Handmade Cards: Mummy’s and Daughter’s Tender Cherry Tree

Natalie's Japanese cherry tree impressed me already in spring… And here appeared an occasion – I decided to make a beautiful gift to some person…   

In a word, I bought black ink, paper for watercolour and cocktail straws. Together with our little daughter (29 mo) we sat down at her little table and started blowing through the straws onto big drops of ink. And at that point I really appreciated the fact that the creation of such a card is not only a very creative activity but also a very developing material (for the mummy and toddler ).   

 In fact, then we were only experimenting. Having understood Читать дальше…

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Homemade Gifts: Knitted Toys

I ventured to knit socks for myself… having found that there were almost no heels left in the ones I had knitted several years before. Soniya (29 mo old) is greatly interested in the process: knitting needles, so many colourful hanks – it is something new for her (taking into consideration that it is unlikely that she remembers the transformation of the hanks into wound balls of threads after her games when she was 7 mo old ).

Naturally, she also needs needles. But, to my relief (these are too sharp toys for her so far), she quickly turned her attention to the threads and informed me that she was also knitting

And only then I remembered that a gift had been lying on the wardrobe for our daughter already for 2 years (no, I am not such an absent-minded mum – I had tried to present Soniya with this gift a year before but then she got frightened, the toy was almost of the same size as she).

And now Читать дальше…

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Painting with Kids: paper tape for creating masterpieces

As you may remember Natalie has recently raised the issue of making the windows warm for winter… I am continuing the topic and will mention the paper tape which we used for the creation of the design for the T-shirt.

We've recently bought new paints. And Soniya (28 mo) is so inspired by the bright colours that she is ready to paint with one colour for ages on end! And her mummy's suggestions to change the colour are not heard at all! Idea!

I suggest Soniya sticking some paper tape to the sheet of paper. She cannot resist the temptation to try it and while working with the tape she was telling me that Читать дальше…

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Painting with Kids: designer clothes by toddlers

Do you remember our first (collective) experience of painting on T-shirts? The our 2-year-old (and younger) kids were painting with hands and brushes in the process of which each T-shirt got an exclusive design. "But when there are clothes only with hand- and/or footprints in the wardrobe it somehow gets not interesting at all", – I thought pondering on in what other way we can decorate one more white T-shirt.

Of course, I could iron the T-shirt but I though that this way it will look more 3-D in the pic

Munny takes Читать дальше…

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Painting with Kids: InterestingTechnique for Creating Autumn Forest

It seems there is no child who has not gathered leaves in autumn (for a bouquet, into the body of the toy car, into the pockets of his jacket, into his mummy's hands…). And very often these leaves turn to be brought home. In our apartment, they were inefficiently lying on Soniya's chair for three days until they became absolutely dry. And then an idea came!

"Soniya, look what beautiful trees we’ve got behind the window, yellow, red and some are still green… let's paint an autumn forest!"

I'm drawing the trunks of the trees and then suggest that our daughter  Читать дальше…

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How to make modeling from clay interesting for a toddler?

Our daughter enjoys “working” with clay very much. But what can you create with a 2-year-old who can make only "sausages"? How to make this activity interesting for both mummy and child? Not only mum should make masterpieces!…

The idea came spontaneously. We hadn't used clay for the last 3 months and it had got dry. So, mummy had to make it soft again adding some water to it and Soniya asked me to roll each of the clay pieces in a ball. And we got some material for… construction! The balls can be easily stuck to each other, they can be even transformed! Isn't it a construction set! According to their functionality, they resemble snow balls which one can built, let’s say, a fortress from:

Or one can make a flower: Читать дальше…

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Handmade Toys from Foam Rubber Tape

Autumn has come. It's time to make the windows warm. Ha-ha, yeh, I know that it is exotics for most of you but it is quite topical for our garden house . By the way, only now, having lived with double glass panes for several years, I learnt the true value of the wooden frames which should be "made warm" in autumn by gluing something to cover the gaps between the frame and the windowsill and which should be "uncovered" with crackles in April-May. A good replacement of air, a possibility to recolour the window frames and windowsills in any colour and… inexpressible feelings of the process of "gluing the windows"… childhood, mother, September and clean air streaming into the window…

But to tell you the truth, we haven't started to "warm up" our windows yet. And we are not in the garden house now but in another town visiting our grandma. And the idea which I'd like to tell you about occurred to us in summer, in the mentioned garden house, when, once again, I was looking for something to make our 2-year-old son busy with and found the last year's stock of foam rubber tape for windows by chance. It turned out to be really needed!

