Party Time! A Mud Bowl - Fruit Punch.

Germany against Argentina, World Cup 2014, the final game!

It was exciting several weeks as we explored the wonderful German culture hands-on - toddler style! Every time Germany played a game, we offered activities related to some aspect of German culture. And here is the BIG DAY - the final post for the final game. GO, GERMANY!

Of course, we are partying today and getting ready for the game full of surprises tomorrow: this World Cup was full of surprises and unexpected results!

The best player of the World Cup!

Miroslav Klose is a forward for the national German team. He is 36, got married in 2004 and have 2 kids: Noah and Luan. He is currently Germany's all time top scorer with 71 goals. According to google, his salary was 2.1 million EUR in 2012.

But here is the main point: he is the best! With his last perfect goal against Brazil, he has overtaken Ronaldo! Miroslav Klose is the World Cup all time top scorer with 17 goals!

Does he look like

the mighty German pirate, Klaus Stortebeker?

Source: http://www.portaldenoticias.com/articulo/klose-anoto-su-gol-14-en-los-mundiales-y-esta-a-uno-de-ronaldo

“It’s a hugely emotional thing for me but people who know me will realize that my focus is already completely on Argentina, 100%,” said Klose in his interview to The Guardian.

Schlammbowle: A Mud Bowl

We are celebrating the final game with a fun Mud Bowl! This delicious punch brings lots of fun to any party. I thought it's an exact match for this occasion: it is made in no time, looks bright and brings people together, and best when all your creativity is used in process.

Choose your favorite fruits (fresh or canned). I froze berries covered with water in a Bundt cake pan. The ring of berries is a decoration all by itself. When the ring starts to melt in a drink, it slowly adds flavor to a drink changing the taste over time.

Make a mix of your favorite juices, add it to a punch bowl with the ring just before serving. Cover with ice-cream or sherbet.

Add mineral water or lemon-lime soda. Serve the bubbling solution with a ladle. Everybody's attention and smiles - guaranteed!

Explore Germany

If you live in this country or planning a trip there, you are very lucky to visit and experience the great places and things around. If travelling to Germany is not on the agenda, here are several exciting places to visit now!

Visit a city of Munich, the capital of Bavaria and the third largest city in Germany. You can find beautiful and inspiring pictures of Munich here: World Culture for Kids: Munich, Germany.  Featured: Marienplatz is the heart of Munich. Centuries ago, this place was only a crossing of roads. A group of monks decided to start their tiny village here with the name of "apud Munichen" (with the monks).

Or maybe you'd like to stroll through the countryside instead? How about a tour through the town of Heidelberg? Please, visit Around Heidelberg via Mama. Papa. Bubba. They had a great family vacation and shared their lovely pictures with us.

Learn about German traditions and how they influenced the world's culture! Kid World Citizen made a lovely review of Christmas in Germany. Did you know that the Christmas tree was born in Germany? And what with these cute boots in front of the fireplace?

Make cookies with your family and friends! These Spritzgebaeck Cookies by Glittering Muffins can bring back your best childhood memories and some smiles and warm hugs with them. Don't forget to deep them in chocolate for added fun!

This post is part of World Cup for Kids project. You can read more about it here: World Cup for Kids
Monday, June 16 Germany - Portugal
The post can be found here: Invitation to explore and build: the Brandenburg Gate
Saturday, June 21 Germany - Ghana
The post can be found here: Bremen Town Musicians
Thursday, June 26 Germany - USA
The post can be found here: German Engineering. Playmobil.
Monday, June 30 Germany - Algeria
The post can be found here: Playing with Bubbles
Friday, July 4 Germany - France
The post can be found here: Dance, Sing, and Create with Gummy Bears
Tuesday, July 8 Germany - Brazil
The post can be found here: Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a mighty German pirate.
Sunday, July 13 Germany - Argentina
The post can be found here: Party Time! Mud Bowl - Fruit Punch.
It is always exciting to explore the world and cultures. Here is one of the places to visit: Planet Called Home: In our classroom, explore the world and culture, save your planet.

Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a Mighty German Pirate.

Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a Mighty German Pirate.

We are having a month of fun with pirates in July! This week, we had an introduction to pirates and pirates' symbols, read a book, started watching "Jake and the Neverland Pirates", and tried to make pirates' hats to dress up Camilla's dolls. More pirate - themed posts are coming!

Klaus Stortebeker

Klaus Stortebeker is the most famous German pirate.  Many myths and legends surround this real historical figure. The name Stortebeker can be translated as "empty the mug in one gulp" which he could perform really well! Of course, it's like a 2 gallon mug we are talking about. The masts of the ship contained a core of gold. When the pirate was finally caught, he made a deal with the mayor of Hamburg. The mayor promised to realease as many of Stortebeker's companions as he could walk past after being beheaded. Stortebeker's body arose and walked past 11 pirates! Stortebeker memorial in Hamburg (source: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_St%C3%B6rtebeker).

The theatrical performance at the Stortebeker festival in Raiswiek was a huge success. Source: obs/Stortebeker Festspiele GmbH & Co. KG

Pirate Pete

We scored an excellent book as an intro to pirates: "Pirate Pete" by Kim Kennedy. The repetitive pattern and lots of humor and surprises - our family is in love with this book (Yes, Daddy found it more fun to read then Camilla).

All the main pirate's attributes are in the book with the excellent engaging illustrations. Pirate Pete and his parrot stole a treasure map from the Queen and set off to see. They visited Candy Island, Clover Island, Sleepy Island, Dragon Island, and Mermaid Island, and were finally caught by the Queen and her men.

Pirate's Hat

We made 3 different types of pirate's hats for play. All 3 are quick and easy - nothing fancy. For the first hat, I used the leftovers from our 4th of July party. Everybody called it "patriotic hat". Oh well, we'll do better next time. This one is definitely nice, easy to make, and sturdy.

I used a plastic bowl in the center, cut two plates in half, and stapled 3 of the halves to the bowl and  to each other at the ends. For the safety, I put clear packaging tape over the sharp edges of the staples.

Here is the second hat. It can be used as it is, or you can shape the top more.

I bent the top to make nice folding lines. Then, I pushed the triangle inside the hat following the lines.

 

The third hat. I drew the shape free hand on construction paper and cut it out. Then I traced it on the second sheet to make the second part. Camilla decorated the parts and I stapled them together.

It can be done with the black paper. I offered Camilla white to give her more options to choose the color. And she did, LOL: one side of the hat is black and red, the other side is pink and blue. She's got herself a unique, one of a kind pirate hat.

This post is a part of cultural hands-on activities for the  World Cup for Kids project.
You can read more about it here: World Cup for Kids
Monday, June 16 Germany - Portugal
The post can be found here: Invitation to explore and build: the Brandenburg Gate
Saturday, June 21 Germany - Ghana
The post can be found here: Bremen Town Musicians
Thursday, June 26 Germany - USA
The post can be found here: German Engineering. Playmobil.
Monday, June 30 Germany - Algeria
The post can be found here: Playing with Bubbles
Friday, July 4 Germany - France
The post can be found here: Dance, Sing, and Create with Gummy Bears
Tuesday, July 8 Germany - Brazil
The post can be found here: Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a mighty German pirate.
Sunday, July 13 Germany - Argentina
The post can be found here: Party Time! Mud Bowl - Fruit Punch.
You can follow us here:
Multicultural Kid Blogs - World Cup for Kids
Pinterest: World Cup for Kids 

Gummy Bear Preschool Activities

Gummy Bears are fun looking and excellent for counting and manipulating. Did you know that Gummy Bears are German?

The most impressive king of European forests, a bear was a very popular actor at the markets and festivals circus performances. Hans Riegel, a confectioner from Bonn, was inspired by the circus bears. He created his "Dancing Bear" that was bigger then the gummy bears we know.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.

Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.

Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy.

Was he?

Hans Riegel's gummy bears (gummibar in German) entertained many generations of kids around the world even when they couldn't dance. Or they couldn't until the last several years. Have you seen the Gummibar - a dancing and singing green gummy bear?

