pretend shop during the school holidays, taking turns to be the shopkeeper and customer. The shop always came alive the second my parents left the house for work. We reshuffled furniture around and cardboard boxes turned into market stands and shop fronts; we’d excitedly run amuck, scavenging for props that we could sell to each other. But of course, what would have really made our pretend play even more fun would have been a cubby house. Cubby houses are the stuff that childhood dreams are made of.

I always knew that when I became a mother, I’d finally build that dream cubby house.

Thanks to Pinterest and Instagram, there’s no shortage of inspiration for dreamy cubby houses! My only challenge was to convince Zen that a cubby house wouldn’t takeover our entire courtyard. That was easily proven when I showed him the nifty $199 Kmart cubby house that we could renovate. “It’d make a great project for us to work on together” I exclaimed!

And so our first renovation project begun!

Buying the wooden cubby house from Kmart

I thought the hard part was going to be tracking down the cubby house because it’s no longer available online. According to the website store availability checker, there was no stock at my closest Kmart but after quick call to another store, I was advised that they had three in stock so off we went — Zen, Clara and I , in our little hatchback.

I wish I had taken note of the weight and size of the packaged box 116cm (H) x 112cm (W) x21cm (D) beforehand because when we arrived, it was instantly obvious that there was no way it was going to fit into our car since we had the baby seat installed at the back! The bulky box (weighing around 30+kg) definitely required two people to lift it and there was no chance my little koala was going to let go of me!

So lesson learned is to borrow a van and get help with the lifting! (A big thank you to Zen’s brother who came to the rescue later that night!)

Choosing a colour palette

I decided on a Tuscan-style colour palette to match our house, but I wanted the pop of a blue door to create a laid back coastal Mediterranean Sea vibe.

To make sure the colours would complement one another, I found a similar colour palette from a Taubmans colour style guide available at Bunnings. I wanted a turqoise tone to the door so I chose Fiji Waters instead of Blue Lagoon and I wanted the yellow to be more pastel so I opted for Golden Honey. We chose Cacao for the roof to give it a classic look and just plain white for the window trim.

How much paint?

Make sure to buy weather-resistant exterior paint if your cubby house is going to be outdoors. We went for the cheapest exterior paints which ended up being:

• British Paints 4 Seasons 2L low sheen ($53) for the walls
• Taubman’s Sunproof Exterior 1L gloss ($32.30) for the door
• Taubman’s Sunproof Exterior 1L low sheen ($32.30) for the roof
• Taubman’s Sunproof Exterior 1L low sheen white ($31.20) for the window trim

Two litres of paint will give you two coats on the exterior walls and a single coat on the interior. I would’ve liked to do a second coat if we had enough paint so maybe go for the 4L if you’d like a better finish on the interior.

We still have around half a tin each of the 1L paints after doing two to three coats of paint on the door, roof and trims.

Keep in mind that we’re total newbs at renovating so we had to also buy basic things. Other costs included:

• Uni Pro 25-75mm 3 Piece Paint Brush Set ($4.10)
• Paint Partner 100mm Paint Brush ($6.67)
• Monarch 2.6×3.6m Blue Plastic Drop Sheet ($6.19) – In hindsight, I wish we had invested in a reusable canvas drop sheet instead
• Bear 36mm x 50m General Purpose Masking Tape ($4.89) – This is a cheap one; the adhesive removes clean within 24 hours. The more expensive ones allow you to leave it on for 14 days which we didn’t need.

Note: I didn’t paint the plastic windows at the front of the house since it was already white.

Is there anything I’d do differently? I’d probably invest in a paint spray gun because painting by hand took a very long time and it was quite difficult to get a nice smooth finish. I also underestimated the entire painting process as I didn’t take into account that paint would need at least two hours to dry properly before you could apply a second coat. Given that we worked on this after Clara went to bed every night for a week, we were only able to do a single coat of paint on one side at each given time. I also realised I painted a lot of unnecessary areas because once assembled, the parts overlapped! But I don’t actually have any advice to give because I think painting the parts separately definitely made it easier to start with!?

