Leave Behind Tray: 3D Life Cycles

This toy set went on half-off sale in Toys R Us many months ago, and it was perfect because we were reading about butterfly life cycles:

I think this marked down to Php 180 pesos and it had all of the stages from egg to butterfly.  You can find similar ones on Amazon too.

It was nearly a perfect match to her book!  (National Bookstore, less than Php 100)

After we went through the book and matched it with the toy figures, I put together a leave-behind tray on her playroom shelves while I'm at the office.  Leave-behind trays are my thing.  Can you guess what these 'answer spaces' are?

They're Play-Doh lids.  I never throw them but I never know what do with them.

But look how perfect.  Whee.

I'm not going to lie : this was around four months ago when I was an eager-beaver wannabe Montessori mom.  I've since realized how some things are just not sustainable in terms of pre-work.  This is one of them.  

It was super fun to think of, but I've yet to do it again.  (Maybe if she didn't tire of things too easily...?)  I mean, I used a LABEL MAKER, and all.  Over.  I'm trying to keep it much more simple now.

But oh, how satisfying it was to come home to a sight like that one up there.  There's a frog life cycle set too I remember...

Somebody stop me.

Our Slow-DIY Home

I think the perfect words to describe keeping a home is: it is a stressful joy. We moved into our 300 sqm bungalow six years ago, through generous permission to to live in the same place where Awesome Guy grew up.  It's been a time-consuming project to play house ever since.

This is the foyer area when we moved in

Compared to this house, my family lived in a shoebox!  I grew up in a house less than half this size, in a family of 5 daughters and one bathroom.  It was kalat and chaos, and fights and fun.  It's funny now how our talk about fashion and music has turned into home decor and organization.

But having a home this size is definitely like a forever-project to me : we simply don't have enough time or money to call it finished.  Ok, those and decisiveness.  I'm always changing things up to find what works best.

This is what that same area looks like today.  See the paper bags?  That's the next project: lighting.  We're always in the middle of something or another.

We settled into a pattern of having one major home improvement per year, but that throws everything back into "temporary" decor.

Two years back we had one wall of windows turned into a doorway.  That's 'foreman' Awesome Guy striking a pose.

It looked like this when we moved in (I can't find a more recent one before the renovation)

And this was the small side area of the home, which we turned into a laundry washing area.

Here's the 'after' : it's now a functional place for play.

This year, it's our closets makeover, which still looks like we just dumped things back.  Nothing in this house is finished yet.  By finished, I mean I want everything to be organized and functional according to our lives everyday.

Everything just needs to earn it's place.  I feel strange doing pretentious decor vignettes, like so:

I simply can't make room for breakable white statues.  But I did buy this side table probably because it was merchandised so well.  Photo from Bungalow 300.  

Having Ladybug Girl in our lives means needs change constantly around the house.  For example, I love creating play spaces.  It's a no-brainer for me to choose to make room for a pretend play area vs. a large unused dining room:

Oh wait, I did that already.

And then reading blogs and pinterest inevitably inspires me to make things pretty, not just functional.  Add those to the long list of home projects, which I've named just like my projects at work.

This is Project Green:

My peg for bringing some successful green life inside.  I've killed maybe P2,000 worth of plants already. 

Judging from how this post has gotten all over the place, I think you get the idea.  Awesome Guy rolls his eyes at me, and asks me if I even have an end-goal in mind.  So I think I'll make him read this post.

But then he'll smirk and tell me I love it anyway.

And the man knows me well.  Because I do.

After-Work Valentine Project: Air-Dry Hearts

Determined to make up for a lack of Christmas play with Ladybug Girl, I came home after work a few weeks ago and mustered up some energy for a more elaborate floor time activity with her.  

This one activity lasted three days, so we always had something ready to do together after I got home from work.  Bonus.

Old Drawers into 'Giant Trays' Project

We accumulated fourteen spare drawers from our closet makeover last December.  Handyman Rex tells me the wood is "marine" and not just plywood... uh, ok.  He sounded like my mom-in-law when she says "Narra wood yan!" of reverent antiques.  

I guess that's good and I shouldn't just get rid of them?  So I checked for inspiration online to repurpose these old drawers - there were so many great ideas!

