Fun with bubbles

by Vicky There is something about bubbles and spring time that brings me back to my childhood. I love blowing bubbles, or waving the wand in the air to let the wind make them. I watch them float up toward the trees, drifting into the sky before they burst. My children are inheriting my love of bubbles.

There is a bottle of bubble solution with a wand on the back step. Every time we go outside to play, I sit on the step and make bubbles. Hundreds of them. The kids squeal with excitement, running to catch them before they pop on the grass. And then it happens, I blow into the wand slowly, growing the bubble bigger and bigger. Their anticipation grows, watching to see how long it will take to POP!

Bubbles are such a simple childhood pleasure. I hope you'll indulge in them as much as we do! 

Want to make your own bubbles? Here's a great recipe!

Vicky is the mom to 4 year old son named Joel and 1 year old daughter named Mieka. You can read her blog at blog Some Kind of Mom.

Going with the Flo

by Alanna

Wow,  I was truly amazed and impressed when walking through the Flo Studio one Saturday.  Not really sure what to expect, I was greeted by two wonderful people who have a real love for their craft and their business.  If you are not aware of this new business, let me fill you in. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.



The Furnace

Brownwen Co-Owner giving us a demo

Flo Glass partners Melody Jewitt of Red Om Glass and Bronwen McKnight of Kiss My Glass {Merrickville},   have brought 27 years experience in Glass blowing to Ottawa.  They are a glass arts teaching facility, providing multi-level workshops to the public in the forms of glassblowing, flameworking, fusing and casting.



What does this mean to parents, caregivers and children?  Well, let me tell you.  These two teaming up is a coup for us.  These wonderful artistic people are over the moon excited about sharing their knowledge with us and our little people.  Bronwen is so excited about teaching after years of running her store.  She is ready to share her love for the art with everyone and does so regularly with her own grandchildren.  Yes, that is right, glass blowing for children. Fear not, it is safe.  After being told this I had a few questions.  I am sure that it can be safe after a few lessons? or if the children are above 10 right?  No.  In fact it is safe from the get go.  There is a cordoned off area away from the furnace.  The children are about three feet away from the molten glass while they are rolling and blowing.  In fact, as long as they can blow through the blow pipe children can join in on the fun.  Bronwen and Melody are offering classes, drop-ins and (get this) Birthday parties.

You can bring a group of children to the studio to make an ornament or paper weight OR a Fuzed art piece.  They can accommodate up to 6 children.  With the party they will do a lesson with them including hands on making and designing of their own piece all for 25$ per child.  Although they won't be able to take their creations home with them right away, they will take a memory and experience that won't soon be forgotten.  Pieces are picked up the next day after they have been in the kiln for 3 - 18 hours depending on the piece.

How does it all work?  According to Melody, as long as the furnace is up and running (call ahead to make sure) the children can drop in and make something.  If you are thinking about bringing a group through for a party, they would appreciate at least two weeks notice.

Why not drop in to make something for Mom for mother's day - and hey why not Grandma too!!  I am positive that the children will be over the moon with this experience.

If you give it a go let me know.  I would love to hear your thoughts.

Alanna is a mother of two beauties, Nora age 3 (aka coconut) and Avery 5 (aka polka dot). Former ECE turned mother, party planner and blogger.  Never a dull moment around this house.

Crafting with the kiddies

by Donna I want to craft more with my girls. I have good intentions, but sometimes the need to 'plan' things out and get prepared gets in the way. My girls are always provided with glue, scissors, markers, crayons, paper, bits of yarn, googly eyes, pipecleaners, playdough, etc, in their easy accessible craft cupboard, but for the more organized 'attivities' (as my 4 year old calls crafts), I'm less good at finding things to do and getting prepared (even though I peruse many kids crafting websites frequently).

I love it when a quilting blog comes through with a good idea. A while back I saw this idea over on Cluck Cluck Sew. I knew that the girls' doors needed one, and last Easter weekend was the perfect opportunity as we had nothin' but time, time, time. And I'm a girl with scraps and buttons, oh, am I.

