October 2011

Literacy Spot #44: 5 Tips for Supporting Playful ‘Writers’

October 31, 2011

Kindergarteners and preschoolers often spontaneously play around with writing. Their interest is usually 90% experimentation and 10% imitation as they watch you to learn about the place and function of writing within society. It is not unusual for these early forays into the written language to include a combination of shapes, scribbles and random letters [...]

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Our Play Space: Our Homemade Play Kitchen

October 30, 2011

A peek inside a reader’s play space… My two just love their new kitchen made from an old entertainment unit. We created the stove by drawing circles on top and colouring them in with a black permanent marker. My kids have some of their own bakeware, but they’re also allowed to raid mine as long [...]

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From Mudpies to Magpies: 10 Super Sandpit Ideas

October 28, 2011

This post was first published in June 2009 when Childhood 101 was only a month old. With the sun shining in our backyard today, I thought it was a great post to revisit for some encouragement to get the kids outdoors! Many Mums I know groan when they see their child heading for the sandpit, [...]

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The Internet Killed Community, Or Did It?

October 26, 2011

Friends first online and now in real life! Christie, Kate (with the smallest pickle) and Cath- SquiggleMum. Image: Danimezza for Nuffnang. This post is by regular contributor Kate Fairlie of Picklebums. I am a planner. I like to think things through, make plans and know where I’m heading well ahead of time. When we first [...]

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Fine Motor Activities for Preschoolers: Threading

October 25, 2011

Immy loves threading and when I shared last week on the Childhood 101 Facebook page that Immy was threading, one friend asked where I had sourced the supplies we were using. Often before we begin, Immy and I have a ‘threading hunt!’ Looking for items from around our home that are suitable for threading (Immy [...]

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Literacy Spot #43: Old Fashioned Technology

October 24, 2011

I was very excited to discover that my parents had recently found my old manual typewriter when they were spring cleaning! And even more thrilled to find that it still worked I think a good old fashioned typewriter is a fun way for a kindergartner or child in the early grades of school to play [...]

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Our Play Space: Paige’s Playroom

October 23, 2011

A peek inside a reader’s playspace… Hello! Myself, my husband, 2 and a half year-old daughter Paige, and a little baby boy currently growing in my belly live together in our home in the woods of New England. Paige’s play room was originally touted as the “formal living room” when we bought the house. It [...]

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Mum 2 Mum: The Princess/Fairy Conundrum

October 21, 2011

Princesses and fairies have been a constant in our house for about six months now. The princess bit started when Immy watched (and fell in love with) the Disney movie, Tangled. The fairies came a little later when she watched part of a Tinkerbell movie at a friends house. And in the time since the [...]

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