Friday, October 25, 2019

Toothbrushing poster


This is a poster to help your child brush their teeth. The purpose is that the child gets to stick a white sticker in the tooth gaps when they brushes their teeth, and when the mouth is full of teeth, the child gets a reward of some kind. Preferably not candy :-D But maybe stickers or something like that. It should be fun, but not expensive.
There's a slot for each of the child's 28 teeth, a tooth-brushing every morning and evening for two weeks.

Print the face and the teeth. It's OK if the teeth is printed in black-and-white.
Cut out the face and cut open the mouth.

Let the child choose the background paper.

Glue the teeth on the paper, about 1/3 from the lower edge.
Position the face on top of the teeth, so that the teeth fill the mouth gap. Tape it on the chin with masking tape or washi tape, so that you can remove the tape later without ripping the paper. See that it's straight and as you like it.
Now, fold the head down slightly so that you don't crease the paper, put glue on the "forehead" area of the face, and press in place. YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO LIFT THE LOWER HALF OF THE FACE OFF THE PAPER SO THAT YOU CAN STICK THE TEETH IN THE TOOTH PIECE LATER

Decorate the face, for example with the colors of your own child, and put on the hair - in my example the hair is yarn, but it can be painted on, paper, felt or even the child's own hair. Have fun decorating.
You could make it a monster face, or an animal face, too. What ever rocks your boat. 



Here's some other tips on how to make brushing teeth fun for your child :-)

Friday, October 4, 2019

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Yes, Yule is coming, and with that gift giving times.


I was asked what I would give to my husband in an advent calendar, and I answer:
- stationery - my husband loves stationery, especially pens and notebooks. I could give him just pens, and it doesn't need to be expensive pens either, for every day and he'd be happy.
- book related things, from cheap pocket books or books picked up from second hand, antiquaries or goodwill, to bookmarks, audiobooks - he would love if I read books on MP3 files and filled his MP3 player with my voice... it could just be short stories, and he would be happy.
- my husband loves bears. Bear is his spirit animal, and he loves bears in all forms. For example, he'd love those novelty slippers that look like bear paws.
- beard care items
- he loves knitted socks, thick, woolly socks. I know how to knit. I could knit him 24 pairs of "ugly Christmas socks" and he would wear them year around proudly :-D
- he loves hats and caps and kippot (he's Jewish). So if I gave him 24 hats, he'd be very pleased.
- he loves gadgets. Frankly, I don't think I have ever met a man who doesn't love gadgets. Or a woman. Gadgets are cool :-D
- gift card to his favorite game store or Playstation. (Or stationery store or book store...)
- something to appeal all five senses; something that smells good, something that looks good, something that tastes good, something that sounds good, something that feels good. Or something to smell, something to watch, something to listen to, something to touch, something to eat.

Look at his hobbies. My husband likes to read, play games and study things. (Yes, studying is his hobby.)

Look at what he buys with his money, small things. Does he buy a cup of coffee from the same store? Gift card. Does he buy the same snack? Does he always carry a pack of gum?

Get him something to remember you by, like a key chain with your picture on

So - here's some ideas that won't cost as much as most gadgets...

52 reasons why I love you

You could also go find some two person card games from online and print them out for a personal, private, just for the two of you game book.

Candy tackle box

You could personalize a coffee cup for him, or a pillow case, or a t-shirt, it's pretty easy and affordable to get some textile pens or glass/china pens and you can fix the colors at home.
It's relatively easy to etch glass and make him personalized items, like water bottle on his nightstand or toothbrush cup or something like that.
You could also buy him one of those multiuse cups with insert sleeve and make him a bunch of them so that he can change them when he wants to.

Here's some more ideas