Learn and Grow with the New Officeworks Range

Don't you just love wandering the aisles of Officeworks? All that pretty colour coded and matching stationery makes me feel like I could be the most organised teacher ever. Miss M shares my love of pretty stationery and is always so excited to simply just buy a new pen or notepad, but Officeworks recently launched their new Learn and Grow range, opening up a whole new world of kid's products and I'm sure it will fast become one of their favourite shops too!

Please note, this is not a sponsored post, although we were lucky enough to be invited to the launch of this new product range which included a very generous goodie bag! I couldn't help but show you some of the products in more detail here on the blog. 

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Mother's Day Art, Craft & Gift Ideas

Well we are half way through the school holidays here in SA which only leaves a few weeks to get the Mother's Day gifts sorted! How quickly is this year going???

I've found some super cute ideas during my Pinterest scrolling that I really wanted to share with my teacher and early childhood educator followers. You might recall that last year my Year 2 students and I combined science with our Mother's Day gifts and created home made bath bombs. I also wanted to remind you of this post from the previous year - these ideas are super simple, perfect for dads to do with the kids at home.

Anyway, now for some new ideas! This first one is of course from Teach Starter which is always my first stop when looking for resources. This flower paper craft is so simple but so effective.

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Excellent Easter Activities for All Ages!

Easter is so much earlier than usual this year. It's certainly crept up on us and will be here before we know it! So it's time for me to start planning and thinking about the activities we are going to do in the classroom and at home.

Part of my role at school this year is preparing our morning "provocations" activities for all four Early Years classes. This means 5 activities per class, with enough materials in each activity for a small group of four children to use. So that's a total of 20 activities for more than 80 children! After a week, we rotate the set of activities around to another class to always keep them fresh and interesting.

I've decided to put together some Easter provocations for us all to use for the week leading up to Easter. There's going to be a mixture of fine motor, sensory, loose parts, alphabet and number. Plus there are so many more amazing ideas I've come across, although I might not be able to get all of them done! Still worth sharing though :)

So the first suggestion I have in the lead up to Easter this year is to keep your egg cartons! I've discovered so many cool ways to use them in your Easter activities. One of which is the pom pom colour sort using plastic eggs and these funky fine motor tools from The Creative Toy Shop.

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It's never just a cardboard box

I am constantly amazed at the creativity of young children to see the possibilities in ordinary things. Various recyclable materials and other bits of "junk" can be magically transformed into imaginative worlds and crazy new characters.

A while ago, Miss M's school books arrived in a cardboard box, measuring about 60cm x 40 cm x 5 cm high (plus an identical lid), and I thought to myself, I can't just put it in the recycling bin, surely we can make something out of them! They were the perfect size for creating a small world, so that's exactly what we did.

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Our latest craft contributions for Inspire Book Box

Did you know that I'm one of the regular contributors to Inspire Book Box? Every second month I'll come up with an art and craft activity that ties in with the theme and key text from that month's book box. I really love how children's reading and literacy is being extended into the arts (and cooking too!) through these comprehensive packs. Here's my previous post with my very first activity contribution + review.

Inspire Book Box is so much more than a book delivery. It's almost like a mini unit of work carefully curated and themed to match the picture book perfectly, and that's why I'm so proud to be part of the team. It really warms my heart to see other children all over the country enjoying my activities after their Inspire Book Boxes have arrived in the post!

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"I Want to be an Artist" {My Creative Child Review}

You might remember when I took Miss M to an art class at Little Picassos last year. These beautiful art experiences for young children are held at Glenelg and Hyde Park studios (both of which are not near me!). So I was thrilled when I found out they are offering subscription art kits from their new side business called My Creative Child, because it means Miss M and I can create beautiful art together at home.

The February Art Pack was kindly gifted for the purpose of this review. 

Everything you need to create the art is included, already cut to size or pre-prepared, and the materials are of a beautiful quality (Miss M got her first set of oil pastels which she's so excited about, now that she's a school girl).

