November Table Games

Maria 3,5 y.

We’re trying to establish family tradition – playing table games Friday evenings. It’s the moment of family unity and overall comfort as well as fun and excitement.

The ideas of the following handmade games were seen in the Internet, but they were slightly adapted to our preferences. The games we prepared ourselves and the work was mainly done by Maria (of course, the squirrel was drawn by me :)), who was really eager to start playing.

1.       Colours Memory Game

   2.      Nuts eating - a very good one for those, who wants to learn the basic colours (when playing with Maria we speak foreign language for her to expand her vocabulary in other than native language) and also for those, who loves nuts. Every player starts on the square of the same colour as his cup. Then, the player throws a dice and moves his cup. If the colour of the cup coincides with the colour of the square, then the player takes a nut, cracks it and puts it into his cup. The game stops until there are no nuts left. The winner is the one who has more nuts than the others.

 

Independent second-born children

Andrew 2 m.

Research results demonstrate that the first-born children are more likely to conform, while the second-borns appear to be more independent, rebellious and adventurous. Second born children are competitors. Though these traits of character vividly appear in the adolescent phase, Andrew being only 2 month old appears to be very independent. He can easily play on his own for some 20 min. If someone is nearby and he hears or sees smb, he can extend his independent playing time even for an hour unless he feels uncomfortable (e.g. wants to eat, to sleep).

With Maria we made a toy for Andrew that he can entertain himself, while we are cooking or running around. A branch of a pine-tree we adjusted to the part of musical mobile. To the branch we attached the strings with „handmade” sun, clouds, and „sky” with white and black stars (juice packs filled with rice and beans). So, when Andrew pulls the ribbon, this „construction” moves and makes a sound. Later, we added some bells for the better sound.

 

The toy works perfectly and Andrew is very much excited about it. Excitement makes him move again, which moves the toy. This turns into an endless excitement and playing, but at a certain point of time he gets tired and one should help Andrew to stop it. In the beginning the movements were rather chaotic, but with time passing, Andrew started to realize dependence of the bells ringing and clouds and sun dancing on his movements. So, now he moves intentionally if he want his entertainment centre to move and sound for him.

The Power of Music

Andrew - 2 m.

Here are some of the astonishing results of the famous Masaru Emoto’s water experiment, which clearly show the effect of the music.
 

The water crystal exposed to heavy metal music

 

The water crystal exposed to folk music

 

 

 

The water crystal exposed to Bach's Air for the G String

 

 

 

 

 

 

And though the „Mozart Effect” that babies become smarter after listening to Mozart sonata was not proved, anyway the beautiful music definitely has a positive effect on babies for their emotional and intellectual development. Besides, the music may stimulate baby to become more active, to relax, to cheer up... it can really influence the behaviour and the well-being.

We’re listening to the classical and nature music with Andrew 1-2 times a day for about 20 minutes. The effect of listening does not appear simultaneously, but he evidently likes it very much as he usually calms down and starts to listen carefully trying to figure out where the music comes from. We're also in process of attracting Maria (3.5 y.o.) to our regular music sessions...:)

 

To relax and calm down: flute, piano and violin; wood and sea; Vivaldi, Beethoven, Brams, Schubert, Chopin, Debussy;
To reduce anxiety: folk music, children songs, Chopin, Strauss, Rubinstein;
To reduce irritation: Bach, Beethoven;
To stimulate activity (e.g. before feeding the baby): Bach, Schubert, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky (allegro, allegro moderato);
For the well-being and activity: marches, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, List.