How I Started My Grimm's Wooden Toy Collection

So many people within the Facebook groups I'm in, or on Instagram are often asking "What Grimm's product would you suggest to get started?".

Well, mine began way back in 2015 and I've been gradually adding items piece by piece. As you probably know, there's a lot to choose from! So let me share with you where our collection started and what my latest purchase was, and most importantly, where you can get them from here in Australia!

Disclaimer: Some of these items have been gifted to me by various brands over the years, and some I've purchased myself. Grimm's really is my most favourite wooden toy brand. The quality is beyond belief. This is not a sponsored post. 

My first item was the medium rainbow for Miss M's transformation to a big girl rainbow themed bedroom. If you're considering getting a rainbow (Grimm's signature toy) have a think about whether you want small (11cm), medium (17cm) or large (38cm) and which colour combination you want. If you want to use for small world play, then the small would be ideal. But if you want it for large scale block construction - go large.

53

10 Grimm's Products for Under $40

You probably know by now how much I love Grimm's wooden toys and I'm always adding to our collection. Some people assume that these gorgeous products are out of their price range - (first of all let me assure you that they are totally worth it due to their uniqueness, quality and open ended play opportunities). But if you're looking for something a little less expensive than the trademark large rainbow (which is usually around the $130 mark) and you still want to start your Grimm's collection, then I've found some gorgeous ideas for you! All from my favourite Grimm's stockist The Creative Toy Shop who I'm proud to say I've been working with since they opened!

This post contains affiliate links. 

Click to shop

114

#PegPeopleOnTour + Giveaway

It was all fun an games over on Instagram last month! Liv (aka Eenie Meenie Miney Mum) challenged me to take photos of these cute Rainbow Friends (from The Creative Toy Shop) in random places purely for her own amusement. But then it turned into a photo challenge - each trying to out do each other with the crazy and sometimes iconic places these little guys ended up. It's been sooooo much fun, and we've both gotten a few weird looks along the way (doesn't look so weird when you have your kids with you because the rainbow friends are totally for them ;)). 

3

Why I Think EVERY Classroom Needs This Rainbow

If you asked me to choose my ONE FAVOURITE toy for kids - it would be the Grimm's wooden rainbow stacker. I just adore them for so many reasons (possibly all stemming from my childhood obsession with rainbows).

Another way to order the arcs from biggest to smallest

Did you know Grimm's is a German based company, and one question I'm always asked is "Where can you get them here in Australia??". Well you need look no further that one of my fave Instagrammer Brianna's (Notes from a Home Educator) new shop The Creative Toy Shop (*affiliate link). Brianna is a professional nanny + special ed teacher who is (like me) passionate about play based learning and she has so so SO many brilliant ideas on her Instagram page (here's some ways the boys she educates use their rainbow).

Image credit - Notes from a Home Educator

As you all (probably) know I'm still on maternity leave, so today on the blog I get to pretend that I'm back in a classroom and share all the brilliant ways I could use this rainbow stacker with my class, and why I think EVERY junior primary classroom (preschool, kindy, early years classroom, homeschool playroom) should have one. There are many possibilities for learning in various curriculum areas.

*Kindly gifted for the purpose of this review. 

2

Did You Know This About Me?

As well as being an early years teacher, I also have experience as a dance teacher...

Did you know??

Probably not because I haven't mentioned it on the blog before. Unless you know me in real life that is...

I started taking dance seriously during my high school and uni years, completing as many exams as I could, teaching as many classes as I could and learning as much as I could. The annual dance concerts were highlights of my teens & early twenties. I absolutely loved it and idolised my teacher. When I finished uni and started teaching, I finished up at my dance school to focus on my job, but of course the dancing didn't stop there.

There were many avenues in my job to pursue my love of dance - Wakakirri, the school musical productions, fitness with the Junior School, dancing with my own class of course, performing for Assemblies and open days, even teaching the older kids from time to time as part of their PE curriculum. I really loved it! For a couple of years I also helped out a friend at her dance school on Saturdays.

So naturally, I would love Miss M to get involved in dancing lessons too! She'll gleefully dance around the lounge room, or have a dance party in her bedroom with the radio turned up {see photos below} but is a bit reserved to try lessons just yet. "Maybe when I'm 4" she says. "Maybe I'll just go and look".

In the mean time, here are some ways we {and you} can enjoy dancing with your toddler or preschooler around the house - even if you aren't a dance teacher like me! LOL

12

Making Rainbows | Colour Mixing with Play Doh

I've recently been collaborating with Wooden Wonderland, an online toy store, and they have some beautiful products. This colour mixing learning board puzzle is perfect for preschoolers. The chunky wooden pieces are high quality and super smooth to the touch. It's handy when puzzles have a guide underneath to help the children and it makes this one much easier. Plus the names of the colours on each piece encourages early reading.