Flooring

To keep the cubby house off wet ground, we installed four packs of the IKEA Runnen floor decking in dark grey ($24.99 each / 9 tiles per pack). It was surprisingly easy to click together and literally took just seconds to assemble! Although the decking is plastic, it feels really durable and visually, it just completes the space. The instructions recommend to saw off the connector edges once you’ve assembled the desired space, but we decided to leave these on in case we ever wanted to expand the deck.

Bar Leaner

To extend the play space, we decided to set-up a bar leaner using two Carinya 150 x 100 x 20mm scroll brackets ($4.85 each) and a piece of pine wood. I randomly picked the Claymark 235 x 19mm x 1.2m Premium Grade Dressed Pine Sheet ($19.20) and took it to the trade desk to have it cut to length for free, but the shame of it was that I gave them the wrong dimensions!

So I ended up buying the Ox Trade Hand Saw ($9.95) and a sanding block ($3.50) from my local hardware shop so we could cut the pine to its correct size. I also asked the hubby to trim the corner down as a safety precaution since our toddler is prone to walking into corners, walls and doors! I’ve seen some bar leaners cut to size to fit snug against the window sill but the carpentry felt a bit out of our depth so we took the easy route and slotted it beneath the sill. There’s a tiny gap on the sides but I really don’t mind it.

Awning

The awning consists of two IKEA Ekby Valter wall brackets ($5 each) installed upside down. I scored the awning fabric almost half price from Spotlight! I bought 1 metre of the Coastal Stripe Weather Resistant Canvas Fabric ($13/m on sale, originally $25/m) and winged it with the pattern making! Here’s what it looked like before I sewed it together:

I wanted the awning cover to be removable for washing so rather than permanently attach it, I sewed on six straps at each corner. I used 15mm white PVC Cup Hooks ($4.80 each, 25 per pack) to secure them into place.

Kitchen

I believe a kitchen is the heart of every home so the cubby definitely needed one too. We coordinated with Zen’s sister who offered to generously gift Clara the IKEA Duktig Play Kitchen ($129) for her birthday. The fit was unbelievably perfect! We decided not to attach the shelving and microwave to keep the cubby airy and spacious. As a matter of fact, we don’t have a microwave at home so it didn’t make sense to have one in the cubby either.

Other details

The bell is a 112mm Brass Ship Bell ($29.12) from Bunnings. I was initially concerned Clara would annoy our neighbours by ringing the bell too often but she’s been really good with it! I won’t need to somehow mute the bell after all!

The floor mat is a 45x75mm coir rubber outdoor mat ($12.38), also from Bunnings.

We decided on the number two as a door number to symbolise Clara’s second birthday! The screws for the Sandleford 75mm Solid Brass Number ($7.82) were slightly long so we had to strategically place it where the wood was thicker.

We replaced the wooden door knob with a Prestige 64mm Antique Brass Metal Handle ($5.24) just to make the cubby a little bit more EXTRA!

The original plan was to plant succulents in the planter boxes but I knew Clara would be overly enthusiastic about watering her plants so I stuck with two bunches of artificial flowers ($8) from Kmart. Note: the stems are bendable so the flowers can be arranged to sit tightly in the planter box.

There are also two wisteria garlands ($11.99 each) secured to the roof with the same cup hooks that I had used for the awning.

Assembly

The walls are all pre-built so the cubby came together very easily! Although Zen managed to do most of the screws himself, I had to take over when it came to attaching the interior screws to the roof because he was getting a sore neck. Sometimes it pays off to be short!

In terms of assembly, my only tip would be to borrow or invest in an electric screwdriver if you want to speed things up but otherwise the manual effort wasn’t too bad.

I really wanted to create a space that would encourage creativity and imagination, and be reminded of what good old fashioned outdoor fun is. I’m so happy with how the cubby has turned out! It has already become the family hang-out spot! I’m looking forward to setting up a worm farm and a little veggie garden beside the cubby next!

Feel free to leave your questions below if there’s anything I’ve missed!

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