Grandmother's Little Helper

It’s a cold, windy, snowy day, and the kids need to play inside. With a few strips of felt and a bunch of felt squares, you can cut out for them shapes and figures for hours of creativity and story-telling.

Materials:
-½ – ¾ yard each of grass green, light blue (for sky), and white (for snow). Size depends on how much carpeted floor space you want to give up while they are playing.
-12 felt squares in 12 different colors. Ask your grandchildren what they want in their felt world. If they love trains, you may need grays and black. If they want gardens, you will need greens and flower and vegetable colors. If you want to illustrate stories, choose colors you need.

Super-easy Instructions:

Choose where you want the sky to be and lay the blue felt on the carpet. (You have to lay it on carpet so no one slides around.) Trim the white to make mountains and hills in the snow. Lay it against the sky. Trim the green to also have a few hills. Lay it against the white. (In summer, I put away the snow and substitute a second green color.)

From the remaining felt squares, cut out shapes that can be built into trains, cars, houses, gardens, etc.
-Small brown rectangles for tree trunks
-Larger green triangles, circles and half-circles for trees and bushes
-Larger colored squares for houses, and large triangles for roof pieces, small rectangles in white and yellow for windows. Don’t forget doors.
-Cut out flowers and centers. If the child insists, you can also add stems and leaves, but I didn’t.
-If you are artistic, make felt people. I made them about 8 inches high and naked (!) and then made changes of clothing. Keep the clothing very simple. You could use a coloring book figure for a pattern or ask an artistic friend to help. You can draw on details with a felt-tipped pen. You could name the “people” after your grandchildren and even put their initial on one of the felt shirts.
-I also made stars, moon, sun, clouds, airplane shapes, and a blue pond.

I am going to try to post pictures. We’ll see if it works.

Playdoh® is relatively inexpensive. It smells nice and is non-toxic. If you buy just the three primary colors and white, you can make any color you want. Don’t be a stickler about your grandchildren getting the colors mixed up. They don’t care, and it’s not worth the hassle. When all four containers hold a gray-brown lump, discard and buy a new batch.

Salt Dough is also inexpensive and easy to make. It tastes nasty, so kids won’t eat it. It does dry your hands, so make sure everyone washes when they are done playing, and put on a lotion.
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
about ¾ cup water

Mix together and knead until smooth. Add more water if crumbly; add more flour if sticky. Divide into three parts and color each part with food coloring: red, blue, yellow. Knead until the color is uniform. If you are working with older children, they can save their creations by baking. Put the objects on a cookie sheet for 1 hour at 225 degrees. If it’s thick, turn after 30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough has a wonderful texture and smell, but it does have raw eggs in it, so the kids shouldn’t eat it. Use your favorite recipe with smooth peanut butter. Add a bit extra flour until it’s not gooey or sticky. Let them play for ½ hour. Then put the pieces on a cookie sheet, bake, and eat.

Accessories for playing with dough:
Plastic knife for the kids to cut shapes
Plastic cup or a toy rolling pin to flatten the dough
Plastic cookie cutters

Interesting objects to press into the dough to make impressions: Keys, plastic fork, unsharpened pencil, plastic animals, comb, old costume jewelry (make sure the pieces are not too small for the children), square, circular and triangular pegs from some other game. You won’t have to work too hard to come up with these; your grandkids will have ideas of their own.

One of my saddest days as a grandmother was the evening that I invited the older set of grandchildren and their parents for supper and I made something “special.” I don’t even remember what it was, but the kids balked at even trying it, and one of them said, “I don’t like it.” They all were scolded, and one of them was punished. Now, you could argue that children need to learn to express their dislikes quietly or not at all (and you would be right), but I felt that I had caused this discord unnecessarily. Right then I decided that I would always serve what I know they like. For them, a sure-fire hit is roast chicken, broccoli and rice.

Although you are taking care of your grandchildren a lot of the time, you can still do that “grandparent-spoiling” a little bit. Let their parents introduce them to new foods and deal with the struggle to get them to try new things. You will avoid one area of conflict if you feed them what they like.