Colour Mixing Learning Board - Shop here (kindly gifted)

We were feeling inspired after playing with this puzzle, that we decided to do some colour mixing with play doh!

Miss M loves nothing more than to mix all the colours, and we all know how that ends up. That's why we usually only have one colour out at a time. So this activity was quite guided and structured and she responded really well (plus she loved having some mummy time and attention while Little Man was asleep).

This is how it went...

• Starting with primary colours red, yellow and blue play doh, cut each colour into three pieces.
• Then mix red + yellow, blue + red, yellow + blue (all the while predicting and discussing)
• Using our Grimms wooden rainbow as a guide we placed our new + original colours in rainbow order and rolled each of them into snakes
• Together we then created the rainbow and trimmed the ends with a knife.

Play doh is a favourite sensory material in our house... but there are some other fun ways to play with colour!

Which one of these activities would your little one like best?

Lauren :)

21

{Interview} Say Hello to Jo!

Jo has the most colourful, beautiful and inspiration Instagram feed and I absolutely adore her photographs. I don’t know how she does it! I first came across her via Fat Mum Slim as she makes a frequent appearance as one of the ‘fab 4’ in the photo a day challenge. And it was back in November of 2014 when she really caught my eye with her #handywallcandy theme for the entire month! (See what I mean here)

She cleverly built up her Instagram tribe (an amazing almost 16k followers!) before starting her blog Say Hello Jo. She’s worked with some fantastic brands (including Finlee and Me like me!) – with her Alphablock Book promotion.

Welcome Jo!

--------

1. Hello Jo! (how appropriate to start our chat LOL)… Would you mind sharing some of your favourite Instagram pics?

Of course!  It was hard to choose just four but so fun looking back to choose!

Grid created by @sayhellojo and used with permission

2. How exciting that you recently worked with Target!! Tell me did they approach you or did you approach them?? (asking for a friend – by ‘friend’ I mean myself)

So exciting huh!  They approached me just before Christmas last year asking if I wanted to work with them on an influencer campaign.  I love their stuff so naturally said yes.  I’ll be working with them every month showing how to get some cool colour pops into your home for next to nothing.  It combines three of my biggest loves:  colour, shopping and bargains!  It’s been a really great collaboration and I can’t wait to share what’s happening next.

3. So Mr O your darling boy starts kindy this year? How are you both feeling about this change?

Oh my goodness.  Let’s just say only one of us was ready {and it WASN’T me!}.  I took the day off work because I knew they’d be tears and I was right {again, ME guilty as charged}.  He’s been there a month and is just loving it.  I’ve got used to it too and love seeing the change in his confidence and his love of learning.  I’m hoping to start volunteering at the school soon, and am looking forward to that.

4. What kind of activities does Mr O enjoy? (Apart from wall rocking!)

He is the best model and loves exploring with me.  These days he is so fast I have to be quick to whip my phone out to get a pic before he skedaddles!

He is obsessed with fire engines, police cars and ambulances and wants to be a fireman when he grows up.  I think we have something like 20 fire engine related toys, books, dress up costumes and props floating around the house.  We always look for them on the road and the plus side is that I know where all the extinguishers and hydrants are at our local haunts.  “Look mum!” he will often say, pointing in the direction of his latest find, normally as I push the trolley around the supermarket!

5. So you’re from Perth? We are considering a family holiday over there sometime this year… Can you give me any tips of where to take the kidlets? (Miss will be 3 by then and Mr will probably 9 months?)

Perth is very family friendly and awesome for kids.  If you want to find colour for any wall rocking, I’ve shared my faves here:

In terms of areas, Fremantle, Leederville, 140 Perth and the Perth Cultural Centre are my faves; not just for photo opps but there are so many options and areas to explore plus fantastic cafes nearby, and most often, playgrounds too.   If it’s your first time here then you must visit Kings Park – it’s a massive, elevated park right on the city’s doorstep and has sweeping views across the river and to the hills.  Families are often here picnic-ing and there’s heaps of playground options to choose from too, if you don’t want to wander through the natural gardens.

The Perth Zoo is really good and for just $5 you can feed the giraffes behind the scenes from the main public areas {Have you ever been eye to eye with a giraffe}.  The kids need to be at least 4 so this is just one for Mum and Dads but the whole area is great for little ones and it has a massive playground inside.

