Five Favourite Toys That Aren’t Really Toys: The Inside Edition

November 18, 2013Family, Play, Uncategorized15 Months, play, squirm, toyssubversivereader View all 4 comments

5 Favourite Toys That Aren't Really Toys: Adventures of a Subversive Reader

Like other babies and toddlers, Squirm has a long-held fascination with the every day items around him. Often these items become his most played with and explored toys. Here’s five of his favourites for playing with inside.

Five Favourite Toys That Aren't Really Toys: Adventures of a Subversive Reader

An Old Keyboard

Squirm is fascinated by things he can press at the moment, and our laptops are a constant source of interest. Unfortunately for him, we don’t always want him typing messages on our laptops (he once sent a garbled message to a politician’s Facebook page) and he’s not always the most gentle with the keys. Enter my wonderful father who works with computers. He had this wonderful wireless keyboard in his discards pile and was able to clean it up for Squirm. He plays with it almost every day, typing out all sorts of messages for the world to read.

A Torch/Beacon

After we visited the Ipswich Art Gallery’s Light Play exhibition, I sought out some ways for Squirm to play with light. One of our discoveries was this torch/beacon from Big W. It comes in a couple of different colours (we have red and blue) and has a torch in the end, plus the ‘glow stick’ part. It has a variety of settings (including flashing) and has been an absolute hit with Squirm, especially during late afternoons and early evenings. Recently, it’s become even more fun because he can press the button himself and doesn’t need me to help him with it.

A Stepping Stool/Bench

I originally bought this stool from a discount store, back when Squirm was pulling himself up on furniture for standing. But once he started walking and started climbing up on things, he discovered a new way to use it. When it was overturned, it was the perfect height to practice stepping up onto and down off again. He sets it up in the middle of the living room and spends ages stepping on and off it and running around to try again. Then when he’s tired, he has a nice seat to sit on 🙂 (Plus it has a little container built in the top for him to store things in!)

An Old Purse, Glasses Case and Loyalty Cards

A couple of months ago, Squirm got hold of my purse while we were visiting my parents. Suddenly money was being thrown through the air, quickly followed by an assortment of very old receipts (thanks to this, I have a very clean purse now). After this happened a few times, I dug out an old purse of mine, along with some loyalty cards, a few Woolworths animal card doubles and an old student card and an old glasses case. These are all kept in an old handbag of mine, which has about 100 (or at least 5) zippers and compartments – it keeps him busy for ages.

Utensils

Squirm can reach into 3 out of 4 of our drawers in the kitchen now. The bottom one holds his plates and cups, the next one holds nothing (though he occasionally uses it to store food . . . ) and the next one up has out cooking utensils. These are the ones he likes the most – they make a wonderful noise when he hits them together or against other things. But he also uses them to push and pull things across the floor.

It’s wonderful to see the imagination Squirm has when it comes to ordinary household items – I’m always wondering what he’ll play with next!

The Gift of Slow

November 16, 2013FamilyParenting, squirmsubversivereader Leave a comment

When you’re living a distracted life, every minute must be accounted for. You feel like you must be checking something off the list, staring at a screen, or rushing off to the next destination. And no matter how many ways you divide your time and attention, no matter how many duties you try and multi-task, there’s never enough time in a day to ever catch up.
The Day I Stopped Saying Hurry Up by Rachel Macy Stafford

This beautiful post, about watchers and noticers and those children who cannot be hurried, has been shared over and over again on my Facebook feed. It’s resonated with many parents – and I have to admit that I am one of them.

For too long I’ve subscribed to the cult of ‘too busy’. I’ve planned my life with too much in it, never happier unless I was juggling 10 things at once. I equated ‘being busy’ with being successful. When I had Squirm, I was thrown – how could I be ‘succeeding’ if I wasn’t ‘getting anything done’. How could I justify the days when my greatest success was having a shower and washing the dishes?

Then, recently, I noticed a change through my Facebook feed. People were talking about the article I mentioned above. They were talking about the small, good things in their lives. One of my favourite pages, Brisbane Kids, started to have moments of Slow and Grateful Parenting. Janet Lansbury made me think about observing instead of rushing in.

