Family Garden (Part 2)

Continuing with our “FAMILY GARDEN” project, a few weeks ago we invited all the families to spend a fun morning painting and decorating the wooden boxes in which the plants will grow.

It was very exciting to see the faces of the children working together with their parents, they were very happy choosing the colors they wanted to use and helping their parents to draw pictures on the boxes.

Each family decorated their own box and each child will be responsible for taking care of their own garden. In the next few days, the children will plant seeds and then begin to care for them to see them grow into plants. All parents will receive photos of their children taking care of their garden, but they are also invited to water their family garden when they come to pick up their children or whenever they wish.

The contact of the little ones with nature is very important and necessary, it favors their emotional and sensory development, which is why they have been involved in the whole process. That is why having your child in a daycare that uses the Montessori philosophy, gives you the benefit of connecting closer with your children.

Family Garden

When the children at Magic Shapes Child Care go out to the garden or for a walk
on the street, they start to observe everything around them and I am really
impressed by how they activate all their senses: listening to the sound of the
birds, recognizing the squirrel that entered the garden, carefully observing the
ants walking, smelling the flowers, collecting stones.

All this motivated us to carry out a project called “FAMILY GARDEN”, we were inspired by Maria Montessori who says: “the contact of the little ones with nature is important and necessary.


Connecting with nature from an early age is necessary. Children learn by playing
and with the support of parents and Magic Shapes Child Care, we will help
children develop in a holistic way.

The family garden is an excellent way to teach the little ones how nature works
and form in their environmental awareness, it is much easier for the young child
to understand it and all these experiences are recorded in his memory, because as
Maria Montessori said the child learns from the concrete to the abstract.

It is necessary that today’s children learn how important it is to protect
nature. This project underway stimulates them positively, developing
curiosity and admiration for nature. We are sure that with the help of parents,
children will learn to respect and love their environment.

Magic Shapes rises with the community

The month of January was more special for us. We all rise community and  Kinetic Collective invited a group of micro and small business entrepreneurs to participate in an event at PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE (Downtown Portland). These organizations support the community of small businesses that have been affected by the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As MAGIC SHAPES participated on January 22, 23, and 24, it was a nice experience that left us lessons learned about community participation. This new reality is full of challenges, and as entrepreneurs, we must continue to reinvent, create and adapt our needs. It is wonderful to see that great ideas are born in these times of need.

The Monster of Emotions

This group of MONSTERS OF EMOTIONS, made with colored felt fabric, is a good gift for children and adults. It invites you to play with your little one from 8 months onwards, helping him recognize and identify his emotions according to color. You will see how it perfectly leads you to carry out activities and talk with your child about how emotions manifest in our body, and you will see what causes sadness, joy, fear, anger, calm, and love. This helps you work on your emotional side and increase your vocabulary. It is a fundamental tool for prevention and preparation for life.

As a family, we can:

Create open communication about the feelings that arise during the day, speak naturally and listen to your children, and talk and share your emotions as an adult.

USE OF TOYS:

Dictionary of emotions

This activity can be done from 8 months of age to 5 years.

1. Choose the right time and place to play with your little one.

2. Take a character (monster) that expresses an emotion.

3. Pleasantly describe the character, for example: “Look what a cute toy, it’s yellow, and it’s smiling, it’s a happy monster.

4. Repeat with the baby twice a day.

5. The next day, repeat the same (Happiness) and add one more character (sadness).

6. The third day presents joy, and sadness and adds one more (fear).

7. So on until the whole group of emotions is gathered.

8. Play as much as the little one allows you and create activities according to their needs.

Guess what emotion it is

Requirements:

 A dice of colors.

The monsters of emotions. (personage)

1. Choose the right time and place.

2. Put the monsters of emotions in a box or basket.

3. Mention and reinforce to your little one the colors of the dice.

4. Gather the family together to share the game.

5. Everyone sitting on the carpet/floor.

6. Choose a family member to start the game.

7. Roll the dice and mention the color that came out (for example, red).

8. Look in the box or basket for the personage color and imitate the emotion.

9. One of the family members must guess which personage it is.

10. Respect his rhythm and do not interrupt him when he is playing.

11. Thus, successively, all members of the family participate.

Homemade Rattle

The rattle is the baby’s favorite toy, they enjoy shaking it and listening to its sound. If the crying baby uses a rattle, you will see how the baby relaxes and enjoys such a simple toy. At home there are always rolls of toilet paper, save some, it will serve you to create a simple and special rattle so you can play with your little one and develop his senses: texture, sound, color, volume, and shape. It is a special toy to exercise your auditory, visual, and motor coordination. On the website, magicshapespdx.com and you will find instructions on how to use the rattle

 Materials: 

  • Toilet paper roll 
  • Fabric scraps 
  • Seeds/buttons/ beads
  •  A piece of cardboard 
  • Silicone gun or glue of your choice 
  • Scissors 
  • Ribbon

 Follow the 6 steps!

Sensorial Bag

It is a sensory toy suitable for children from 11 months to 3 years old. This sensory toy is educational.
Don’t interrupt him when he plays with sensory bags. give him a chance to do it at his own pace
When the little one is calm and relaxed present the toy following the steps indicated.

Objective:
Develop a sense of touch, sight, and fine motor skills, and increase your vocabulary.

