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On My Mind

Written on July 1st, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Handmade, Projects, Saving money

From today onward, I’ll be joining in the ‘On my mind’ photo feature from Down To Earth. It’s one of my favourite blogs, full of inspiration. The idea is to post a photo of what is on your mind that day.

Like most mums, I have a million things on my mind today. Can we get the man who pumps septic tanks to visit us soon? I’m sure at this time of year he’s very busy! However, my partner and I are keen to get ours emptied soon in this cold weather.

We have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon, as my carer support worker and Phams worker cleverly picked up that I’m getting depression (occupational hazard, I’m told). I’m looking forward to getting some much needed medication and feeling better for it.

But what I’m thinking about most of all, is how much I can’t wait to sit down tonight and over the weekend to finish this jacket for Missy 3. I’m in the process of designing an ultra simple, ultra fast pattern for this so I can run a jacket up within hours in future. If it works out well, of course I’ll share the pattern.

I’m finding it’s getting easier to find the time to knit, these days. Of course I’m busier than I’ve ever been, but I love knowing that my kids are now old enough that I can knit whilst they’re awake without inquisitive fingers unravelling the yarn from the needles. I love that our cat Sookie is old enough now not to play with the yarn as I knit (but I still can’t leave it on the bench for a second or he’ll rip it to shreds! I learnt this the hard way when I was designing a beautiful pair of knitted gloves for my mother!)

I also find being a mother, I appreciate my crafting time so much more than I did when I was single. Time in general is more precious now, definitely. Especially time enjoying doing something I love.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and that you leave me a comment to let me know what’s on your mind.

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Making Pom Poms

Written on May 1st, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Craft, Fine motor, Handmade, May 2011, Projects, Saving money, School aged

Yes, this is a pom-pom made from the french knitting kit I mentioned the other day. I’m not overly thrilled with it, because of the technique used to wind the wool on:

Having made pom poms in the past the old fashioned way (winding yarn around cardboard circles with a hole in the centre), Missy 10 and I both thought this would be much easier. It was, but we didn’t like the effect as much as how it turns out doing it the old fashioned way. There was a lot of trimming needed afterward to make it look circular, and we didn’t like how the tied-up centre turned out, either. It didn’t seem as secure. Violet Le Beaux recently made heart shaped pom poms by wrapping the yarn around something rectangular with great results, so it could be a personal preference thing. I’m determined to make some of her cute heart pom poms very soon though, I think they’d look awesome on the end of some beanie ties!

This is a great activity if you have a child who’d like to dabble in wool/yarn craft, but isnt yet confident/interested in learning to knit or crochet. It still provides yet another opportunity to work the fine motor muscles and to problem-solve. It can be pretty tricky cutting those loops of wool, so a child will have to dig deeper than using just average scissor skills! They won’t be able to cut all that yarn in one hit, and will have to learn other ways to do it, such as snipping just a little wool at a time.

Making pom poms with children also encourages them to concentrate on this task for a longer period than many other activities this generation likes to do. I think it’s good to involve children in activities which don’t necessarily provide instant gratification in a matter of minutes. As with most wool crafts, school aged children are given a chance to lengthen their attention span and to learn about patience.

When Missy 10 made her pom poms, she quickly learned that although it’s a simple project, these make great gifts. She made a toy for Sookie the cat, and we both gave some pom poms to Missy 3 to play with. She was over the moon to be able to carry them around and cuddle them. Missy 10 did attempt to decorate one pom-pom into a toy character, but unfortunately, Sookie tore it apart within seconds of its completion. In time, we’ll make more pom-poms, and show a bunch of cool things kids can make either for themselves or others.

In future, I’m thinking we’ll buy one of those plastic versions of the cardboard circles, as a compromise. It’s tedious cutting out cardboard every single time, after all.

This is the perfect weather in Australia to be snuggling up, making pom-poms. I have fond memories of making them as a child, and making funny toys out of them. What did you do with pom-poms when you were a child?

