Photo Popsicle Stick Puzzles

I've been busy lately. Busy making busy bags for my kids to keep them busy during times they need to be kept busy. I know, an iPad or an iPhone would do the trick anytime but I'm out to prove to...to....to myself that kids do not need to be entertained by electronic devices!

So, here's an easy and fun craft to make for your busy bag or activity pack or whatever you want to call it. I first chanced upon this idea on Pinterest. I'd give credit to the site if I can remember which one it was. But anyway, these puzzles are easy to carry around and comes in handy when the kids need a little something to do.

Here are the things you need...

I used photos because I had a stack of photographs I didn't know what to do with. You can actually use any printed material or even have your child draw something on the popsicles.

1. Arrange your popsicle sticks and cut your photo down to size.

2. Apply glue on the back of your photo and stick the sticks on. The stoopid me applied glue to every stick instead.

3. Before the glue sets, use a blade and cut in-between the sticks. That way the sticks are still a little movable and easier to cut through.

And voila! Your very own Personalized Photo Popsicle Stick Puzzle or pPPSP!

The clever me decided to stamp them for easier identification.

 Consider the advantages of pPPSPs over iPads
1. More parent-child interaction.
2. More parent-child eye contact.
3. More fingers involved.

Now, wouldn't you like your child playing with pPPSPs instead?

Read. Explore. Learn - I Can Help Mommy Cook

I'm so glad I stumbled upon JDaniel4's Mom's linky a while back. It's called




In her words: This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie-in to children’s books. 
I love this meme because it'll help me focus on activities for my kids and encourage me to get creative with them, especially through the books we read. 
My son is 4 and a half now and has started to read simple words on his own. I know some kids start reading much earlier, but I'm happy enough that he has shown interest in wanting to look at the words and try to read them; when before he'd only be interested to look at pictures.  "All By Myself" by Mercer Mayer is a simple book that my son can handle. 

In this book, the Little Critter shows us the things he can do on his own, from getting himself out of bed, to putting on his own socks and icing a cake for Mom. My son is as independent as Little Critter here and can do most of the things mentioned in the book, on his own. But, one thing that I've only recently allowed him to do is to help me cook. So now to add on to his "I can" list, my son can now say "I can help mommy cook."
This is what we did...
We made Tortilla Pizza!I thought making pizza dough would take up too much of my time.(lazy mom syndrome)

Here's my son helping me to put the ingredients onto a piece of wholemeal tortilla

This pizza had salami, mushrooms, green peppers and lychee.

Lychee was a substitute for pineapple, as it was what I had in the house at that time. 

(lazy mom syndrome again)

Topped off with cheddar and mozzarella cheese of course!

Doesn't it look like the real thing? It came out thin and crispy, just the way the kids like it.
"I can help Mommy cook!"

If You Want To List

Not too long ago, my son and I came up with a game we call "If you want to" game. We take turns to come up with an "If you want to" sentence like "If you want to read, grab a book" or "If you want to pee, go to the toilet" or "If you want to sleep, go upstairs".

Here's my own "If you want to" list.....

1. If you want to have a good laugh, read my blog.
2. If you want to have more friends, open a Facebook account.
3. If you want to lose weight, don't eat so much.
4. If you want to have a relaxing holiday, don't bring your kids along.
5. If you want to go green, don't wear blue (or you can read my Going Green posts)
6. If you want to be a vegetarian, don't eat meat (DUH!).
7. If you want to get free therapy, start blogging.
8. If you want to be rich, dream on.
9. If you want to love someone, love yourself first.
10. If you want to feel priceless, be a mom.

Yamaha Junior Music Course

My boy attended his first Yamaha JMC class last night. Mommy enjoyed it as much as he did! I took piano lessons when I was young but quit at grade 3 because I just didn't like it - classes were boring and I dreaded the homework. But if they had this course then, I might have enjoyed learning music more.

I sought advice from family and friends before signing him up. And most of them said it's one of the best music courses to start a kid with, at age 4. Just from this first class alone, I'd have to agree. The course stresses alot on developing the listening skill of a child to help them learn to recognise tunes and tempos. The class my son's attending is in Centrepoint, Bandar Utama and I must give the teacher 2 thumbs up for her ability to engage interest and get the kids to participate. In today's lesson, we learnt the note 'Do'. Mommy has to start doing homework again. Gosh it's been years since my last homework and now I'm faced with it again. Got to practice fingering on the keyboard, get him to listen to a CD, sing some songs and trace his hands on his workbook - goodness I didn't realise there's so much to do!

"Skateboard Everything Slider Car"

My son is coming up with the funniest, wierdest names for his creations. He's been obsessed with building robots and spaceships lately (maybe because he's been watching too much of them cartoons) from his contruction sets and lego blocks. He'll come and tell me what they can do and give them names......

Robot Always Hands Side - a robot with it's hands always on the side.

Different Quite Robot - a robot that's quite different because it has 2 sets of wheels.

