rainy day play

I love the privacy of rain

~ Fridgesays ~ Leave a comment

Quote by Helen Dunmore

Have you ever read six words and felt like you’ve read a poem? I adore the simplicity and arrangement of this quote, each time I read it my mind goes on a little detour into my imagination and each time it’s different.

For that reason I don’t plan on writing too much in this post. I’d rather you too evoke your own story; two of my favourites included a girl in the rain dealing lost in sadness with the walls of rain isolating her from the buzzing city around her, where perhaps the sunshine’s? My second is a enjoyable cosy image of watching the rain fall outside whilst sat snuggly inside (with a cup of tea obviously) enjoying the tranquility and rhythm of the rain falling…add a blazing fire for a picturesque scene.

What I would like to share is my love of words, more specifically quotes and how they resonate with us. Aren’t we blessed to live in a world with so many diverse languages, translations and meanings. How wonderful is it that these six words may take you on a completely different journey to my versions.

Feel free to share your versions below or next time you’re at a loss on a long journey and perhaps it’s even raining, let your mind wonder on this little gem of a quote.

I like people who

~ Fridgesays ~ 2 Comments

 Quotes vary, but all are by Anon.

This is the kind of quote that creeps up on me and makes me smile.

Why? I guess because it’s true, both literally and as a methaphor. First, let’s go literal.

At university myself and a friend called Amy once hit the streets – in a thunder storm, we danced and played, we puddle jumped and we smiled. It was a simple pleasure that we relished and has always stayed with me. How empowering to see pure delight from a natural source that so many see as a negative. (Myself included when my hair is horrendous thanks to Mother Nature)

Which leads me nicely on to the deeper meaning. To always look at the negative from a smiling positive perspective. Or the ‘silver lining’ as my Nanny would say.

On Monday morning I went to work…it was dark when I rolled out of bed, and dark when I got in the car to drive to work (highlighted by my son saying ‘look mummy the moon’) and so I entered work a little sombre. I’m not very good at being negative, so I decided to make ‘the rain’ work for me. The solution was simple, thanks to my lunch.

 I drew a smiley face on my satsuma. It made me chuckle, and somehow this silly little trick shifted the clouds of my ‘rainfall’ to a warmer climate. I then actively looked for things that made me smile and as the day went on the sun shone – well for me anyway.
So literally or as a methaphor my advice is to enjoy those rainy days as even amongst the saddest of times there is always the shimmer and light that hope brings (and always draw faces on your fruit).

Sensory #9 Farm Stickers

~ Fridgesays ~ 2 Comments

Today I am sharing a sensory activity that also enhances motor skills, is cost effective and is perfect for rainy days, which if you are UK based is literally everyday at the moment.

All you need are these fab little farm stickers that I purchased from my local Tesco store and we went for a ‘field’ like green piece of card. (see below)

IMG_2737  The stickers are fab and we still have nearly a whole bag left over for future works of art. They were under a pound, around the ninety pence mark and well worth it – they are sturdy, of good quality and there was a huge range of animals and farm furniture in the bag (sadly no tractors for any parents who have wheel obsessed monsters) I chose to put the stickers in two bowls – one with the stickers in and one for the peeled off backs to go in.

This is where J developed his own activity and spent a good fifteen minutes pouring the stickers from bowl to bowl. As Mummy tension grew (and lets face it I wanted to play with the stickers) I left him to it and used it as an excuse to pop the kettle on.

  Just when I thought we were going to become sticker buddies – he refused to peel the stickers off of the backs, and actually became distressed if I attempted to touch them. Instead, J played with them more like figures than stickers…in actually took me 48 hours to convince him that peeling the backs off was the best way forward.

Below is his first attempt and I must apologise for any layout technicalities with the pigs (blush). He also free styled with some crayon action – creating snacks for the ‘amin-als’ and after a quick interrogation the double lines (near the top of the page) are not as I thought ‘a fence’ but instead ‘a door for the doggy to go in the garden’. I feel stupid for even questioning such an obvious modern art phenomenon.  I’m sure you could do all sorts of lovely activities with these and they would really work well in conjunction with a farm yard book or narrative task, or as we have since done, perfect for sorting activities.

For now, we will continue to work on ‘how to use a sticker’ and Mummy will try to control every aspect of play. Thanks for popping by.

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