Can't imagine we almost survived this summer without flying anywhere. Only little more than 3 weeks are remaining before schools are opening and I am already feeling like a brave warrior! I am sure, all mums in UAE can understand my feelings.
First when we decided to stay in UAE this summer, when almost everyone left for better weather, the thought of surviving summer with my preschooler at home was terrifying. But this Eco-minded mama took the risk and result is lot of fun (won't mention few meltdowns and screaming part here, we are focusing on only positive side!) And you can see, this is one big reason why I couldn't find time for writing on the blog.
Kids love colours and even getting messy. But as I have Eco friendly Natural Earth Paints made up of only natural ingredients, I was stress free to give him colours and let him get messy in that. Even cleaning up is easy with these paints. Apart from normal painting and colouring, we did few interesting activities with paints and my little man loved those new experiences.
I am conveniently not going to talk much about an incidence of painting on trade mill with my lipstick! I was mad at the time and stopped talking to him for few minutes to control my emotions, but now I can just laugh remembering it.
My little man still continue to collect his favorite natural collectibles from landscape area down stairs like stones and twigs. It's extremely hot, but this guy manages to pick up things quickly on the way to main entrance from parking. He is a pro by now, he doesn't need to look around and search for things! He also like to show me small seedling and sprouts of Neem naturally growing in landscape area as since some time millions of neem seeds are scattered everywhere around.
So I decided to make use of our large collection of natural collectibles for painting. As Ruhaan gathered all these things by himself, he was quiet excited to paint them too! He is not yet patient and his motor skills are not developed enough to make designs on stones but great activity to keep him busy for few alternative days.
He is actually a very active child, to make him sit at one place is difficult. But when I asked him if he could make a necklace for me, which I can wear, he was happily ready to do this activity. This activity was not as frequently favored as others, but definitely will help to increase concentration as I am going to keep asking him to do it once in a while.
Here is behind the scene photo. He decided this activity can be little more boring while wearing regular clothes. So he opted to wear Halloween costume! If you saw a kid in any mall wearing Skeleton this summer, then it was none other than my kid!
I found out this Eco-friendly wipe clean book at Daiso and it's so amazing for repeated writing without wasting paper. We have used it any where and everywhere. For drawing, for writing in car, at restaurant, on road trip, on study table when mommy is working. It's one thing always found in my purse these days. I agree there is plastic coating, but the amount of paper it saves is really countable.
This book is savior on many occasions and I am totally in love with it. We also have few more wipe clean books, where kids need to trace lines, letters and number just like their school worksheet. And Ruhaan has used them again and again for almost like thousand times without using a single paper. You can even wipe them with wet cloth to clean them properly. I personally feel, these kind of wipe clean books are Eco-friendly!
It is Ruhaan's all time favorite activity. Specially now that I have found natural play dough by
I don't have to worry about any chemical exposure to his tiny hands and plus point it he can still nibble on snacks while playing with this play dough.
But one of the most engaging play dough fun he had during our stay at home summer was, when wheat floor at my home got expired (I couldn't make chapatis regularly, cooking was hardest part when he was at home). So in attempt of following my #zerowasteUAE lifestyle, instead of just throwing it, I decided to reuse it to make play dough and let him have fun with it. So I gave him flour, water mixed with some oil and he had amazing time. We could even use this natural play dough few more days, I just had to store it in fridge. Our homemade play dough with no colour, nothing, just plain kneaded flour was proved a successful experiment!
I like to keep food for birds in our window year round, in summer I keep water too. Ruhaan is very much used to watching birds in our window since he's baby and great thing is he still loves to do that. So if he hears birds in window he would just run to window and watch them and sometimes even tells me, like a running commentary what the birds are doing. Funny part is those birds are used to Ruhaan too, they don't always fly away when Ruhaan approaches the closed window from inside.
This summer a pair of common myna started making a nest in our window garden, which gave us lot of entertainment.
One of our blog reader commented on one such social media feed about birds, that there is saying 'Birds sing in the window where there is peace of mind, nothing happens by chance' I prefer to believe when you have faith in good deeds it's easier to keep peace of mind! Sometimes readers comments make your day, knowing your efforts are not going waste.
