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EDUCATION

Autumnal Artworks for Home Learning

As the wind brings in the seasonal change, we are welcoming in the Autumnal opportunity to incorporate some art appreciation into our home learning. My children are under 5 so art appreciation is about the visual right now but slowing creeping in is the background and stories behind the works. By using famous artworks we ...

CRAFTS AND DIY

DIY "ABC" Letter Tracing Chalkboard

My daughter is nearly three and lately she has shown an increased interest in writing. She has been holding a pencil and pretending to write for ages, but now she she is able to identify letters and attempts to draw them. I wanted to find a way to help her practice writing letters. I prefer ...

OUTDOORS

Little Green Fingers for the Summer Garden

Summer here in London is still young enough that we can get a good crop of veggies and herbs going in even the smallest of city gardens or balconies, and with that comes many opportunities of learning for my two little gardeners. Even though I am a trained Montessori teacher, it has been a learning ...

TUESDAY TIPS

Simple Montessori activities for 2 year olds

Being indoors for the majority of the day with children is hard at the best of times. Juggling different ages is another thing to manage and if you have a toddler too it can sometimes feel as though their play is just plain disruptive. Added to being in the midst of a pandemic and it ...

PARENTING

Cultural Richness around Bringing Up Children

London, has always been home. Born in the house I grew up in, it was my base for travelling this way and that to all of London’s corners which have attracted me and welcomed me. Its’ beauty owes much to do with its rich culture, hot mess of food and smells, sights and peoples, markets ...

EDUCATION

The climate strike (plus: 8 ways to make a conscious change at home)

If you are reading this post on Friday, 27th of September 2019, you will be looking at a black&white website. For one day we're ditching all colour, in solidarity with everyone who is striving for an urgent climate change -- today, this week, and always! A small change, perhaps, but I find it quite disturbing ...

TUESDAY TIPS

Encouraging children to read! Here are ten tips.

Both my oldest children are avid readers. Especially Sara is the kind of person who reads everything she can get her hands on: novels, series, educational books, newspapers, magazines, the back of cereal boxes -- you name it. So recognisable: I was exactly the same as a child. (I always thought it had to do ...

EDUCATION

Greek myths for children -- fascinating and magical!

We're going to Athens this weekend! It's going to be a short trip but we're all super exited. I've been to Athens a few times before, and I just love that city -- the mix of the old and the new is so magical. To get everyone in the spirit of the (Old) Greeks and ...

EDUCATION

Schooling in Switzerland -- early independence and lots of the outdoors!

A few years ago, road tripping from Amsterdam to Tuscany, we visited the beautiful town of Zurich along the way. We spent one amazing day on the lake, enjoying the beautiful open-air beaches / swimming pools called 'Badi'. Afterwards, we stayed the night in the pretty apartment of the Prinsloo family, who were so kind ...

PARENTING

Reading to older children-- fun and beneficial

My kids love reading. Pim and Sara really devour books, and Ava has also recently gotten the hang of it. They are entirely captivated by their books! (Poor Casper, it can be frustrating to be the only one unable to read!) I suppose it can be a natural transition to stop reading to children when ...

EDUCATION

A multiplication chatterbox -- a simple, fun and educational craft

Ava is now seven and this is the year she learns the multiplication tables at school. We already have the chart on the toilet door (which I think must be a universal trick), but the other day she came home with a 'multiplication chatterbox'. You know, that paper folding game we played as a kid? ...

EDUCATION

The Anne Frank house, a visit with Sara

Anne Frank is a name that is familiar to most if not all. Her world-famous diary is translated to more than 60 languages worldwide, and the story of her family hiding in Amsterdam during WWII is universally known. We can all envision the photos of Anne's sweet face, showing a girl on the verge of adolescence. ...

EDUCATION

Lil'Ollo -- introducing a second language to young children

Last week we were camping at the seaside, and the kids and I were playing around with some products the recently launched company Lil'Ollo had sent us: beautifully designed games, posters and flash cards, all aimed at introducing a second language to children at a young age and in a playful, creative and imaginative way. ...

EDUCATION

Biology and Beauty -- Hatching Butterflies at Home

While on holiday last month, we received the most exciting parcel in the mail. On the box, it said 'LIVE INSECTS, OPEN IMMEDIATELY!’ And sparked a lot of curiosity and excitement. We opened up the box, a gift sent from our very clever friends, and inside was a cup of caterpillars waiting to become butterflies! ...

THURSDAY THOUGHTS

One of my rules

One of the reasons I like writing posts for Babyccino is because it gives me a chance to stop and think and analyse my parenting philosophies. So often when I tell my kids to do something and they ask me why, my answer is the same as every parent since the dawn of time: because I ...

EDUCATION

A pretty times table poster by Lollipop Design

How are your kids' multiplication skills? We recently sat down with the pretty multiplication poster by Lollipop -- a design based upon the 'wheel' method of learning tables, which makes it easier for children to understand and memorise the times tables. (You might remember Courtney's post from last year, where she spoke about homeschooling and introduced the multiplication flowers.) With the ...

THURSDAY THOUGHTS

Thursday Thoughts: Cooking and kids

This summer we have been cooking a lot. Nothing special or extravagant - but simple, good food that you don't need recipes for. I wanted my kids (now 10 and 8) to be able cook a full meal: starter, main and desert, without a recipe book. Here is my thinking: We visit so many friends ...

THURSDAY THOUGHTS

Do you talk about sex with your children?

The other day, Courtney and I were discussing the way parents talk about sex with their children. How difficult this subject sometimes seems to be, and how easy people shy away from discussing it. Why is it, that something so beautiful and special can be so controversial at the same time? I don't know if ...

EDUCATION

Tuesday Tips - Surviving Homework

I have to say being a teacher and setting homework is so much easier then being the parent who needs to help their child complete it! But last week was a success. My daughter finished all of her homework without any arguments and we still had time for some family fun. Hurray! So how did ...

EDUCATION

A fun family word game

When we were in Chile in December, we coincidentally (and luckily!) bumped into another travelling family whom I have been following on Instagram for the past year. This family of four (@ouropenroad) have been travelling around South America in their westy van for the past three years (what an adventure!), and happened to be passing ...

EDUCATION

Maths with Lego

I am always looking for more ways of teaching maths in a tangible way to my kids. This is partly because one of the slight disadvantages of the French school system is that teaching is very academic. It is also because I want the children to understand at an early age how genuinely useful, fun ...

CRAFTS AND DIY

Multiplication flowers

While it has certainly not been as easy as we had imagined, we are gradually finding our way with homeschooling the kids. Every day the kids test our patience, get distracted and, in turn, can make a simple morning of learning be an extremely frustrating experience... but, there are both good days and bad days and the ...

CRAFTS AND DIY

Counting and adding Sticks, Montessori Style

Tila just loves to count and learn new numbers and since she’s not the sit-and-learn type of kid I decided to try something that would help her learn simple math like adding through a play. So I made this simple counting/adding tool and I was so amazed at how quickly she learned to add numbers ...

Education

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