Home made play #1 : Frozen hands

I like making play stuff for JED. It's how I play with them and I enjoy nothing more than to be able to do this. Perhaps, it's got to do with the memories of my own childhood where my mom would always come up with simple and fun ways for me to play. It could have been filling a plastic bag full of water and poking holes in it. Or it could have been bringing home bags of sand from the beach and building a sandbox for me to play in.

So, from the point that they were cognizant enough to muck around, I started making things that they could muck about with. Most of the time, there wasn't much intent in it except to watch them have fun. And among other things, this blog seems to be a record of many of those times.

Anyway, I haven't done it in a while and JED seem to be growing up so quickly so I thought I'd do a series of home made play starting with their individual and recent favourites.

As with most girls her age, Jordan loves Frozen. Thankfully we are seeing the tail end of it. Even then she is fascinated with all things ice and blue.

So during a particularly hot spate, which we have been having quite a bit of, I decided to make her a couple of ice hands to play with.

All that was necessary
1. A few latex gloves
2. Some water to fill up the gloves (if you want to be adventurous, it could be coloured water)
3. For fun, drop beads and what nots into it so that the kids get an extra kick out of it.
4. Salt, warm water, cold water (and other variables of melting agents).
5. Syringes, teaspoons and little pipettes to dribble water onto the ice hands.
6. A freezer to dump them in for a couple of hours (Lay them on flat surfaces with fingers spread out so that they freeze properly)

The challenge was to strip the glove without breaking the fingers. We weren't too successful with that so Elsa came away with many broken fingers. It seemed to bring out the macabre in JED; they insisted on breaking more fingers.

They figured out that with the salt, the fingers and hands melted quicker but not as quick warm water did and so on and so forth.

By the end of it, all of JED had fingers that were frozen blue, especially Jordan who has as much cold tolerance as an insect. But they wanted to play with more ice hands. So I have an emergency stash of ice hands in my freezer for days that they are upset or have fallen down or are running a fever and need so chill respite.

But woe is he who opens my freezer and is met by a shelf of frozen hands. A friend did and asked "Who froze Elsa?"
 

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Travelling and Comfort Zones

When we travel with JED, we aren't very adventurous or ambitious. We play it safe, we do minimal and we like it familiar.

What was ambitious was that we had a travelling party of 10 which included my parents.

We took everyone to Phuket which was easy enough. 2 hour flight and all.

With no sightseeing plans, we let JED do whatever they liked. So their days were a strict regime of wake up, watch tv in bed, breakfast, pool, lunch, tv, pool, dinner, tv, bed. Rinse. Repeat. On the first day, we showered them after they came out of the pool for the first time. We wised up. Thereafter, we showered them only before bed.

Admittedly, it is easier to do comfort zone travelling. Less stress for the parents.

But they did get to do new things, new things that they weren't keen to dip their toes in.

1. A rustic beach in the middle of monsoon season meant unadulteratedly large waves. This made me sweat but once they grew enough deluded courage, they loved getting thrown about by the waves and rushing back to shore before the waves could topple them. They brought back to the apartment enough sand to build their own sandpit there. In Evan's words, 'there was a beach in my pants.'

2. My brother went with us and rented a scooter. We didn't do much with the scooter unfortunately (one thing about our resort, there really isn't much else around) but JED loved joyriding. And judging from my brother's face, he loved it too. Jordan lapped it up. Evan was worried he'd fall off, Muffin rode hands free (much to our screaming horror).

3. We had our own pool. We are spoilt and we've spoilt them. From this point on, they are going to expect this whenever we travel. Yup, we've royally screwed ourselves here. But part of the experience for them was about living in the pool. Pool time was punctuated by necessary land time. Toilet, food, tv (time to digest food) and sleep. And swimming at night was a total novelty until Muffin, not being able to see clearly at night clonked his chin on the step. The thing with travelling about my mother was that she kept fussing about how the kids had been in the pool for too long and would get sick. Thankfully, nary a  cough or drippy nose in sight.

4. We chose to go to Phuket during the monsoon season. It meant that accommodation was cheap. But it also meant the high possibility of rain. And rain it did. While it didn't stop the kids (they still went into our pool), it did slow them down. But it led to new discoveries. Winds so strong that golf umbrellas got blown into the pool. Loading the umbrella with rocks or water made said umbrella sink to the pool floor. The perfect excuse to jump back into the pool to retrieve it.

So, four days of not doing very much and nothing much to show for it except Muffin and Evan discovering Mommy's love for tom yum soup and coming home 5 shades darker than they set off with.

Would we do this again with them? Probably. It's simple and JED had fun. We liked that they loved it so much they wanted to live there forever. We didn't have to plan elaborate, go far or pay an arm and a leg for it.

Did we as adults do much? Not at all. Much of the time was making sure that they didn't end throwing rocks at each other or being swept away in the ocean.

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Nature

Nature is majestic

 

The Kīlauea volcano in Kona. We had never been on a volcano, let alone the crater of the volcano with steaming vents. Evan was disappointed we didn't get to see some real lava flowing. The whole island is made up of lava rock and is constantly growing because of the lava flow. What struck fear in my heart was to be told that people on the island slept with half a tank of gas in their car at all times in case any one of the volcanoes erupted and they needed to be evacuated.

