Day 6 of lock down and I wanted to plan something special for my little guy. He has really been taking strain and tonight, during bath time, I felt myself having to hide my tears from him when he innocently and naively asked if we could go to the beach and get an ice-cream.
He misses the routine of a school day and even brought his school bag through to me the other day, begging me to take him to see his friends.
So, as a treat, I planned a fun-filled, dinosaur-themed day for him!
I have tried to use items that you can find around the house, as right now we should only be shopping for essential supplies. I was gifted a stunning Barney dress-up onesie which I hadn't yet given to Nunu. It had been hiding in the cupboard since last winter as he was too small for it. This morning, when I gave it to him, he was SO excited and kept wiggling his bum to show me his tail.
BLUE HORIZON LICENSING: If you are looking for a silver-lining this winter, look no further. Barney has a onesie that is not only adorable, but will keep your little one warm!
Available from Toy Zone, Baby City, Lilliputs, Toys R Us and Toy Kingdom from just R299.99, your little one can live out their Dinosaur dreams. Kids aged 18 months - 3 years can let their imaginations run wild and stay warm with the Barney onesie.
Barney encourages children to use their imagination which boosts creative thinking and lays the building blocks for co-ordination and important life skills during early childhood development.
Every time you use Barney to play a game and make a memory, it’s an investment in your child’s future. With the right toys and games to stimulate imagination, creativity and build fine motor skills, you’re boosting your child’s early childhood development. The familiarity of the world’s most loved purple dinosaur, combined with creativity-boosting colours, shapes and designs means Barney toys and games are the best possible choice for your little star.
You need:
- toy plastic dinosaurs
- a sand pit
- digging tools
Hide a few dinosaurs under the sand and ask your little one to find them. Get them to count the dinosaurs as they find them to consolidate numbers. This can lead to many imaginative games. Our dinosaurs traveled in a track and had a tea party!
You will need:
- paint
- Duplo block
- paper (traced dinosaurs)
I don't have a printer at home, so I had to get creative! I traced the dinosaurs onto the paper using my laptop screen.
Nunu loved this paint stamping activity. This is great for fine motor skills and promotes creativity! This is such a simple art craft to throw together and Nunu had so much fun.
You need:
- 3 cups of flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla essence
- 1 tsp. milk
1) Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.
2) In another bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (electric beaters work best). Add egg, milk and vanilla essence.
3) Slowly add the dry ingredients mixture to this and mix well until a dough is formed.
4) Roll the dough into balls and place on baking paper.
5) Stamp a dino print onto each ball.
6) Refrigerate for one hour.
7) Bake at 180C for 15 minutes.
You need:
- bicarbonate of soda
- food colouring
- seal-able bag
- dinosaur to be hidden (I'd suggest using a small one, this big one was difficult to cover, especially his long tail!)
- vinegar
Add 5 heaped teaspoons of bicarb to the bag. Keep adding a little water at a time until the mixture resembles a paste. Add food colouring.
Pack the paste tightly around the dinosaur and then pop into the freezer overnight.
The next day, set your experiment up. I kept the egg in the bowl to avoid unnecessary mess. I let Nunu use a syringe to squirt the vinegar directly onto the egg. He squealed with delight when he saw all the fizzing!