There is so much going on in our lovely city at the moment, that I thought I would collate a list of my highlights of children’s activities in Melbourne, for the month of November.

We have a couple of these events booked already, which I am looking forward to and will post some photos once we have been.

CHOOKAHS! Annual Kids Festival

Chookas Festival runs this week end at the Arts Centre. The festival aims to encourage

children to see, experience and participate in the performing arts. This year the Arts Centre will be adventurously transformed by the thrills, magic and dynamic feats of the circus.

Specifically designed with children from 3 - 8 years in mind, there is a fantastic range of paid and free events across the weekend. (Thanks to B to putting me on to this one and the MSO gig.)

e.t: the extra-terrestrial @ ACMI

None of my children have seen E.T. and I have such fond memories of seeing this movie when I was a child. ACMI is screening E.T. Sun 16 Nov 2008, 10.30am & 1pm and Sun 23 Nov 2008, 10.30am & 1pm, so it will be a perfect opportunity for them to see the movie on the big screen.

All tickets are only $5 per and you can book online or by calling (03) 8663 2583.

Family Classic Kids with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

The MSO have been running a series of these concerts and the next (and last) one is on Saturday 8th November.

Held at the Iwaki Auditorium ABC Southbank Centre, Melbourne, the concert runs for 45 minutes.

Family Classic Kids performances are an exciting learning experience for the young and the young at heart. With the children sitting right next to the orchestra, there are opportunities to sing along, respond to the music with movement and actions, follow a story and maybe even conduct!

A family ticket (2 adults and 2 children) is $50 and can be booked online.

Tot Spot: Outside Art - NGV International

These sessions are very popular. The first session for Nov (Nov 17) is already booked out. Places are still available for the session on Monday 24th Nov at 10am.

A spot of quality time for pre-schoolers with their parents or carers. Each session includes Gallery exploration and art activities. Ages 3–5.

Enjoy the NGV Gardens when we search for outside art and make some sculptures of your own.

The sessions costs $12 per child and you must book on 03 8620 2222. Quote event code P0801.

Artcart: Batik - The Ian Potter Centre:
NGV Australia

These are free sessions to be run every Sunday from 2 November until 30 November. ArtCart is aimed for children ages 3 and older, but parent/carer supervision is required.

This month the art activity is linked to he exhibition Across the desert: Aboriginal Batik from Central Australia. The activity will encourage children to experiment with wax crayons to make a picture.

Technorati Tags: Children's Activities, Melbourne, week ends

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It is now 8 weeks until Christmas. According to my Christmas Preparation Plan this week I was going to be working on updating my Christmas Card list. The great thing about having the Christmas Plan is that I am aware of what activities I need to do and roughly in what order. This knowledge helps me to make the best use of my time. So this week I actually worked on finishing up my homemade Christmas Gift Tags. (FYI scheduled for 6 weeks to go.)

An opportunity arose for me this week to catch up with a friend. She was going to be attending a scrapbooking workshop and invited me along. I am not a scrapbooker, but the lovely workshop host (Paula ) was happy for me to come along, use all of the fabulous tools that she has and make my Christmas Gift Tags.

It was great to source some new inspiration from the scrapbooks that Paula had on display. I am pretty basic when it comes to this type of thing, but seeing ideas of what combinations can be used inspired me to come up with some fun little Christmas Tags for this year, whilst still sticking with my theme of gold and silver.

My favourites are the actual “tag” shaped ones (above). Paula had this nifty tool that cut the card into this shape and then would also place a whole at the end. So while enjoying the company of some new creative women (my friend actually couldn’t make it in the end!) I made another 18 Christmas Gift Tags and have completed my 50 that I will need for this year.

Now I just have to work out what I am going to do for wrapping paper!

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I have a lot of discussions with other parents on the topic of meal time and about getting smaller children to eat a healthy meal. There are a number of things that we do as a family to make meal time more enjoyable, but I think the most important from that list is having the children involved in creating the menu plan and ensuring that there tastes are incorporated into the family’s meals.

The food that I cook on a regular basis is not fussy or overly complex, but is healthy, easy to cook and appealing to the children. I have collated a list of family meals that our children love and eat readily and may give you some new ideas for you family dinners.

It is always great to come across new recipes, so I would love it if you would add suggestions for family meals, with associated links in the comments. I will then collate the suggestions and post a complete list over the week end.

(1). Fried Rice
It is not an actual fry up dish, but contains steamed rice. It can be cooked in advance and is a great meal to feed a large group.

