{DIY} Father's day printable and gift

Tomorrow us down under will be celebrating Father's Day!

We just repurposed a honey jar and filled it up with Nijaz's favourite nuts (you can fill it up with whatever dad's favourite nibs like chocolates, popcorn, etc.) and printed out a simple tag on card stock. Then, I punched a hole on it and hung it around the jar with twine. Easy peasy and cheap-ish hehe.

Umar also made a pet rock for him at playgroup and we got him a card.

I've included the printables in black and white and blue, just click on the appropriate links below.

Happy Father's day in blue

Happy Father's day in black & white

Happy Papa's day in blue

Happy Papa's day in black & white

All four

Happy father's day to all the awesome guys in our lives!

Thank you for stopping by!

{Montessori on a shoestring} Nature table

This is a repost from one of my old blogs.

Mrs. Montessori believed that children are stewards of the Earth and by incorporating nature-related activities, they will learn to care for nature and develop a love for it. And that is why I designated a place for Umar to explore nature indoors. 

After much moving furniture around, I found a spot for a nature table. As it is quite a narrow nook, I decided to use a bench instead of an actual table. It would have to be high enough to fit a child’s chair and deep enough for things like a flower press, some jars and vases and a scrapbook. So off I went browsing IKEA’s online catalogue and I found the bench I wanted to use. But it wasn’t in stock! Alas, I MUST find an alternative because Nijaz (he has a love-hate relationship with IKEA) somehow magically agreed to go to IKEA with me that weekend! I decided on a LACK TV bench. I was hoping to get something made from solid wood but the TV bench was cheaper than the bench I wanted and it was the perfect size.

After the exhilarating trip to my most favourite shop (in case you lost me, it’s IKEA), I put the bench together but omitted the shelf on the bottom. I also bought 3 of the NJYTTA frames in green. I have had the prints, also from IKEA, for a while now, bought for $1 at clearance.

The table now sits against the wall. The framed prints of various plants are in theme and were put up with 3M hooks (great for preserving the wall). He has a little vase with an artificial gerbera in it and some jars with random things in them, which I repurposed from his treasure basket. He also has a bucket for picking flowers and herbs. Umar has since put a rock or two in the bucket, pine cones, flowers from his mini gardenand parsley from our little vegetable patch (post coming up).

There are also a flower press and a greenhouse (not shown (it’s placed near the window for some sun); it’s a kit from Woolworths in collaboration with Jamie Oliver) growing garden cress, coriander, chives and basil. Another thing he has handy is a magnifying glass, which at the moment Umar uses to ‘make your eyes look BIIIG!’. The little crate contains some wooden and cloth fruits and vegetables (some are available from our online shop Fancy Grey Cat).

On the left is a basket with Umar’s activity mats. One is a long playmat which his grandmother got him.  One is a white bathmat and the little one is a placemat, both from IKEA. On the right is a little basket with some picture books on animals and plants. I plan to get more books on nature and a wooden tea box to store and display his finds.

I hope you enjoyed the little walkthrough. Thank you for stopping by and happy DIY-ing!

Note:

If you ever buy the NJYTTA frames, you’d notice that the plastic glazing seems a little dull. Just peel off the protective layer of plastic on both sides before framing and your picture will look super bright and shiny!

List of products:

LACK TV bench

NJYTTA frames

Books:

First animals by Hinkler books

I see by Helen Oxenbury

Pelle’s new suit by Elsa Beskow (this book is great not just for its beautiful nature illustrations, but for practical life skills as well)

This post is proudly shared on:

Edit: We have since rearranged this space in our house but we loved it while it was there (14/08/15)

Welcome!

Hello family and friends and newcomers!

This first post marks another part of my life that needs organising; online content! I have several blogs which I will comb through. I will pick out relevant posts and categorise and post them here over the next coming weeks. I will try to balance old and new content as the transfer occurs.

The name of the blog loosely suggests what it is all about. Because trust me, it will really be about everything, not just DIY projects, parenting, learning and recipes. It truly will be a writing outlet for me. So you might not enjoy everything I have to share with you but you might find a few things you do.

Okay, now to explain about some of the things I'll be writing about. A lot of the posts will be about Montessori-inspired learning and environment. I discovered Montessori principles when my now not-so-little boy, Umar, was about six months old.

First baby boy

Umar tends to toss and turn A LOT in his sleep and he takes up the whole bed when he's settled in his favourite position which requires his arms to be fully spread out, yes, much like a starfish. He slept in a bassinet next to our bed until he was about 3 months and grew out of the thing. We then co-slept with him and soon found that he needed plenty of space. At six months, we moved him to his cot in his own room. I then discovered that because he rolled so much, he woke up from his arms hitting the sides of the cot. The first thing I thought was, he needs a queen-sized cot. But of course, that was not a cheap and easy solution. Then, ding! the bulb lit up in my head. What if I put his mattress on the floor. Since he'd started being more mobile, that'd be great for his independence too.

Onto Google I went for 'mattress-on-the-floor' inspirations and bam! the first picture that caught my eyes was one by Meg from Sew Liberated. I think I thought I'd be the first to think of having a nice floor mattress but... Anyway, so that's where it all started. I read up on Montessori after that, bought a few books and set up our home to be as Montessori-inspired as possible.

I'm still terrible at not offering help as Montessori principle encourages as much independence in as safety allows. And I do get frustrated when he takes too long to get a job done or when he insists on working with me when I am in a hurry. He is a very determined and opinionated child and sometimes can be absolutely domineering and makes me feel like a failure of a parent when he refuses to do as I tell him to. I'm sure that just comes with the territory though.

New baby boy

I digress, we are six months pregnant with another boy at the moment and I hope to provide a Montessori-inspired environment for him from birth. I have a few simple DIY projects in mind in the coming weeks related to this and I hope to share them with you.

Umar and I also have at least one baking day a week and we usually make something different each time so look forward to the toddler help-friendly recipes! There is also a shop tab on this blog that will lead you to our online shop where we stock some Montessori-related items that we use and also fun and stimulating toys.

Lastly, the blog will most probably carry various reviews and recommendations on books and games (PC, board and everything in between).

You can email me at fixgrowcreate@outlook.com with any queries. Please let me know if you find reading this font annoying or if there is any other issues.

So, again welcome and I hope you will be staying!