My four year old (her M is on the bottom) got very into this activity and even wanted to make a face with felt and buttons. My two year old was less focused but of course had to copy her sister's face idea. The Ms (their names both start with M!) now hang on their doors and make me smile when I walk by their rooms.

My four year old's breathey "oh, mama, it's sooo fabricy" statement of pride when she was all done pretty much melted my heart.

Have you and your kids made anything fab lately?

Donna is the mom of two girls, 4.5 and 2.5. She works full time but still tries to find time to craft with her girls (and without them!). She writes about her crafting adventures at Kindred Crafters.

Social Media Monday : Instagram

by Lara I have a big digital camera but it's not convenient to bring with me everywhere I go. For a while I considered carrying around a small point and shoot for the unexpected fun moments but having an iPhone in my pocket meant I essentially did have that. Sweet!

In the world of social media, the fun comes from sharing. I have hundreds of photos on my phone. Sometimes I chose to email them to services that could automatically put them on twitter for me, but most of the time I didn't.

Enter Instagram.

It is a fun and easy to use iPhone app (unfortunately only iPhone at the moment with no plans to launch android or blackberry options any time soon) that:

- takes photos - allows you to apply fun filters to them - with a simple click share to twitter, facebook or flickr - have a friends feed right within the application

Instagram Filters

What instagram has done is offer 16 filters you can apply to your photos. They can take a photo that might not have been that interesting and make it a lot more fun.

You can also zoom in and crop your photo.

Then play with the filters!

Share

You can hook your account up to your Facebook, Twitter and and Flickr and have them automatically update to those sites (you select where each individual photo is sent, it isn't automatic). You can also choose to make your photos private and just keep them for yourself - they don't have to have a social media component.

You can also follow friends right on Instagram and like and comment on friend's photos right there.

You can also see generally popular photos on the whole of Instagram.

And there's a news feed

It's a really fun app and I now take all of my photos with my phone using it. If you use it too - look for me and add me, I'm glidinglara.

Happy snapping!

Lara Wellman is mom to 4 year old Kiernan and 2 year old twins Quinn and Juliette. You can read her personal blog at Gliding Through Motherhood, about her weight loss journey at Losing it in Ottawa, and her social media blog at Larawellman.com

Voting and your kids

by Amy

I grew up in a house where we talked about current events and politics. My uncle worked for a political party – the same one I currently work for – and I always knew that my mom voted, my grandparents voted. My father has donated money to any candidate that asked him, whether he supported them or not, because he believes in their right to run.

I firmly believe that people should be engaged in politics, should talk about the issues they feel passionately about, and everyone – everyone – should vote.

This engagement and passion starts with education. Since my daughter was born 15 months ago, I have taken her while I voted in a provincial by-election, a municipal election and to the advance polls for the federal election. As she grows up and understands more, I will explain the process to her – presenting your voter card, taking your ballot behind the ballot station, marking an ‘x’ next to your choice.

I firmly believe it’s incredibly important that Canadian citizens understand the way Canada’s parliament works. When you take your son or daughter to vote, explain that you’re voting for your Member of Parliament. Currently 308 Members of Parliament make up the House of Commons, and the party with the most seats in the House of Commons is invited to form the government. The leader of that party becomes our Prime Minister, and the leader of the second party becomes the leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition – because we are a Commonwealth country and the Queen is still our head of state.

Explain why you chose who you did, what they say that you believe in, what they will do for your neighbourhood – the constituency. Kids always want to understand what’s important to their parents. They are naturally curious and whatever you can do to help them understand how important voting can be will make them better citizens in the future.

As kids get older, you can take them to all-candidates debates or to campaign events. Since you are lucky enough to live in the capital, you can take them to visit Parliament and even take in some of the debate in the House. One of my favourite things to do as a kid was to visit the Hill and have my grandfather tell us who all the statues were.

Another great things that parents and teachers can do, something that we did at my elementary school that I still remember, is put together a mock election. Tell your kids about the candidates, maybe even get the candidates in to talk to the class, and let the kids vote.

Anything you do to help your kids understand what their voice can mean in our democracy will make this country a better place.

Amy is mom to  one year old Maggie and a 4 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind.