Mini Bubble Blower

Product Details

Wearing Out Your Toddler When It's Raining!

Well, you probably would agree that we are experiencing unusual weather and in Australia it has been raining a lot this year. Many parents may not whine, because it is lovely sleeping weather for toddlers and wrapped babies! But many parents are pulling their hair out with energetic house-bound toddlers! According to the weather man, we are going to experience alternating months this year of wet and dry weather. Since I am always encouraging 'wearing out' your toddler in the preparation for sleep, I have had a lot of phone calls and emails asking for ideas on how to achieve this when it's raining.

So here are some of the ideas I have been suggesting:

*No TV! just music for dancing (the wiggles/playschool music CD etc) or at home kindy gym type activity. There are a specific cd's aimed at home dancing/exercise for toddlers and young children.

*In an appropriate room play games with balloons/soft balls, chasing, kicking, hide and go seek, trying to see who can keep the balloon in the air the longest.

*create cubby houses from the dining room table and blankets/sheets, encourages crawling.

*Use a spring out tunnel in the lounge room and encourage the toddler to crawl through it to play with different activities at either end. You could have farm animals at one end and jungle animals or people figures at the other end and suggest a game where the toddler encourages the different toys to visit each other.

*Use large boxes to create cars, planes, ships, cubby houses, shops, a city, police cars, fire engines. Add some dress ups and encourage journeys around the house to complete missions.

*Create a letter box from a nappy box (paint it red or cover it in red paper) and give your toddler your old junk mail in old envelopes. Address the envelopes to your toddlers toys and have the toddler dress up and be a postman. When addressing the envelope use a different colour for the first letter in the name of the toy to encourage learning the sounds of the letters (phonetics) to help with reading. Get creative and encourage deliveries all over the house. After delivering the mail, the toddler could dress up and help the toys open their mail.

*Bubble blowing and chasing the bubbles around.

*Indoor play centres, where mum can have a coffee and the toddler can get tired.

*Wait for a break in the rain and dress the toddler in puddle wear (from Mothers Direct-Australian Breastfeeding Association) and gum boots. Then let them run and jump in puddles.

*If it's hot you can still go swimming even if it's raining, after all you are going to get wet anyway.
Knowing that the preparation for sleep influences the quality of sleep your toddler experiences will help you to be realistic about how long your toddler will sleep. If they are not interested in a day sleep and starting to look like they will cope with not having a day sleep at all, maybe a rest with stories on the lounge or in bed will suffice.

You are the expert on your toddler and will know how much sleep your toddler requires during the day to enhance their night sleep. Remember to lower your expectations of the day sleep when we are traveling, visiting, shopping or are not in a position to ensure the active play and rainy days can be treated as similar days. Also plan carefully what your toddler eats to avoid unnecessary sugar, colours and preservatives that excite and energise them!

Tip: The one activity that does help the toddler to wind down and recognise that they are tired before bed is sitting still for some stories. Aim for 2-3 books over 8-10 minutes. Lie the toddler back on your chest and hold the book up so they keep lying down and can still see the book! Encourage this position for all three stories and if the toddler becomes fidgety and wants to wriggle away try to distract them with the story. It is the total length of time sitting still for the stories that makes the difference to how tired they 'feel', don't think that 3 books with a jumping, active toddler on the lounge will do the same thing!!

(C) 2008 Natalie Ebrill All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Bubbles Windmill

Product Details

Blows up to 500 bubbles in minutes! Makes thousands of bubbles within minutes! Makes 4 streams of continuous bubbles!

• Loads of bubble fun
• Easy as pulling a trigger!

Structural Engineering - The Vital Design Process

Without the brilliance of most structural engineers, our world would be a very different place. Simply put, structural engineering is a vital design process for modern society.

The word "engineer" has several meanings. It can be used as a verb that describes making something happen. It is a noun that describes the man who gets to drive the train. Yet, another meaning, also a noun, is of a person who is a professional and educated craftsman. What is structural engineering? It is a part of this vast profession of the engineer. Many people consider it a subsection of the field of Civil Engineering, but others see it standing alone.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives a very interesting definition of engineering. It is one of many uses of the word, of course, but it is the one that best fits the idea of structural and civil engineering. It says it is "the application of science and mathematics by which the properties of matter and the sources of energy are made useful to people." The key here is the idea of making something useful to people.