I Am Your Gummy Bear

"Oh, I am a gummy bear.

Yes, I am a gummy bear.

Oh, I am a yummy tummy funny lucky gummy bear."

These lyrics are now famous around the world and translated to 25 languages. The song was written by German composer Christian Schneider, hit YouTube, and quickly spread out as a universal, understood by "young and young at hearts", cheering and hugging cutie.

La La La I Love You
Gummibar is green with blue eyes and one ear missing a piece. He wears orange underpants and white snickers with orange stripes. Moovin' Groovin' Jammin' was discovered and immediately loved by Camilla. Of course,  with fun colors, catchy songs with repetitive lyrics, and engaging videos, it is not a surprise. There are songs for every special occasion and everyday activities.

It's a Great Summer
This is our favorite song today. I made Camilla a play-doh gummy bear as an invitation to play. It worked like a charm! She made her own awesome purple bear.

Then we took our bears to the beach. Bears (and Camilla) had a fun day at the beach which gave me much needed uninterrupted time to get ready for our 4th of July celebration. Awesome!

 

This post is a part of cultural hands-on activities for the  World Cup for Kids project.
You can read more about it here: World Cup for Kids
Monday, June 16 Germany - Portugal
The post can be found here: Invitation to explore and build: the Brandenburg Gate
Saturday, June 21 Germany - Ghana
The post can be found here: Bremen Town Musicians
Thursday, June 26 Germany - USA
The post can be found here: German Engineering. Playmobil.
Monday, June 30 Germany - Algeria
The post can be found here: Playing with Bubbles
Friday, July 4 Germany - France
The post can be found here: Dance, Sing, and Create with Gummy Bears
Tuesday, July 8 Germany - Brazil
The post can be found here: Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a mighty German pirate.
Sunday, July 13 Germany - Argentina
The post can be found here: Party Time! Mud Bowl - Fruit Punch.
You can follow us here:
Multicultural Kid Blogs - World Cup for Kids
Pinterest: World Cup for Kids 

Playing with Bubbles? Playing with Bubbles!!!

We are playing with bubbles this week. Big and small, colorful and strong, and not so much - there is something magical in a process of finding the perfect bubble solution, and a great introduction to chemistry for kids! The basic solution is easy: dish detergent and water. Of course, you can add anything else you can imagine to it; and experiment which ingredient works the best.

While having our chemistry experiments, I thought how true it is to our real world problems: crushing economies.

Here is a funny part: What crushing economies and inflations have to do with the bubble solution?

Economic Bubble in Simple Terms

Remember the basic solution? Dish detergent - assets, and liquid - money, are all it takes to create a bubble. The more money (liquidity) is invested in particular asset, the bigger the prices, the bigger is the inflated bubble. Until there is too much liquid in the solution and the bubble burst easily.

Many bubbles that burst too easily too fast are no longer enjoyable by anybody, even if they are attractive and colorful. The prices that normally were regulated by supply and demand of a healthy market are no longer under any control and chaotic.

The crisis occurs!!! Should we discard the solution and start from scratch? Or  "quantitative easing" is still possible? In the picture below, Camilla is scared of the giant bubbles.

Germany warns about global risk of asset bubbles

We continue our exploration of the German culture. Hence, the post about one of the biggest problems in the modern world. Hence, the warning from Wolfgang Schaeuble, German finance minister. Germany warns about global risk of asset bubbles

"Global central banks' efforts to inject more liquidity into the financial system are feeding asset bubbles — which could eventually burst."

"We have too much liquidity in financial markets and should not resort to large scale bond purchases."

"The low interest rates in developed economies are pushing investors into riskier markets including real estate." Risky investments artificially inflate prices and create bubbles.

These warning are not new! Historically, "Germany has long been aggressive on combating inflation and cautious about big stimulus programs."

What not to love in this logic?

Chemistry for toddlers: Honey bubbles.

Making your own bubble solution is not only fun, it teaches kids the basic chemistry! I was unsure if I should "waist time" on making my own solution and so happy I did!