(2). Mexibake
A little more timely to cook (needs to go in the oven for 45 mins) and would be a healthier meal without the tub of sour cream! It is however an incredibly tasty dish and usually covers dinner for more than one night. A number of readers of this blog have tried this and have found it a winner with their family too.

(3). Pasta with Chicken and Spinach
Ultra quick and tasty meal. Tony on his blog Anthony Malloy Between Coffees, posted a photo from when he tried this recipe and his presentation of this meal is impressive.

(4). Spicy Chutney Chicken with Mixed Rice
A tasty dish, that you can easily play with the ingredients to give more variety. For example we have used cous cous instead of rice and other times added some dired fruit to the rice to mix it up a bit.

(5). Chicken Schnitzel and Salad
There is definitely nothing fancy about this meal, but the children love it. I love it from the aspect that I get the children to help me prepare it. They can grate the carrot, slice the cheese, cut the cucumber etc. It is also a meal that they can serve themselves, which is always a big hit in our house.

(6). Baked Penne With Bacon
Simple dish to cook and one that can be made earlier in the day, for nights when we have after school activities.

(7). Chicken Stir Fry With Seasonal Vegetables
The big issue for us with this meal, is whether it is accompanied with rice or noodles! The family is split about half and half with its preference. We have now agreed on alternating between the two, to keep everyone happy.

(8). Porcupine Meatballs
I loved this meal as a child. I have to say that I love it less as an adult, but genetics has played a part - all my children love this dish and always have multiple helpings.

(9). Spaghetti alla Matriciana
Having Matriciana in its name is probably a little generous given that I am the only one in the house who eats anything spicy (hot), so there is only minimal chili in this dish. It is copied from Matriciana styled dishes and my children love anything with bacon in it.

(10). Beef Strogonoff
Now we are in the warmer months here in Australia, this will be off the rotation for a while, but it is a great winter dish. It is also a great slow cooker recipe, which is I can start cooking earlier in the day on those nights when we have after school activities.

Looking forward to seeing what are the favourites for your family!

Technorati Tags: children, dinner, family meals, Recipes

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I had three bananas turning a shade of black in the fruit basket today, which inspired me to make this fabulous banana cake recipe. It takes five bananas to make the cake as it is a very large banana cake. I had previously put some aging bananas in the freezer, so I could simply defrost them to make the cake without needed any fresh bananas.

This cake is a great one to bake at the start of a week, as when kept air tight, it stays moist for some time and is big enough to be included for most school lunches during the week. The recipe is included in this week’s menu plan:

Baking: Easy Banana Cake

Monday: Fried Rice

Tuesday: Baked Penne With Bacon

Wednesday: Lamb Chops with Steamed Vegetables

Thursday: Left Overs

Friday: Tandoori Wraps

Saturday: Mexibake

Sunday: BBQ (We have family visiting, yay!!!)

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Technorati Tags: family freindly meals, menu plan, Recipes

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The ever resourceful Problogger tweeted about this project going on in the blogosphere earlier today. It is being run at Chuck Westbrook’s Blog and is aimed at solving the problem of Blogs With Great Content and No Readers.

In brief participants like myself will:
1. Join the group for the project.
2. Read a good, lesser known blog for two weeks.
3. At the end of the two weeks, the group moves to another blog to read.

I have never joined in on anything like this before, but I think it will be a great way to expose myself to some fantastic little gems of blogs out there, and maybe even bring this blog some new readers.

Head to Chuck’s blog if you would like to join in too.

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The countdown continues - 9 weeks until Christmas. My countdown is naturally of a planning nature and I am working through a Christmas Preparation Plan to allow a smooth and paced lead up to Christmas this year.

Week Nine’s activity was to complete making handmade gifts. Today with the two youngest children, I made the last of our handmade Christmas gifts, homemade bath salts. They were incredibly easy to make and it was really a fun activity to make with the children.

At their request tonight, we tested the bath salts (including me) in the bath and the children and myself were delighted with the results.

Here is a very simple tutorial that you can follow to make your own bath salts:

The Ingredients

• 1 cup of Epsom Salts
• 1 cup of Sea Salt
• 3 tablespoons of dehydrated milk
• Food Colouring
• 1/4 teaspoon of essential oil

A note about the sea salt. I bought sea salt that was “double washed and naturally evapourated”. It has slightly larger crystals than traditional table salt and looks better presentation wise.

