Better Late Than Never....

I know I am a few days behind but this festive season caught me a little off guard and snuck up on me! So from my little family to yours, I hope you had a magical and memorable Christmas celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ! We had an amazing day with family and seeing my little man's big brown eyes light up all day and night with everything Christmas just made our day that extra special. I have always loved Christmas (and any other celebration through the year!) but with our little man around things just seem so much more amazing and make me feel so very blessed!

I also wanted to stop by and let you know that things will be quiet on the blog and fb front as we are going on a much awaited for family holiday to relax and spend some quality time together making memories! Once we return and life returns back to normal I will be sure to do a photo dump of all the happenings we have had going on lately!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year, may it bring love and happiness xx

Sydney Sadness......

Today has been a sad and heart breaking day in Sydney, a day that will forever be in our hearts and never forgotten.

I have no words to explain the sickening feeling I had yesterday when it was announced that numerous hostages had been taken and were being held against their will in a Lindt cafe in our renowned Martin Place. 

Early this morning I simply could not sleep. I tossed and turned all night thinking of what those poor innocent victims and their loved ones must be experiencing. I decided to get up and switched on the t.v and was shocked at what I saw unfold. Two precious, innocent lives lost. Several injured but free hostages. Their lives will never be the same again. 

I have lit a candle for those involved and for those two lives lost in such horrific circumstances. It has been the only thing I can think to do as I pray with all my heart that those who survived and their families can find the strength in God to get through the hard times they still have to face.

With a heavy heart thinking about what has happened in Sydney, I will hold my little man closer and tighter tonight....light a candle, say a prayer and hold your loved ones near.

A link I found through Retro Mummy on the Mass that took place at St Mary's Cathedral today for the victims....heartfelt and touching, it really hit a chord with me.

End Of Year Christmas Gift

Each year as Term 4 comes to a close I like to give my students a gift, acknowledging their hard work through the year. As I have a number of students on my books I can only give each one something small otherwise it would become an expensive exercise! The last two years I have given the Smartie Pants gift. I used it back when I was teaching my Year 1's and have used it with my tuition students the last two years. It is always such a hit with parents and children alike!

This year I have been super busy and time just passed me by, before I knew it the final two weeks of the term was upon us. After perusing so many cute ideas on Pinterest I decided to go with the cute little reindeer idea and so far it has been a hit with both the little ones and older ones!

The idea was so simple and easy to make. After finding a stencil of a reindeer, I outlined it onto green board drew on eyes and a smile and finally cut out the nose. Then with a a piece of tape, I stuck a strawberry flavoured Chupa Chup to the back and created Rudolph! Not the most creative gift this year but it definitely had the cute factor!

Elf On The Shelf

Well it finally arrived! Our Elf on the Shelf bundle landed on our door step yesterday afternoon and boy was I excited! I have been patiently waiting so that we can start this little tradition with our main man and now I can get into teacher mode and have some fun with it :)

I purchased the boy Elf for our little guy and then purchased the girl version for our sweet Goddaughter and her little sister as part of their Christmas present. I purchased these two bundles from here as they had the quickest delivery time for the start of Christmas but you can purchase from numerous online stores within Australia.

The story behind the Elf on the Shelf is a simple one....to keep the magic of Christmas alive!
The story and product were created by a mother-daughter team. The idea is that this clever little Elf is Santa's eyes and ears and he/she reports back to Santa each night to let him know if they have been naughty or nice. Each morning the Elf is waiting in a different location around the house keeping an eye on the comings and goings in the house. You can read more about the Elf on the Shelf tradition here.

Stay tuned to discover what adventures our little Elf goes on in the lead up to Christmas! There is even an app you can download to help you get some inspiration

A Little Bit Of Everyday....

I have been a little MIA lately and for that I apologise. This has been one heck of a year for us......seems like when it rains, it pours for us and it has been for many months.

I have procrastinated for so very long about posting another blog post. Countless times I had begun writing a new post and just as soon as I had written a few lines I deleted it. Can't really tell you why because I am not so sure myself. We are going through a lot here in our neck of the woods, I am feeling pulled in so many different directions and truth be told, I just haven't been able to focus on much else.
I am in a funny place in that I think I am trying to find myself I guess you could say! I am getting close to turning 30 and looking back on what I have achieved so far has had me wondering, questioning, evaluating and reflecting......a midlife crisis I have been saying! Haha!

So this post is simply to touch base, say 'hello' and let you all know I haven't forgotten about my little blog, I have just been a little pre-occupied..

I thought I'd share some everyday photos of our adventures lately.....not all that exciting but might help me get back into the swing of posting a little more consistently.