Ruhaan helped me a lot with planning and preparing for our road trip. Like packing his bag with numerous toys for at least 4-5 times and making sure every time he would pick up few different toys! :D
But the most entertaining part of it was map reading. He even talked about few other countries which are not on middle east map but our relatives stay there. So now I am looking for an interactive map for our home. My dad used to play a game of finding city or mountain or even river on large world map. Used to favorite game of traveler father and daughter. I can't wait to play the same game with my son, but we still have long wait before he reads that well.
We didn't fly any where but our road trip to Jebel Shams was very refreshing and first long distance road trip with Ruhaan and first time successful camping as a small family after few failed attempts. Read our story of camping in summer in Oman and what fun outdoor things you can do on Jebel Shams with young kids.
Here is video of a sea world craft we made together out of waste box not exactly during summer holidays (it was really difficult to take photos and videos during our summer holidays, plus I wanted to keep all sort of screens out of sight.)
How are you spending your summer with kids and how much success you had so far? Are you travelling or are you in UAE? Would love to know...
First when we decided to stay in UAE this summer, when almost everyone left for better weather, the thought of surviving summer with my preschooler at home was terrifying. But this Eco-minded mama took the risk and result is lot of fun (won't mention few meltdowns and screaming part here, we are focusing on only positive side!) And you can see, this is one big reason why I couldn't find time for writing on the blog.
I am particularly glad to share our story of 4 weeks of NO SUMMER CAMP and 'NO SCREEN TIME'! Yes, you heard that right! To be frank, before end of last term I observed my son started liking screens a lot, he learnt a lot from educational material he sees on screen. In the nursery he goes to, they also show them videos on big projector on certain days and even during meal time. But when I decided to keep him with me for 4 weeks after school was finished, I made clear rule at home; No Screen Time, not even for grown ups! It was so peaceful!
I just wanted to have fun with Ruhaan before his big school starts at the end of August. Wanted to create beautiful memories, before my son enters long years of schooling and homework! It was tiring for me of course, but it was worth getting drained for 4 weeks!
1. Painting
Kids love colours and even getting messy. But as I have Eco friendly Natural Earth Paints made up of only natural ingredients, I was stress free to give him colours and let him get messy in that. Even cleaning up is easy with these paints. Apart from normal painting and colouring, we did few interesting activities with paints and my little man loved those new experiences.
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| Add caption |
I am conveniently not going to talk much about an incidence of painting on trade mill with my lipstick! I was mad at the time and stopped talking to him for few minutes to control my emotions, but now I can just laugh remembering it.
a. Painting with motorcycle
Ruhaan loves cars and bikes a lot or rather any transport! So when ask him to select something to drive on paper with colours he picked this motorcycle and had painting session with lot of noise!
You need to try this with your kids, it's a big hit!
You need to try this with your kids, it's a big hit!
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| Painting with Bike |
b. Stone, Twig, Shell Painting
My little man still continue to collect his favorite natural collectibles from landscape area down stairs like stones and twigs. It's extremely hot, but this guy manages to pick up things quickly on the way to main entrance from parking. He is a pro by now, he doesn't need to look around and search for things! He also like to show me small seedling and sprouts of Neem naturally growing in landscape area as since some time millions of neem seeds are scattered everywhere around.
So I decided to make use of our large collection of natural collectibles for painting. As Ruhaan gathered all these things by himself, he was quiet excited to paint them too! He is not yet patient and his motor skills are not developed enough to make designs on stones but great activity to keep him busy for few alternative days.
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| Stones, Twigs, Shells Painting |
2. String, Beads and Buttons to Develop Fine Motor Skills
While I was looking for some activities to develop his fine motor skills, I could find nice wooden buttons and beads in Lulu hypermarket. I strictly didn't want plastic, those glittery beads and no plastic straw, as I went plastic free this July in support of #plasticfreejuly. More on that later, but these beautiful wooden beads and buttons provided my little guy very engaging activity.He is actually a very active child, to make him sit at one place is difficult. But when I asked him if he could make a necklace for me, which I can wear, he was happily ready to do this activity. This activity was not as frequently favored as others, but definitely will help to increase concentration as I am going to keep asking him to do it once in a while.