I’m not talking about cookies. My younger grandkids love oatmeal, tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, cottage cheese and cucumbers, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken salad sandwiches, and scrambled eggs and toast. They also like all sorts of fruit, crackers and cheese, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This provides enough variety, and I know that they will eat what I put in front of them. They don’t usually appreciate variety, anyway, and would eat the same thing every day.

If your grandchildren are not used to eating healthy food, you might brainstorm how to make healthy food attractive. Use cookie cutters to shape cheese, sandwiches, toast and apple slices. Draw a smiley face on their plate with ketchup. There are wonderful cookbooks for children with creative ways to serve ordinary foods. You can also allow them to help prepare the food. Often children like to eat what they make.

If the kids don’t care for vegetables, you might consider planting a small garden, and let them choose the seeds. Make sure the choices you give them will grow in your area. My grandkids love to eat peas straight from the garden. I don’t think any of our peas ever make it into the house!

Toddler “Kites”
(No strings, no sticks, no wind, no failure)

Materials for four “kites” for two children:
4 metal or wooden rings from a craft store – approximately 3” in diameter
2 spools 2-3” wide organza ribbon OR approximately 2 feet non-raveling, “floaty” fabric in bright colors to cut into 3” strips (check remnants bin at your local fabric store)
1 spool of narrow, shiny ribbon

Cut the ribbons and strips into 2 foot lengths. Onto each metal or wooden ring, tie three wide ribbons or fabric strips and one narrow ribbon in the middle so they have 12” streamers. Double knot them.
The kids grasp the rings and they love to wave them in time to songs such as “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” from the Disney movie, Mary Poppins. They also enjoy running in the wind with them.

CAUTION: Don’t let the kids grasp the ends of the streamers and swing the rings around. They could clobber someone in the head. Even more important is that you collect the kites when they are finished playing with them, so no one gets them wrapped around their neck. You, Grandmother, are responsible for the safety of your dear little ones.

Texture Book
9 months to 2 years

I have made a couple of these for other children. They are simple to make – a good beginning for more complicated ideas later.

Materials:
Cardstock paper in various colors. You can find small packages of 5 different colors at fabric and crafts stores, usually on sale once a month.
4X4 inch pieces of: sandpaper, corduroy, aluminum foil, fleece, 4-inch long pieces of rick-rack and other unique-feeling pieces of trim. You will probably find other things with texture.
A piece of ribbon or yarn about 18 inches long

Directions:
Decide how many pages you want to have. Usually 6-8 pages are plenty. Choose 4-5 pieces of cardstock and cut them in half so they are 4 ¼ X 5 ½ inches. With a hole-punch, punch 2 or 4 holes in the shorter ends, making sure they all line up. Thread a colorful ribbon through the holes to tie the pages together and tie in a bow (double-knotted so it won’t untie).

The first page is your cover. You could write “textures” with a felt-tip pen or crayon, or use a computer to write the title. Call it “Bethie’s Texture Book” – or whatever you like. Glue the texture pieces onto each page. You can put more than one piece of trim on each page.

Present the book with fanfare to your grandchild, and look through it, letting her discover the different textures and learn how to say them. The next time you go for a walk, see how many textures you can find along the way.

When Floyd and I first moved to Germany and then to Austria in 1980, Playmobile was a new brand, and our two sons were starry-eyed. They longed for the castle and the ship, but we were poor students. When my brain was saturated with German studies, I would sit on the floor and construct castles and ships – made to order – out of cardboard and glue. I also built a 4-story skyscraper – complete with an operational elevator and a revolving door.

Building toys from cardboard may seem impossible to you. Let me first say that toddlers and preschoolers are not picky. They play with paper towel tubes, dried up peas, and dog poopie. If you tell them you made them a race track for their cars, they’ll play with it. They may demand an accessory you didn’t thing of, but that can be added while they play.

We get so many boxes coming into our home from the warehouse shopping center, from mailings, and from things we buy. Many of them are really nice cardboard; some of them are simply huge; and some of them suggest designs with little alteration, especially the cartons that protect large bags of candy. You often see them at warehouse stores. Upside down they make wonderful tables for snacks and coloring. No box at our house goes to recycling before I have considered it for building.

