Transportation Tuesday

New Kid is not allowed to ride the scooter yet, so instead he contents himself with wearing his brother's helmet around the apartment.

Safety First.

Hey Big Spender

I imagine New Kid is not the only one out there who likes to play with his Mom's wallet.

An old wallet loaded up with some expired cards and trading cards makes for lots of fun.

And your driver's license won't get shoved under the couch.

Food and Culture

There are so many little things that make living in Brooklyn great for kids. I mean, how many neighborhoods have a restaurant tour practically on your front doorstep!

The main avenue in our nabe is loaded with delicious restaurants but last night many of them were giving out samples of their yummy wares. Kiddo is the sample king so he was totally delighted with this event. We had everything from the most delicious butternut squash soup ever, sliders, pasta, Vietnamese sandwiches, Mississippi mudslides, white sangria (OK, maybe only I had that one) and more. It was like a big party!

Kiddo had a bit of a religious education on the street as well.  It was the first night of Sukkot so about a dozen nice young men wandering around carrying The Four Kinds asked me if I was Jewish. I had to say no but Kiddo was asking me questions about them and what they were toting around. I would have liked for him to hear the blessing but Daddy-O was not with us and in the conservative tradition Kiddo and New Kid are not considered Jewish. I hope Daddy-O is able to take them out to hear it another evening. Sukkot lasts eight days.

So there you have it: Food and Culture Brooklyn Style! (I apologize for the LAME clip art, I forgot my camera!)

A Natural History of... Sticks!

I just love public art installations.

At the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Patrick Doherty recently constructed his latest installation, "Natural History".  It is a wonderful set of structures built out of sticks and branches, perfectly suited for exploration and play by little ones.

Unlike most public art installations, Doherty's work will be allowed to change with the weather and seasons.  It survived the recent tornado, with nary a stick out of place.

New Kid loved running around and through the huts and it will be fun to see how the installation changes over the next year. What a wonderful way to explore the intersection of nature, art, architectural engineering and environmental science.

You can see more of Doherty's whimsical and delightful installations at his website: Stickwork
He may have an upcoming or current installation near you.

But It Can Just Be Whatever You Want It To Be

Keeping your kids busy and out of your hair is often just a matter of presenting them with something they can use for open ended play.

I like to keep sturdy cylindrical containers and tubes that come my way. I taped four together and numbered them. I was thinking it might be good for ball play, but the boys had other ideas.

New Kid started using it as a parking garage.

Later on, Kiddo insisted I add two more containers. He also added gas pumps.

Man, they are so obsessed with transportation.

Side note: as I was using painter's tape to construct this --whatever it is-- I was thinking to myself, I bet one of those crafty people featured at The Crafty Crow would do something fabulous like paint each container a different color, hand-stencil the numbers and find some invisible way of fixing the containers to each other. I'm just not talented enough for that (or maybe just too lazy), but if you are a crafty crow, I bet you can make yours look not-so-ugly.

Transportation Tuesday

In the market for a new train?

How to Get Your Kids to Work Together

One evening when the boys were driving me bonkers, I cut a hole in the top of a cardboard box and told them to drop all their blocks in it.

Little did I know this would keep them busy for an hour! There was no fighting, they just dropped the blocks in. The blocks came out the bottom and they started again.

Kiddo even said, "Thanks for making this, Mom."

No. Thank you.

Link up for more free play at Childhood 101

Weekend Bonus Post for Playground Lovers

Have you heard of the Imagination Playground? Most playgrounds in the United States are based on fixed play equipment such as the slide, sings and jungle gym, perhaps with a sandbox. But the Imagination Playground centers on movable pieces and equipment which provides for more unstructured play and allows children to manipulate their environment. It just so happens that the first Imagination Playground is located in New York City.

NY's Imagination Playground was planned and designed around the concept of a manipulative environment, but the core building equipment can be imported into any site. Designed by David Rockwell, the Playground in a Box consists of large blue blocks in various shapes. Many of the pieces interlock, sort of like a giant tinker toys set.

While we were there the children used the pieces to build forts, machines, even rafts for the water feature. The variety of structures and enthusiasm of the children never stopped.

There are plans to open more Imagination Playgrounds around the country, but the manipulative play equipment is located at many sites. Click here to see if there is a Playground in a Box near you.

Even though we had been there for several hours, Kiddo did not want to leave Imagination Playground. It was past lunchtime, but he didn't care, it was simply so much fun! There have been many new playgrounds opening in the city lately, including the over-hyped pier 6 in Brooklyn, but this one was, in my opinion, the only one to live up to the buzz. I was a bit surprised, since upon arriving, it seemed so simple. But oh, so much fun!!! The fact that I am willing to make the trek to lower Manhattan for repeat visits is a testament unto itself.

Enjoy!
Further Reading:
Round-up of Imagination Playground in the News

What Was THAT?

OK, I realize some of you might live in actual tornado country and are rolling your eyes at the hullabaloo Brooklynites are making about the not-yet-determined-if-it-actually-was-a-tornado. I grew up in Earthquake Country so sudden destruction by Mother Nature is not unknown to me, but that was a crazy storm that passed through our neighborhood last night.