I was becoming more conscious about my parenting, about how I valued my day, about how I valued Squirm’s choices, but I didn’t really get it until I watched Squirm take on the door sill. At the time, Squirm was a relatively new walker. He was slowly becoming more confident, but there were always more challenges to take on. One of those challenged was walking over surfaces which included a change of height – where one surface was higher or lower than the other. Our back door sill is a shocker for this – with about three or four different heights to deal with – easy for an adult to just step over, much more difficult for tentative little feet.

Usually I would just pick Squirm up and carry him over the step, but on this day something made me stop and wait. Squirm would hover his foot over the step, working out how high he would have to step and how much he would have to put into the step. He’d make a start, then stop and reevaluate. He tried again and again, and I managed to hold back and let him go, despite the urge to just pick him up or help him over. Finally, after carefully mapping the door sill with his feet, he was able to get over it all on his own – with the biggest smile on his face.

Since then, he’s taken on a number of other door sills – the ones at his grandparents place are a real challenge. Sometimes he falls, but when he achieves it, all on his own, there’s a sense of pride in him which makes me so happy that I stood back and waited – that I embraced the gift of slow.

The State of Squirm – November 2013

November 15, 2013Familyfamily, squirm, Updatesubversivereader View all 8 comments

You’re 15 months old and full of energy, even at 3am in the morning.

You love reading, Waybuloo, sultanas, your push trolley and music.

You have a favourite pair of shorts which you always find in your drawers or in the laundry hamper.

You are starting to be more interested in drawing, and you mostly stay on the paper.

You like to climb everything!

You’re becoming more deliberate in your play, placing things where you want them.

You still get frustrated when things don’t go right the first time, but you’re more persistent now.

You would really like it if I just gave you my iPad (it’s not happening).

You throw some huge tantrums – your emotions are just too big for you to deal with at the moment.

You have 16 teeth – those canines were painful!

You’re becoming more routine oriented – which I like more than I thought I would.

You’re still very uncertain with people who aren’t mum or dad – but you do warm up to people, especially when they just go about things and let you approach them. You’re definitely more comfortable with other children – especially B and E at swimming and R at craft group.

You like digging in dirt and you’ve just had your first experience jumping in muddy puddles.

You have to visit the book shop every time we go past it – you know exactly where the kids books are.

You’re wonderfully fun and loving and difficult and relaxed and intense and we love you very much.

The State of Squirm: Adventures of a Subversive Reader

The State of Me: November 2013

November 14, 2013Family, Opinion and Other Random ThingsParenting, Updatesubversivereader Leave a comment

There are days when things seem to be easy and days when things are ridiculously hard.

I spend most of my time wandering in a fog of little sleep.

Some days it is really hard to be patient and calm with Squirm.

My anxiety is higher, especially my social anxiety and I keep finding excuses to avoid people.

I like being outside, reading and watching Squirm play.

I’ve started doing yoga, every day. I love the way it makes me feel, even when it’s hard.

I’m getting a fair amount of crafting done at the moment – it makes me happy too 🙂

We’ve been rewatching The West Wing at night – there’s so much of Season 6 I don’t remember.

I’m starting to get excited about blogging again.

The State of Me : Adventures of a Subversive Reader

Squirm tries out his photography skills on me

What’s going on?

October 15, 2013Book Talk, Opinion and Other Random Things, Playsubversivereader View all 3 comments

You may (or may not) have noticed that I’ve been a bit quiet lately. We’ve been thrown into a bit of chaos lately with a possible move in the future. The problem is, we don’t have any confirmation of whether or not we’ll be moving – something which has done wonders for my anxiety. Meanwhile, we’re trying to get things fixed around our current house – which led to a long, convoluted and anxiety inducing adventure with the gutters – and that’s only the first thing we got done!

So, to catch up, I thought I’d put together a bit-of-everything post – which hopefully will inspire more posts!