We spent a fair amount of time at my parents beautiful home and made a sweet Jesus-inspired Halloween craft.

We have been devouring the most divine pizzas in Australia.....made by my amazing and talented husband at his  Pizzeria.....and we have been rejuvenating with some yummy fresh juices while baking cupcakes and cookies!

We have pottered in the garden and had our first rose and gardenia of the season bloom! We also have harvested some of home grown produce :)

We have enjoyed unseasonably hot Spring days wading in our little pool and re-organising our playroom!

When I look back and reflect on these photos I get reminded that life is good and life is precious....I am so very blessed....savour and cherish each day x

Tearing For Toddlers

Okay, so I have been a little quiet on the blog front......actually that is an understatement, I have been a terrible blogger lately! Sorry to those of you who check in regularly only to find no updates :(
I could say I have been super crazy busy (which is true, we have ALOT going on personally at the moment but then so does everyone!) or I could say I have been more exhausted than usual (which also is true for so many reasons I can't even begin to explain!) but to be brutally honest.....I am a perfectionist.
I have procrastinated posting a blog simply because I wanted it to be perfect....I wanted the perfect picture and the perfect post to go with the perfect pictures. But let's face it perfection is near impossible and nobody wants perfection. People want real.
So, I promise to try my very best to worry less about posting perfect pictures and worry more about just posting regular, real, meaningful posts :) Bare with me, as my friends and family will know that 'letting go' and just 'going with it' does not come easy to me! But for all of you, I will try ;)

Tonights post will be short and sweet (I hope!) Like many mammas out there I juggle many balls in the air when the bath/dinner/bedtime part of the evening hits....I have many little activities I whip out to keep my little guy buzzing busy so I can get dinner prepped, cooked and served. Recently I was perusing the wonderful world of google and came across an activity that managed to keep my little guy busy for a lot longer than I expected!

 I cut up strips of coloured paper,

supplied him with a tin dish....

 and let him tear to his hearts content!

This was such an easy and minimal prep activity that not only kept him entertained but helped encourage fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination.....fun and educational, it's a double win!

            

                                 

Number Punching

Our Term 4 School Readiness class kicked off today and goodness what a busy morning it was! Being the first day back since a two week break, it was only right to start the first session off with a bit of revision!

We did a whole bunch of fun stuff this morning including a Number Punch activity which my students absolutely loved! They all felt like little teachers hole punching away and it was so adorable to watch! i got this idea from my Laugh & Learn 4 Kids Pinterest page but I switched it up a little by painting the numbers and words to add a bit of colour and brightness!

We started off identifying each number and using our 'magic finger' to trace each digit and write it in the air. We then used the single hole punch to punch the correct amount of holes to match each given number.

This activity was not only good for number identification and object matching but also for fine motor! The hole puncher required students to use their hand muscles while still holding the paper with the other hand. It took a few goes for students to get the hang of it but once they did it was hard to stop them punching! Haha
To start off, students used two hands on the hole punch while I held the paper then once they got the hang of it I encouraged them to hold the puncher in one hand and the paper in the other just like they do when cutting with scissors!

We also reviewed our Pencil Control skills by completing a simple tracing activity using oil pastels....

and we practised matching numbers and pictures 1-10 just to be sure we still remembered them!

Although it was a busy start to Term for with these munchkins it was an enjoyable morning with lots of holiday stories to share :)

iPhone Numbers 1-10

Ok so most of you have begun to work out that I love to see kids Laughing and Learning outside the ol'skool way just like we did as kids. In saying that, I do believe that technology is also a great learning tool and like so many learning tools out there it also has a place in the world of learning. All I can stress is to use technology in moderation and remember it is another tool but not is not the only tool.

With that said, the mamma of one of my sweet students was chatting to me about how we could get her little girl to better remember her numbers 1-5 and identify them with greater ease and speed.

We have tried and tested many ways and while many of them have helped both her mum and I were still trying to find a way that would click for her and give her that light bulb moment we knew would come....and finally it did!

Thanks to the trusty iPhone!

Her clever mamma realised that Miss J (along with her younger brother) knew her passcode off by heart so she decided to switch the code up with the numbers little miss was struggling to remember.

Little Miss J was struggling specifically with the numbers 2 and 5 so her clever mamma made sure the code had these two numbers and hey presto! She now knows her numbers 1-5! Even her three year old younger brother is able to identify and recall the numbers! So simple but oh so effective, even her 3 year old brother knows his numbers 1-5!

If you are going to use this little trick, I would encourage you to have your little one say the numbers aloud as they enter them into your phone. Doing so helps to reinforce the connection between the number and its name.