6. How do you take your coffee?

REGULARY!   Ha!  I have a flat white {no sugar} everyday and always order it in a takeaway cup even if I’m dining in.  It’s my little quirk, I think it just tastes better like that, plus I like to collect cool cups… see…

Grid created by @sayhellojo and used with permission

7. Highlight of 2015?

Oh gosh!  Launching the blog was fun, holidaying with the fam to the Gold Coast was awesome {we particularly loved our trip to Dreamworld} , finding time to focus on me again after coming out of the “mum” phase has also been pretty good.

8. Where to next for Say Hello Jo?

I hope 2016 will be the time when I get to focus on the blog a little more.  I have so many ideas – time is just my issue, like everyone else I guess – but I want to make that a priority this year.

We also want to holiday somewhere so would love some inspo from your readers!

Until then, the reality is that my next stop will be kindy drop off or, if you’re reading this on a Saturday, think of me saying hello to the morning vortex!

9. Favourite quote?

When nothing goes right, go left!

10. Social media links ☺

Blog
Instagram
Facebook

Thanks so much for your time Jo! So pleased to have you on the blog…
I always get a takeaway cup too - so much easier when you have kids!

Thank YOU for having me!  So glad to have connected with you here!

☺

0

Miss M's Rainbow Room {and her move to a big girl bed}

Hi there!

This post has been a while in the making. It was back in August when we 'ditched the dummy' and not long after Miss M moved to her big girl bed. Since then we've been slowly transforming her room from nursery to kids bedroom (here's my second ever blog post when I shared her bird themed nursery). Make sure you have a squiz at what it looked like before! We kept the tree wall decal and bird mobile and just added a few other little rainbow accessories to go with her new big girl bed and furniture.

It's quite a small bedroom, and this configuration was the best we could come up with. The little gap between the end of her bed and the IKEA squares is just enough! We added the little drawers and doors to the IKEA squares to keep them looking a bit neater and less cluttered (Miss M loves hiding special things in there). I love cane baskets too and they fit nicely with the decor. You can't really see the rest of the room - not that there's much to see, just a built in robe :)

So here's how we went about transitioned Miss M from cot to bed in a few brief dot points (she's 2.5 FYI)

• We took the side of her cot a few months ago so she got used to having that freedom and she did really well with it.
• We gave Miss M the choice of keeping her bedroom, or moving to our other spare room and she chose to stay put.
• We had a specific idea in mind of what kind of bed we wanted (tassie oak, light wood colour) but she still had fun testing out the race car beds in the shops. She wasn't too fussed on what we ended up getting. When the bed arrived she went along with her dad and granddad to pick it up with the trailer and then watched (helped) them as they assembled it. 
• The cot and other white nursery furniture made it's way to the baby's room and this was all fine with her (luckily).
• I checked out some quilts on line and chose my top 5 for her to choose the one she liked (we had already done a lot of talking about rainbows for her new bedroom). 
• You'll notice in the photo below that her dolly 'Lily' has her own cot, and I got this on the same day as the big girl bed, so that Lily could go in her new bed too! This worked a treat!
• And that was about it! We made it exciting and she has slept really well since we made the switch a few months ago. Her latest thing is wanting to sleep with the door open - so we'll see how that goes in the weeks to come.

Does anyone else arrange their books in rainbow order?!?! Or is it just me?
Love having this little bookshelf right by the bed

If you've been a long time follower of my blog - you might remember this post when I shared where my love of rainbows began :)

And here's an image from another previous blog post - I made this rainbow mosaic picture using Miss M's paintings cut into squares. It's hanging on her built in robe with some of her other art work.

Finally, here's a list of helpful links for where we sourced all of this awesome stuff! (Not sponsored)

• Rainbow bunting made by Miss M's Nanna :)
• Pom pom rug from Ecoviva (gifted)
• Rainbow Print by Sarah Tamblyn Designs (gifted)
• Quilt by Kas Kids
• Bed + bedside table from Forty Winks
• Tree Wall decal from SimpleShapes on Etsy
• Bird Mobile from Felt n joy on Etsy

Do you have a theme for your kid's or baby's room? I'm getting excited to start planning our baby's room next!
10 weeks to go!!

Lauren :)

"Rainbow Magic" by Sarah Tamblyn Designs

39

Colour Sorting for Toddlers

Hi there!
I'm here with a simple colour sorting activity today that Miss M recently enjoyed. I love these mini tubs from Howards Storage World and immediately thought of ways to use them for a fun activities.

Click here to see the full range of 'Tubtrugs'! They're such a great addition to a play area.

We love the bigger Tubtrugs as well - they fit perfectly into our IKEA shelves and are perfect for storing toys. Here's one of my previous posts where I share some pics of our play corner.

