Homemade fabric fragrance

  Typically people buy fabric perfumes on market. They are not expensive and some of them smell really good. But there are others, who never buy these things, but they would like to try one of this, at least once. Normally, I prepare this myself, because I never find the smell I like, so I guess this is a good alternative for you too. Let me show you how to produce a homemade fabric scent, with very little money. You can use it either for curtains, kids’ cushions, clothes, carpets and so on.

You’ll need the following…

1) Cereal alcohol

2) Water

3) Essential oils.

4) One unused spray bottle where to pour our perfume.

Steps

a) Choose the scent you like the most (or the one your kids adore). If you want to create a lively atmosphere you can choose lemon, orange, or mint. On the contrary, if you want to generate a relaxing atmosphere you may choose lavender or vanilla. Or if you want to create a fruity perfume, you may combine strawberry, plums, blueberry and apple.

b) Pour 15 drops inside the bottle.

c) Fill in half of the bottle with cereal alcohol, and half with water.

d) Put the bottle lid and shake for some minutes. After this, put the bottle in a dark place, it can be a kitchen drawer or somewhere in the garage. After 2 days, shake it again, and spray over a surface to see whether it needs more scent or not.

If you like it the way it is, start using it around your house. Kids will love it!

Phrase of the day

Whatever you are, be a good one.

 - Abraham Lincoln -

Bilingual Books

  It's been a long time ago since I've been reading bilingual books.  Since I was a 6-year-old child, to be more precise, and... believe me, that it has proved to be really good for my language development. 

My mother tongue is Spanish, but I've started learning English as a child. My father used to buy fairy tales or fabules which they brought a casette (lol a casette people, that WAS a long time ago). So, while I was reading I listened to the narration on the casette. Believe it or not, I was incredibly hooked by this kind of books. 

As I told you before, these books were bilingual. That means, one side of the casette contained the Spanish version (my mother tongue), whereas the other side had the English version. Wasn't it awesome? For me it WAS,  because once I've listened to the spanish version I listened to the english one. But... Where was the text in english to follow? you may wonder... It was in the bottom part of the page, in lower case.

Today, I know that there are books which bring two versions, that is, one page in english and on the other side page the spanish version (or other languages). If I had to recommend these books, I would highly suggest parents buying at least one of them, because they expose kids to two languages at the same time. Pictures also help them distinguish among meanings and analogies, which you may know, it's not easy work. Nowadays, market offers books with cds, containing both language versions (as casettes used to be). So, getting one of these books for kids, would be a nice way of introducing abother language to them. They'll discover they can read the same story they already know in their mother tongue, in another language. And that, in the long run will be really profitable.

Happy Child's Day!

 

We wish you a happy child's day! We hope you'll enjoy this day, as many others, surrounded by those who love you.

Our warmest regards from Argentina

Argentina at the Olympic Games, London 2012

Congratulations to all athletes who took part in the Olympic Games, especially to the Argentinian ones. We are proud of them! 

Argentina medals 

  Taekwondo – (gold)

Sebastián Crismanich

     Hockey - (silver) 

 Las Leonas

    Tennis - (bronze) 

 Juan Martín del Potro

    Sailing - (bronze)

 Calabrese - De la Fuente

Our regards to the leading countries named USA, China and Great Britain as well!

Scrapbooking the walls?

  Kids are fascinated by the idea of sticking photos and little notes on every surface they find at hand, So, Why not making a scrapbook, but o hang on the wall? You may have noticed that there's a certain age when children start haging not only posters or pictures, but also phrases or small papers with phrases written on them on the walls. And of course this damages the house walls!!! So I think that making a scrapbook is a good alternative for those who like posting things and decorating their rooms. 

Remember that Kids scrapbooking can be a wonderful family activity, and you can make use of different materials you have at hand. That means, ribbons, carboard, stickers, paper flowers, photos, etc.

Steps

First, get a flat surface like a thick carboard or wood plaform which then you'll hang on the wall.

 

 

Second, tell kids to start collecting all the things they might use for decorating that surface. They can be the things we've mentioned before. They can use tape or nails to stick the photos or pictures on the platform.

Then, make children decide what to stick on the surface, so that the design would be totally theirs. You can also encourage them to use the platform as a memo, in which they can stick "things to do" notices. They can also add a calendar anr mark days as they pass by.

Finally, they will come up with their personal scrapbooks on the walls, and your house walls will be free of scoth stains!

 

I almost forget! Encourage them to stick their school awards and badges as well, they'll love it!

Packing a child's suitcase

  A good idea for packing your child’s suitcase is letting him/her be part of the process. For this, I hereby give you the following useful tips:

 1) It’s always useful to prepare matching outfits in advance for each day of your trip. In this way, you’ll avoid debate on what to wear each day. Always be sure of having extra outfits, in case she/he stains it with some food.

2) Explain how the weather is going to be, and let the kid choose what he/she will wear. In this way, he/she will take a leading role in choosing the clothes and will be happy once he/she has to dress up. Although the child will be in control of choices, you may also decide what’s more appropriate, though.

3) It’s always a good idea to put each outfit in a different plastic bag. This prevents the clothes from getting stains and from mixing with other non-matching outfits.

4) Remember to sew the child’s name inside all the clothes, so that in case he/she loses an item, they can find it easily.

5) If he/she is allowed to take candies or snacks, pack some in an extra bag, and put it in one of the pockets of the bags.

6) In case the child wants to take toys, he can put them inside a plastic bag, in one of the corners of the suitcase. Be sure, you include a list of the toys he/she takes, so that once back home, you can check whether something is missing or not. Avoid putting toys with small parts, because they can get lost easily.

7) Make sure the child’s backpack is not too heavy, since this is not good for their back care.