Like I wish I had the room for this:

And I'm thinking this would be a perfect solution to my lack of side tables:

But the idea I thought would get the most use out of the drawers was to turn them into a giant tray.  It's no secret here that I love trays -- play trays, that is.  Among all the playful learning we do, messy sensory play is Ladybug Girl's favorite -- but it's high-effort in terms of prep and clean up time.

I wanted to have some permanent stations at home where I can prepare sensorial play and not have to pack it all away every time.  That way we can easily play even on weekdays after office.

So on Handyman Rex's last day, I asked him to stick two drawers together and attach wheels to the bottom.

It was definitely looking like another laughable DIY solution.  I even had an extra one made.

I had to live with this eyesore for two weekends until Ladybug Girl and I got over our flu.  Then we got to painting the drawers using some water-based no-smell paint we had leftover.  Reminder to self: always demonstrate first before handing over a paintbrush, as you will soon see why.

First explorations using the brush... and then discovering that paint dribbles.

She used the other side for a modern art piece like Jackson Pollock (he's in her Olivia books)

I sensed the inevitable at this moment.

Fast forward to this.

And this -- sheer, almost maniacal delight!

We talked about how cold, thick and squishy the paint was.

And when we were done, we hosed off outside.  (Water-based paint comes right off)

I had to finish off the painting.  Even the formerly-purple stool she was on got a makeover.

A second makeover, I might add.

She painted this herself a year ago.

Did you notice I left a little memento?

Sniff.  I will miss this preschool stage so much.

Back to the giant trays.  

I let them dry and cure completely for a week, added a plastic bin, and then we put them to use:

Ladybug Girl added food coloring to make a blue ocean.

And some toys for instant beach play.

The best part: packing away for another day is easy.

The next weekend, I brought out some odds and ends for open play.  

The game was that we had to use everything in this box to build a sand castle

I love the look of concentration on her face!

Our finished castle.  Note the crayons, which she ran inside to fetch from her room?

Here's the other giant sensory tray, for use indoors.  

I put a surprise play activity in it - can't wait to introduce it to her (or let her find it!)

It's under an old bench in the living room, so it's a roll-out-and-play tray, then it rolls back in.

I think we'll get a lot of use out of these permanent-but-moveable messy play trays.

Now what to do with the other eleven drawers??

Leave-Behind: DIY Stamp Tray

I once bought a lot of stamp sets but they were hardly ever used by Ladybug Girl.  I thought they were the easiest starter-material for art, but toddlers tend to go bam-bam-bam and the resulting picture is not at all satisfying.

I wanted to get more use out of the stamps so I made an inviting, easy-stamp tray:

The idea is to have a cushioned surface (like a bunch of paper) that makes it easier for the design to stick.  I had all these on-hand: one of our trays, a foamy placemat from Ladybug Girl's 2nd birthday celebration, and any pen.

Now add a little helper.

I asked her to trace around the tray.  She loved it!

Some angles are hard for my little lefty, but when I flipped sides, she got it!

Cut out and just eyeball any extra length or width.  Now it's a perfect stamping tray!

While Ladybug Girl got busy cutting, I got busy putting leave-behind trays together.

This one was quick.  Rip out a workbook page and choose a stamp to mark her answers.  As you can see, this was her first attempt.  Maybe I should have doubled up the placemat.

If she were younger, or didn't know how to read yet, I would make more of an effort to create a match-the-stamp game.

The next one I put more effort into, and it has lasted weeks.  I eyeballed what animal stamps we had and made a story like Noah's Ark for Ladybug Girl to help finish with stamps.

Thought I'd start off the alphabet stamps use with her name.  For toddlers, they can match letters.

Getting better...

And better!

After four trays of this, Ladybug Girl became impatient and excited: "where's the end of the story?!".  So that's out on our shelves now.  Then I'll put the book together and make a big deal out of us being author and illustrator!

The stamp trays also double up as a nice surface to color on.  I've made two more bigger trays since.

At least this has stopped me from buying any more stamps.  Or postponed the need to garage sale them.  

I'd like to think of other ideas to make these stamps earn their shelf space but usually they just come on a whim.  Help?  What on earth do moms do with stamps?

Besides the obvious, I mean.