Lauren

Linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT. Haven't been there for a while :)

5

How to make the perfect Rainbow Rice

Today's prompt for 'Blog every day in May' is a 'How to' post.

The other day Miss M helped me to make the most beautiful rainbow rice. There are a few different methods out there - but I've found one that lasts for ages, won't stain hands and doesn't smell.

The secret is hand sanitiser.

First put your rice in a zip lock bag, add your food colouring (the more colouring the brighter the colour will be). You'll notice my green is quite light and blue is quite dark. Add a little squeeze of liquid hand sanitiser and shake the bag around (this is where your toddler can help). Leave to dry on a paper towel for about an hour and then it's ready to play with.

I kid you not, this kept Miss M busy for ages. She loved mixing all the colours and then experimenting with different scooping and pouring equipment. 

Why not give this one a try?

Let me know if you do.
Lauren x

2

Art Work made from Toddler Paintings

Just a quick one today - so as not to miss a 'Blog every day in May'. I wanted to share a little something I've been working on this week (if you don't follow me on Instagram you might have missed it).

I call this "Mummy Art", created from Miss M's toddler paintings.

I cut up her toddler paintings into little squares, arranged them in this rainbow order (taking photos as I went) and then stuck them all down. I had an evening away from my lap top which was quite nice to do something crafty.

I was inspired by a post I saw pop up on Facebook recently (from The Quirky Parent) who's friend did something similar. My friend Sarah over at Sarah Tamblyn Designs creates her prints for kids using the same technique. And this collage from Playful Learning was created with circles instead of squares.

I absolutely love it and I'm quietly so proud of myself! What do you think?
Lauren :)

8

Food Colouring Fun | More Sensory Play Ideas

Sensory Play is becoming a regular activity in our household...and we are loving it! I've built up my resources and figured out a great way to manage the mess. I'm really enjoying watching the cogs turning in my little toddler's mind as she plays, and then asks for "more" by signing (incase you're wondering, we've also taught her "eat", "all gone" and "toilet" in baby sign language).

I've posted back in February about making rainbow rice and rainbow spaghetti for sensory play, and this week I tried coloured macaroni. The difference between this and the rainbow spaghetti is that it's dry rather than wet and slippery. Such a feast for the senses - sight, sound and touch!!

I searched around a bit and tried three different methods -

• simply diluting some food colouring in water
• food colouring with vinegar
• and food colouring with alcohol hand wash

I simply put the liquid in a container with some macaroni, shook it around a bit and left it out to dry on paper towel. I must say the pasta that I mixed with water became a bit sticky, and the vinegar had quite a strong smell (although many bloggers say that if you leave it out in the sun for a bit the smell will almost disappear). So the best result was actually the hand wash!

I had two things in mind for the rainbow pasta - a sensory bin (above) and a new discovery bottle (below).  Click this link for my other discovery bottle ideas. I was all enthused to create some new and interesting discovery bottles for my little miss, as they loose their appeal after a while.

From L-R Gems & Glitter | Coloured Pasta | Pom Poms & Rice | Paperclips & Foil | Oil & Food Colouring.

It's also lovely to combine plain pasta with other sensory materials such as lentils, beans and oats.

From L-R Macaroni | Oats | Red Lentils | Red Kidney Beans | Penne Pasta

So - my secrets to keeping the mess to a minimum, is to set up for sensory play outside. However it's winter here in little old Adelaide at the moment so my alternative is on the kitchen floor inside a little sand pit/ball pit/paddle pool/clam shell whatever you like to call them. It certainly contains the mess and makes pack up quick and easy. I'm currently modelling and teaching my toddler to use a dustpan and broom to pick up any stray sensory materials that might escape the pool (one of the key Montessori approaches to early learning is 'practical life' - ie washing dishes, cleaning up etc).

And there you have it - some simple sensory play ideas with items you may already have in your pantry :)

Thanks for reading
Lauren

58

Fun Things To Do With Food Colouring | Baby & Toddler Play

Hello there! I haven't posted in a while - my maternity leave is officially over and my teacher self has returned to the classroom for two days a week. It's going really well so far! We have even set up our own blog for the students and families (can't share it on here due to privacy reasons), but I've been extra busy setting up that blog and website as well!

Did you enjoy my previous post about Rainbows? Well here are three simple ways to bring some rainbow fun your little one's sensory play time using humble food colouring.

1. Rainbow Rice

Best. Idea. Ever! What a feast for the senses!