Something to Support

You probably know that I’m passionate about good fiction for children and young adults. I’m also passionate about diverse fiction for children and young adults. This is not always easy to find, especially as you head into genres such as science fiction or fantasy. Kaleidoscope is an anthology of diverse, contemporary Young Adult fantasy fiction which will be edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein, and published by the independent Australian publisher, Twelfth Planet Press (I’ve reviewed some of the awesome Twelfth Planet books here and here). There is a Pozible campaign running at the moment, with awesome rewards (including Twelfth Planet Press books) and it’s a campaign well worth contributing to. If you can’t contribute to the Pozible campaign, maybe you could pass the word around on social media – I’d personally love to see this collection in every high school library! (There’s also a blog with great articles and a Facebook page to follow along with the progress)

Provocations

I know I’m terribly behind on these – partly because we’ve had little or no access to our back yard. I do have two new ones and a bunch of others planned. I’ll have them up as soon as possible.

Awesome Coconut Oil Chocolate

Have you tried these Coconut Oil Chocolates over at Sew, Cook, Laugh Live? I seriously love them – and I haven’t bought a bar of chocolate – or missed them – since I made them. That’s a HUGE thing for me. Today I’m going to try making them with ginger 🙂

Kids Clothes Week

Kids Clothes Week starts next week! I’m not an official participant yet, and I’m not sure what my schedule will be like next week, but if you sew things for kids, head over, sign up and enjoy checking out other people’s wonderful outfits.

And what’s Squirm up to at the moment?

Everything! He’s 100% toddler at the moment and constantly busy. He loves investigating things – especially things with wheels. Here is is checking out his friend’s car 🙂

Week 3: A Collection of Stones (52 Weeks of Provocations)

September 17, 2013Education, Play, ProvocationsEarly Childhood Education, education, learning, play, Reggio, squirmsubversivereader View all 2 comments

You can find more information about provocations here 🙂

Collection of Stones Provocation: Adventures of a Subversive Reader

Provocation 3 : A Collection of Stones

Background Information

I wanted to return to the stones which Squirm enjoyed so much in the first week, while introducing a few different types of stones. However, I thought I would also continue to use some of the excellent materials which worked so well in the second week. So this provocation kind of became a combination of the two. Plus we finally had a table to use!

Materials

Two stainless steel bowls (from KMart)
6 large river stones (from the local discount store)
6 large blue ‘glass’ stones (from the local discount store)
6 large green ‘glass’ stones (from the local discount store)
water
Mirror (from the local discount store)
Table (from Ikea)
Plastic covering (from Big W)
Rug (from KMart)

Set Up

Because the table is a little tall for Squirm, I discovered the materials worked best if they were set up close to the edge of the table. I put the plastic covering on the table first (because we were working with water), then the rug on top. On one side of the rug, we had the bowl with the stones in it, on the other side a bowl with water, a mirror in between.

Experiences

Squirm really enjoyed the feel of the ‘glass’ rocks, picking them up, turning them over in his hands, dropping them on the ground (to hear the sound) and trying to make them spin on the ground. He really enjoyed dropping them in the water, then tipping the water bowl (water everywhere!) to get them back again. He also spent a lot of time just playing with the water again. He continued his more cautious approach from last week, but also enjoyed tipping it over a bit at a time to see the water spill.

I was able to get a video of some of Squirm’s play (note, the cup was from last week’s provocation. He wouldn’t give it up 🙂 )

What Next?

We’re going to give the rocks and water a little break for a while now, but I’ll be very interested in how Squirm approaches them when we pull them out in the future. I’d like to include some short sticks and even some blocks with the rocks, especially as Squirm gets more interested in stacking.

Provocations are experiences offered to a child, based on past knowledge or interests, with the aim of extending the child’s ideas.

Our provocations present a small range of materials – some which are part of Squirm’s every day life, others which are new to him, or only known from other provocations. The aim is to present them in a thoughtful and (hopefully) attractive way, and to allow Squirm to investigate them in any manner he wishes. These provocations will remain in place for around a week, and then a new provocation will be presented.

Walking With a Toddler

September 16, 2013Familyslow moments, squirm, toddler, walkingsubversivereader View all 4 comments

An August Walk - Adventures of a Subversive Reader

Squirm started walking shortly before his first birthday. He was wobbly at first, with plenty of spectacular falls. But the more he practices, the more his confidence grows, the better his walking has become.