Читать дальше…

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Paper Lotus as an Element of the interior design, clothes, gift and a decoration for the Christmas Tree

This time our art-group consisted of 4 adults and a child. Soniya was this child and while Svetlana was teaching us how to make lotuses of colour paper/ sweet wrapper – without glue, Soniya was enthusiastically painting and gluing sea (she informed me about it when everything was done) sitting in her children's chair.

Everything started when I accidentally learnt that Svetlana knows ow to make lotuses. And my thought started working! How can such lotuses be used:

• as gifts for friends and relatives (unexpected and sweet);
• as Christmas tree decorations;
• as an additional element for wrapping paper;
• as a card (if the message is attached to the lotus on a little "business card" under it);
• as a decoration for the interior of the apartment (esp. if the lotus is decorated with beads, god threads, etc.);
• as a brooch for clothes.

In a word, I invited Svetlana and all those who wanted to learnt to make lotuses to our place and the creative process started!

What will you need for making paper lotuses:

• Colour paper, not too thick, or sweet/candy wrappers (double-sided paper is the best); Читать дальше…
  

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Results & Prizes of the Children’s Land Art Contest-Festival

The sound of fanfare should be heard now! We are announcing the winners of the children's land art contest-festival organized by "Parents' Ideas".

ABSOLUTELY ALLTHE PARTICIPANTS HAVE BECOME WINNERS OF THE CONTEST-FESTIVAL ,

as there cannot be better and worse, shouldn't be judges and critics when speaking about art and creativity.

That is why ALL THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE LAND ART FESTIVAL GET THE PRIZES! !

During May-June we got the photos of the art works from more than 30 boys and girls from different countries: Russia, Argentina, Ukraine, Israel, France, Belorus.

And today the following prize is sent to these boys and girls Читать дальше…

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Design by Kids’ Hands, or Art-group in New Circumstances

The promised story about our stay in the City of Voronezh, or the meeting of the children's art-group in new membership

July 12, 2010, Monday

In Place of Introduction

When returning from the south of Russia to our native city, we stopped in Voronezh at our friends' place for a day (after 13 hours of driving). The main reason for making a one-day break from driving was the conduction of a children's art-group! Having read in "Parents' Ideas" about our art-meetings for kids, our mummy-friends from Voronezhasked us to visit them and give a "guest performance"

WE decided to organize the meetings in the apartment of its youngest participant – 11-month-old Lika. By 10:30 we brought Soniya (2,2 yr.), Andrew (1,7 yr) and Karim (1,7 yr) there. I tried not to think of how everything would go – to conduct an art-meeting in a company of such little ones – that was quite new for me. Before our daughter Soniya had been the youngest at such meetings; she copied the elder kids and we were at home (there were no unknown distracting things there). How everything would go that day – let's see in practice .

The children if not greeted each other happily, they, at least, felt comfortable in the company of each other. Lika was shining with smiles, Soniya immediately figured out where the greatest number of toys was, Andrew and Karim did not fall behind in their investigations, either.

Kids' Creativity

We started with the meditation part – without balance within it is difficult to do any creative work, especially with such little toddlers. Only Karim behaved ideally – he was sitting on his mother's lap quietly and with attention watching everything. Actually, we hadn't expected that the children would sit absolutely quietly. As for me, I was happy that Soniya was participating in all the suggested meditation activities. And what of it that between them she found time to get into the playpen with toys turned onto its side?!

The aim is reached – everybody has got joyful state! We are moving to the second part!… Hm-m-m, Читать дальше…

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The Best Dish When the Weather Is Hot: the Recipe of Beetroot Soup

When we were traveling in the south of Russia it was hot there but not as hot as in the central part of Russia. But even then the beetroot soup was the best decision for lunch. Our southern acquaintances shared the recipe of it with us. And today it's been this dish that we've prepared for lunch (mu hubby eat two plates of soup and was so much full that the rest of the dinner we should have left for dinner).

The recipe of beetroot soup. The best dish weather weather is hot!

Ingredients and preparation

Dice:

• 3 boiled potatoes,
• 3 boiled eggs,
• 2 fresh cucumbers
• some ham

Cut: Читать дальше…

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With a Toddler on Holiday-Going to the Sea

Only recently have we returned from our summer holiday. Together with my husband and our 2-year-old daughter we went to the South of Russia by car (the way to the Black Sea took us 26 hours – we covered 2000 km, and then the same on the way back).