There are 5 activities included in the pack, all carefully planned out and tied in with a particular theme for that month. I noticed a similarity between the activities and the art classes themselves; let me explain more..

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All the love heart eyes for these Valentine's Day ideas

Apart from going out to dinner with my husband, I've never really done much for Valentine's Day in the classroom or with my own kids at home. But lately I have seen some of the cutest, sweetest ideas on Instagram that I just had to share them and try some myself (or share with my teaching partner because she'll be the one in our room on the actual day). Valentine's Day has evolved to being more of a celebration of the special people in your life and recognising the things that you love. So with that in mind, I thought I'd share these oh so gorgeous activity ideas!

First up are these 2 ingredient clay dough glitter hearts which I could totally see being hung as ornaments on a twig tree in your classroom. They sound really simple to make - but plan to make them ahead of time if you want the children to take them home to give as gifts. They could also be repurposed as Christmas or Easter tree decorations! Making simple play dough hearts would also be a great idea. 

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A-Z Letter of the Day Craft

Today's activity has been weeks in the making and I'm so proud to share it today (I even created a little video of our finished product!). I've been posting our progress on Instagram and have gotten a great response from my community! I really wanted Miss M to have a good background knowledge of the alphabet before she starts school, but this doesn't just mean writing out the letters 10 times each. There are so many more hands on and engaging ways to learn letter formation, as well as the sounds and words which begin with each letter.

This is a sponsored post as part of my ongoing Brand Ambassadorship with Teach Starter.

So I found these awesome alphabet play dough mats on Teach Starter, and you could of course laminate them and use them to create each letter with play dough as a fun, sensory experience to learn letter formation. But I decided to find a craft material for each letter for Miss M to decorate each one.

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The Educational Advantages of Crafting With Nature

Today we have a very special guest blogger joining us at Teacher Types, she's a fellow member of the Aussie Kid Blogger Network, is passionate about nature, and has just released an ebook of Nature Art & Craft Printables. Meet Penny from Mother Natured! She's going to talk about just some of the benefits of nature play and using materials from our world for art and craft activities!

Welcome Penny!

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It's beginning to look a lot like Easter...

Since when did Easter become the new Christmas?

I started pondering this question when I saw Kmart selling "Easter twig trees" for $15 (yes I bought one!). My Instagram friends then filled me in on the symbolism of this German tradition in which the decorated twig or branch represents new life.

I guess what I mean is; it feels like the commercialisation of Easter is what's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Easter themed products, decorations, gifts, cutlery, treats and hot cross buns have been flooding the shops since January - and I wonder if the main message of Easter is being forgotten in all the hype and sugar? (Not to mention, the popular TV show & movie themed Easter gift packs which are catching the attention of little eyes every time they go through the check out - why oh why to they make life hard for parents by forcing you to walk past these products to leave the store?).

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14 Things to Make and do with Salt Dough

Move over play dough - salt dough is our new favourite sensory play + craft material! Play dough has probably been the activity Miss M spent the most time doing in 2016 - but the thing she loves with salt dough is that she gets to keep and preserve her creations.

So it's the week leading up to Christmas and it's a great time to make some Christmassy bits and pieces using salt dough, either as a gift for family members or just for the fun of it!

I brainstormed (and then browsed Pinterest) for as many different things to make with salt dough and we tried to make as many of them as possible!

This is pretty much a fool proof recipe - just don't make any plans to leave the house because they take about 3 hours to bake and dry out in the oven (very low temp - around 120).

• 1 cup plain flour
• half a cup of salt
• half a cup of warm water

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SNIP SNIP! {Early Learning Opportunities with Scissors}

This week it's been all about SCISSOR skills and activities over at Early Learning 101 on Instagram. If you don't follow them already you really should! Each week there is a different early learning theme to inspire your week of activities, and the hashtag #earlylearning101 has heaps of great inspo! Lucky me this week I was asked by the hosts Nichole (You Clever Monkey) and Amy (Playful Learning Co) to be their guest judge - so of course this got me thinking as to how I could put some more scissor skill practise into my week with Miss M (and I looked back through some old blog posts and photos as well to find some more ideas to share!).