One of the things we do a lot is walking at our local shops. On week days, during school time, our shops tend to be pretty quiet. So there’s plenty of space for Squirm to get in a good distance of walking without getting overwhelmed. He starts at the top of the ramp, slowly adjusting his balance to the gentle slope. Then we head through a short corridor and into the shops themselves.

We don’t see a lot of other children around his age walking. I can understand why. It can be excruciatingly slow to get from one place to another. It’s not always the most direct way of getting around the shops. And it can be down right overwhelming. But when we’re having a good day, with no rushing, it can be the absolute highlight of our day.

Squirm likes to walk closest to the shops. This helps him feel safer – he’s not the biggest fan of lots of legs coming towards him. It also means he can check out what’s in each of the store. Since he’s still learning how to hold onto my hand (it’s harder for him to balance) sometimes he heads off in an unexpected direction, checking out the local book shop (every single time we go past!) or making a quick detour into a jeans shop. Sometimes the shop windows hold little surprises, like the manicure shop which had a moving fountain in its window, so low that most people would walk past without noticing it. We stood and watched it and enjoyed the ways it moved water around.

Then there’s the toy cars and vehicles all around the shop, which draw his attention even if they’re not moving. We did get to see one moving a few days ago, and it was fascinating to Squirm (though I don’t think he quite realises that they’re fun to ride yet. Thank goodness!)

Of course, there are falls every now and then, sometimes quite spectacular. Most of the time Squirm pulls himself back up without comment, but it definitely worries some of the passerbys who don’t realise how durable he is 🙂 Having a toddler walking around the shops opens up conversations – with other shoppers, with shop assistants. My favourites are the ones who talk to him, like the guy at the newsagent who told Squirm that he liked his shoes the other day.

I’m so grateful we live near a shops where this is possible. I’m grateful to have the time in my day to take a quiet, meandering walk, to really see the shops in a different way than I do in my usual adult mode. I love the way Squirm opens my eyes to the world if I only let him.

Creating New Blogs Is Kind Of Addictive . . .

September 12, 2013Opinion and Other Random Thingsblogging, Geekerysubversivereader Leave a comment

. . . Well, not really, but I have been making a new blog.

You see, I really wanted to blog a bit more about things that make my geek heart sing. Like television shows which I love and books which make my heart sing. I want to talk politics and educational theory and rant about why reading for pleasure is so important – with occasional statistics. (Which funnily enough, is how I started blogging, back when I had a Diary Land account . . . )

None of this really fits in with what I have here. Here is best for parenting and books for kids and activities for Squirm and Squirm himself. It’s difficult to blog about a Jackie French book one post and the definitely written for adults comic series Saga, the next. (By the way, Saga is wonderful and I highly recommend it!)

So I’ve created a new blog – Subversive Reader Geeks Out. It still links to my Facebook page, if you want regular updates, or you could just drop by every now and then to see what’s geeking me out today 🙂

Some things I might write about . . .

Week 2: Water Play (52 Weeks of Provocations)

September 10, 2013Education, Play, ProvocationsEarly Childhood Education, education, learning, play, Reggio, squirmsubversivereader One comment

You can find more information about provocations here 🙂

Water Play Provocation: Adventures of a Subversive Reader

Provocation 2 : Water Play

Background Information

At first I thought I would do a direct follow up to last week’s provocation. However, during the week, we noticed that Squirm was really interested in scooping up water and playing with it during bath time. We’ve slowly been introducing Squirm to cups and other drinking implements during meal times, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to extend the ideas he’d been playing with in the bath.

Materials

Two stainless steel bowls (from KMart)
A plastic mug and ‘glass’ (from KMart)
A small rug (from KMart)
A ‘tough’ mirror (from the hardware section of our local discount store)
Water

Set Up

At first I set this one up on the ground, with the mat laid down, two bowls of water next to each other, and the mirror, glass and mug in front. However, Squirm wasn’t great at moving around when sitting, so we moved it to the upturned crate. Although this made access easier for Squirm, it did make balancing things more precarious. I’m really glad I’ve bought a small table now!

