12 Days of Christmas: Sneak Peek

With just 2 sleeps until the 12 Days of Christmas event kicks off with Learning that's Fun, we wanted to give you a sneak peek and reward our existing followers for being so loyal to us.

The whole idea behind the 12 Days of Christmas is to showcase some unique, interesting and affordable gift ideas for kids of all ages putting our Learning that's Fun spin on your shopping list. 

So this year, our first ever 12 Days of Christmas, we are featuring some amazing products from Australian companies and suppliers who know the value of fun, play and learning as much as we do. 

Some of the products we will be showcasing over the 12 days include:

Toys

Games

Puzzles

Art & Craft 

Books

Soft Toys

Educational Aides

Science Kits

and more...

But it's not only about the products, it's about where they come from! So we have:

Regional & Rural Companies

Local & Small Businesses

Hand Made Items

Eco-Friendly Products

So you can be assured that the gift ideas we are featuring each day will not be your run of the mill toys and games you get in every shop. They will be toys and games that none of the other kids in their class have, they will be unique, special and most of all have some secret hidden learning benefits. But best of all everything we are showcasing is available online and affordable. 

So if you are a parent, an aunt, uncle, grandparent, friend, or have any child to buy a gift for this Christmas, the ideas over the 12 days will have you so inspired and motivated to give the gift of learning.

Refer a Friend & Win

And as a HUGE thank you to all our current blog readers and Facebook followers, we wanted to offer you a special reward as part of the Daily Giveaways. 

Our current Facebook Following is at 280 Likes, and by Sunday we would absolutely LOVE it to hit 300. The bigger our audience gets, the more credibility this gives us for companies and suppliers, and we can run more giveaways and competitions more often. Wouldn't that be exciting?

So for every person you refer to LIKE our Facebook Page, we will give you an extra entry into each day's Giveaway. The more you refer, the more chances to win you'll have!

So all you have to do is share our page with your friends, get them to LIKE the page, and leave us a comment to say who referred them, and you'll get your extra entry in each day's giveaway.

Go get referring now!


PS. Make sure you have your notifications set up for the Facebook Page or you've signed up to the Newsletter on the website so you don't miss anything!

5 Minute Play Dough Recipe

Today I had the pleasure of my nephew Mason's company. He's a busy boy, always doing something, always on the run! One of my friends recently sent me a link to make 2 ingredient Playdough, but would you believe I didn't have 1 of the ingredients??? So I looked up a few others and just went with what I had in the cupboard.

So after we played blocks, looked at some books and spent some time putting rocks into a bucket and into the water fountain, then back again, we headed back in and were entertained for at least an hour. 

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tbsp Cream of Tartar
1 tbsp oil
1 cup boiling water
Food Colouring of your choice

Steps:

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl
2. Add oil and food colouring
3. Add boiling water
4. Mix until a smooth elastic consistency

If the mixture is too sticky, just keep adding a pinch more flour until it's smooth and springy

I didn't have any food dyes on hand. So I used tiny splash of raspberry and green cordials. The photo above is 2 batches.

All up it took about 10 minutes, not bad for an afternoon's fun!

We made snails, a cat and dog, a dummy and found some great utensils in the second drawer. Some old tupperware giveaway prizes, cookie cutters, rolling pin and a plastic knife to practice cutting. 

Isn't he gorgeous. 

7 things your children need to hear you say

We all know how important learning and education are to developing young minds, sending our little ones off to kindergarten and school, getting them ready for the big wide world. But when we get bogged down in the day to day details, sometimes we forget the simple things in life. One such simple thing, is what we say to people. Or more importantly, what we DON'T say to them. We all love our children, our spouses, our parents, but how often do we actually say it? If tomorrow didn't come, would you regret not saying certain things to them?

As important as a good education is, the words we say to our kids has just as big an impact on their development into adulthood. To get you started, here are 7 essential words and sentences your kids need to hear you say, out loud, face to face, to them.

1. I love you

 Simple words, often thought and felt, but not often said.

2. I am proud of you

Tell them what a great job they've done of their school project, how quickly they solved that problem, how great it is they can tie their own shoes. 

3. I love to watch you play 

This one came from Hands Free Mama. The story is powerful and may bring you to tears. No matter what activity it is, just enjoy your child doing it, don't bother them after the game with ways to improve or how many goals they scored. Just tell them how much you enjoy being there to see them. Be proud that they are willing and able to participate. Reading, sports, choir, whatever.

4. Please and thank you

 Old fashioned manners make life so much more pleasant. Kids learn by example, so dust them off and use them politely.

5. I am sorry

We all make mistakes, so do Mummy and Daddy. It's OK to admit you've made a mistake, so suck it up, apologise and move on. No long explanations or lectures, and no "buts". 

6. Let's have fun

Here's a goodie. Let's go outside and play together. Are you always busy? Too tired to play? Kids bugging you and trying all sorts of destructive ideas to try and get your attention? Try this one. The washing can wait, let's go have fun. Let's paint, let's have a water fight, let's kick the ball, do cart-wheels in park and run around. Don't stand by the car watching the clock tick. Let go, and enjoy the moment. These are the memories the kids will treasure forever.

7. Nothing

Don't say anything at all. Let them chatter. Don't interrupt when they are telling you their stories. Your stories can wait. Just be there to listen, whether it's good, bad or indifferent. Look them in the eye, stop what you are doing for a few minutes and really listen to what they are saying.

Pick a number and let us know which one you are going to focus on this week?

10 Tips from Mem Fox

If you grew up in Australia, think back to when you were a kid and what your favourite books were?

Do any of these light a spark? 

Possum Magic. 

Where is the Green Sheep. 

Koala Lou. 