Teach Your Child Knitting

Written on January 16th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Cognitive, Craft, Fine motor, Good times, Handmade, January 2011, Projects, School aged

In Australia, we’re in the last weeks of the Summer holidays. It’s been fun, but now everyone’s getting a bit tetchy. Few of us have unlimited funds to do ridiculously exciting outings everyday, but it’s becoming clear before the kids get on each others’ (and our!) nerves, that they need something to do.

This is I why I think it’s great to teach school-aged kids how to knit. Missy 10 already knew the basics of it, but because she’s usually so busy with school, doesn’t get enough time to practice. What better time to have a go, than during school holidays? Our kids have hours and hours of time on their hands, and whilst it’s a great time to play and relax, sometimes kids don’t know what to do with so much spare time.

Knitting is also really cheap to get started with. Sure, you can spend a lot of money on beautiful wools down the track, but for beginners, cheap is best anyway. And to be honest, for the amount of time spent concentrating and being quiet (oh yes, I went there!) I’d say it’s a damn solid investment.

Even for my own knitting, I like to be relatively frugal. I use knitting needles that have either been handed down to me, and if I don’t have a certain size, nine times out of ten I can source them at the op shop or ebay for a dollar or two. I prefer old knitting needles anyway; to me they feel like there is magic in them. I can picture the ladies before me working on their projects, and feel as though I’m extending the continuum. Any money I save here allows me to buy high quality wools and yarns. I believe once you’re an established knitter, you deserve only the best materials.

I also have been able to to source many patterns for free on the internet, or for a couple of dollars. Ravelry and Knitty are my two favourite resources for knitting. There are also some great, easy knitting patterns for kids online. When I was nine, I became obsessed with knitting! I started out by reading beginners’ knitting books, and doing the projects in there. Basically, once your child can knit, there’s no reason for them not to start out on any beginner pattern that catches their eye. I also used to enjoy designing and knitting clothes for my toys.

Another great thing kids can do once they’ve mastered the basics of knitting is to attempt sampler squares of different patterns, such as stockinette stitch, moss stitch and ribbing. If your child enjoys the mastery of a computer game, there’s a fair chance they’ll get a kick out of a challenge like this too!

Ok, so knitting is cheap and enjoyable for kids. What are some of the direct benefits for the child?

- Knitting builds fine motor strength

- It challenges their eye-hand co-ordination

- It gives them great spatial awareness

- It is a great cognitive (intellect) building activity

- It encourages children to think in mathematical terms. Don’t believe me? Try knitting a pattern from a graph, or attempting a sampler pattern!

- Knitting is a great way for children to explore a new material. They learn about how fabrics can be made, the way they interlock together. They learn about how different sized needles, and different wool/yarn thicknesses affect the work they’re doing. They learn by working with the yarn and feeling it for long periods, the different properties of different fibres. For example, working with mohair is an entirely different experience to working with pure wool. Cotton doesn’t stretch very much, acrylic yarns don’t stay nice for very long, and so on.

- Knitting gives children a challenge and a purpose.

- Knitting gives children with a taste for fashion an outlet to channel it towards.

- It encourages children to have patience, and to work towards a goal.

- It keeps them quiet for hours!

So, how does one start out teaching their child to knit? I like to grab some 8 ply acrylic yarn (I usually can’t stand this stuff, but it’s perfect for learning on), and the needles in the size that complements the yarn (check the label for suggestions). I make sure I do it when I have a lot of time. Knitting with a child is a bonding experience, and not something to be rushed. It should be pleasurable.

It’s best at the first learning attempt for the grown-up to cast on the stitches and work one or two rows. This enables the work some more elasticity, which in turn makes the learning process less awkward. My Gram taught me to knit, by teaching me to recite as I worked, ‘in, round, under, off’ throughout the process of knitting one stitch. When you’re teaching a child to knit, a lot of this is repetition based, and takes a lot of practise. I’ve found it helped if I worked on a garter stitch sampler at the same time, (when my daughter was just starting out) so my daughter can look over my shoulder and see the ‘flow’ of the process.