Our Honey Bubble recipe:

1 1/4 cup water
1/3 cup dish detergent
2 tbsp. honey
I found Dawn dish detergent that was NOT Ultra Dawn. We made the solution at night and let it sit over night.

This solution brings lots of fun! The bubbles are different sizes and shapes. About half of them stayed inflated when on the floor.

Giant bubbles floated through the air very slowly. Camilla was scared of them at first, but then had a blast making and exploring them! Blowing into the wand is a great speech therapy exercise.

We also made our own wands from chenille stems. Exploring different shapes of wands in action and customizing them to your needs doubled the kids' fun!

This post is a part of cultural hands-on activities for the  World Cup for Kids project.
You can read more about it here: World Cup for Kids
Monday, June 16 Germany - Portugal
The post can be found here: Invitation to explore and build: the Brandenburg Gate
Saturday, June 21 Germany - Ghana
The post can be found here: Bremen Town Musicians
Thursday, June 26 Germany - USA
The post can be found here: German Engineering. Playmobil.
Monday, June 30 Germany - Algeria
The post can be found here: Playing with Bubbles
Friday, July 4 Germany - France
The post can be found here: Dance, Sing, and Create with Gummy Bears
Tuesday, July 8 Germany - Brazil
The post can be found here: Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a mighty German pirate.
Sunday, July 13 Germany - Argentina
The post can be found here: Party Time! Mud Bowl - Fruit Punch.
You can follow us here:
Multicultural Kid Blogs - World Cup for Kids
Pinterest: World Cup for Kids 

Sensory Play with Quiet Bunny

Sensory play in the great outdoors

Exploration of colors, textures, smells, temperatures... Our book of the months is "Quiet Bunny's Many Colors" by Lisa McCue. Quiet Bunny - the ultimate guide to sensory play activities for bunnies... and toddlers. So this month we went to the Great Outdoors and tried to explore the big world with all the senses we had.

It's time for a Poppins Book Nook - a book club that goes live on the last Monday of each months. The exciting theme for this month is "Great Outdoors". You can find our previous books and activities here:
The Runaway Bunny
Little Blue Truck
The Little Speckled Hen

Quiet Bunny's Many Colors

How does it feel to have the warm sun on the nose? Or the tickly grass between the toes? We had to witness that, and much more, first hand. Quiet Bunny is such a great inspiration! This beautifully written book offer very busy bright illustrations that are quite explorations by themselves. We played "look and find" with this book - a lot! Every time Camilla looked at the page, she could find some new animal or bug, or object. All are so pretty!

Quiet Bunny stayed very adventures throughout the book making Camilla think and wonder, and giving us ideas for the sensory play.

He covered himself in sticky honey and dandelions because he wanted to be yellow. We had to play and paint with honey too!
He fell into the stream next to a green frog that tried to catch a fly with the long tongue(yes, we tried the tongue thing, LOL).
He ran blind through the grass because his eyes were covered with the lily pad. We had to discover that we need our eyes to see when we run through the grass.
He tumbled down the hill. How does it feel? We tried to pause and talk about it - work in progress!
Quiet Bunny turned blue with the help of blueberry juice - that is not new. It is also very messy! Even Camilla knows that ;) Our To Do list for July: visit a blueberry patch and read "Jamberry" by Bruce Degen.
The bunny leaped and frolicked under the rain. Camilla did too and loved it! How do June showers feel? - warm, wet, and fun! Camilla liked to get some rain drops in the cup.
Quiet Bunny covered himself in red clay. Oh, this is very messy. I'll try to stay brave and let Camilla have some wet clay this summer.
Quiet Bunny talked to a water reflection of the large owl. We observed the colors and surfaces of several ponds in the parks and in this book. Then Camilla had to mix colors to paint her own lake for her Dad's birthday. You can read about it here: Learning about Birds: Art and Dance

According to Lisa McCue, "We are all beautiful!"

Play and Paint with Honey

We set up our sensory exploration station outside. First, we had to gather the flowers. Camilla had to play with the flowers in water for quite some time.

She tasted honey and found it "yummy".

