Merida!

Hi,
I told yesterday I would prepare something "Brave" themed. If you knew how crazy I am in real life, at least mentally, you'd have guessed I wouldn't have slept without doing it. Sarah also is obsessed with the movie, she wants to buy her dress (I couldn't find it in our stores:( ). And yes, I would go to the extreme to get my kids the things they love, it is not spoiling, it is called "childhood". At least, Sarah knows when mommy/daddy tells her she doesn't have money to get something to wait until some other time when mommy/daddy has it.

Anyway, thank you CountingCoconuts, you are an inspiration as always. Mari-Ann did an awesome "Brave" sensory tub, please go and visit. I didn't have anything in hand to do this sensory tub so I had to begin from scratch. I took the girls & headed to Toysrus and bought this kit so yes, this is the most expensive sensory tub I've ever prepared. It cost $24.99. However, if you are looking for cheaper options, they sell princess Merida and queen Elinore with a bear, a bow and arrow set for $19.99 and even better, they sell princess MErida alone (mini) with her costume for $6.99 which is awesome.
Let me tell you that this is one of the closest sensory tubs to my heart, the movie is inspiring and I feel I relate to this sensory tub. The movie was like a wake up call to me as a mother, go and watch it and you'll know what I mean.

                                                before                                          after

This is the place where I hid it so that it surprises Sarah!

I want to capture her first reaction when she sees it!

Here's what's inside:

• green & blue gems
• green & turquoise glittery pom poms
• Green water beads
• The castle (included a bed, a table, a chair and their theme revolving photo)
• A box (that contained a picture of one of the the 3 brothers)
• Merida
• The Magic cake (bought it in a rubber set from dollar tree)
• bow & arrow
• Angus (Merida's horse)
• a panda/bear (I colored all of it black to look like a bear ah and we had it from McDonald happy meal)
• Trees (some came with the set and some I had)
• a crown (taken from a cheap doll we had in hand)
• a magic pot (had it from the miniature items we bought before travelling)
• Ps & Qs (P for princess & Q for queen) You can scroll down and see how we used these ;)

 Here are the after they got to see it, I made Sarah search for her surprise :p Sarah spent more than an hour playing with it. I tried not to guide her to any direction, she made Merida ride her horse, sleep on her bed, climb the stairs, sit on her chair, ...etc.

To go with this theme, we had to do both girls a crown. I know that it would mean nothing to Farida but making Sarah prepare it for her sister has a meaning, I love to see her doing something for her sister, taking the time and the effort to do it! She'll remember it one day!

Sarah's crown!

Farida's crown!

Sarah already knows all the alphabet letters upper & lower case but more practice won't hurt, still Brave-themed ;)

Simply cover the Ps & Qs!

The last one took her some time 

but I was determined she would do it before moving to something else. 

I want to enhance her attention span. 

I had to absorb her frustration and she did and was proud of herself.

We had to do some magic, simple, short, cheap & fun! A simple experiment. Here's all what you need:

bowl, water, pepper, dish soap. spray the pepper on the water, put your finger in the dish soap and into the peppered water, it forms a star. Sarah kept her finger for too long and that's why you probably can't see it but Sarah could :)

This was unplanned but Sarah asked for it and I went with her, she asked for a bear mask, one for me and one for her so we did it. It is not about the final product but the process. She was so happy I was sitting with her doing my own mask.

Ah, and I put "Brave" book on hold from our library so probably we'll have it in a week or so.

I hope you had fun with us. Tomorrow we are off to the doctors so probably nothing. Thank you for joining us.

Love,