As your child becomes more used to working with the needles and yarn, they’ll develop a comfortable habit in how they hold both. They will get their own little flow going! Knitting is a great confidence builder, too. What I love about it, is that a child can follow a pattern to learn the skill, or to make a certain, wanted project, or they can create something entirely original, if that is their wish. It can be as structured or open-ended as they choose! My motto with knitting is, build the skills first, then you can create anything later.

My daughter is really keen to learn more about knitting now, so we’ll be building up a cheap but nice stash for her. She’s really excited about this! You’ll be able to find out in a few days, what exactly it is she’s knitting!

If you don’t or can’t knit, why not consider asking a relative or friend who can, to teach your child? Do you or any of your children knit? Why not start with your child these holidays?

Back to School Giveaway

Written on January 10th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Giveaways, January 2011

Who’s about to start back to school shopping, huh? I’ve written in the past about budget back to school ideas, and was getting prepared for this year’s onslaught, when a lovely package of school supplies turned up in the mail from K-Mart. So, it looks like it’s giveaway time!

I have on offer, for one lucky Aussie reader, the following:

1 pack of 18 Faber Castell Connector Pens (incidentally, these are my favourite type of texta, as they are the longest lasting that I know of. I usually stock up on these during back to school sales). These are currently $4 at K-Mart.
A 64-page exercise book. I don’t know how much these cost at K-Mart, but I do know that the 48 page ones are only fifty cents.

Correction tape, which is currently selling at K-Mart for one dollar.

A calculator, which can be picked up at K-Mart for just a dollar.

Refillable display books. K-Mart is selling these in a pack of 3 for two dollars, and one of these packs are being given away.

Pencil, eraser and pencil sharpener pack, which is selling at K-Mart at the moment for one dollar.

A Glue Stick pack of 3, which are only two dollars at K-Mart.

Then, I’m also giving away the 5 in 1 backpack from K-Mart which sells for $8. It includes the backpack (of course!) a lunch cooler bag, pencil case, mesh bag and ruler, which is in a purple theme. There is also a cute lunchbox that K-Mart is selling for two dollars and a two dollar drink bottle which is also BPA free. (I can’t tell if the lunch box is BPA free or not, my apologies).

Ok, so rules:

Compulsory first entry:

- Subscribe to Hear Mum Roar’s email updates

- Leave a comment below, telling me your best back to school money-saving tips.

Optional entries (one entry per action):

- Follow Hear Mum Roar on Twitter.

- Tweet about this contest.

- Become a subscriber to Hear Mum Roar’s feed. (In case you weren’t aware, this is a different action entirely to subscribing to the email updates I mentioned above).

If you make extra entries, please mention what you did in a comment below, so I can keep an eye out.

This giveaway will be drawn on January 17th, 2011. Good luck, people!

Back to school on a budget

What I did on the first day back to school

Students’ homework: how much should we help?

School term dates

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How to get rid of flies

Written on November 1st, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Care, Challenges, Going green, Handmade, In the home, November 2010, Saving money

Flies, flies, flies! I hate ‘em. I also hate spraying toxic chemicals around the house, so unless I do something a bit more natural, I’m screwed. We have wormwood growing in our backyard, and I remembered our gardener telling us that we could make a fly repellent out of it, so I decided today was the day to try it.

To cut a long story short, I picked it, boiled it, then strained it.

This made rather a lot. Once it was cooled, I poured it into a spray bottle and squirted it around the house. It seems to be working so far! I dropped all the cooked, strained leaves around the backdoor also, in the hope it would deter flies and mosquitos as well.

I was talking to my good friend Myrtle from Mimsical Soaps who knows a lot about this sort of thing. She told me that if you boil the wormwood with some chilli, it makes an excellent spray to prevent fruit flies. So I must start growing some and I’ll try that too.

Edited to add: this mixture went mouldy very quickly, so next time I would probably add some vinegar or vodka to the water to help preserve the spray and let it last longer.