Then, she started painting bunny with her fingers and with the brush. The bunny is laminated - great for sticky honey, and we were able to wash bunnies after the play. The laminated picture stayed perfectly fine. Kids were happy to take their bunnies home for more play.

The sticky nature of the honey "paint" gives the painting experience the whole new perspective! The flowers stuck to the picture and dried fast. It was not that easy to wash them out in the pool. We had to scrub.

While the bunny was drying out, we added more fun to the "honey paint". The girls enjoyed painting the rest of the bunnies and the table with shaving cream and paints mixed in.

Finally, everybody got tired of painting everything they saw around. Washing time with colorful sponges brought in the new fun all by itself.

Great Outdoors

I hope you enjoy following a group of these wonderful bloggers - hosts of Poppins Book  Nook!

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God's Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy's Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~ Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ Laugh and Learn ~ A Mommy's Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ Ever After in the Woods ~ Golden Grasses ~ Our Simple Kinda Life ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Simplicity Breeds Happiness ~ Raventhreads ~ Learning Fundamentals ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~ Where Imagination Grows ~ Lextin Academy ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ Mom's Heart ~ A Moment in our World ~ Every Bed of Roses ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ Suncoast Momma ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A "Peace" of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am ~ eLeMeNo-P Kids ~ Simple Living Mama

 Poppins Book Nook Giveaway!

Every month the Poppins Book Nook group will be offering readers

a chance to win a brand new storybook

that ties in with our theme for the month.

This month one lucky entrant will win
 

a copy of the classic storybook Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping as no one brings that certain flair and fun to the great outdoors like Amelia Bedelia. The winner will also win an Uncle Milton Nat Geo Starry Night Lantern so whether you live in the countryside or in the city your child can experience some of the great outdoors while reading your storybook.

 

 

Follow Poppins Book Nook on Pinterest
Clip art by: Melon Headz

Learning about Birds. Art and Dance: Swan Lake.

Learning about Birds: Art and Dance

We've been busy: painting, drawing, discussing birds, observing birds in the parks and the Zoo, dancing - pretending to be birds. This is a very beautiful and exciting theme for preschoolers!

This post is the last for exploring the wonderful Russian culture hands-on with the World Cup for Kids project. There were 32 countries participating in the World Cup. After many exciting games, only 16 countries made it to the next stage.

Congratulations, Team USA, and thanks for the great games!

Tuesday, June 17 Russia - Korea Republic
The post can be found here: Cupcake Castle: Play-doh and scissors skills
Sunday, June 22 Russia - Belgium
The post can be found here: Treasure chest and precious stones from fairytales
Thursday, June 26 Russia - Algeria
Do you want to read more about Russia? Birch - Russian Soul

Swans in Russian Culture

"Swan Lake" is probably the most famous, with its wonderful music composed by P.I. Tchaikovsky and beautiful ballet dancers dressed as swans. The ballet was first staged in 1877 in Bolshoi Theater, Moscow. An interesting fact: the premier was heavily criticized for poor production and Tchaikovsky's music that was found too noisy.

The magical story of Swan Lake is about eternal love. Odette, The Queen of the swans, was transformed into a swan by the evil sorcerer. Prince Siegfried is into partying and sports, busy celebrating his 21st birthday, and finally goes hunting with friends. There by the lake, he falls in love with Odette by the first sight. Only he and his love can save Odette from the evil spell. Prince fails his task. The only option they have left to be together is to die. Siegfried and Odette jump into the lake and reunite for all eternity.

This romantic and tragic ending was changed many times and many versions of the ending to the story exist. So we can also use our imagination to have an ending to our liking. Was the evil sorcerer killed? Did Siegfried die in a fight? Did they both die in the fight? Did Odette jump into the lake alone? Were they both transferred into swans and flew away? What is your favorite ending?

Swans are revered deep in Russian culture. They believed to accompany the Sun God, Ra. They have wonderful virtues of purity, fidelity, nobility, and magic powers. A beautiful girl, a white swan of Russian legends, could do all wise and magic things to help her loved one. According to Russian beliefs, if a person had killed a swan, he and all his family were destined to an unhappy ending.