Using the toy:
* Invite him to sit next to you.
* Place a rug or carpet on the floor.
* Put the sensory bags on a small tray or box.
* Tell him, “These are sensory bags.”
* Invite him to sit next to you.
* Take out the bags one by one and place the ones that have a blue cap on one side and the grey cap on the other side, forming 2 rows.
* Choose a blue cap bag and feel what’s in it, let the child take it and experience it.
* Put the bag that touched in front of you.
* Select from the other row a bag, feel what it contains, and allow the child to also take and feel what’s inside.
* If it is not a couple of the first one because it does not have the same texture and weight we return it to its place.
* If we think it’s your partner, take the two sensory bags and place them together in the center of the carpet or tray.
* Perform the same procedure with the rest of the sagging.
* Invite the little one to do the activity.
* In this material, the error control can be found under the bags with a dot of each color.
* It allows you to make a mistake and celebrate your achievements.

Helps increase your vocabulary:
* Mention what the toy is called.
* Encourage him to touch the material.
* Ask him questions about the toy.

A Sensory Tale About the Beaver

This sensory book is dedicated to the beaver family, especially for children from 1 to 3 years old. This soft and calm book has tactile and sensory elements. Includes the beaver story written by Magic Shapes, where the adult can read to the child helping him to become more interested in reading and learn more words.
For children under 3 years of age, stories should be short and not longer than 15 minutes. Reading the story over and over again increases young children’s ability to remember and retain words.

Benefits of the sensory tale:

• Stimulate your senses.
• Strengthens emotional ties.
• Develop creativity.
• Exercises memory.
• Strengthens hand-eye coordination.
• Promotes the development of fine motor skills.
• Promotes oral language development.
• Arouse their interest.

USE OF TOYS:

  1. Choose the right time and place.
  2. Let him pick up and look at what is in the book/story.
  3. Mention the shape of the toy and its name, for example: “Look, it’s a red cloth book, it’s rectangular in shape, it has movable elements (apple, beaver, etc.)
  4. Enjoy the moment calmly and quietly.
  5. The little one who feels close to you and the book.
  6. Have her look closely at the movable objects in the story.
  7. Begin reading in an unconventional tone of voice to get their attention.
  8. Change your voice according to the character, and make eye contact with your little one.
  9. Let him touch the characters in the story.
  10. Explain in your words what each moment means (when you think it is appropriate)
  11. If he is restless, or tired, do not press him. Continue at another time.

The Beaver Family

Very far from the city where the forests and rivers are, there lives a wonderful family of beavers. They are very cute and charismatic. They are rodents that like to live in the water and share responsibilities as a family.
The beaver mother woke up very early to prepare a delicious breakfast. She noticed that her house was filling up with water, she quickly picks up the baby, hugged him, and walked to the forest in search of dad beaver, she was sure that he had the solution.
Dad, dad beaver, help! … the house is filling up with water. It can’t be! Daddy beaver said. Well, let’s get to work, let’s use our strong and resistant teeth to gnaw the trees. We need medium branches and trunks. I will get into the water to investigate what is happening. My super flat oval tail will be my rudder and it will help me to take the right direction. I will come back soon, remember that we all beavers are engineers of nature, we can change the environment, turn a river into a lake, create bridges, and build our burrows in water. Together we will make it, see you.


Baby beaver says: Mommy my tummy is making sounds, I’m hungry, what can I eat? Oh, look there is a tree full of red apples. I will pick four and take them home to eat. Daddy should be here by now, look he is already on the shore! Family, I see that you have gathered a good number of branches and trunks, thanks for all your help. Now it is time to take everything gathered to cover that great hole that is filling up our burrow with water. We will make many trips on the river, we will cross it and carry mud and stones, and our front legs will help us to support them. The important thing is to work as a team. Our home will be stronger than a rock, and we will be safer! Set mission accomplished, we are done, it is time to eat and rest!
How can we not love the Beaver if he shows us that he is a hard worker, he has family and environmental values?

Children’s Massage Workshop at Hacienda CDC

I had the honor of designing a workshop on Infant Massage for Hacienda CDC, this organization has a group of teachers who are in charge of visiting and supporting Latino families with young children.

That is why it was decided to work with the teachers and involve them in this topic of infant massage since it is an excellent method of early stimulation and a relaxation technique that strengthens the emotional bonds between mother and child. In addition, it helps to form safer and more intelligent children and to allocate space for interaction between mother and child. 

This is part of our commitment to our community. Here I show you some photos of the workshop.

Workshop for our Latino Community

We had the honor of giving a workshop for the Latino community in the Multnomah County Library in Fairview, in Gresham, Oregon. This workshop involved parents and children in developing a sensory educational toy made by themselves; this allowed them to connect more with their child, motivating their affectivity and promoting socialization, allowing them to express their feelings.

This is part of our commitment to our community. Here we captured some moments from our last workshop at Fairview Columbia Library.

Stimulating the baby’s sense of sight

If your baby is close to one month old, it is time to start activities and play together, I am sure you will enjoy it a lot.
One activity you can do is stimulate their vision; This will allow the brain to receive the stimuli it needs to develop. The newborn still does not coordinate his eyes very well, his vision is blurred and he focuses on objects at a distance of 25 to 30 cm.
If you observe your baby, in the first weeks you will see that he shows interest in black and white patterns, circles, squares, and stripes that attract his attention. Later you will be attracted to the color red for being the most striking.

Contrast cubes, cards, and mobiles are important materials for visual stimulation, I always carry them with me in my early stimulation classes, because with them, through play, you are encouraged in the following aspects:
• Develop the cognitive system
• Increase your ability to focus attention and concentration.
• Allow exploring their environment.
• Strengthen the affective bond with the adult and the family.
• Strengthen your eye coordination
That is why early stimulation experts encourage parents to expose children to a variety of sensory stimuli so that they come to understand that the world has different sounds, colors, smells, shapes, and textures. Babies have the ability to absorb information through their senses. The wealth of sensory stimuli benefits the development of thought, intelligence, and language development.
I invite you to know how to use these innovative contrast toys for babies, click here and it will take you directly to the CONTRAST CUBE instructions to learn more about it.