Sight - the visually appealing colour in rainbow order. How much fun would your little one have mixing up all of the colours! (Try hiding little toys in the rainbow rice sensory bin for your little one to search for!)
Touch - the rice is so much fun to hold and move around and let it run though little fingers. Try adding funnels, cups and containers for pouring.
Smell - add a scent!
Sound - put some rainbow rice in a discovery bottle to make your own musical shaker (see one of my previous posts for other discovery bottle examples)

Simple to make with endless possibilities for play, art and craft. For my first attempt I simply soaked the rice in water with a few drops of food colouring (the longer you soak the more vibrant the colour). Next I placed it on paper towel to dry (make sure it's completely dry or else it will go mouldy when you put it in a sealed container).

Some recipes I found on the net suggest using rubbing alcohol or vinegar to set the colour of the rice and preserve it - but I'm yet to try this method! Here's a couple of links I found...

http://happyhooligans.ca/rainbow-rice/
http://gatherandnest.com/gather-and-nest/7551

Older children could even use glue on card to make a rainbow rice pictures!

Since my little one is only 10 months old and still very much in the 'putting-everything-in-her-mouth' phase, I'll try the rainbow rice sensory bin idea again when she's a bit older :)

2. Rainbow Ice

After doing a bit of research on the net - it seems that many experts recommend that you do not give ice to children under 4 as it can be a choking hazard (admittedly I learned this after I had already let my little one play with these rainbow ice cubes during water play in the middle of our recent heatwave! Oops!)

So if your child is 4 or older, they might enjoy playing with these colourful ice cubes on a hot day! Involve them in the process of mixing the food colouring with the water, and carefully pouring it into the ice cube trays. Discuss how long it takes to freeze, observe how long it takes to melt. You could even freeze little berries or pieces of fruit in clear water ice cubes as a cool treat!

Visit my friend Sarah Tamblyn's blog here to see a great "ice" idea she came up with for her 4 year old archaeologist!

3. Rainbow Spaghetti

This idea is on my to-do list! I love that it's an edible sensory rainbow play idea. Can't wait to try it with my little one.

image credit

image credit

One of my favourite blogs I follow is Mama OT. Click here for helpful step by step instructions on how to make rainbow spaghetti and why sensory play is so beneficial for young children's development. While you're there have a look around her website - so many good ideas.

Right... so I have another simple baby play post in draft form, soon to be posted in the next few days. Also, I'm in the process of helping plan my sister-in-law's baby shower and hopefully I'll post some photos of some of the cute little ideas I've come up with to make her day extra special!

Thanks for reading,
Lauren

12

Rainbows | A Very Special Post

I've got something special in store for my readers today! An insight into my childhood... when I (aged 5) was obsessed with RAINBOWS! I drew pictures, I wrote stories, all the rainbows in the stories were named after my friends, I knew the rainbow song (left picture below), I knew what ROYGBIV meant (right picture below), and of course like most children, I remember looking up in awe at a real life rainbow in the sky. I have two work books from my early primary school years - that's all I have left! And they're so different to the work books of the students I teach now in 2014.

Here's a little peek into my childhood rainbow obsession...

There is something so visually appealing to the eye when the colours of the spectrum are in perfect rainbow order. I remember learning how to blend and fade colours in art class during my early years of high school. Art now is one of my favourite lessons to teach! My students to write their letters or spelling words in rainbow colours, I teach them the rainbow order, whenever we draw a landscape picture there is often a rainbow in the sky and classroom displays utilise the rainbow colour order wherever possible.

Have you ever arranged a book shelf in the rainbow order?

I think every child should own one of these stacking toys 

(Left - Fisher Price, available everywhere. Right - IKEA)

Click here to see one of my friend Sarah Tamblyn's activity ideas where her two little guys learnt the rainbow order while enjoying playing in the Tupperware cupboard!

And here are some inspirational rainbows finds from my Pinterest page and Etsy favourites!

1. Wooden Rainbow Stacker (click here to see this item on Etsy)

2. Rainbow Bunting (this item is also available on Etsy but would probably be simple to make)

3. Rainbow Rose Science Experiment (click here to go to my Pinterest page for a tutorial)

4. Rainbow Button Monogram (item no longer available on Etsy but a simple idea to DIY)

5. Paper Plate Rainbow Sun-catcher (I did this with a class of 5 year olds and it worked really well!)

6. Sarah Tamblyn Designs "Rainbow Magic" Print (click here to visit her shop)

Keep a look out for my next post "Three Fun Things To Do With Food Colouring" that continues this rainbow theme (psst do I have any readers out there yet? If so you can now subscribe to my blog by email and you'll be notified every time I post).

Thanks for reading & I hope you enjoyed this very special post :)

Lauren

4