Love You Robot with Surname 'Shoot' - a robot that loves all good robots and shoots the bad ones.

Mommy's Tummy Sounds Funny!

One of the things I enjoyed doing as a kid was to place my ear on my mom's tummy and listen to it gurgle. Oh what funny sounds it made - slish, slosh, glurg and glorg. I had a swell time listening to it! The other day, just before bedtime, I introduced this activity to my kids and they were tickled pink! What a great time we had! Some of you might think it's a little disgusting to have your kids listen to your digestive juices getting to work in your tummy, but do consider these benefits...

1. Kids will have a great time laughing.
2. Don't you like having your kids lie down on you? I know I do. Wonderful bonding opportunity.
3. Educate your kids about what happens inside your digestive system. They will surely ask you "what's that sound?" and you are going to have to explain. Found this really fun site when I searched 'stomach gurgle' on google. You can get some useful information on how to explain the digestive system to your kids. Learnt a new word from there too "borborygmus".



Thank God the stretch marks didn't show on this picture!

Warning: Don't try this on your teenage kids - they might send you to Hospital Bahagia (local mental institution).

Putting Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again

I bought this jigsaw puzzle that comes with a book of the favourite kid's nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty, for my boy some time back. I have to say it's quite a fun thing to do with the kids. You can use it to tell them that they can help put Humpty Dumpty back together again and get them interested in puzzles. Easter's around the corner, it's time to get into the spirit of egg-citing activities like this!

What To Do With Your Milk Bottles

When I had my boy, I bought a few milk bottles thinking that my baby will have no problems taking to the bottle. Boy, was I wrong! We decided to train him on the bottle when he was 2 months old, so that others could babysit for me if I needed them to. At just 2 months old he was one stubborn baby who just wouldn't take the bottle. He would rather go 6-8 hours without feeding. My mother can attest to that because she was helping me train him. She gave up after 10 days. I also got all these other milk bottles from hampers given by friends and family. So, what did I do with them? Make toys!

1. Fill the bottles up with water and liquid soap. Add different coloured food dye and use them to teach your kid about colours. Amuse them with bubbles when you shake the bottles.

2. Put different types of grains (rice, lentils, red beans, barley) inside your bottles and make milk bottle maracas for your kid. Teach them about the different types of grains and different sounds they make when shaken. Make music together!

Activities To Keep Your Kids Busy With At Home

My son refuses to nap in the afternoons now, and very soon his little sister will follow suit. It's a good thing actually, because it means they'll sleep earlier at night (hopefully). It also means mommy has 2-3 extra hours with the kids, to kill. What do I do then? Keep them busy, of course!

1. Doodling/drawing - crayons, colour pencils, marker pens and paper will keep the kids busy for at least 20 minutes. Ask them to draw whatever they want and ask them to tell you about their drawings. It's alway fun to hear what they come up with.

2. Activity books - I've found sticker activity books quite fun for the kids. Adult supervision needed, unless your kid's old enough to listen to instructions and stick the stickers at the appropriate places. Other types of activity books include those with colouring pages, mazes, matching games and  letter or number tracing.

3. Jigsaw puzzles - I couldn't get my son to do puzzles until he was 3 and a half. He'd get frustrated when he can't get the pieces to fit. Now, he enjoys it! Test the waters first and if he's really not into it don't force him. He's just not ready yet.

4. Games - I've found Orchard Toys games very interesting and educational for little kids. We have Crazy Chefs at home which my son loves playing with. If you're in K.L./P.J, you can get them at Toys R Us or Parksons stores. Boggle Junior is also a good learning game for kids to learn their alphabets and start to recognise simple words.

5. Get them to help in the kitchen - I'll get my son to help me wash the vegetables, peel onions or garlic, or help me wash rice.

6. Painting - If you can take the mess, that is. Let them do it outside or even in the bathroom just before bath time. Think places where clean up is easier.

7. Playdough - ahh, kids never get tired of playing with playdough. If you'd like to make your own, try this Playdough Recipe

8. TOYS - Toys glorious toys! Evergreen toys include, lego, building blocks, cardboard bricks, construction sets (Lasy and Junior Engineer).



They're My toys, all MINE!


9. Read some books together.

10. Sing nursery rhymes or action songs.

11. Make up a story - Start with "Once upon a time....." and let your kid's imagination take over. Take turns to continue the story and find out how absurd it can get at the end.

12. Waterplay in the bathroom - If you're not the kind to waste water (and it's good to educate kids to conserve water at an early age), fill up a tub (baby tub works just fine) and make a bubble bath for the kids. Give them some small bottles, cups or small buckets and they'll be at it for some time.

Bubble bath - uncensored



13. Cutting Play - Let your kid practice cutting paper with kid-safe scissors. For a little more challenge, ask him to cut around a certain shape or picture.

With these activities, 2-3 hours will pass just like that! *snap fingers*