School Holiday Activities @ Busselton Library

ClayPlay for Creative Kids

Little fingers love clay because its shape changes fast enough to keep up with their quick minds. ClayPlay involves toddlers in keen observation of how objects interact with their environments, while celebrating clay's endless possibilities. What will the clump of clay become this time? Elephants playing catch with a coconut? A tractor tilling the soil? Clay can magically become anything and everything. ClayPlay stimulates tots' creativity, and gives them a sense of their own vast potential.



Why don't you make your own "play dough" at home?

Best Recipes had this easy recipe you can try:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup salt
1 cup plain flour
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon oil
food colouring

Method:
1. Mix all ingredients together in a medium-sized saucepan.
2. Stir over heat until dough is pliable.
3. Allow to cool and store in a well sealed plastic bag or container.

Play dough made using this recipe should last for months if kept in the fridge.

Have fun with it!

Precious Playtime for Better Baby Brains

^{Image by Francis Vachon}

Watching a baby at play is an amazing, beautiful thing. Journalist and doting parent Francis Vachon has shared with us his time lapse recording of baby Edward’s 4hrs of playtime, compressed into two and a half minutes. Apart from being very cute(!) the footage helps us understand the enormous value of play. Vachon explains the power of babies’ brains:

Here’s the thing about babies. When we’re born, we get the brain cells we need, but the connections between cells haven’t formed yet. In those first few years as we explore the world, the cells begin to link up at a dizzying pace, forming tens of thousands, even millions of new links. When you watch Edward you can almost feel it happening.

You can read more here.

Being Happy

"The way to happiness: keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Scatter sunshine. Forget self, think of others. Try this for a week and you'll be surprised."
Norman Vincent Peale, Author.

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
Abraham Lincoln, US President.