twolittleajs: Mermaid Monday!

Saturday, 13 September 2014

Mermaid Monday!

It's been a while, i'm sorry! We did enjoy a lovely two week camping trip in early August, which we survived...just! Apart from that we have mainly been just enjoying being out in the sunshine, and all the usual things that go with it, walks, picnics, gardening, outdoor games, nothing really 'blogable' but all hopefully memorable still to the ones who matter most.

Now we have hit September, and Arthur is off to preschool more often, meaning I literally only see him on a Wednesday and a Saturday, but it does mean that Alyssa and I guess some much needed bonding time on a Monday and Thursday morning before I go to work.

After recently having an interest in Mermaids from a cartoon film we watched, I decided to make this Monday a Mermaid Monday. I started by giving her some blue and green paint to experiment with, whilst I painted a peg doll to look like a mermaid, I then let her have a go at creating her own peg mermaid. I used the painting we had both been doing to create a background in an old sweet tin, before covering in blue and green rice and shells to create a sea coloured sensory play area for the peg mermaids.

Alyssa really enjoyed scooping the rice up with a shell, and of course tipping the rice out of the tub and putting it back in the tub again. She also practiced a bit of imaginative play by making the mermaids swim and say "hello." Then I told her it was time to pick Arthur up, and she jumped up holding both mermaids saying "Argur mermay" so we took them with us so she could give one to him. Arthur really seemed to like his present and then enjoyed playing in the rice with Alyssa which was lovely to see, and it was also nice to see he wasn't upset or jealous that we had done things without him! I am looking forward to many a Monday with Alyssa finding out a bit more about what her likes and dislikes are, rather than her copying Arthur all the time.