School Holiday Fun

Well Term 3 here in NSW has drawn to a close and we are in school holiday swing now! I love school holidays for the simple fact that we all get to wind down, re-charge and most importantly spend more time together as a family.

Many of my students' parents dread the school holidays simply because they get the constant 'I'm bored' statement countless times a day! So I decided to share my go to idea for school holidays.

Way back when I first starting teaching in the mainstream classroom I always revelled in the school holidays for the obvious reasons but also because it meant I could create a to-do list (oh how I love my lists! I am definitely a list kinda gal!) of all the things I wanted to achieve over the break. More often than not my list was longer than I care to share but it didn't matter so long as I had a list to refer back to all was good in the world! My list had everything and anything on it from what I wanted to organise, re-organise, clean, create, visit, bake, sew, garden and the list goes on :)

Like I said I have done this to-do list business for years but little did I know that great mummy bloggers out there do the same thing and call it many different names! Whatever you call it doesn't matter all that matters is that you create one! With the kiddies of course!
I have done these to-do/bucket lists back when I was teaching in the classroom to tutoring my students and even now with my own little man. Of course I adapted and changed them accordingly each term/holiday/season.

Now that I have been blessed with my own little boy I get even more excited to create these lists of things I want to do together and let me tell you my list sometimes seems endless! Haha One thing I am doing a little differently since having my little man is break my list into the four seasons. For example right now I have a Spring Bucket List of all the activities and adventures I want to share with him this Spring. Obviously he is too little to sit and brainstorm ideas with but he doesn't need to worry because his mamma has a list all ready to go!

So in a nutshell to prevent the 'I'm bored' statements even surfacing create a bucket list of things to do over the holidays. Sit with the kids, get a large sheet of poster board/paper, coloured textas/crayons, put your thinking caps on and start brainstorming all the things you and the kids want to do together over this two week break. Write down everything no matter how big or small. Obviously they need to be realistic ideas that can be achieved but let the kids go with their imagination, add ol'skool activities, indoor and outdoor ones....have fun with it!
Then as you complete each activity tick it off the bucket list and every time the kids come to you complaining they are bored send them to the list and let them pick something to do. You may or may not achieve every single item on the list but that doesn't matter! Make the list a tradition, maybe do it each Summer holidays like the inspirational Erin@SunnySideUp or do it each holiday break that we get here in gorgeous Australia! I can assure you that once you start this list of sorts with your kids they will be reminding you to do it again and again each break you get!

Jump on my Pinterest page to get some cute and creative Bucket List ideas.

Our Spring Bucket List so far.....got my inspiration for this layout from Erin!

Ticking off each activity as we do them.....even though some are ticked off we will still do them time and time again during Spring. An example of this is gardening, we have spent numerous hours in the sunshine getting dirty and messy in our garden!

We currently have it posted to the wall of our Playroom!

Laugh and Learn Favourites

I have a new found love. The Melissa and Doug hand crafted toy range. I am currently obsessed with these gorgeous toys and puzzles!

I bought my son his first puzzle many months ago and my goodness does he adore playing with it! He knows his colours and shapes and matches them now with ease so of course I decided it only right to buy him one or two more! I got him a latch puzzle and a magnetic fishing puzzle both of which are providing him hours of fun and learning which makes us both happy! Each puzzle encourages colour recognition, hand-eye co-ordination, fine motor development, number identification and animal recognition.

The Melissa and Doug range is huge and many are hand crafted which I absolutely adore! In my opinion they are a mamma and teachers dream....they are bright, colourful, fun, encourage so many vital learning and developmental skills and most importantly let children Laugh and Learn at the same time! What's not to love, seriously?!

A well loved and well used Shape Puzzle! 

The Magnetic Fishing Puzzle. 

Encourages so many crucial skills for littlies.

The Latch Puzzle

Such a beneficial puzzle for fine motor development and hand-eye co-ordination! 

Love Love Love it!

I have so many useful posts coming up soon that I am so excited to share with you all. Be sure to share and like our Facebook page for updates!

Gardening 4 Kids

Earlier this weekI had the absolute pleasure of spending a few hours with a long time friend of mine and her adorable kiddies! In essence we had a little play date! The kids had fun playing and we had fun catching up!

This sweet friend of mine lives on a property of acres and in many ways is becoming more and more self sufficient. She has a thriving veggie garden and a bunch of chooks that provide her with fresh eggs daily. She has been growing some tomato seedlings in her mini green house and was kind enough to give me a few. She always has great tips and has such a green thumb!
You can learn more about her gardening expeditions and get some useful tips on her cute blog thelittlepottingshed.blogspot.com. Needless to say after visiting with her I felt extremely motivated and inspired to get into my own little patch which is exactly what I did this breezy Spring afternoon! 