The Instructions

(1.) Mix the salts in a large bowl.

(2). Add approximately 8 - 10 drops of food colouring to the salts. If you want a darker colour, obviously just add more dye. Mix dye in with a whisk.

(3). Add the powdered milk and use the whisk again to mix thoroughly.

(4). Add the essential oil to the mix. The smell is the strongest notable characteristic of the bath salts, so it is worth while using a quality oil. I used an essential oil blend called harmony, which smells divine!

(5). Spoon mixture into a dry jar.

(6). Place lid on and close tightly.

(7). I used a CD to cut out a circle piece of fabric to decorate the bath salts. The fabric is held in place by a length of thin ribbon.

I still have one more batch of bath salts to make (Possum thinks the next batch should be green) and I will have finished the handmade gifts for Christmas. As you can see from the photo above, I have been using the same materials across the three projects, so that I can team up multiple items, like gift sets.

Instructions for the other items can be found here:
- Handmade Fabric Covered Notebooks
- Handmade Fabric Necklaces

Technorati Tags: bath salts, christmas presents, handmade

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We have a beautiful border collie dog named Millie. Millie is now a much quieter dog than she used to be as she has passed her 13th year. She has always been brilliant with the children and other than her slight tendency to bark at things in the sky, she is also a very well behaved, outside only dog. We now have some recent animal additions to the house, that I would like to introduce to you:

Hermit Crabs

Below are “Active” and “Sleepy”. They are Hermit Crabs and are the loved pet of Little Rascal. We have had Hermit Crabs as children’s pets before in our house, with not a lot of success. Little Rascal first received the tank complete with heat pad and two crabs for a birthday present (all my sisters put in togehter). As the Hermit Crabs come from Queensland, they really didn’t enjoy Melbourne’s cold autumn (he received them in April last year).

After we lost the first Hermit Crab to the cold, we moved them into a warmer area of the house, but it wasn’t long before the colder mornings took their toll. We did get more Hermit Crabs but they didn’t last too long either.

So now we are trying in spring to see if the Hermit Crabs can cope better in Melbourne’s warmer weather!

Axolotl

The other new addition is the still to be named axolotl (Mexican Walking Fish). Thinker had seen a documentary on the axolotl and decided that he would save his pocket money and buy one. Thinker already had the tank and filter etc (another group birthday present from my sisters!), so he only actually had to purchase the Mexican walking fish.

Thinker didn’t even have to buy food. Axolotl’s eat worms and our compost is teaming with worms, so he simply goes to the compost, then rinses the worm and drops it in the tank. For a creature that doesn’t move around a much and has poor eye sight, it can move very quick to devour its lunch!

Responsibilities Of Pet Ownership

Before making these purchases, we had serious discussions with both children on the responsibilities that come with pet ownership. With a human addition to come to the house soon, the last thing that I want is more cleaning and feeding!

So both boys accepted that to have these animals as pets, that they would be fully responsible for the feeding and cleaning that is associated with the pet. I have to admit to having my doubts as to whether they would indeed do this, but to date they have both been very keen to take care of their new pets.

We are only a week into having them in the house, so we still have some time to go, but so far the new additions have been successful. The smaller two children will spend large chunks of time just watching the Hermit Crabs and the axolotl and all children love watching feeding time of the axolotl.

Technorati Tags: axolotl, children's pets, hermit crabs, mexican walking fish

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Although the title states that the tips are for toddlers, they can really be applied to children of all ages. All families are different and I think the most important thing you can do is find a routine that works for you and your family, so the end of the day ends quietly and calmly.

I have found that setting a bedtime routine early on with children, makes life so much easier as they grow and start to want to have more influence over their life. Here are 10 tips which have made bedtime easier for our family:

(1). Aim for same time.
I have found that by starting the bedtime routine process at similar time each night breeds familiarity and therefore ease of manageability with the children.

(2). Have a routine.
The exact components and order of a bed time routine may differ from family to family, but most families I know find having some type of routine that leads up the bed time process incredibly helpful. Each component act as a cue for the child that the end of their day is winding down.

(3). Read a story.
I have found this to be such an enjoyable part of the bed time routine for me and my children. Days can be very busy and it is easy for them to pass by without the time to read a story. By having it as part of our bed time routine (this includes the routine for day sleeps for the toddler as well) it makes sure that we do read a story together every day.

(4). Calm atmosphere.
I love music and so do my children and sometimes it will be on quite loud. As we start our bed time routine, I make sure that if music is on, it is on quietly and that it is of the calming variety not rock or the latest pop music.