Tools and Supplies:
Utility knife and a package of blades. Keep this always far from the children.
Scissors
Clear packing tape.
Tacky glue
Markers or crayons. Although markers have brighter colors, I prefer crayons because they don’t stink, and I can continue work on a project while the kids are playing. They are also inexpensive.
Black marker.
Construction paper.
Bits of string or old shoe laces.

Basic techniques:
Cut out pieces with the utility knife. Use another box as a pad for cutting in case you cut through. You don’t want to accidentally cut your carpet, floor or countertop.
Use scissors for details.
To fold or bend: I take a 12 inch ruler and press it gently along the lines I want to bend or fold.
Always make tabs at the corners to overlap the fold. It’s easier to tape, and if you want the project to be sturdier, you can also glue the tab.

Race Track
You need a large box. Cut away the tape with the utility knife, and open the box flat. Cut away any odd appendages, but remember that you need at least one pit for tire changes and gasoline.
With a pencil, draw an oval as large as you can and then make the track wide enough for the cars that will be racing. Ours’ is 6 inches wide. Remember that these kids have all seen the movie “Cars”, so they will expect reminders of the movie. Once you are happy with the oval, outline it in black marker and then color it with crayon. I colored the oval gray, the pits brown and the center green. I drew a few black tires and a red gasoline pump beside each pit. Then I poked a hole through the gas pump and attached a 6-inch length of shoelace for dispensing gasoline. I knotted it on both sides of the cardboard.
That’s it. Easy, huh? If, however you and your kids are NASCAR® fans, you (and they) will probably add many details. You might need a grandstand full of people – stick figures, or cut them out of magazines.

City Streets
With the utility knife, cut away the tape of a large box. Flatten the box and draw streets with pencil. Make sure they are wide enough for the cars your kids will be using. Draw driveways, shops, and traffic signals. Or if you had a collection of small boxes, those could be the shops and houses. Color everything appropriately.
A variation on this is the city zoo. I made roads into the “zoo.” The zoo was simply crayoned squares on the cardboard, big enough for the little plastic animals.

House for 3-inch high People and Animals
Use a box that does not have a top, or cut one in half so the kids can play through the “roof.” Cut doors and windows. Reinforce doors and shutters with tape. Color and add details with marker. Fireplace? Rugs? You can even draw on furniture. I have built cardboard furniture, but it is tedious and fragile and easily crushed; not really worth it. One day I discovered Sam having a tea party/picnic with all of his Winnie the Pooh creatures, using regular play dishes and silverware. Kids are not as picky as we are about sizes being always in proportion.

I subscribe to “Family Fun” magazine, and they have great (and simple) ideas for crafts for kids. I just recently saw a cardboard garage. Honestly, I’ve been doing this for years. My sister says I need to give you pictures, so I’ll try.

We recently discovered a new used bookstore with 100,000 titles in Alberton, Montana (at least, I think it was Montana – maybe Idaho. Gee, I feel silly; we were just returning to Spokane from Missoula). Anyway, they had an incredible collection of old children’s and young people’s books – ones I used to read as a child. I bought the “Kiki” books listed below, and I thought I’d send you a short list of some of my favorite old books. My grandkids like all of these and they are so fun to read. The characters are nice and the values are good. Order them online.

Kiki and Muffy – Kiki is a sweet little girl who loves her new fur kitty muff, until she meets a real kitty cat. With a few mishaps, Kiki learns how to care for her grandmother’s cat, and finally gets a kitten of her own. The pictures are charming from 1949, the little girl adorable. But Sam liked the story too.

Kiki Dances – Kiki (probably 4 years old) doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up: A magician? A tightrope walker? Each attempt goes wrong, until her mother suggests ballet lessons.

The Duchess Bakes a Cake – For those who enjoy a great story in rhyme, this is great poetry for kids and so fun to read. What happens when the duchess – an amateur cook – makes a cake that won’t stop rising? The entire kingdom is in an uproar, and the princesses are hungry. Funny pictures in red, green, and black.