Nature is surprising

A 15 minute walk  from our apartment is the shoreline. It isn't manicured or disneyfied. It's raw and unadulterated. That means it's uneven and slippery rocks and extremely frightening for me to watch my mountain goat children prance from rock to rock. Amongst the rocks were tidal pools filled with little surprises for JED to discover. Sea urchins in different colours and sizes, sea cucumbers that their grandpa wanted to bring home to make soup with, living up to the Chinese stereotype that we would eat anything, hermit crabs that took walks all over Jordan's when she picked it up and I insisted had to be returned to the exact rock pool she picked it up from and tiny fish and crab that Muffin continually exclaimed about. We spent 2 afternoons there and I saw Evan, more than a few times, just stand still look out into the ocean's expanse and just smile.

Nature is whimsical

The twins discovered a large praying mantis just chilling on our rental car. Muffin fought them and insisted it was a grasshopper. They insisted Packrat remove it humanely and release it into a bush. But not before they pointed out all the differences and similarities between it and the grasshopper.

We took JED out on a glass bottom boat as well and while it was fascinating to see the coral fish in their natural habitat, the highlight of the trip was to come across a pod of spinner dolphins. They came close to the boat, they jumped, they spun and they twirled. It was an unrehearsed circus act. They stayed for ten minutes, turning around to beckon the boat to follow them. And just as soon as they showed up, they disappeared without a trace.

Nature is breathtaking

Sunset is about the most awesome time on the islands. The sky is a cacophany of colours and even though the drive was a long one back from the volcanoes, we could not help but be awestruck in wonderness by the colours in the sky.

Nature is frightening

When in Hawaii, do as the natives do. And what they do is to spend all their time on the beach. So that is what we have been doing. And the beaches are mostly lovely and inviting. JED fell in love with this beach 10 miles away from our resort called Hapuna, in Kona. So we went two days in a row; the second day with boogie boards that the twins were now itching to try. 

Unfortunately, Hawaii is also known for its huge crest waves that people surf and powerful rip currents that can pull unsuspecting swimmers underwater. And the second day we were at Hapuna, there were the ominous red flags planted all over the beach and more people on the sand than in the water. 

It took about 10 seconds to see and hear why. The waves curtaining most of the horizon were coming in fast and furious and crashing so loudly Muffin put his hands to his ears. Packrat remarked that the sea looked like Milo because of all the sand that was being tossed up by the force of the waves. 

No way was I going to let them swim but Packrat waded them a little out just to feel the remnant wash of the wave. They became pretty good at spotting the big waves and knew instinctively to run towards shore. 

My favourite snapshot of nature however can't be photographed. It's the multitude of bright stars against the black velvet night sky here. Because it's so dark in Kona, the stars really twinkle like diamonds. We even managed to see a couple of shooting stars. That has made Packrat barbeque dinner every night because it gives him the opportunity to sit and stare at the night sky while the meat cooks on the grill.

Our experiencing nature here isn't as if we were in Tibet, Nepal or trekking in the jungle somewhere. It's pretty sanitised. And even then,  in JED's words, 'it's still pretty AWESOME'.

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Water

We've been in Hawaii for 10 days and on the days that we weren't sight-seeing, JED have been in the water. They are not discerning. Pool or sea, there is always an attraction.

The twins' swimming instructor had told me that I needed to make sure they had time in the pool while we were away so that she didn't have to go back to square one with the strokes. She really didn't need to remind me of that because in this case, it was preaching to the converted.

The water highlights have been different for every one of them.

For Jordan, it was meeting a mermaid.
The resort we were at in Oahu had a 'Swim with a mermaid' thing. We didn't tell her about it but shepherded them in the direction of the mermaid. Even though the water was freezing cold and she was shivering, Jordan never once left the side of the mermaid. She touched her 'tail' and tried to swim with her, listening rapt while the mermaid told a story about polluted oceans and how the mer-people were suffering because of people destroying their world.

For Evan, it was a tunnelled water slide.
To be able to do it, the twins had to pass a swim test. Jordan went down it screeching in excitement. Evan was very hesitant till Packrat went down the tunnel. And once he summoned enough courage and he went down, he wouldn't stop. And went again and again and again.

Much to his disappointment, we couldn't bring the water slide to the Big Island. Thankfully, in the Big Island what it didn't have in water slides was made up for with a beautiful surf and waves that he could ride in on. He has declared that tomorrow, we are going back to the beach at Hapuna with boogie boards.

For Muffin, he needed to be coaxed into the sea water because to get there, there was sand. He was the slowest to fall in love with the water. Each time, he would play chicken with the waves, wading as far out as he dared to go and charging back to shore as the waves chased him inland. He never failed to generate an amused audience as he wrestled the waves. We knew he was comfortable enough when he asked Packrat to take him out to where the waves broke to float back in. If we ever came back to Hawaii, he would be totally ready for the boogie board that his brother is yearning for.