The other thing I was busy with today, was picking loads of flowers from the front garden. I stripped the bushes bare of daisies, lavender, roses and geraniums. I was worried how I was going to dry so many flowers, and didn’t want to fiddle around tying them all into bunches and find places to hang them. So, I took an ugly lace curtain that came with this house when we bought it…

..and made a hammock of sorts for my flower haul to dry out on.

Rainbow art

Written on October 25th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Art, Cognitive, Fine motor, Good times, Language, Messy play, October 2010, Preschool aged

Today was much like a hot summer day in the middle of spring! We took our spray bottles out the back, hung a sheet over the fence and Missy 2 and Mr 4 sprayed the heck out of it. Last time we played with spray bottles, we did it flat on the ground on paper, but hanging a large sheet of paper or cloth allows the children to be more free with it.

Daisy, as always, was faithfully hanging around the kids, you can see by how muddy Missy 2 was, that Daisy was happy to see her! The poor thing got knocked over in the mud. Not to be deterred, her and Mr 4 got on with the important business of playing.

Mr 4 instigated lots of experimental play with these spray bottles. He believed that if he sprayed lots of colour onto flowers that he could make them grow faster…

He was deeply dissappointed that they didn’t grow before his eyes! So, he turned his attention to our irises (some of which were taller than him) and painted them blue.

…Now that’s what I call art!

Also, you’ve probably noticed by now Hear Mum Roar’s new look. I have the wonderfully talented Violet Le Beaux to thank for designing the new graphic art, so thank you!!

Come play at the Childhood101 We Play link up

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Messy play – spaghetti paint.

Written on October 15th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Cognitive, Fine motor, Good times, Language, Messy play, October 2010, Preschool aged, Saving money, Toddler

Time for some messy play again! This time, I have mixed cooked spaghetti with fingerpaint for some squishy, slimey, squoozy fun.

(If you’d like a printout of the fingerpaint recipe, you can download it along with recipes for cooked and uncooked playdough.)

Spaghetti paint is great because it doesn’t cost much and uses ingredients most people usually have in their pantry. It is an excellent activity for sensory exploration. Children can enjoy the smell, the slimy feeling, talk about if it is warm or cold and how wet it is.

It encourages much social and language interaction between children and adults alike. Children can experiment with the paint by either handling it on its own or smearing it around on a piece of paper.

Don’t worry if the paper gets holes in it, always remember that children care about and need the process, not the product.

You can see in the photo above how a child could find out what the paint looks like if they lift the spaghetti off the paper – beautiful swirls!

Mr 4 isn’t a huge fan of messy play, but he liked watching this activity, which is a big improvement. Missy 2, however was willing to have a try. If only Missy 10 were home to really get up to her armpits in this mess. In fact, I think I’ll have to let her when she gets home from school.

(Note: if you are considering using this in a preschool or a daycare setting, please be sensitive to the fact that food play is offensive to some cultures. When in doubt, check first.)

What messy things have your children been up to lately?

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How to clean carpet naturally

Written on October 13th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Going green, In the home, October 2010, Saving money

With two puppies and a potty-training two year old, we are finding ourselves cleaning our carpet much more often than ever. We have accidents, plus the puppies keep finding things to chew into confetti sized pieces, despite our attempts to hide…well, everything from them!

When we vacuum every couple of days, sometimes we want to just do something to ensure it also smells nice. We don’t like the talcum-based carpet powders or foams in the supermarkets, and my fiance and I are allergic to them for different reasons anyway. We loathe the idea of talcum around our children, as well.

Luckily, I’ve got something much healthier, cheaper and nicer right here at home. Home-made carpet powder. I remember Marita was recently asking me what I was planning to use my dried lavender for. Well, this is one thing! Stay tuned, because I will be using it for other things as well…

All that’s in this little container here is dried lavender heads and baking powder (or bicarbonate of soda, if you prefer, they’re the same thing) shaken together. The longer you store this mixture, the more the baking soda will be scented by the lavender.