Civil Engineering is really just a term to separate the original and older form of engineering, which is Military Engineering, into something that is not used for warfare or defense. Structural Engineering has to do with structures. This can include a multitude of things from furniture to space stations; from dams to apartment buildings. The important thing and the thing that occupies the attention of the structural engineer is resisting load and dissipating energy.

Load can take many forms. It is sometimes called "stress." For example, a bridge must be build to handle load and stress that comes from the weight of the structure itself or the traffic passing over it. It can be subjected to stress from the wind and the weather. The "properties of matter and the sources of energy" must be transformed into something that can be useful to people. A structure is useful to people only if it is safe and if it can withstand stress.

Structural engineering is not often viewed as an art. It is seen more as science and in the cold and harsh light of practical application. This view misses the truth, however, when one things of the structures of the world both in our long past and in our amazing present. The imagination and creativity that has been shown from the Pyramids of Egypt to the mighty Hoover Dam to the bridges and tunnels that have crossed our rivers and even oceans, surely must rank with the greatest art our minds have known.

Super Miracle Set 25 Bubble Toys Wands

Product Details

Go bubble crazy with 25 bubble toys that will help you create thousands of bubbles! Packaged in a unique blister bottle. Includes 4 fl. oz. / 118.28 ml. bottle of Super Miracle bubbles

• 25 Pieces Bubble Fun

Gift Ideas For the Eco Conscious

Birthdays and Christmas can sometimes prove tricky when trying to buy for 'the person who has everything' or even family and friends who have no idea what they would like! Help is on hand however in the form of environmentally friendly presents - otherwise known as eco presents - which are topical, thoughtful and useful; not to mention good for the environment.

Today's pharmaceuticals industry isn't afraid to pump products full of chemicals, colourings and preservatives. Thankfully, the popularity of organic and fair trade beauty products has seen a boom in consumers' awareness of how pharmaceuticals affect the environment. Palm oil in particular is widely used to create soaps, bubble baths and shower washes but is largely to blame for rainforest deforestation and the decline of species such as the orang-utan. Now it's possible to buy gifts that use sustainable palm oil so the beauty conscious among us can easily become the eco conscious at Christmas and birthday time.

When it comes to the man in your life, a brother or male friend, a gadget is always a good gifting option. With technology accelerating faster and faster towards finding environmentally friendly options for everyday appliances, why not keep your recipient one step ahead of the rest of the pack with the very latest eco-gadget? Solar powered DAB radios, wind-up torches and H2O powered clocks are currently making waves in the eco scene as well as capturing the imaginations of gadget fans around the world. These gifts are also particularly good for the financially frugal among us since all of the aforementioned gifts use natural, sustainable energy to power them so won't add a penny to your utility bills.

Finally, for those really looking to make an impact and think outside the box, why not indulge your recipient in a small wind turbine? Small wind turbines are at home in a garden or other open space where wind can be captured and converted into energy. Growing in popularity, wind turbines effortlessly provide a sustainable and self sufficient energy supply that allows you to harvest your own power without lifting a finger. Wind turbine owners can also benefit from substantial remuneration should they wish to redirect excess energy back to the national grid. What could be a better gift than no more energy bills and your very own earner in the form of wind turbine?

Eco gifts are fast becoming a popular choice when gift giving so now it's your turn to show a helping hand to the environment the next time you're on the hunt for the ideal present.

Wrapped Up Tight For Sleep

In welcoming a newborn into a family it is traditional to present the child with a gift. In many households the presentation of a baby receiving blanket makes for the appropriate endowment as infants are too small to play with toys and have the need to be wrapped up to keep them warm and secure in their parents arms. From the time that they are first born babies are susceptible to all manner of germs and are very sensitive to temperature after spending their fetal development in the 98 degree amniotic fluid within the womb. Once exposed to the air the small offspring will shiver and need to be toweled off and clothed in a diaper before being lovingly enveloped inside a receiving blanket.

After leaving the hospital it is important to keep a supply of blankets on hand to not only secure the bundle of joy, but to have as a burp cloth that comes in handy when the infant has finished eating and needs to be patted on the back to release any oxygen bubbles that were swallowed along with their formula. Because vomiting sometimes accompanies the escaping air it becomes necessary to use a barrier between clothing and the spit up as any young parent can tell you. With only the concerns of eating, sleeping and pooping to worry about, babies rely on their parents to provide everything that they need as they grow, and by being protected from the elements the precious little bundles can tend to their duties as comfortably as possible while they are securely wrapped up in their baby receiving blankets.