Christmas Nativity Setup For My Toddler And The Experience That Followed

This is my small & humble Christmas Nativity Scene setup :) My first ever in life, for my 22 months old son! I took a big tray, covered with red cloth, spread some shredded cardboard & put figurines of Baby Jesus, Angel, Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Wisemen, Animals to create the scene of a stable where Baby Jesus was born. I got these figurines from Kerala for 150 INR when we visited there for vacation.

Nativity Scene Setup

I put all his Christmas gifts around this setup at night so that when my son wakes up on 25 December 2016, he is greeted with everything here :)

Here are the details of the setup - 

• Christmas tree with some decoration - I got the tree & ornaments from a local shop
• Gifts for my 22 months old son - My son is a vehicle & book lover & these days crazy about planets! Gifts include fighter plane set, swing with Jesus Christ ( I got this from a facebook group Ionica Toys, DIY planetarium (Again this is from Ionica Toys), shoes, car, tanker, books (from Amazon) & snowflake threading toy from Skola Toys! You can see the snowflake activity post HERE. By the way, you can get an exclusive discount of 15% on ALL Skola Toys till if you use the discount code I shared on my group. Just visit my group HERE & view the pinned post to get the discount code & use it during checkout when you shop Skola Toys from their website www.skola.toys. 

#UPDATE

My #22months old has been playing with these #NativityStory figurines for the last 2 days now & loving it! Look at how he is holding, admiring & kissing baby Jesus :)

I had also read to him nativity story from a book few days back when we were traveling.

I was surprised, he named the characters  correctly on his own during free play & even narrated the story in his own keyword style.

Here is his version :)

Mamma!

Bethlehem, Mary Joseph, Hotel

Andhera, raat ho gayi (dark, night time)

I asked where was Jesus born?

He says mamma stable. Animals.

Shepherds, dekhbhaal (take care), sheep

Wisemen, gifts, baby Jesus

Pretty accurate a narration! My Christmas is made! :)

The #freeplay with #Christmas #Nativity figurines continues.

Some brand new story being weaved here ;)

My son 'A' talking to himself...

A : Ye kaun hai? Wisemen. Ye kaun hai? Camel. A camel pe baitha. Shepherd. Dekhbhaal. Shepherd leto. Camel leto. So jaao. (Who is this? Wisemen. Who is this? Camel. I sit on the camel. Shepherd. Take care. Shepherd lie down. Camel lie down. Go to sleep. )

Mum : ab? (Now?)

A : Subah utho. (Wake up in the morning)

Mum : Ab? (Now?)

A : Khelenge. (Will play)

Mum : Kya? (What?)

A : Chess

I always wonder how creativity fosters during free play!

I also hosted an 18 days FREE kids' activity series on Christmas & New Year theme. If you missed it, check out HERE. My son enjoyed the activities thoroughly & my articles on the same on BabyChakra were received very well too :)

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Positive Effects of Music on the Unborn Foetus – My Experience

Pregnancy is a beautiful phase & it needs to be enjoyed to the fullest. We need to nurture ourselves as well as the foetus. It can be done in many ways, a very important tool being music. It is scientifically proven how music helps to heal & soothe an individual. Music is a therapy in itself. It achieves miraculous results for hormonal health. The foetus is no different. By third or fourth month of pregnancy, the foetus is able to hear the outside sounds. It is the right time to start exposing it to beautiful sounds & music.

Being a singer myself, I heard a lot of music during my pregnancy. It varied from Indian classical to Western classical to instrumentals to spiritual to Bollywood classics. And I cannot tell you enough about the positive effects it has had on my son.

My experience has been featured on BabyChakra. Click HERE to read more on this & to get links & pointers for good music that you can play to your foetus as well as to your baby after birth.

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Gratitude Post - 18 Days Of Christmas-ness

I am feeling so happy, content & grateful at this moment today!

I am finally done with publishing all the articles of my 18 days of christmasness series! It was a long but interesting project that challenged me on many fronts like creativity, time management, writing skills, photography & editing skills apart from coming up with 18 different activities that covered all the skills areas #Montessori suggests like #finemotor #grossmotor #sensory #language #culture #practicallife #music #Maths #Logic #science #arts #freeplay . I am happy with what I could do with more than 15 days of travel on & off whole of December. The series started on 15 December when I was travelling. I had submitted 11 articles to babychakra before I started my travel & schedule-posted them on my blog also. After coming back, I again got back to creating the activities & writing the remaining articles amidst unpacking, tons of laundry & entertaining my toddler :)

If you have liked even a single activity in the series, please give me a thumbs up here :) That will make my day!

For those, who are new here, THIS is the landing page of my 18 days kids activity series.

I thank babychakra for this awesome association.

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Baking A Cake - Day 18 of 18 Days of Christmas-ness Series

This is Day 18, the last day of "18 Days Of Christmass-ness" series, presented by The K Junction in collaboration with BabyChakra. We are ending this series today. The goal of this series was to have lots of fun & bonding with our kids & explore the festivities around us this December in the form of Christmas & New Year themed activities! Hope you have found this series useful for your child. Of course, you can come back to it any time of the year to do these activities!