Play dough is a great way to start with a toddler developing their scissor skills. Easy to use plastic scissors cut through the squishy play dough with ease. Roll out skinny worms to cut, or play hair dresser like Miss M is here!

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Eight Excellent Christmas Tree Arts, Crafts & Activities

~It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas~

The tree is going up tonight!! Our normal family tradition is the first of December, but Miss M and I are off to the Christmas concert at school tomorrow night so we are doing it one night early! I am so looking forward to getting into the Christmas spirit this year with our two little ones. To keep the tree safe from Little Man's inquisitive clutches we plan to pop it in the play pen (which wasn't being used for it's intended purpose anyway). This is quite a popular idea for households with toddlers and babies on the move I've heard.

So today I've got some fun and festive Christmas tree themed art, craft and activity ideas for you and your kids to enjoy in the lead up to the special day!

Felt Christmas Tree Decorating

A perfect activity for toddlers (but preschooler's will love it too) is this felt Christmas tree. Stick the tree to a wall using command strips, and the felt decorations stick to the tree. Your little one can decorate and re-decorate the felt tree to their hearts content. Get them from Charlie Robin Designs (but make sure you order before the 12th of December).

Kindly gifted for the purpose of this post.

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10 Ways to Use Your Honey and Co Club Canvas Bag

You may have already heard of Honey and Co Club subscription kits - I've featured them here on the blog and Instagram from time to time, and they've made a great gift to give some of my friend's kids this year. I love how every month is a different theme and all the little goodies come in the loveliest canvas bags which can be used over and over again for so many things (and every month is a different funky pattern too - we've got a collection of 4 already!).

Today's post is giving you TEN ways to reuse your Honey and Co Club canvas bag. They come in so handy as you'll see...

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Flowers, Flowers Everywhere! {30 Art & Craft Ideas}

As I sit and write this, it is a glorious 25 degrees in Adelaide! Whoop whoop!

So to celebrate the start of Spring I've got an awesome collection of flower arts and crafts from some fantastic kid bloggers. I've organised them (roughly) into ages, but of course your little one will probably need a bit of assistance and guidance.

All images used with permission. Thank you contributors! 
I've got the love heart eyes for these collages!

Toddlers

 

There's lots of paint stamping, handprints, footprints and egg cartons in this collection. Miss M and I are keen to give the egg carton flowers a go! Will be sure to share when we do :)

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Homemade Musical Instruments

Ok so what kind of kid blogger does homemade musical instruments with her three year old while the 6 month old baby is asleep??

Me that's who!

Oops.

Apart from the fact that we woke the baby up with our instrument playing, this activity was so much fun. I'd been wanting to do it for ages. I had been gathering and collecting materials, and finally had the time this week. 

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The Marvellous Mister Maker LIVE Show

Today Miss M and I headed on the train (as we do) to the Adelaide Festival Theatre to see Mister Maker LIVE! If you read this blog, I'm sure you can imagine that I was just as excited as her!

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10+ Cool Activities to Keep Busy this Winter

Ok confession time. This blog post has been sitting in my drafts folder for a whole YEAR! I had this idea that I'd do two wintery themed blog posts - one about Fun Activities to do Indoors which actually got published (but could do with an update mind you), and this one. So it's time to actually get - it - done!

I love seasonal themed learning, it's a great way for children to explore their changing world through their play. A four seasons round up post is also currently in the drafts folder!

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Snowflakes 

An oldie but a goodie! Miss M is obsessed with folding and cutting at the moment and she's finally learnt how to use scissors, so naturally she loved these. She took care of the folding, and I just held it for her while she cuts. Great for decorating windows!

