A rattle and a book

I'm going to be an aunty for the second time soon. For a baby shower gift I made this two-headed rattle from a Japanese book called Fabric Toys To Make At Home Ages 0-5 (ISBN 9784834756302). Fun to make, but more time consuming than expected.


There are six different animal heads to choose from. My little helpers picked the dog one. Of course.


Here's more of my favourite projects from the book, including the hungry critters that made me buy the book in the first place:

Bird pudding

Last week we visited a bargain book sale run by our local library. Among many good picture books, we also picked up the Usborne Book of the Seasons (which is a slightly different version of this one). It's a wonderful book with many fun projects for children (Hannah has suggested we make snowglobes next).


One of the winter activities is 'Bird pudding' for our cold, hungry neighborhood birds. First we glued fabric onto 6 empty yoghurt containers for aesthetic reasons. Then I threaded a piece of yarn through the base of each one. We mixed about 1 cup each of breadcrumbs and oats with 2 cooked and mashed potatoes, then added about 250g melted cooking fat. This was divided between the yoghurt containers then left to set. The final step is to hang them upside down, and wait for the birdies to come flocking in.


This activity is probably better for older children but Hannah (3.5) was able to help with pasting, stirring the pudding and spooning it into the containers. I'm having some doubts about whether our southern hemisphere birds are hungry enough. This may be more suitable for bird-lovers in colder, snowier climes where food is more scarce. I thought it was worth a try though.

Our puddings have been hanging for a few hours now .... no signs of hungry birds yet. I'll let you know if we succeed in tempting some avian locals.

"Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Eric Carle

How many times have I read this book? At least 50, probably more. "Brown Bear" is one of Audrey's first phrases. Since receiving this book for her 1st birthday eight months ago she would have gladly listened to it every night. So do I groan inwardly at her eager requests? Strangely no. Such is the sign of a great children's book.




I like the simple, rhythmic, repetitive story. The length of the story feels just right, unlike some authors who take the repetition too far and have me wishing for the end. And how could you not love the large, bright animals that Eric Carle created for the book?

Even Hannah enjoys Brown Bear and was making up her own version on a car trip a short while ago involving trees, cars, fences and whatever else she could see.