HERE is the landing page of the series if you have missed any activity in this series! 

DAY 18 - Today's activity is BAKING WITH KIDS

My 22 months old son was reading one of his books on his own & blabbering to himself. On a page, there was a cake. He stopped at that page, saw the cake for few seconds & then turned up to me saying, “I want to eat cake, I am hungry”, with those desperate eyes! Who could have said a no! He was adamant he wanted the cake right there & then and was getting impatient. So I thought let me involve him in the cake making process. That way he will get distracted from his “I want now, I want now”, learn that food has to be made & is not readily available. That he would appreciate the entire procedure when he actually sees & does it. And of course, with the benefits of practical life activities as Montessori tells us! We used THIS recipe.

Works on practical life, fine motor, sensorial, maths & sequencing skills.

For more details on what materials to use, how to do the activity step by step, age group, tweaking the activity for younger & older kids, time required for setup, if you can replace some materials with what you already have at home & related resources - Visit my detailed post on BabyChakra 

Have you joined already?

Make sure to either follow The K Junction via Email or via Facebook Page or via closed Facebook Group or follow me on Twitter (@kuhoogupta) or Instagram (@kuhoogupta). 

We end our "18 Days Of Christmas-ness" series with lots of gratitude, read the post HERE.

If you have additional favorite simple toddler Christmas ideas please tell me about them in the comments! I always love finding new ideas!

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Montessori New Year Celebration - Day 17 of 18 Days of Christmas-ness Series

This is Day 17, second last day of "18 Days Of Christmass-ness" series, presented by The K Junction in collaboration with BabyChakra. We are almost at the end of this series. The goal of this series is to have lots of fun & bonding with our kids & explore the festivities around us this December in the form of Christmas & New Year themed activities! Hope you have found this series useful for your child. Of course, you can come back to it any time of the year to do these activities!

HERE is the landing page of the series if you have missed any activity in this series! 

DAY 17 - Today's activity is MONTESSORI NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

Works on science, language & gross motor skills.

Tweaking the traditional Montessori style birthday celebration to celebrate birthday of Mother Earth. 

Here is an example setup (Image Source : BlossomVine). I am yet to do it for my son, will update this post with our own set of pics :)

For more details on what materials to use, how to do the activity step by step, age group, tweaking the activity for younger & older kids, time required for setup, if you can replace some materials with what you already have at home & related resources - Visit my detailed post on BabyChakra 

Have you joined already?

Make sure to either follow The K Junction via Email or via Facebook Page or via closed Facebook Group or follow me on Twitter (@kuhoogupta) or Instagram (@kuhoogupta). 

Do come back tomorrow for Day 18, the last day of our "18 Days Of Christmas-ness" series.

If you have additional favorite simple toddler New Year ideas please tell me about them in the comments! I always love finding new ideas!

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A Guilt Free Cake For Toddlers/Kids - Recipe

Cake in my house is always a hit! My mom is a pro in baking cakes. And this recipe of hers has been a favourite in my family & extended family. My son loves it too! I quickly converted my mom's original recipe to a healthier version so that I can give it my toddler happily without having to say "enough, now stop"!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED

• Whole wheat flour – 1.5 cups (You can use maida or a mix of whole wheat flour & maida for a slightly unhealthy version of the cake)
• Jaggery – ¾ cup (You can use sugar for a slightly unhealthy version of the cake)
• Curd – 1 cup
•  Refined oil – ½ cup
• Essence (optional)
• Baking powder – 1 tsp
•  Baking soda – ½ tsp
•  Oven or microwave

TIME REQUIRED FOR ACTIVITY PREPARATION – 20 Minutes

PROCEDURE

• ·         Mix curd & Jaggery in a bowl
• ·         Add baking powder & baking soda & let it sit for few minutes till the bubbles appear
• ·         Add oil & essence at this stage if you want & mix
• ·         Slowly add the flour & keep mixing it
• ·         Mix it well with a spatula or with a blender. This is your cake batter
• ·         Apply a thin coat of oil greasing on the baking container (I use Borosil glass containers for Microwave baking)
• ·         Sprinkle some flour on the container
• ·         Pour the cake batter into the container & put it in a preheated microwave or oven to bake
• ·         For my microwave, I put it for some 8 to 9 minutes at 60 power setting. It may vary with the quantity you use & the microwave. Keep it for lesser time & keep checking if the cake is perfectly baked by inserting a greased knife in the middle of the cake in the container. If the knife comes out clean, the baking is complete
• ·         Let it cool outside the microwave before you cut it

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DIY Ice Hockey - Day 16 of 18 Days of Christmas-ness Series (VLOG)

This is Day 16 of "18 Days Of Christmass-ness" series, presented by The K Junction in collaboration with BabyChakra. We are almost at the end of this series. The goal of this series is to have lots of fun & bonding with our kids & explore the festivities around us this December in the form of Christmas & New Year themed activities! Hope you have found this series useful for your child. Of course, you can come back to it any time of the year to do these activities!