(5). Room prepared.
Once we enter the bedroom for their story time, I have found that this is not the ideal time to tidy the room and make sure the beds are made etc. This needs to be done well before so once we enter the room, it is for the final wind down stage of the day - not a whirl wind of activity to get the area ready for sleep.

(6). Water and Toileted.
I have found that children very quickly develop tactics for delaying the sleeping process if they feel so inclined. I try to cover of most of these areas before entering the bedroom, so they cannot be used. Going to the toilet and a small drink of water are essential parts of my strategy to prevent the yoyo-ing in and out of bed that toddlers/preschooler sometimes love to do.

(7). Show Affection.
After the end of a long day it can be tempting to want to shove the kids into bed as quickly as possible! I find that the results from this are not optimal and that it is worth taking those extra minutes to have a cuddle and make the bedtime process a warm one.

I find that story time provides the perfect opportunity for this and with my younger two, we all hop into Possum’s bed. Babaganouski sits on me knee and I have my arm around Possum and we read the story huddled closely together.

(8). Darken Room.
Now that we have hit daylight savings time in Victoria (Australia), by the time the children’s bed time comes around, it is starting to be quite light. To make it easier for them to get off to sleep, I shut all curtains and blinds to darken the room as much as possible.

(9). Consistency.
I have deliberately left this point and the next to last, due to the fact that they contradict each other! I find it is essential to have consistency with the bedtime routine with little children. For example I read one longer story to my preschooler, but two smaller books to my toddler each night. The toddler sometimes will try and push another book under my nose, but I like to remain consistent and reinforce that he has had his two stories and that it is now time for sleep. Varying from one night to another is confusing for him and he is not able to understand where the boundary is.

(10). Flexibility.
This is the complete opposite of what I have just explained above, but like with all parenting I think there is certain circumstances that require flexibility. For example my preschooler will still have afternoon sleeps about twice a week. Occasionally Possum will have a very big sleep (2.5 - 3 hours) if she has been very busy. On those days I know that she will not be ready for sleep at her usual time and will extend that by around forty to fifty minutes, so that when she does go to bed she will not find it too hard to go to sleep.

What do you do to get your toddler down to sleep calmly every night?

Technorati Tags: bed time, routine, toddler

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Before I started the 30 Day Challenge in August, I went ahead and did a family meal plan for the month. It was great to get to Sunday and know what that I just had to access the file and it was all sitting there ready for me.

During the September school holidays I decided to plan for a month again. So with the children’s input, I did the same thing with October. Now as I write this late Sunday night after 2 children’s birthday parties, 2 junior cricket games, a Christening and BBQ and a working bee, I was completely releived that I weekly menu plan for the family already completed and here it is:

Monday: Shepherd’s Pie

Baking: Pikelets

Tuesday: Tuna Rice

Wednesday: Chicken Schnitzel and Salad

Thursday: Pasta with Chicken and Spinach

Friday: Left Overs

Saturday: Chicken Stir Fry With Seasonal Vegetables

Sunday: Sausages and Vegetables

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Technorati Tags: family friendly food, Menu Planning, Recipes

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Time Magazine recently published Schoolyard Bullying: Which Kids Are Most Vulnerable? You often read about children who suffer more than one episode of bullying and I have wondered if there is any characteristics that make some children more prone to becoming the victims of bullying.

The article from Time was based on research conducted in the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, from the Université Laval in Québec, Canada.

Some of the factors which they are stating makes a child more likely to be bullied surprised me.

Researchers found several key factors that predicted a child’s risk of future victimization — namely, physically aggressive behavior in the child, harsh parenting methods (like “overly punitive” responses to kids’ bad behavior) and low socio-economic status. The best predictor, the study concluded, was early childhood physical aggression. “If a child is aggressive at 2 years of age, he’s more likely to be in the higher-increasing trajectory,” Boivin said. “If, in addition, the mother is hostile and reactive, the prediction risk increases.” Adding the third element, low socio-economic status, increases that likelihood even further.

I would have thought the a child with aggression would be more likely to be the perpetrator not the victim. The authors do note that further study is required to answer questions of cause and effect. I can see how this type of research will be tremendously helpful in preventing bullying. Understanding who is likely to be more at risk can help educators and parents to try an minimise the occurrence of bullying and the long term damage it has on these children.

Technorati Tags: bullying, Child Development, parenting, victims

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