The small rug was a wonderful way of ‘setting’ the activity – making it clear that this was something separate. It was also heavy enough that it didn’t move in the wind, and dried really well when hung up between play.

Experiences

Squirm’s experience with the water was quite messy. His initial approach was to smack his hands into the water, resulting in some spectacular splashes and some of the times the water bowl would tip. As the week went on, I noticed that he approached the water more carefully – hitting it more softly or splashing only his fingers in it. He still played with tipping the bowl over, and enjoyed playing with the water that splashed on the ground.

When he’d emptied the water out of the bowl, Squirm enjoyed playing with the bowls themselves. They made a wonderful clatter when they were dropped on the concrete floor, and because the base was very rounded (with only a small flat bit) they wobbled and spun in a really enjoyable way. Squirm loved to tip one side, then release it, watching the way it would rock back and forward on its own.

Because he’d been scooping with a cup in the bath, I thought he’d do the same with the cup and mug here. However, he was less interested in that than playing with the cup and mug themselves. He loved the sound of them dropping on the concrete, but also the ways they would move – the cup would roll in wide circles, while the mug was stopped by the handle. He did drop them in water occasionally, but didn’t pick any water up with the cups.

What Next?

I’m definitely going to continue to offer provocations with water to Squirm – he is endlessly fascinated by it and the way it moved – plus it’s easy to play with, especially as it heats up. I’m also going to keep using the mat, which really defined the working area, and the stainless steel bowls, which were just so nice to look at and manipulate. I may offer another provocation using the cups in the future, but without any kind of preconceptions next time!

Provocations are experiences offered to a child, based on past knowledge or interests, with the aim of extending the child’s ideas.

Week 1: Stones and Water (52 Weeks of Provocations)

September 3, 2013Education, Play, ProvocationsEarly Childhood Education, education, learning, play, Provocations, Reggio, squirmsubversivereader View all 8 comments

Welcome to the first of my posts about the provocations I offer Squirm. You can find more information about provocations here 🙂

Rock and Water Provocation: Adventures of a Subversive Reader

Provocation 1 : Stones and Water

Background Information

We’ve noticed that Squirm is very interested in the way things feel. He likes to pick things up, likes to thoroughly examine them. He’s also a big fan of water. I wanted his first provocation to have some familiar objects, but offered together in a way they hadn’t been available to him before.

Materials

12 river stones (from discount store)
Water
2 paint brushes (part of a pack from Woolworths)
Small tongs (from Spotlight)
Hard plastic bowl (from discount store)
Plastic container (from discount store)
Silver tray (from discount store)
Mirror

Set Up

I placed the stones into the bowl and placed it next to the container of water. These were both offered on the tray, along with the mirror, the brushes and the tongs. (All of these were presented on an upturned crate-style box – I’m hoping to get a small table soon)

Experiences

I was amazed at the huge range of activities Squirm explored with this provocation, very few of which I had expected. He spent a fair amount of time picking the stones up and dropping them into the water – which was probably closest to what I expected – but there were many other things he discovered while playing.

Most of the play was with individual items. Although he had been exposed to all these items before, this was the first time he’d really explored them – probably because it was the first time they were available constantly and in an uncrowded way. The stones were probably his favourite things – he spent a lot of time picking them up and moving them around, but he also explored the way they sounded (dropping them on different surfaces, banging them together) and the way they moved (his favourite thing was getting them to spin on the cement floor).

Sound was a common theme throughout the week – Squirm also used the brushes and the tongs to bit against different surfaces and objects, exploring the different sounds he could make. He spent a significant amount of time with the tongs, working out how to squeeze them together (though he doesn’t yet have the strength to carry things with them).

There was also a significant amount of water play. Squirm’s favourite thing was hitting the water, although he wasn’t always thrilled to be splashed by it. He also enjoyed tipping it up and examining the way it moved on the tray or the concrete.

What Next?

Although I’m not immediately offering a similar provocation, there are a number of ways I can see this provocation being extended and changed. We could offer alternatives to the stones, or offer different materials as well as them. We could also replace the water with something different. Squirm really enjoyed this, so I can definitely see us revisiting something similar in the future.