Yes, I know, we should have publish the results and the prizes of the Children's Land-art Festival long ago but it happened so that life moved the dates of our holiday from the planned ones to the ones we have actually spent at sea. So, let us first share with you the photo-story of our travelling and then we will return to land art.

Having covered about 900 km, we made a stop in THE HOUSE OF OUR FRIENDS:

ON OUR WAY-NEAR THE CITY OF ROSTOV-NA-DONU: Читать дальше…

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New Works for Children’s Land Art Contest-Festival

Our gallery of children's land art works is growing! Meet the new participants of the competition-festival:

Children's land art works

21. Yuval with his mother Alla (Israel)

Red Path in a Stone Читать дальше…

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“Parent’ Ideas” participate in a competition

Internet Community "Mothers' Blogs" has launched its first competition. And notwithstanding the fact that officially we are on holiday, we could not but take part in it! The terms of the competition are the following: "interesting mummies' talks in which you participate or hear on the children's playground, some not quite ordinary situations that you are living each day". The prizes for the competition are given by “A Store for a Mother and Her Little One" and Maria Klimova, the author of the book "Talks in a Sandpit, ot Stories from Mothers' Life".

And here is our story for the competition:

The first recollections after the child's birth are always very sweet and memorable: in two hours after Soniya's birth (though then we did not know that it would be Soniya ) my husband came to the hospital and brought us a huge bouquet of orange roses, the first night with a baby (who is not within but beside you!) – I am afraid to fall asleep as what if the child will want to eat, in the afternoon I am keeping our little one under the sun rays falling through the window – a treatment for inogenous jaundice, I am a bit worried but I know that everything will be fine…

There was something else.

Among 1-, 2-, 3-bed wards, I chose the one for two people: there is always someone to ask for help and advice if needed. Unfortunately, my roommate was Читать дальше…

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Competitions organized by “Parents’ Ideas”

The authors of Parents' Ideas are going on holiday for several weeks. But before leaving we cannot but show you the prizes we have just sent to the winners of the competition "The Month of Rainbow Hummingbirds". For Ulya we've prepared her portrait created from hundreds of pictures of hummingbirds (click the pictures to enlarge them):

For Maxim and Martina we've prepared personal diplomas (as they haven't sent us their portrait photos): Читать дальше…

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Adults and Kids Create Together, or the Eighth Meeting of the Art Group

Our holiday turned out to be postponed a little. So, let us share with you some more interesting stories from our life while we are still at home.

Much time has passed since we last had the meeting of the children's art-group! One child is ill then another one… But in May we decided that one of its Sundays will be definitely devoted to the children's meeting but… different circumstances interfered again.

We decided not to give up! And started to adjust the circumstances to us . Marina and Gulya had wanted to drop in at our place for a long time already. "So, we will hold the art meeting with them! And it does not matter that they are adults. They love kids so much " – I thought.

And again circumstances. I'd planned for us one kind of art but it did not happen: just did not have time to buy everything we could need (but everything was for the better – we'll leave that idea for the next meeting with kids ). But, frankly speaking, I was already sure that there would not be any art at all. But in the morning on Sunday Soniya (2 yrs) and I went to the florist's to buy some flowers for the creation of a festive atmosphere in our room!.. And my mind started to work, very quickly, inventing something (already on the previous day I'd felt the state of joy typical for such collective meetings, that is why "nothing" simply could not take place ).

That state increased when we conducted the first part of the meeting – the meditative one! And we started creating in that state of joy!

I offered Soniya, aunt Marina and aunt Gulya the main elements for the future cards: skeletonized leaves and butterflies which we'd bought together with flowers. And all the rest for the cards was what we'd got at home.

The cards turned out to be quite different!

In Soniya's and my variant Читать дальше…

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Talk to you in several week

The authors of Parents’ Ideas are leaving on family holiday. We’ll be back in several weeks and will bring you many more interes Читать дальше…

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Contest-Festival of Children’s Land Art World Is Continuing-2!

More and more works are coming to the Contest-festival of children's land art works, not only from new participants but also from those you have already sent us their works before.
One more work by Kasimir, 7 yrs (participant number 1):

Click to enlarge

Here is what Anaic, Kasimir's mother, has said, "Yesterday, Kasimir made another Land Art suddenly. After some time, he called me and said, 'Come and see my man of snails'. When I came to see his man, the snails were going away, slowly, of course, but surely! So, we replaced them again and I took photos”.