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| Wooden beads and buttons stored in reused tin box |
Here is behind the scene photo. He decided this activity can be little more boring while wearing regular clothes. So he opted to wear Halloween costume! If you saw a kid in any mall wearing Skeleton this summer, then it was none other than my kid!
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| Behind Scene photo |
3. Dress up and Role Play
My son has picked up interest in role play these days, it's very entertaining to see how creative he gets. Apart from becoming a skeleton, he prefers becoming doctor, when I am a very sick patient by default. Sometime he's mommy and I am Ruhaan and suddenly tells me 'No No, you can do that'.
Police is one of his favorite profession, which he preferred after practicing as captain of a ship and then pilot for a while. But unfortunately he was a police on first few days of his summer camp after our 4 weeks of holidays. So now, he's allowed to be police only at home!
But out of all his role plays, my most favorite is little gardens who waters our window garden regularly and a shopkeeper who likes to sell vegetables! I actually give him all fresh vegetables to him to keep in his shop, the ones which can't be spoiled by handling like potato, garlic, onion, lemon and take my cotton bag for vegetable shopping as his customer. I think this is the time when we need to show them what are good habits, so that later on they don't have to switch from disposable plastic bags to reusable.
Police is one of his favorite profession, which he preferred after practicing as captain of a ship and then pilot for a while. But unfortunately he was a police on first few days of his summer camp after our 4 weeks of holidays. So now, he's allowed to be police only at home!
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| Tiger, The Vegetable Vendor |
But out of all his role plays, my most favorite is little gardens who waters our window garden regularly and a shopkeeper who likes to sell vegetables! I actually give him all fresh vegetables to him to keep in his shop, the ones which can't be spoiled by handling like potato, garlic, onion, lemon and take my cotton bag for vegetable shopping as his customer. I think this is the time when we need to show them what are good habits, so that later on they don't have to switch from disposable plastic bags to reusable.
4. Reading
This is year of reading in UAE and now our book lover family started reading more than before. We love to read some book more than other like the one bed time story book Aunt Sonal gifted Ruhaan but my little man's the most favorite book is hungry caterpillar which he made himself in his nursery with help of his teachers. It's a really special book for me too, while my little caterpillar is still siting on my lap and reading it. I heard from many mothers you need to enjoy this cuddly phase while it lasts.
Ruhaan is reading hungry caterpillar some time back, he still continues to read it regularly
We read our books everywhere in bed, in our favorite tee-pee and even when we went on camping trip!
Ruhaan is reading hungry caterpillar some time back, he still continues to read it regularly
We read our books everywhere in bed, in our favorite tee-pee and even when we went on camping trip!
5. Writing in wipe clean book
I found out this Eco-friendly wipe clean book at Daiso and it's so amazing for repeated writing without wasting paper. We have used it any where and everywhere. For drawing, for writing in car, at restaurant, on road trip, on study table when mommy is working. It's one thing always found in my purse these days. I agree there is plastic coating, but the amount of paper it saves is really countable.
This book is savior on many occasions and I am totally in love with it. We also have few more wipe clean books, where kids need to trace lines, letters and number just like their school worksheet. And Ruhaan has used them again and again for almost like thousand times without using a single paper. You can even wipe them with wet cloth to clean them properly. I personally feel, these kind of wipe clean books are Eco-friendly!
6. Play dough
It is Ruhaan's all time favorite activity. Specially now that I have found natural play dough by
I don't have to worry about any chemical exposure to his tiny hands and plus point it he can still nibble on snacks while playing with this play dough.
But one of the most engaging play dough fun he had during our stay at home summer was, when wheat floor at my home got expired (I couldn't make chapatis regularly, cooking was hardest part when he was at home). So in attempt of following my #zerowasteUAE lifestyle, instead of just throwing it, I decided to reuse it to make play dough and let him have fun with it. So I gave him flour, water mixed with some oil and he had amazing time. We could even use this natural play dough few more days, I just had to store it in fridge. Our homemade play dough with no colour, nothing, just plain kneaded flour was proved a successful experiment!