Want more? Glue popsticks together to create a snowlake like this one at Childhood 101.

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5 SA Biz Ladies you need to LOVE! #shopsmall

Something I'm really passionate about here at Teacher Types is providing a platform for local, small biz ladies to share their stories, products and services with my audience. I only ever share those that I absolutely LOVE myself and would recommend to friends. I think the #shopsmall & #shoplocal movement is really taking off as are market days, Instagram stores and handmade goodies.

So today, please allow me to introduce some special people...
{not sponsored just sharing the love}

Starting off with Renee from Mama & Bump

I was so lucky to have Renee take care of me throughout my pregnancy - when you feel like a whale and struggle to get comfortable, having a massage might be the only chance you get to relax. And it made such a difference to my sleep and how I felt overall. Renee is specially trained in pregnancy massage, but you don't have to be pregnant to see her! Based in Highbury, she has the cutest little shop with gorgeous gifts and goodies for mama's and little ones. Check out my beautiful teething necklace and teething toy for the little man.

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SUPER Simple Mother's Day Craft {Dads I'm talking to you}

Ok Dad's, this one's for YOU. James I hope you're reading this ;)

Mother's day is coming up - just a gentle reminder. It's May 8th, the second Sunday of May. Don't worry, you still have plenty to time to whip something up to give the mother of your children. And I've come up with the simplest list you'll find on the net. Us mums love handmade stuff from the kids, but they usually need a little bit of adult help, and FYI we shouldn't have to make our own gifts!!

Scribble or Messy Paint Hearts

Let the kids go crazy and scribble on some paper, or if you're feeling ambitious and don't mind the clean up, get the paints out. When they're done cut it out into a love heart shape. Fold in half and there you have a Mother's Day card.

If you don't mind some extra cutting, cut out the letters of 'Mum' and glue on another sheet of paper or card. Save some of the scribbles or paintings to use as wrapping paper later.

If you buy a card from the shop (hint: we love special messages inside about how wonderful we are) let the kids decorate the card and envelope with more drawings. If we have young kids who can't draw yet - we love their scribbles!

Colouring In

This one's pretty simple too. Print out any of these colouring in pages, and let the kids go to town. 

Go here or here

Hint: Laminating kids colourings/drawings makes them an instant gift!

Handprints and Footprints

If you think you can handle it - try painting your little one's feet or hands. This one's great if they can't hold a pencil yet and can't make much else! Tip: feet are easier, babies hold their hands in tight little fists until they're about 6 months old. Mum will melt! We love this stuff.

Stickers

3 year olds and up can probably manage stickers on their own. Buy some hearts, flowers or butterflies and let them decorate a piece of paper or card. Done.

Stuff in a Jar

Jars are all the trend right now. Take the kids shopping and choose mums favourite lollies, chocolates, tea bags, coffee sachets or Nespresso pods (whatever mum loves), let the kids pop it into a jar and call it a gift. If you can be bothered tie a ribbon around it :)

Crockery

Grab a white coffee mug, bowl or plate and let the kids decorate them with coloured sharpies (keep this one for older kids - maybe 3 and up - but you'll have to watch them so they don't draw all over themselves!). Bake in the oven for 120 degrees for 2 hours and they'll be done! If you want extra brownie points, bake some cookies or brownies with the kids to add to this gift.

Photo Gifts

If Mum is a coffee lover and you like the mug idea, but want it even easier, check out Vistaprint. Mums LOVE photos of their kids. We can't get enough of them. Upload a photo of the kids on a mug, iPhone case, fridge magnet or mouse pad... Here are the shipping details to make sure mum gets it by mothers day. VERY IMPORTANT!

• Express - 3 business days
• Priority - 5 business days
• Standard - 10 business days

If all else fails, buy a photo frame from the shop to pop a photo of the kids in.

Last but not least - give us a sleep in!

Lauren :)

Linking with Jess

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