As for us, the water has been delicious. I am mostly terrified of the water being cold but the water and the waves have been inviting enough. Packrat lives in the water as long as the kids are in it and he hasn't complained either, relishing the cold and clear water. Apparently, even the salt taste is clean.


JED's colour are testament of how much time they've spent in the water. If it weren't so obscene, I would post pictures of their tan lines. Muffin however is a shade of charcoal black that I cannot imagine getting any darker and at this point, we have another 9 days on Hawaii.

It truly has been an epic session of water play for JED.

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Something old to something new

We have 3 playgrounds near where we live. JED have visited them so many times that they are bored of them and bug us to take them to new play spaces.

But on Thursday when it rained as if the gods were crying and the whales starting beaching at NUS, there was little for them to do to in the house except to drive us all insane. I decided to take them to the playground in the rain.

That was the one guaranteed to make sure that the old folk that sit at the void deck spaces tsk and hiss at me disapprovingly. Didn't I know that allowing them to play in the rain was a sure way to have them catch a bad cold?

In such a situation, it is always good to not be able to speak very much dialect. Then all that can be done is to smile and shrug your shoulders and walk on, guaranteeing that the whole block will know how bad a mom you are but at the same time also ensuring that JED get to do something they don't often get a chance to do.

Part of the fun for them was outfitting them; raincoats, wellies and even umbrellas.

There was more tsk-ing and hissing when the aforementioned folk realised that I had put Muffin in Jordan's old rain gear; a green rain coat with pink lining and pink wellies.

But just adding that extra novelty made it a whole lot more exciting with lots more squeals and chuckling. Swings, swinging on their bellies, climbing up and down slippery rock walls much to my terror. I feared that with every time that Muffin lost his step, he would slip, fall and break his teeth at the very least. But every time he slipped, it elicited a nervous chuckle and tried it again.

The ground was wet. The air was cool. And an added advantage There was also the added advantage of the playgrounds being empty on account of the rain. 

Evan was so happy he was both singing and dancing in the rain. He has the sodden, swimming pools in his boots to prove it. 

All this plus the long and hot bubble bath in their bath tubs meant that it took up the entire afternoon and by the time they were done, they were ready for dinner and very quickly ready for bed. 

It meant that I could shower myself, do my last minute packing and get them all to sleep before I had to head off to the airport.

So, if you are okay for your kids to play in the rain, rain doesn't mean they can't play outside. Unless there's lightning of course. I may be nuts but not that nuts.

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Water for all

The sun, hot and high

Water rising in streams from the ground

Laughter, squeals, sun burnt joy

 

 Technorati Tags: JED, Singapore Science Centre, play

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Water play with pee references

It has been far too hot to spend time in the park or outdoors. It's sapping heat and just thinking about being out is exhausting. It's made me wish that I had the inflatable pool so that the kids could play in it without us having to really go to the pool. But since JED discovered the glee of sharpened pencils on the inflatable pool, the pool has never been able to inflate again. And as punishment, we declared a 2 year moratorium on inflatable pools. The statue of limitation runs out soon so perhaps another one might be in order soon, given the ridiculous heat we're having.

Anyway, the alternative has been bath tub play. And thankfully, we have the stairwell space that we use for all their big play.

It's kept them busy for an hour or so and counting. I've ducked in to actually blog about this while I hear shouts echo from down the corridor.

I love water play.

Evan does imaginary experiments. I've heard him mutter "a dash of Coke", " a splatter of Root Beer Mug" etc as he empties bottles into the basin.

Jordan relishes in the bubbles and Muffin just pours and pours in various combinations.

The added dimension to it was the plastic bottle water toys I made on a whim. 1.25 litre plastic bottles were great because of the five-pronged bottom that I had poked holes through. In Evan's words, 'the cow's udders leaking milk!'. Yuck. That brought back too breastfeeding nightmares!

And that was when all the toilet humour started. I had sawn off the tops of the bottles so they could pour water through it and out the spout. Other bottles had a different number of holes stabbed into the bottom. So, according to JED, they were all pee. The 'pee' that came out of the spout was 'urgent pee'. The one that trickled out a single holed cup was 'night pee' (Night pee is when we force march the kids to the bathroom at night to pee while they are sleeping. Obviously, they have been awake enough to label the type of pee.) With a bottle that I hadn't holed out thoroughly and the water dripped through in spurts, that 'pee' was called 'stuck pee'. All this observed with squeals of laughter. I am resigned to the fact that JED are easily tickled by toilet humour.


What I liked was when Evan inverted the bottle tops into the bottle bottoms and poured water into it. Just looking at him, I could see the gears in his head churning to try to figure out what was going on. And the grin of truimph on his face after that as he announced "Mommy, I am doing science experiments." Indeed you are. It reminds me once again, that even though I get the older two to do table work every morning, there are other better and more fun ways of learning.

The focus in all their eyes was immense, while they figured out various physics related things that, for the life of me, I cannot even begin to explain to them. Such is the uselessness of an Arts/ Humanities mother. I can only think up the stuff to make for them. I leave Packrat to try to explain the physics to them despite the fact that he too is an Arts/ Humanities person.

 And what better way to play since this weekend was Earth Day!

  Technorati Tags: JED, water play, Earth Day

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