New participants of the Contest-Festival of children's land art works

Meet the new participants of the Contest-festival: Читать дальше…

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A Cake in 5 Minutes

Waiting for the guests? So many things should be done. Mummy has to do the house, to dress her baby, hubby and herself, to lay the table in a festive style.

Would you like some advice? Start the preparations from making the cake! It will take only 5 minutes but then you will be able not to think about sweet things for tea any more.

Marshmallow cake. Recipe

- dice 3,5 marshmallows and put them into a bowl with a flat bottom and high sides
- cover the marshmallow with sour cream
- next layer:

Читать дальше…

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Cakes for Children: recipe of a birthday cake

At the beginning of May Soniya had her 2nd birthday. And what birthday, especially, the kid's one, without a cake?! But I did not want to buy a cake in some store (as recently I've been coming across articles and TV progs about the products which can do harm to our health) Читать дальше…

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Modeling with Kids: “Rock Paintings”

As an epigraph: when I am thinking over what art (craft) we will do with Soniya (24 mo), first I try to show our daughter some unknown way of using her favourite things.

It is a period of dandelions in Soniya's life now. She is looking at them through the window, picking them up when walking. They are the only flowers I allow her to pick up in the city.
Once I brought home a piece of nature for Soniya – dandelions. And the most interesting activity started:

Читать дальше…

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The Contest of Children’s Land Art Works Has Started!

I've realized in practice one more attractive aspect of creating land-art works. Imagine, you're making some picture from cones, sticks and flowers and the thought that soon someone will accidently see the created picture/sculpture, literally, takes your breath away! Will see, get surprised and, hopefully, rejoice and smile.

Recently Soniya and I were in the Kremlin again. The number of pine cones on the grass had grown because of the winds blowing for weeks on end. The initiator to "build a house from them" was Soniya (23 mo).

It was she who decided to add some sticks to our creation. The constructor of geometric figures was me and Soniya played the role of a witness and silent admirer

Anastasia

The Competition of Children's Land Art Works

Richard Shilling was very happy to learn that we are conducting a contest devoted to children's land art works! Let me quote him a bit: "I see that you are now having a competition, what a great idea! I am so happy to see you and your blog readers are embracing land art and seeing how fun and educational it can be!" As it is not a real competition in the full meaning of the word (the winners will be chosen by a drawing and not by some special jury), Richard has suggested to specify, "The Festival of Children's Land Art Works".

The first participants of the Contest-Festival of Children's Land Art Works

Meet the first participants of the Contest-Festival of Children's Land Art Works: Читать дальше…

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How to Celebrate Baby’s First Birthday: a mother’s experience

The baby's first birthday is an important landmark in the child's his parents' life. We try to make the little one happy and to organize everything in such a way for the event to be a good memory. Though Soniya's and Arseny's first birthdays are left far behind, it's always interesting for us to learn how this holiday is celebrated in other families. Here is what one of our friends, mother Olga, has told us:

"The season of first birthdays has come to the yard of our house (where all the mummies walk with their babies). We've got about 20 kiddos of the same age, most of whom have got birthdays in April. So, 8-11 mummies with babies are gathering now from time to time at someone's apartment to celebrate this important date.

The First Birthday of Little Olga

From Olga's first birthday I remember: Читать дальше…

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The Results of the Children’s Contest “The Month of Rainbow Hummingbirds”

April has finished and the Contest "The Month of Rainbow Hummingbirds " has finished together with it. Different hummingbirds flew to us during this month: the birds made of plasticine and wooden blocks, cut out of paper and cloth, painted with watercolours and crayons… We thank all the participants of the Contest for their enthusiasm, ideas and joy our readers and we got looking through the art works:

Our participants

1. Irina Kovtun (8 yrs, Ukraine);
2. Nirmala Kovaleva (27 mo, Russia);
3. Sasha Antonov (3 yrs 9 mo, Russia);
4. Alon (4 yrs, Israel);
5. Anastasia Tsebrenko (2 yrs 3 mo);
6. Maria Karpova (14 yrs, Russia)
7. Masha Andreeva (3 yrs);
8. Maxim (Israel);
9. Olya Reutova (4 yrs, Ukraine);
10. Nadya, Niona’s daughter;
11. Ulya (3 yrs 5 mo)Anastasiya Solnechnaya's daughter;
12. Renata Sidorova;
13. Natvei Vorobiev (3 yrs);
14. Ira, Matvei's cousin (5 yrs);
15. Tanya, Matvei's cousin (9 yrs);
16. Katalina(8 yrs, Argentina);
17. Ilya (2 yrs, Argentina);
18. Niranjan (8 yrs, Argentina);
19. Martina (12 yrs, Argentina);
20. Ines (13 yrs, Argentina);
21. Kandela (9 yrs, Argentina);
22. Enzo (6 yrs, Argentina);
23. Pavlik Andreev (33 mo)
24. Nika, Nadya's sister
25. Miroslava