Kiddo was mesmerized by the violent green (green, I tell you) sky and New Kid kept pointing to the windows shouting, "Water! Water!" A science lesson in and of itself.

Photos and parenting stories from local blogs :
BococaLand
F****d in Park Slope
A Mom Amok
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn story and photos
Brownstoner

Dough Boy

If I dare to do anything in the kitchen, New Kid hangs on my legs and demands attention. To keep him busy while I rolled out the pizza dough I gave him a bit to play with while he sat at the table with me.

He found the dough to be very amusing.

And a bit tasty.

I make pizza every week. It's not hard at all if you use a no-knead pizza dough (I adapted a whole wheat version from the recipe in this book) and is a great way to get greens into tiny tummies. I put finely chopped swiss chard or spinach under the cheese and they always gobble it up.

Transportation Tuesday

Poor New Kid, when his brother shuts him out of his room to play with the trains and track, the little guy can only gaze longing and watch from afar.

How to Keep Your Kid Busy for Hours

That got your attention.

But seriously, if you have a voracious reader, just give him a bin of books he hasn't looked at in a while.

I also go to the library when Kiddo is away doing other things and check out a huge stack of books for him. When he comes home and sees the stack he simply can't do or think of anything else until he has read them all.

This, of course, does not work for a toddler. And if I have to read Tip, Tip, Dig, Dig one more time I might just poke my eyes out.

Friday Do-Over: Free Shape Sorting Activity

Well, it's free in the sense that I am assuming you already have some blocks, but you could collect any number of items around your house to sort into various shapes. Or send your child on a shape scavenger hunt around the house! Idea first published 5/1/09.

This is my homemade version of an activity using Montessori Geometric Solids which matches 3D solids to the corresponding 2D shape. We don't have the expensive Montessori blocks, and you don't need them either.

Simply divide a large piece of paper into sections labeled with a shape. I showed Kiddo how to match the block to it's corresponding 2D image. A former neighbor gave me a lovely hand-me-down set of natural wooden shapes so at least we have shapes like a cone, pyramid, sphere, half sphere, different prisms, etc. But if you don't have those, look around your home for appropriate items.

The best part of this activity is that is usually ends up in a lot of free block play.

Extra Credit reading: Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes

Fields of Grain: Apartment Style

I like to sprout various seeds and beans to use in cooking. It's sort of a fun way of growing food in an apartment and is a good indoor science experiment for kids. One of my favorite seeds to sprout is  wheat berries. You can find the directions here. It's really easy -- and you don't need the specialized supplies, although I do covet those stainless steel screen covers.

We break them up in the food processor and then add them to bread doughs or hot cereal. Yum.

Toddler Sorting

You've probably seen the activity where your child drops Popsicle sticks through a slot in a canister, yes? Well, a small slot is a bit tricky for a 20 month old, but the openings of a Popsicle mold work just fine.

Transportation Tuesday

When I'm working in the kitchen, New Kid likes to play with his transportation in the under-the-oven drawer.

Don't worry, the oven is off.

Friday Do-Over: Shiksa in the Kitchen

Next Week is Rosh Hashana, celebrate with yummy apple-stuffed challah. It's easy and fun to make with the kids. First Published 9/19/09

Daddy-O is, what I call, "lightly-observant": he lights the candles at Hanukkah, tells the Exodus story to any willing ear during Passover and takes the day off work (but doesn't fast) for Yom Kippur. I'm pretty sure Kiddo will not be attending Hebrew school. However, I try to encourage a little tradition for each holiday. This year I decided to make an Apple Challah for Rosh Hashanah. Apples and Honey are traditionally eaten to welcome a sweet New Year.I rolled diced apples, lemon juice, cinnamon and honey in the center of three strands. I never peel my apples before baking. It seems like such a waste of time, energy and nutrients (and color!).Even though Challah is often formed in a circle for Rosh Hashana, I stayed with the typical braided version.
When you slice, you see a delicious surprise!

Reading Assignment:
New Year at the Pier
Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashanah Ride. When I saw this in the library a few weeks ago, I couldn't help but giggle... the High Holy days AND a train? Sign us up!
The World's Birthday
It's Shofar Time!
It's Challah Time!
Even Higher! This is better for slightly older children.
The Stars Will Still Shine. Actually, this is a secular new year book and a church figures prominently, but it is a lovely book and since we are an interfaith household, it seems appropriate. Plus, Cynthia Rylant is a brilliant children's book author.

L'Shana Tova!

The Time is Ripe

Early harvest pears have arrived!

Kiddo loves pears but they always arrive less than ripe from the store. As a science experiment we put several pears in a bag with an apple and labeled it with the date. We then left some pears out on the counter to see which ripened faster. Kiddo thought that the pears in the bag ripened one day sooner than those on the the counter. But I can't say I saw a difference. In any case, he gobbled them up.

You can find some interesting facts about pear ripening (and why the apple in a bag method works) here.

Reading Assignment: 
Mr Putter and Tabby Pick the Pears
Too Many Pears


Happy Eating.