HERE is the landing page of the series if you have missed any activity in this series! 

DAY 16 - Today's activity is DIY ICE HOCKEY

Works on sensorial & motor skills.

Here is a step by step pictorial guide to make Ice Hockey.

Watch it in action in the video below, you will love it !!!

For more details on what materials to use, how to do the activity step by step, age group, tweaking the activity for younger & older kids, time required for setup, if you can replace some materials with what you already have at home & related resources - Visit my detailed post on BabyChakra 

Have you joined already?

Make sure to either follow The K Junction via Email or via Facebook Page or via closed Facebook Group or follow me on Twitter (@kuhoogupta) or Instagram (@kuhoogupta). 

Do come back tomorrow for Day 17 of our "18 Days Of Christmas-ness" series.

If you have additional favorite simple toddler Christmas ideas please tell me about them in the comments! I always love finding new ideas!

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Punch Out 2017 - Day 15 of 18 Days of Christmas-ness Series

This is Day 15 of "18 Days Of Christmass-ness" series, presented by The K Junction in collaboration with BabyChakra. The goal of this series is to have lots of fun & bonding with our kids & explore the festivities around us this December in the form of Christmas & New Year themed activities!

HERE is the landing page of the series if you have missed any activity in this series! 

DAY 15 - Today's activity is PUNCH OUT 2017

Works on practical life, maths & fine motor skills.

For more details on what materials to use, how to do the activity step by step, age group, tweaking the activity for younger & older kids, time required for setup, if you can replace some materials with what you already have at home & related resources - Visit my detailed post on BabyChakra 

Have you joined already?

Make sure to either follow The K Junction via Email or via Facebook Page or via closed Facebook Group or follow me on Twitter (@kuhoogupta) or Instagram (@kuhoogupta). 

Do come back tomorrow for Day 16 of our "18 Days Of Christmas-ness" series.

If you have additional favorite simple toddler Christmas ideas please tell me about them in the comments! I always love finding new ideas!

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Winter Snowflakes Activities - Day 14 of 18 Days of Christmas-ness Series

This is Day 14 of "18 Days Of Christmass-ness" series, presented by The K Junction in collaboration with BabyChakra. The goal of this series is to have lots of fun & bonding with our kids & explore the festivities around us this December in the form of Christmas & New Year themed activities!

HERE is the landing page of the series if you have missed any activity in this series! 

DAY 14 - Today's activity is WINTER SNOWFLAKES ACTIVITES

This post has multiple activities, the highlight being this Skola Toys wooden snowflake threading toy. I am loving this toy so much that I have been doing this threading for some time now, it is so calming & relaxing ;) Kids benefit equally from this toy. It is a great fine motor activity. You can buy this awesome toy from Skola Toys website HERE at an exclusive 15% discount. Just go to my facebook group "The K Junction - Parenting, Early Learning, Montessori, Music, Healing" HERE & get the discount code from the pinned (topmost) post on the group. You can use this code on their website at the time of checkout. 

There are two more activities related to snowflakes, so do not forget to check them out as well!

Works on fine motor, hand dexterity, concentration & arts. 

Here is the review of Skola Toys anowflake threading toy! Do watch it, you will love it :)

For more details on what materials to use, how to do the activity step by step, age group, tweaking the activity for younger & older kids, time required for setup, if you can replace some materials with what you already have at home & related resources - Visit my detailed post on BabyChakra 

Have you joined already?

Make sure to either follow The K Junction via Email or via Facebook Page or via closed Facebook Group or follow me on Twitter (@kuhoogupta) or Instagram (@kuhoogupta). 

Do come back tomorrow for Day 15 of our "18 Days Of Christmas-ness" series.

If you have additional favorite simple toddler Christmas ideas please tell me about them in the comments! I always love finding new ideas!

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Christmas Manger Color Matching - Day 13 of 18 Days of Christmas-ness Series

This is Day 13 of "18 Days Of Christmass-ness" series, presented by The K Junction in collaboration with BabyChakra. The goal of this series is to have lots of fun & bonding with our kids & explore the festivities around us this December in the form of Christmas & New Year themed activities!

HERE is the landing page of the series if you have missed any activity in this series! 

DAY 13 - Today's activity is CHRISTMAS MANGER COLOR MATCHING

Works on visual discrimination & pre-maths skills.

For more details on what materials to use, how to do the activity step by step, age group, tweaking the activity for younger & older kids, time required for setup, if you can replace some materials with what you already have at home & related resources - Visit my detailed post on BabyChakra 

Have you joined already?

Make sure to either follow The K Junction via Email or via Facebook Page or via closed Facebook Group or follow me on Twitter (@kuhoogupta) or Instagram (@kuhoogupta). 

Do come back tomorrow for Day 14 of our "18 Days Of Christmas-ness" series.

If you have additional favorite simple toddler Christmas ideas please tell me about them in the comments! I always love finding new ideas!

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