The numbers of the participants reflect the order in which the works came to the Contest.

Some more hummingbirds we've got but haven't published yet:

Miroslava's hummingbird made of pieces of cloth Читать дальше…

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Painting with Children, or Floristics for Toddlers

Or a sketch of how the thought of a tot's mother develops

What, do you think, this painting started from?

This week it has been snowing again, it has been cold and windy… But, as we all know, one should not walk with the little one only if the weather is really stormy. So, for the second day Soniya and I Читать дальше…

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Children’s Land Art Works: Take Part in the Contest!

Very soon the results of the Children's Contest of Arts and Crafts devoted to Rainbow Hummingbirds will be known and we, the authors of Parents' Ideas are announcing a new Contest – the contest for children's land art works (what land art is you can learn in the interview with Richard Shilling, an English land art artist and sculptor.

The contest will start Читать дальше…

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The Month of Rainbow Hummingbirds: New Participants

Meet the new participants of the contest "The Month of Rainbow Hummingbirds"!

Maxim, Yana's friend

The hummingbird sitting on the tree brings happiness to one's house

Olya Reutova, 4 yrs, Ukraine

This hummingbird is made of millet, rice and fried peas! Читать дальше…

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Children’s-Adults’ Design or How to Use Kids’ Paintings

We've got tons of Arseny's gouache paintings. Till some time I'd put them into a folder hoping that I'd get some idea of how to use such beautiful material in design . Just to keep "for memory" is not interesting as everything important and marking some landmark has been already photographed and we are not inclined to creating archives. 

It seems, we finally got an interesting idea – see for yourself: 

This panel-picture is made of CD covers and Arseny's gouache paintings.

  

This example just illustrates the technology of using children's paintings for the interior design but one can find lot's of ways to use this idea Читать дальше…

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Land Art in Practice: Creating Outside with a Toddler

After talking to Richard Shilling the walking with our little daughter (23 mo) got a new dimension.
Actually, we were not going to make any land art works so far Читать дальше…

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Prizes and New Participants of the Children’s Contest The Month of Rainbow Hummingbirds

So, what honourable mention prizes are waiting for the participants of the Contest "The Month of Rainbow Humingbirds"? Ekaterina has guessed right: stickers the hummingbirds on which (from the nest to the flights) are drawn by the authors of "Parents' Ideas". Here you can read more about the main prizes.

One more image from the gift set of stickers:

Paintings and crafts are still coming and today we are introducing you five more participants of the Contest: Читать дальше…

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Land Art as an Art for Kids. Interview with Richard Shilling

Have you ever heard of such kind of art as Land Art? 

What is Land Art?

It involves making art and sculptures using materials you find in nature, such as leaves, fir cones, twigs, pebbles, rocks, sand and shells. Usually, sculptures are not placed in the landscape, rather, the landscape is the means of their creation. 

 

Endless Knot  

How is Land Art connected to the subject of Parents’ Ideas?

Land Art can add so much fun, beauty and positive emotions into the process of the child's upbringing. Moreover, it can unite children and adults when they create "as equals" contributing to each others' ideas and learning from each other and from nature. 

 

Floating Leaf Boat  

When creating art and sculptures among nature both children and adults: 

• notice the beauty of "usual" things such as, for example, leaves covered with hoarfrost, icicles illuminated by the sun rays, stones on the beach, etc;
• use their imagination, get some fresh air and learn all about nature and cycles of life;
• play and explore at the same time.

Today we are very honoured to introduce you Richard Shilling, an English land artist, sculptor, photographer and film-maker who has recently published the first of a series of Land Art for Kids books in partnership with Julia Brooklyn. 

In the frame of our Project 

Very Creative Person.
Interviews and Tutorials with Creative People

Richard will tell us more about Land Art and how kids can be involved into it. Читать дальше…

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