LaeLae.com
Connect with Lae Lae!
  • Home
    • benefits of the Lae Lae collection
  • Awards
    • 2nd Book Excellence Award
    • AT THE BEACH Wins!
  • Lae Lae's Blog
    • Zoe's Blog
  • Books 1
    • Books 2
    • New Year - New Book
    • More Products
    • Coloring Pages
  • Testimonials
    • Acknowledgements
  • The Author
    • Learn about Lae Lae and Poco
  • Buy Now

Sedona and Tinker

2/29/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Just returned from a beautiful place that I love...Sedona, Arizona.  The "Red Rock Country" is a land of contrasts with lush green mountains and forests to the north, Oak Creek flowing through the center and the open space of the Verde Valley to the south.  Sedona is full of friendly people and a myriad of things to do from hiking to biking to art shopping to vortex climbing..  My little Tinker had to try out a new personality and here he is as "Bad Bart Tinker".  He looks more like "Angry Cat" though and I am not sure that he liked it.  But he does like walking at Tlaquepaque and visiting with the ducks in the creek and all of the other visiting dogs.  For me, Sedona is a get away from the "hustle" of So Cal and a very beautiful home to the sun and things that I enjoy.  It's a great place for a family and I suggest a visit.
0 Comments

So Pretty - So Simple!

2/23/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
I love the beauty of stained glass, but how to do that with young children?  We came up with a really easy way to create very pretty "stained glass" that the children could mount on their window or hang  for a light to shine through.  

From an art store we bought some black construction paper, lots of colored tissue paper and some clear sticky back paper.  We then let the children cut the tissue paper into shapes and set them aside.  Next we took the black construction paper, folded it gently in half being careful to not make a heavy crease (you will not want a crease to show when you finish your creation).  We then took a metal pie pan and laid it on the folded paper so it made the diameter of a circle.  The little ones needed a little help to draw around the pan and cut out the hole but he older children could do it themselves. Afterwards, we flattened the construction paper and mounted it on the clear sticky-back paper with just a little edge of sticky all around the construction paper. If constructing a mobile to be hung the edge of sticky edge isn't needed. The children then filled the hole in the center with the pretty pieces of tissue paper.

​The resulting stained glass creation could be mounted on a window to create a beautiful effect when the sun comes through or hung as a mobile from the ceiling.  For your own project, be creative ... think of other shapes, colors and uses for a beautiful transparent mosaic...hang several together to move as a mobile...many ways to enjoy a fun rainy day project.

0 Comments

Happy Valentine's Day

2/15/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Valentine's Day - the day of the celebration of love.  

What is love?  I read these thoughts and want to put them down on this Valentine's Day.

Loving someone means that you accept them for the person that they are and you don't need or want to change them into someone else whom you would prefer.  It means that you appreciate them for the wonderful qualities that they have and ignore the ones they don't have.  It means that you value them and will stand by them through the best of times and the worst of times.  It means loving them when they are in a bad mood or when they don't do what you want them to do.  It means that you love the wonderful person they are inside when it is sometimes not obvious on the outside.  It means that you recognize that they will grow into their own destiny whether whether child or adult and you are willing to let them have their dreams even though they might not be your dreams.  It means that you want to make them feel safe and supported.  If this is how you feel, then tell them often that you love them.  

​That's a fairly comprehensive definition of love. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

0 Comments

Story Telling

2/7/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Story telling and a healthy imagination are very important in childhood.  Children who are introduced to books and stories develop good listening and comprehension skills.  When they are then later encouraged to invent and tell their own stories they have great imaginations and are very creative.  Most importably, story telling encourages social interaction as the children must communicate with others in telling their stories.  

A fun way to exercise creativity and develop imagination is to make up stories and act them out in a skit form.  Sometimes story telling can be supported by the use of puppets which add to the creativity.  Children who are innately shy can come out as they take on the personality of their puppet in the creation of their story.  Try a round robin story telling group session where one child takes the lead and the other children add to the story (possibly with their own puppet characters) as the story  develops. Then the next child takes over with a story which adds to the first story.  After a while, a very involved story develops and everyone is taking an active part in developing it and all are having fun together.. 

0 Comments

Whale Watching

2/2/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
The California coast in January is the time to see the whales migrating....so I decided to take my grandsons Enzo and Hudson on a whale watching trip. The water was a little choppy for our three hour trip but we did manage to spot many dolphins and sea lions and 6 whales and, the highlight of our afternoon, a momma grey whale and her young calf who swam up very close to our boat. Our naturalist guide said the momma was probably about 45' long and the little one was perhaps 14'.  Grey whales are apparently drawn to boats as they go by close to the shoreline.  They make one of the longest migrations in the world, 10,000 - 14,000 miles a year from summer in Alaska to winter in the Baja of California where they have their young.

We learned that there are two types of whales, the toothed whales and the baleen whales.  The grey whale is a baleen whale with no teeth but rather bristly fringed baleen plates inside their mouths to trap the small sea creatures that they live on.  They dive to the bottom of the sea bed and scoop up small crustaceans and then expel the water and mud, holding on to the small edibles.  

The next day, we finished our whale adventure by going to the Whale Fiesta at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.  There the boys made origami whales and clay fish and saw a fun sealife puppet show.  There were also aquariums of sea creatures and exhibits encouraging children to take an active role in keeping our oceans clean for everyone to enjoy and the sea creatures to live in.  

Picture
The boys as sea creatures
​at the aquarium

and below our momma gray whale with her baby on their migration. 

We also learned about the vaquita, the world's most endangered marine mammal.  Small porpoises, the vaquitas are known to live in only one place, the extreme northern section of the Sea of Cortez between the U. S. and Mexico where the waters are clean but where they get entangled in the gillnets of fishermen.  Both the U. S. and Mexico list the vaquitas as critically endangered (there are estimated to be approximately 97 vaquitas alive today) and they could be extinct in as little as two years if we don't eliminate the gillnets.  But efforts are being made and we can save them! To learn more about the vaquita or to make a contribution to save the vaquita, go to www.vivavaquita.org.
0 Comments

    Archives

    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014

    RSS Feed

    Submit