7. Watching birds
I like to keep food for birds in our window year round, in summer I keep water too. Ruhaan is very much used to watching birds in our window since he's baby and great thing is he still loves to do that. So if he hears birds in window he would just run to window and watch them and sometimes even tells me, like a running commentary what the birds are doing. Funny part is those birds are used to Ruhaan too, they don't always fly away when Ruhaan approaches the closed window from inside.
 |
| Dove in our window |
One of our blog reader commented on one such social media feed about birds, that there is saying 'Birds sing in the window where there is peace of mind, nothing happens by chance' I prefer to believe when you have faith in good deeds it's easier to keep peace of mind! Sometimes readers comments make your day, knowing your efforts are not going waste.
8. Road Trip to Jebel Shams
Ruhaan helped me a lot with planning and preparing for our road trip. Like packing his bag with numerous toys for at least 4-5 times and making sure every time he would pick up few different toys! :D
But the most entertaining part of it was map reading. He even talked about few other countries which are not on middle east map but our relatives stay there. So now I am looking for an interactive map for our home. My dad used to play a game of finding city or mountain or even river on large world map. Used to favorite game of traveler father and daughter. I can't wait to play the same game with my son, but we still have long wait before he reads that well.
 |
| Map Reading |
We didn't fly any where but our road trip to Jebel Shams was very refreshing and first long distance road trip with Ruhaan and first time successful camping as a small family after few failed attempts. Read our story of camping in summer in Oman and what fun outdoor things you can do on Jebel Shams with young kids.
9. Eco Crafts
We generally don't recycle card board boxes, glass jars or tin boxes without reusing them. I give some of these things to my little guy to make something out of it. Sometimes I help him in craft, sometimes I just let his creativity run wild. We made numerous things over summer, here are some of the interesting things we made.Here is video of a sea world craft we made together out of waste box not exactly during summer holidays (it was really difficult to take photos and videos during our summer holidays, plus I wanted to keep all sort of screens out of sight.)
10. Donating Toys to Charity
Start of summer holidays was during Ramadan so we grabbed the opportunity to declutter our toys and kept some toys from Ruhaan's early years in a bag to share with some new friends via charity box! I told him, the charity box in mall was going to take his favorite old toys to those friends personally, so he couldn't meet them but could send his love to them! Thanks to Peppa Pig, he knows post man well and he related this charity concept to post man, which is in a way quiet appropriate.
Ruhaan was totally excited to send his love to those unknown friends, so at first he took aside lot of toys (quiet surprising as we were dealing with 'sharing toy with real friends' at that moment). But next 2-3 days he removed few toys, added few and I gave him some time to finally make a bag full of good toys which he is not going to play much later. I had a feeling that there might be little meltdown at the time of actually donating toys, but my 'big boy' donated his toys happily. It is never too early to teach our kids about sharing and donating isn't it?
Going on his own for pee, removing and wearing his clothes and shoes and keeping his toys back are the things he does very proudly, it not just prepares him for big school but also a good time consuming chores for the days like these.
Ruhaan was totally excited to send his love to those unknown friends, so at first he took aside lot of toys (quiet surprising as we were dealing with 'sharing toy with real friends' at that moment). But next 2-3 days he removed few toys, added few and I gave him some time to finally make a bag full of good toys which he is not going to play much later. I had a feeling that there might be little meltdown at the time of actually donating toys, but my 'big boy' donated his toys happily. It is never too early to teach our kids about sharing and donating isn't it?
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| Donating Toys to Charity |
11. Joy of doing nothing (mommy and son version)
Yes this was most important part of our successful time together. I let things flow and let him do things which otherwise I wouldn't. Wake up, but lie down n bed and talk, take your time before brushing teeth. Talking about this, that and getting along on ride of his imagination. Listening to him, what he wants instead of rushing through routine. Letting him create mess instead of saying 'don't do this and don't do that'. Taking 'routine' lightly for a while. Let him explore things and activities on his own, instead of hovering over him with tips and guidance all the time. And most important asking his help to do little chores. He feels so proud when he drops his shirt in laundry bag all by himself or even keeps my empty tea cup in kitchen. Being a child of working mother, I automatically became independent early on like all kids of working women. So being stay at home mother myself; I need to take efforts to make him independent; else there is risk of he starts 'taking things granted'.Going on his own for pee, removing and wearing his clothes and shoes and keeping his toys back are the things he does very proudly, it not just prepares him for big school but also a good time consuming chores for the days like these.
2 comments:
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