Hattie and the Fox.

10 Little Fingers, 10 Little Toes

Mem Fox is an Australian author who has written dozens of Aussie favourites for children, and if you are anything like me they are still heart warming favourites today. Fond memories of your childhood and the school library.

Recently on Twitter Mem shared her Top 10 Tips for helping children learn to read so I really wanted to share them here with you and recommend you follow her on Twitter if you're on there @memfox1

1. Spend at least ten wildly happy minutes every single day reading aloud.
2. Read at least 3 stories a day: it may be the same story 3 times. Kids need to hear thousands before they can begin to learn to read.
3. Read aloud with animation. Listen to your own voice and don’t be dull or boring. Hang loose and be loud, have fun and laugh a lot.
4. Read with joy and enjoyment: real enjoyment for yourself and great joy for the listeners
5. Read the stories that the kids love and always read in the same ‘tune’ for each book: i.e. with the same intonations on each page/time
6. Let children hear lots of language by talking to them constantly about the pictures, or any other connections to the book.
7. Look for rhyme, rhythm or repetition in books for young children, and make sure the books are really short.
8. Play games with the things that you and the child can see on the page, such as letting kids finish rhymes, and finding the letters.
9. Never ever teach reading, or get tense around books.
10. Please read aloud every day, mums and dads, because you just love being with your child, not because it’s the right thing to do.

Isn't that just the most beautiful list of things to do when reading with your kids? I love it. 

What's your favourite Mem Fox book? Send us a happy snap of your kids reading a Mem Fox classic.

Happy Learning!

What's been happening at Blossom Learning?

There is so much happening here at Learning that's Fun, some days I feel like I might forget my head if I'm not careful. But it's ramping up to be a massively exciting time for us all.

Photo Challenge

While I was away on a little trip we had the 7 Photos in 7 Days event which was fantastic. The participation rate was pretty small, but those who contributed to the challenge did a fabulous job. It's always so interesting to see how everyone interprets the world differently, and to see their take on life through the lense of their camera. We had everything from Food to Fireworks. And some very adorable little people starring.

It was a bit tricky, but I've downloaded them all and added them a neat little album on the Facebook Page. You can go here to see the photos from each day.

Christmas

I know it's still a little early, but hey I've started planning already! Well for the 1st of December anyway. It's a massive weekend for me that week! I'm taking my vintage car to a show, then I put up all my Christmas Lights ready to spend a month raising money for local charity and handing out lollies to the kids & families who drive past. AND THEN....DRUM ROLL......

We launch the 12 Days of Christmas with Learning that's Fun.

And boy oh boy is it going to be one of the MOST exciting things we've ever done here on LTF! 

Every single day for 12 days we will be reviewing and featuring some fun, exciting, cool, crazy, unique and most importantly, educational, toys and games. I'll have my small army of mini-testers check them out for you and let you know what to spend your hard earned cash on this Christmas, or what to put on the list for Santa. I'll also make it really easy for you to find these gifts! 

But WAIT, there's more! (no, not steak knives).

Everything we review over the 12 days, goes to YOU! Every day, we will be giving away the very product that's been featured. So make sure you're on the Facebook page and have our notifications set to show in your newsfeed. 

And make sure you're on the email list, so you don't miss a thing! 

AND THEN, tell all your friends about it. The more people we can get involved in these sorts of awesome giveaways and online events, the more companies will want to get involved. It's a win-win, and a kind of snow ball effect. 

Other News

In other news, still crowdfunding for the Blossom Connect project. If you haven't heard about it, you can check it out here . It's a local project for the Ballarat and Surrounding Districts, trying to build a great online resource for parents & families. A one stop shop for parents to come and get all the info they need on services for their children, get the latest news and reviews from products and services in the region, share their experiences with other parents, find out about events and what's happening the region for the kids AND get exclusive offers and discounts from local businesses in the area. The funding campaign ends this weekend, but we are only half way to our goal, so please share it around with everyone you know!

Market

For those of you in the Ballarat area, this Friday is the Caledonian Primary School Twilight Mega Market! It's going to be absolutely HUGE. So make sure you get there to snag some Christmas bargains. It's certainly not your average market. Everything they have there is locally grown or made. So you will find food, crafts, art, ME and the Learning that's Fun book and loads more. They also have a jumping castle and face painting and food stalls. ALL the fun stuff. 

We've got discounted copies of Learning that's Fun. We've also got some gorgeous little craft kits to make your own Learning Clock and FREE showbags for Mum. Yes, you read right. Showbags for Mum! But numbers are limited to so be early to get yours. 

PLUS, if you use the secret code word you will get 25% off your copy of the book. The word is "flowers". Don't forget ;) 

Friday 15th November

5pm - 8pm

Caledonian Primary School (Thompson St, Brown Hill)

So it's busy, but it's fun! We wouldn't do it otherwise. 

Hope everyone is having a great week, and look forward to seeing what you've all been up to. 

Happy Learning.

12 Days of Learning that's Fun

I can't remember if this is my second or third Christmas with Learning that's Fun, it seems like it's been going my whole life!

But this year I am really excited to be doing something BIG!

I've been partnering up with some great companies such as toy stores, educational suppliers, and online retailers to bring you the very best of what Learning that's Fun is all about. 12 whole days of educational gift ideas, information on where to buy your Christmas gifts, the latest and greatest learning toys for kids and reviews of some fabulous products.

Plus there will also be competitions and giveaways every single day!

You name it, we'll have it covered!

Who do you know with kids that love hands on learning? Science? Craft? Reading? Playing games? Doing puzzles? Tell their parents to jump on the facebook page or sign up on the website to get the email newsletter.

Only 2 weeks to go!

Happy Learning :)