Some time ago I got my veggie garden up and running (a long time wish of mine since we turfed our yard!). I thoroughly enjoy the short moments I spend pottering around with my little man by my side always helping wherever he can :) but I also revel in the fresh produce we receive! I simply love popping out to my garden and picking vegies for our meals and knowing I am feeding my little family wholesome, organic, homegrown produce is such a satisfying feeling!

I find spending time in the garden (if only even for a few short moments!) to be so therapeutic and peaceful and as a teacher I cannot stress enough how important it is for kids to get outside and play the ol' fashion way! 

Children these days just don't seem to spend the same amount of time in the great outdoors as we once did growing up. Being outside just playing, kicking a ball, getting dirty and running around is fantastic for the overall development of our kids emotionally, physically and mentally.

Sometimes it easy as adults to get caught up in the day to day runnings of life - needing to make dinner, putting a load of washing on, cleaning, finishing off bookwork or programming just to name a few.
I have always been big on taking time out and being 'fully present' with my students when they are engaging in a hands on learning experience, not only do they get so much more out of the experience but quite often I do too! Since becoming a mother myself I am even more aware of just how important it is to do this as our little ones grow up far too quickly and time is gone before we realise it! Time is of the essence as they say :)

So with all that said and done, today my goal was to revel in the outdoor fun with my little man :) I encourage you to do the same some time this afternoon. Whether it be now while the kids are home from school outside playing, during bath time or even reading a book together before bed....it really doesn't matter when it just matters that you stopped for even a few minutes and take the time to be 'fully present'....you won't get these years back.

My little patch :) 

Broccoli on the right with shallots and celery in the middle and far too many carrots on the left (which I need to thin out again!) A few other veggies in between which are hard to see....need another little garden bed this summer time!

So proud of my little broccoli plants...they have really taken off the last two weeks!

Lettuce

My tomato seedlings....so much pressure to make these little guys survive knowing they were grown and gifted especially for me! Haha

My favourite garden accessory at the moment...my little wind chime. LOVE hearing it chime in the late afternoon as the sun is coming down and the afternoon is setting in.....makes everything seem so peaceful :) Next on my list is a bird feeder!

In his element....outside playing in the garden!

Stay tuned for an updated Gardening 4 Kids post.....a how to on getting children outdoors and interested in gardening! In the mean time check out and follow my Pinterest page to get some great gardening ideas just 4 kids!

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Number Puzzles

Like many people these days, I have been caught up in the busy-ness of everyday life and have been a bit slack on the blog lately but I am determined to try and get back into posting more regularly!

Life lately just seems to be passing me by, which, is something that really bothers me and I am making a concsious effort to make some changes to just slow down and treasure the simple things in life.....will keep you updated with this!

Recently, I have been working with one of my school readiness students on identifying the numbers 1-5. This is an area this particular student has struggled with for some time so the last few weeks I have been trying various activities to try and help her better retain the numbers we have been focusing on.
In true Laugh and Learn style I wanted something that was both meaningful but fun too use so I created these cute number puzzles!
Due to her young age, my main goal was to get her to identify each individual digit. The word and object identification will come later. This activity was simple, I gave her the mixed up puzzle pieces and asked her to put he puzzle back together.The use of different colours for each number did make the task some what easier. If using this activity with older Kindergarten aged children I would definitely recommend  using the same/like colours so that the task would be more challenging.

This activity is available for purchase. Please email for info@laughandlearntuition.com.au further details.

Social Media Update!

Just a quick post to let you know that you are now able to connect with us! 

I am beyond excited to announce this, as I am quite proud of myself for managing to link these buttons to my blog!!!! As one of dear friends knows all too well I am not the most tech saavy mumma around so for me this a HUGE step especially to have worked it out all by my little self! Haha 

So, please head on over to the right of your screen to like and follow us on Facebook and Pinterest 

By doing so, you will receive exclusive updates but most importantly more ways to Laugh and Learn with your children/students!

I'd even love if you sent us an email just to say hello :) 

Our Father's Day

First off apologies for such a late Father's Day post. I was hoping to have this post up earlier so that you could get some more Father's Day gift ideas but unfortunately time got away from me!

Father's Day for us this year was a little bit different in that my husband and I had to work at night as we have recently taken more of a hand in the family business. 

The morning started with me making the most AMAZING husband and father I know, a delicious breakfast feast while watching a dvd I had specially made for him...showcasing photos and videos of him and his little mini me across the last 18 months with a sweet Daddy song to accompany it. Needless to say he loved it and I cried more than once! Haha! Even our little man was mesmerised watching himself and his Papa on screen! Too cute! We then had the present opening which is always fun and got ourselves dressed and ready to head to my in laws for a big Italian feast followed by an Italian  afternoon tea with my family before heading off to work! 

