family

Bottle'O'Bubble - How to make bubble blowers from household items.

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How to make bubble blowers from household items to make your own COVID ISO Foam party at home with the kids.

You need:

  • Detergent

  • Water

  • Plastic bottle

  • A sock

  • optional *for touchable stronger bubbles you can add glucose syrup (available at most supermarkets or in houses with fructose allergies)

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The Bubble Mix:

Mix 1 and a half cups of hot water to 1/2 a cup of detergent. Optional - add 1/4 of a cup of glucose for tougher touchable bubbles.

The Bottle Blower:

Cut a plastic bottle** in half. I found the slighter harder plastic better than the really thin plastic water bottles.

Put a sock over the open end.

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Method:

Dip and blow. Don’t slosh and stir - that will just make bubbles in your mix and as my friend, Frehd the Clown will tell you, froth is the enemy of good bubbles.

❤ Simone

Check out the disco kids making their own foam party during the last rainy day.

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**I’m thinking this could also be a way to reuse the bottom halves of all the drink bottles you end up with that have no tops after your child has chewed the mouth spout thing to pieces or you discovered the non leak promise was all lies.

My pancake art brings all the kids to the yard

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Don't play with your food, unless you made it playful! Introducing the disco kids making pancakes with a pinch of play. Instructions below

Pancake basic recipe from my beloved Mavis Mundy, who loved to batter up.

Recipe:

  • 1 cup of flour (s/raising for height)

  • 1 egg

  • A cup and a slosh or so of milk

  • Pinch of salt.

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients in one bowl until lumpless.

2. Let it rest for five

3. Divide pancake mix in different bowls

4. Add FLAVOUR or colour e.g. food colouring, cocoa, berry syrup.

4. Heat pan, add a little butter or non stick spray

5. Make your own crepey masterpiece.

Enjoy!

❤ Simone

Taking (Tina) Turn(er)s

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Sometimes I describe parenting my twins as the Thunderdome… two kids enter, one kid leaves. Especially when I used to set up those little playpen cages in the toddler years. Twins are brutal and I can’t remember a time mine weren’t best frenemies - ultrasounds watching your blobs kick each other is quite the memory.

It’s hard to run things here in Bartertown, so when things get hectic with screams of, “Its my turn!” I channel my inner Aunty Entity, my inner Tina Turner. As my inner monologue repeats, “break the deal, face the wheel” I pull out a surprisingly crap craft that small people respect and understand.

The Taking Turner.

You need:

A paper plate, paper, textas, scissors, bandaids, a split pin or something like that.

Check the video for how to build you own in 10 minutes or less and regain control of your own post-apocalyptic household action. In all seriousness, taking turns can be tricky for our small family members and visual prompts help. For parents, the sense of humour goes a long way in a mad mad world.


Good luck!

Simone

aka Aunty Entity. Shout out to all the 80’s kids who got my pop references. Now I’m off to find myself a chain mail dress.


You can get through this with Luku Kuku

#youcangetthroughthis

14 Likes, 0 Comments - Luku Kuku (@lukukukuku) on Instagram: "#youcangetthroughthis"

I have spent too much time online this iso. Distracting myself but also researching for teaching my students online, setting up learning experiences for my own kids and keeping in touch with family and friends. It can be a little overwhelming at times so I thought I’d share with you the one account that has really been a joy bomb among the warnings and statistics. Introducing Luku Kuku.

“Luku Kukuku is South Australia’s favourite multidisciplinary multimedia guru, well known for his specialties of Art, Design, Animation, Digital Media, Interactivity and Sound Responsive Multimedia.”

Luku Kuku had been creating small notes to help his small person get through the heebie jeebies by creating little critters on post it notes and sticking it to her snack container, and it helped.
So then he applied his process to some other people who are getting some heebie jeebies too.

You can get through this.

You can find Luku Kuku’s full series on instagram by following @lukukukuku

or learn more about him here >> https://www.luku.com.au/

You’re welcome,

Mone

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Lets have a (disco) ball! CO-VID Craft Time

Having dance floor withdrawals? Or perhaps you are looking for an activity to quench to calls of, “I’m bored” Let’s have a ball: Make your own disco ball, malls balls or easter egg at home!*

You need:

  • Foam ball or shape

  • Sequins

  • Pins

*If you don’t have a hoarder level of craft in your household, you can get all of these online, and in nearly every store that has a craft section including the bargain stores.

How to make:

  • Pin the sequins to the foam

And that’s it! A crafty way to develop fine motor skills,make an artsy accessory and reminisce of a time when you were allowed out of the house, maybe even a bar…. not drinking in your pantry alone.

This little craft activity is repetitive but in a good meditative way. My children and I are sensory seekers, we like to touch, taste, move and make - so week 4 isolation for them means I am having to get more creative. We switch off the screens, slip into something more comfortable….pajamas I mean, working with pins means that flannel is practically protective wear. Crank SBS chill for the background tunes and let the time melt away while we pick, pin and prick ourselves all afternoon. As everyone gets into the flow the arguments and the volume of my children quietens as they concentrate, compliment and calm down through craft.

Bonus life lesson for the kids - if they don’t pack up properly the pins will hurt when stepped on later but won’t kill them. Cleaning and learning!

*Or don’t. Making is my mindfulness, my calm, my happy place. If it isn’t yours, just don’t do it. Now is not the time to put pressure on yourself to “be” or “do” anything that isn’t necessary or nurturing (for you, not just the kids).

Take care,

Mone

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It's Podcast Time! Connecting Through Motherhood Struggles & Creating Your Village with Tiffany De Sousa Machado

#WellbeingWednesday

Wellbeing is a term I really appreciate. It captures something broader then Mental Health - it reflects the biopsychosocial elements that, when aligned, support us in our thriving. I do believe we all have the capacity to thrive, to cultivate rich wellbeing in our lives.

However, as you probably know, motherhood is a particularly challenging season. With many joys, but many struggles. So, I wanted to share this Wisdom for Wellbeing podcast interview with The Village Foundation founder Tiffany De Sousa Machado.

This episode is going to resonate with all the mumma’s out there, but I think it will hit home more broadly in the discussion around the importance of community and exploration of how we can create this in our modern world (*update: and now, our socially distanced world!). You will, no doubt, feel connected to Tiffany as she transparently shares her own losses and challenges, including her lived experience with postpartum depression, and her struggles balancing her work and family. Tiffany also shares sociological reflections, which offer a useful framework from which to understand the all-to-common experience of postpartum stress and isolation.

I hope you find Tiffany’s wisdom as validating and connecting as I did. It is certainly important to know that ‘wisdom’ is sometimes simply recognising we don’t know it all - and we are not supposed to have it ‘all figured out’. I think this is a particularly important message in these uncertain times of COVID19, where we are all just doing our best to figure it out, stay safe, and support our community.

Wishing you and yours well,

Kaitlin xx

www.embodiedpsychology.com.au / www.drkaitlin.com

Wisdom for Wellbeing Podcast - Season 1 - Episode 6

Wisdom for Wellbeing Podcast - Season 1 - Episode 6