Noodle – H.A. Rey – When Noodle (a dachshund) discovers a wishbone, he knows exactly what he will wish. But choosing a new size and shape is not as easy as he thought. This is by the same author that did Curious George, but Noodle is not so naughty!

The Little Engine that Could – Watty Piper – Servanthood, kindness and perseverance are the heroes in this story about a little train that saved the day. It will encourage every child to say: “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can,” and know they could!

Danny’s Duck – June Crebbin – This is a newer book, found at the library, but it continues the theme of nice people, doing nice things. During school recess, Danny finds a duck hiding in the grass. Sadly, a few days later the duck is gone. His wise teacher helps him find the duck’s surprise. Lovely soft pictures.

Spring can still be chilly. (I hear it’s snowing today in Ohio!) Have another cup of hot chocolate and cuddle up with a book and a sweet-smelling child. What a way to spend an afternoon!

I thought today I would write in “real time.”

Everyone in the family (except the two grown men) has been ill. Our daughter-in-law got it first, then the kids, and then – of course – Granny. We’ve all been to the doctor, with varying diagnoses and prescriptions.

Today is Sunday, and Julie had planned a wedding shower for friends in our church, so I offered to take the kids. I piled blankets and pillows on the couch and floor, and propped Sam up on the couch because he’s coughing more than I am – and that’s a lot. After their nap, we’ll watch parts of “Mary Poppins.”

Maggie gladly took the floor and I curled up in the recliner. I put on a lullaby CD and Sam promptly fell asleep, gurgling and snoring. Maggie pretended to go to sleep, but eventually pretend became reality.

I silenced the phones and found myself really listening to the words of the CD, “Sleep Sound in Jesus” by Michael Card. The final song was simply a musical rendition of Numbers 6:24: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and give you peace, and give you peace.” It brought tears to my eyes (which immediately filled my sinuses!) because there we all were – both babies sleeping peacefully (after Sam’s awful night), an answer to their parents’ prayers, I am sure. God is good.

6 months to 2 years

How big is a bite? According to a chart that our daughter-in-law kept on her refrigerator when Sam was 16 months – a bite is the size of a kernel of corn. Pieces of toast, cheese, banana, scrambled egg, and anything else they need to chew should be cut up that small – really.

I would buckle Sam into his highchair (ALWAYS buckle a child in!), and then I would talk or sing to him while I chopped his food. I still had to make sure he did not stuff a fistful into his mouth, but at least I knew the pieces were small enough.

A pizza cutter is great for chopping up grilled cheese sandwiches and pancakes. And don’t bother with a plate at this age; it’ll end up on the floor. Just clean their highchair tray with a hot soapy cloth and rinse thoroughly after every meal.

Always be sure to only serve food that has been approved by the mother. Parents should always introduce new foods, so they can watch for allergies.

It’s a hard winter all over the country this year. Perfect for reading on the the couch with a couple of toasty-warm children! Here are some of our favorite stories.

The Donut Chef – Bob Staake – What’s your favorite kind of donut? Wait until you see what happens when two competing chefs have too many ideas.

The Mitten – Jan Brett – A Scandanavian tale. How many animals can fit into the little boy’s magical mitten? Jan Brett’s illustrations are beautiful, and each page has smaller drawings to predict the next page.

Eloise Wilkin’s Poems To Read to the Very Young - Eloise Wilkin’s illustrations are just beautiful, and almost every poem has its own picture. Some classic poets, such as Robert Louis Stevenson, are mixed with a few modern poets. I didn’t care for the poem about the little girl running away from home, but if you buy the book and want a replacement poem to tape over the original, I’ll send it to you.

I Know a Lady – Charlotte Zolotow – This lady is very kind to children on her block. The little girl hopes someday to be a kind old lady to other children.

Katy and the Big Snow – Virginia Lee Burton – Katy is a snowplow, and she conquers the city’s record snowfall with kindness and determination. This is a book I read as a child, written by the same author who did Mike Mulligan and His Steamshovel, and it’s still attractive to young children, even with the old fashioned cars.