It was a super busy (and exhausting) day but it is just how we love to celebrate! Family is everything to us and not sharing such celebrations all together on both sides just wouldn't feel right for us. Even though the day is as much about my husband now that he is a father, it means more in our eyes to be with our two extended families on such a day. We are blessed to have both sets of families live in the same city which I know not everyone is able to have!

So with all that said onto my craft for this year's Father's Day. Anyone who knows me also knows I LOVE to celebrate special events and also love to do things a little differently ;) Despite the fact I know I tend to drive the ones around me a little batty :)

Since having my little man I love that we can do fun crafty things to celebrate events through the year. This year for Mother's Day and Father's Day I decided to make plaster plaques which I personalised and then had my little guy paint - we had a blast! I added two photos to each plaque of my little guy with the recipient just to add that personal sweet touch :) Along with the plaques we also gave them a few gifts to say 'Thank you'.

This was for my little man's Papa (Dad). We started off with blue and just finger painted to get into the fun of it!

We then mixed green to add a different dimension! Haha!

I Love You Nonno (Grandpa) for my Father in law. By this stage we decided to give the paintbrush a go. He was very particular about dipping the brush into the paint and painting like the big kids who come to Mummy's work studio!

Each plaque we painted had a soccer/football theme. This one ended up red and yellow as my Father in law supports AS Roma.

I Love My Nonno (Grandpa) for my Dad. He is a long time West Tigers Rugby League supporter so it was only right to do orange and black.

No 1 Compare (Godfather). Our little man's Godfather is an avid Sydney Roosters supporter. 

Celebrating the Godparents on Father's Day and Mother's Day is important to us for both family and religious reasons. We always get either Godparent on their day, something small to say 'Thank you' for taking on such an important and sacred role.

So, in a (long) nutshell there is our Father's Day craft and celebrations for 2014! If you would like more information about the plaster plaques or would like to purchase one, don't hesitate to email me!

Windowsill Herb Garden

As you all know I strongly believe Laughing and Learning go hand in hand therefore whenever I see an opportunity arise to give my students a hands on lesson I jump at it!

Recently, I have been working with one of my grade 3 students on Procedural writing (how to make/do something). This is one form of writing I love to teach as there are just so many options for hands on learning experiences that help children to connect with their real life experiences!

I had promised my student when we started this unit that we would make a mini herb garden of sorts and she was beyond excited! Each lesson she would ask when we were doing this this activity and Thursday I was finally able to say yes! She jumped up and down on the spot and I must say it warmed my heart and brought a smile to my face reminding me of just how rewarding my job can be :)

So, after a lot of prepping and clear instructions on what was and wasn't accepted while carrying this activity out, we jumped in and put our mini garden together.

I bought this little kit from Aldi and hope they still have them in stock when I go for my weekly shop this week so I can get another and do it with my little man!

I completely forgot to take a picture of the kit and all the materials before we started (not very organised of me I know!) but in a nutshell there were three pots, seeds, 4 round blocks of dirt and a piece of chalk to use for labelling. As I was rushed for my student to get the written part of this task done I also didn't get a chance to take a picture of the finished product BUT I plan to do an update of our little windowsill garden once it takes off! So, I will share some extra pictures then :)

To start, we placed the dirt blocks into a bucket. We added both boiling water and cold water and then simply mixed until the dirt until it thickened up.

Student T recorded the name of each herb we used on the pots.

Then she filled each pot with the dirt and added the seeds. She placed some extra dirt on top to fill the pots and then popped them on a window sill. It was easy as that!

After this fun hands on experience was complete we sat down and planned our writing task for it. I will share this part when I give the windowsill herb garden update ;)

Bath Time Fun

Decided to change up bath time for my little man tonight! Normally, he has his usual bath toys but I have started to notice that he has grown a bit bored of the same bath toys day in day out.

So, tonight I decided to switch it up and gave him some soft foam bath toys which he had a ball with! Each foam piece connects to another to make an animal...making it more like a puzzle for bath time. He loved it! The water against the foam makes them stick to any smooth surface when wet! Such a simple but fun bath toy that made for lots of games and entertainment during tonights bath time!

We got this fun toy from my little man's Nonna but after doing my own research I soon realised you can make your very own and then customise them to suit your child's interest! Pop on over to my Laugh and Learn 4 Kids Pinterest page to see some fun hand made ideas that I plan to give a go myself! The ideas are endless! Pop back soon to see what we make!