HRM Parent Blog

Today Alex and I spent the afternoon at the Discovery Centre with friends. I'm a big fan of the Discovery Centre - it's a bit like a second home to us, and we visit it often, spending long afternoons there enjoying the various exhibits, both old and new, and the warm welcome from familiar faces. I think today was our third visit since the Wheels, Wings and Wave exhibit opened in January. I am now congratulating myself on finally posting about it - third time's a charm, like they say.

Wheels, Wings and Wave is a fun LEGO exhibit at the Discovery Centre until April. Amazing structures and replicas have been built using LEGO - space shuttles, airplanes, the Titanic, and even a race car big enough for kids to sit in! The kids enjoyed building with LEGO and racing their inventions down the race tracks.

It was difficult to get good photos with my little camera, but hopefully these will give you the idea. 

Part of a LEGO city

Much more impressive in person - all built from tiny LEGO bricks!

 Building the perfect LEGO racing machine

Who won? The blurry bits towards the bottom are the LEGO racing cars. Please excuse the bad photos!

This exhibit is definitely worth a visit or three. The Discovery Centre Shop now also has a good selection of LEGO kits and will be adding more to their selection in the future.

If you think you will visit the Discovery Centre often, consider purchasing an annual membership - a family one costs $75. Or use your ABC Family Card and get a free child admission with an adult admission, and receive 10% off purchases from the Discovery Centre Shop too. Kids two and under are always free. 

More information on hours, location and rates can be found on the Discovery Centre's snazzy new website.

Thanks very much to Carolyn Clegg for this simple activity idea that keeps the kiddies amused and we even get to call educational!

Here is a fun and easy activity for kids with a focus on cause and effect. This is where your grade school science lessons come in handy!

Grab some vinegar, baking soda, food colouring and an ice cube tray.



Fill the ice cube tray with vinegar and add a drop or two of food colouring to a few of the compartments.



Then pour some baking soda into a bowl and give your little one a spoon. Stand back and watch them discover what happens when they add a spoonful of baking soda to the vinegar.

Be prepared to replenish the vinegar and baking soda over and over again. This activity is sure to become a fast favourite!

Here's a super easy activity idea from Carolyn Clegg. Balloons are definitely heaps of fun, but can also be choking hazards so remember to watch your child closely and pick up any pieces of broken balloons. Have fun!

Seriously, this is the easiest activity ever. In a desperate attempt to cook supper in peace just once, I tied a piece of string to a balloon and taped the end of that string to the ceiling so the balloon was around chest height to my daughter. That’s it.

Supplies for the easiest fun ever

The irony of this one is I got so distracted listening to my daughter laugh in delight while hitting and chasing this balloon around that I had to stop what I was doing and just watch!

Our second guest blog post this week is from Carolyn Clegg, bringing us more fun activity ideas for kids! She makes it look so easy, doesn't she?

Thank you, Behr Paints!

Next time you’re in Canadian Tire pick up four or five brightly coloured paint swatches – then pick up a second set of the same four or five brightly coloured paint swatches so you have a duplicate set.

Take one set of your swatches and cut and glue one of the colour blocks from each swatch in a row onto a piece of cardboard. Take the second set of swatches and cut and glue the matching colour blocks onto a set of clothes pins.



Then have your little one match the colours on the clothes pins to the colours in the row on the cardboard. This is a fun way to learn colours and practice the fine motor skills it takes to pinch the clothes pins onto the cardboard.

Thank you, Abnormally Large Nail Polish Collection!

I’m not much of a girlie girl... until you get down to my toes. I have an abnormally large nail polish collection – in every shade of the rainbow. So, when I took a look at the swatches I had collected for the project above I realized that I had a handful of nail polish colours to match. And, so, that became a whole other colour activity. My little one had fun matching the nail polish colour to the right colour swatch.



And, yes, then I have to admit that I took it a step further and actually painted my two-year olds toes. We painted one colour for each toe. I think this helped her learn her colours faster than any other activity! She walked around for days talking about her painted toes. To the point that I could no longer get shoes or socks on her feet because they would cover them up! Ah, a girlie girl in the making...

I received this guest post from Carolyn Clegg a few weeks ago during those long days of rain. I didn't get a chance to publish it before we started having beautiful weather, but now with Hurricane Bill today, it seems like a good time! If your power is on and you have a printer, you can print out the images Carolyn used here to make your own game. Stay safe!

After climbing the walls with my daughter for the fourth consecutive rainy day, I decided it was time to slow things down a bit and work on her language and concentration skills.



I decided a matching game would do the trick. I chose nine images that she can identify and set them out in a grid using my computer. I printed off two copies of the grid and laminated the front and back of each sheet of paper using a transparent contact paper I purchased from the hardware store.

The next step was to cut one of the grids down to individual images. From there my daughter could place each individual image on top of the corresponding image on the full grid.

This can be done with colours, shapes or photos of loved ones as well.

For an older child, cut down the second grid into individual images as well and play a memory game .



A few other matching and sorting activities we’ve done in the past include:

• Matching fabric swatches  (cut a fabric swatch into matching squares)
• Placing coloured popsicle sticks on corresponding coloured construction paper. (Bonus: it's fun to watch a toddler colour popsicle sticks - they get more marker on themselves than on the sticks!)
• Sorting and matching various pots with their lids
• Sorting and matching socks when folding the laundry