Easter Tot School

I know that life gets a little crazy everywhere with two little guys, but sometimes it feels as if the crazy factor increases exponentially living in a developing nation.  This week has been no exception with stomach viruses early in the week and what seem to be bird mites (UGH!) wrapping up our week and little crazies in between.  If you ever happen to be interested in our life adventures beyond school here in Nepal, I blog about those occasionally over at Mountain Mama.

Philosophically, I believe in being flexible with the needs of my kids and life for our family.  I don't want school to be a source of stress, especially with the boys being so young.  But, it is sometimes so hard for me to let go of my agenda!  I am a planner.  A type-A planner, which pretty regularly comes into conflict with my philosophical leanings of freedom and exploration and adapting!  And, when I have to just ditch all of the "great" activities I spent time planning and preparing (who are these for again?), I am often disappointed, to put it mildly.

So, it wasn't a terribly grand week, but we managed to have some fun and (mostly) stay sane.

 As usual, the boys loved our sensory bin.

I am frequently trying to figure out how to use materials that are both available and not too expensive here to use for our sensory stuff.  This week I decided to try chiura (a beaten rice) and dye it.  It didn't dye as well as regular rice because some grains absorbed the color super quickly, leaving others hardly colored. But, it ended up looking kind of fun and almost textured that way.  I added a smidge of a rose flavoring stuff that we can buy for cheap here (though I would never use for cooking) to give it some scent.  It was seriously strong, so it was good I did it the night before playing with it and let it air out a bit.  It wasn't a super pretty smell, but it was flowery, and the boys enjoyed taking whiffs of it at first.  I put in a couple of containers, scoops, tongs, and a few plastic flowers from their block set to make the bin have a spring look.  The boys particularly enjoyed the tongs, as I haven't put those in a bin for them yet.

Another favorite of Ezekiel's for the week was beading.  I tried having he and his brother put some small plastic beads we found here onto pipe cleaners, but the beads were a bit too small for little man.  He tried, but it was a bit difficult.  (Big brother flew through it with glee.)

 So, I pulled out his vehicle beading set that Grandpa and Grandma sent him, and he had a grand time.  I am thankful for the treats that my parents and others send us that we would not be able to find here so that we can enjoy some fun things like this for our school time and play time!

I have been linking up to a great Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1.