You could use any sweet-smelling dried petals for this powder, just use what’s available. We have a rose bush out the front which I’m dying to use for this, but I have to wait until it flowers. Baking soda is fantastic for absorbing and neutralising odours, and obviously, the lavender smells pretty. I also like the calming effect it has on everybody.

You can use it in the same way as the store-bought powder; just shake it directly onto the carpet, then vacuum it off again.

The kids loved running through this with their bare feet, they pretended it was snowing! I love that it’s harmless and chemical free so they can do this with no worries.

…and here we are: clean as a whistle! It’s so nice to be able to have pretty smelling carpets without giving ourselves a headache, hayfever or an asthma attack.

Do you have anything in your garden you could use as a carpet freshener?

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Lavender

Written on September 15th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Cognitive, Emotional, Fine motor, Going green, Handmade, Language, Preschool aged, Projects, Saving money, September 2010, Social

It’s been beautiful Spring weather here lately. Mr 4 and I ventured outside to pick loads of lavender that has popped out all over the place. We also set about untying and pulling the petals off the dried lavender that has been hanging all this time.

Mr 4 and I compared two very different flowers: a dried lavender flower, and a fresh one. We talked about the differences in colour, texture and smell. He had a ball hanging out in the old shop, having a nice old poke around.

First we sorted through our big wicker basket chock-ful of flowers. Mr 4 and I had to turn them all around so that each bud was facing the same way, then tie them in bunches and lastly, hang them up to dry. I told him about how the air circulates all through the leaves, petals and stems, helping to dry out the flowers so we can preserve them for later use.

It certainly kept him very busy! ‘This is hard work, Mum!’ he kept telling me.

But there was more to do… It was then time to un-tie the dried lavender that Missy 9 had helped me with, and crumble the petals away from the stalks to be stored.

You should have smelt that shop! Oh my…

We’ve also been having some adorable visitors that have been keeping the children amused…

Meet Little Frog. If you remember me telling you briefly about our flooding situation, then I don’t need to explain to you why the carpet has been ripped out and you’re staring at the concrete floor of our currently defunct playroom. It seems Little Frog has made himself right at home amid all the damp.

And have you met Big Toad?

This picture really doesn’t do this beautiful creature justice. Blame it on the neurotic woman behind the camera! This overblown toad was found outside whilst I was outside at the bins. I rushed inside to find a container and a cloth to put over the top.

Big Toad was much heavier than I anticipated, and lurched all around in this temporary home. I was not game to take more than a bird’s eye shot. But I will say this toad is much, much bigger than it looks in this photo. Its tummy was so chubby, it nearly didn’t fit into my container! We all enjoyed looking at its colourful stripes and it’s bubbly neck. Then, of course I let it go. I think it was a very pregnant girl frog…

I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many toads as I have since moving here. And certainly none so colourful! Does anyone know what type of toad it is?

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Spray paint for preschoolers

Written on September 11th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Art, Fine motor, Messy play, Preschool aged, September 2010

We did this activity last weekend, and I’ve been too flat out to show you until now! I filled four water spray bottles with water and food colouring to make a pretty water colour for the kids.

We took it outside to spray on paper on the ground. This is even more fun if you can hang gigantic pieces of paper over the fence, but we didn’t want to get our front fence stained, and going out the back to do it on an old fence isn’t an option at the moment. Never mind.

Mr 4 and Missy 2 had a ball squirting away with their bottles. Here’s Missy 2 using both hands to squeeze the trigger and watching the mist shoot over the page. Spray painting is:

- cheap
- open-ended
- strengthening for the fine motor muscles (hands)
- requires eye-hand co-ordination as the child watches the direction of the spray and tries to manipulate it where they want it to go.
- great for teaching children about colours
- gives the child a chance to use trial and error

We tried spraying over ourselves:

Then we turned to nature:

And we learnt what happens when part of the page is covered then painted!

One day we’ll do this with the paper upright against the fence, and I’ll show how much fun that is, too. Are you all having a lovely weekend? I hope so!

Edited to add: we did this again later down the track with a sheet hung over the back gate.

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