Exploring and creating

We went to the zoo to learn more about birds. Camilla's favorites are flamingo, penguins, and swans. We found this gorgeous Mommy swan sitting on the nest!

I invited her to dance with the "Swan Lake". She was very creative with a free dance. Then I told her that dancers pretend they are birds with their arms as wings. This simple idea was very new for her and really helped her to understand the purpose of wings for birds - funny!

I also pointed out the colors of the ponds and lakes in the pictures in the books and in parks we visited. When the time came to paint our own lake, we chose the colors of lighter and darker blue, green, purple, and white. Camilla enjoyed painting, mixing, and dabbing white spots on top for reflections. It did take a lot of her to create her lake.

It took us 3 days to make this simple picture below. It was made as Daddy's birthday present. He liked it a lot - the hand prints and the meaning, I guess. Camilla painted the lake first and we let it dry. On the second day, she used Do-a-Dots for grass and flowers around the lake. Then we made the hand prints with white tempera paint and extended the swans' heads by finger painting. I used markers for beaks and eyes.

This swan is a hand print with tempera paint on the black construction paper. Camilla used sidewalk chalk to finish the scene.

I very much hope you enjoy following our hands-on discoveries of the countries and cultures with these wonderful blogs!

All Done Monkey * Kid World Citizen * Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes * Laugh and Learn * LadyDeeLG * Head of the Heard * Marie's Pastiche * Mama Tortuga * Chasing The Donkey * La Cite Des Vents * Homeschool Ways * Melibelle In Tokyo * 30 Minute Crafts * My Twintopia * The Piri-piri Lexicon * MarocMama * Growing Up Gabel * Las Vegas Moms Blog * My Daylights

 You can follow us here:

Multicultural Kid Blogs - World Cup for Kids
Pinterest: World Cup for Kids 

German Engineering. Playmobil.

I searched "Playmobil vs. Lego" and the first thing I noticed, "Lego vs. Playmobil is like Apple vs. Microsoft". This post is a part of "World Cup for Kids" and we are continuing exploring the German culture hands-on.

 

German Scientists

The discoveries made by German Scientists shaped the world as we know it. 104 Germans were awarded the Nobel Prize with the majority of them being scientists.

I thought I'd mention a co-awardee of 2013 Nobel Prize Thomas C. Sudhof, M.D., a German biochemist from Gottingen.

How does our brain work? The major current break-through discoveries are in neuroscience because people learn more and more about the ways to look inside the head and see how it actually works. When we think and learn, our brain cells "talk" to each other by sending special chemicals - proteins - neurotransmitters - from cell to cell - processing and storing information in our head along the way. Neuroscientists studied how a second cell receives these chemicals and as a result we can learn and remember. Dr. Sudhof concentrated his research on how a first cell sends the chemicals to the second cell. The results of his research has allowed understanding of Alzheimer's, Schizophrenia, and a type of Autism inherited by children.

Off topic. Dr. Sudhof was able to research the inherited autism. More research is needed to find the causes of autism because the autism rates are rising in the USA! For example, this article found here: Pregnant women should pay attention to link between pesticides, autism. According to CDC, 1 in 68 children is diagnosed with ASD (1 in 45 in New Jersey). The author of the article points to the environmental toxins in overpopulated areas as a possible cause of ASD.

German Engineering

German Engineering meant innovation and reliability - for centuries! What does it mean today? Auto industry: BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche. Over 25% of the value of the cars are in the electronics and software. Siemens: energy and health care (hearing aids, anyone?). Bosch: power tools. Krupp: small appliances (espresso machine, anyone?). BASF: chemicals used in nylon, resins, finishing compounds, and fibers. German economy is the third largest in the world!

Playmobil

Playmobil celebrates its 40th anniversary this year! It was created by Hans Beck in 1974. You can build any small world imaginable with Playmobil: great for open play, pretend play, creativity, and developing engineering skills.

Fun fact from Playmobil, "Every second the world population increases by 2.6 people, but in the same amount of time, 3.2 Playmobil figures are born."

Exploring engineering with a preschooler

Playmobil toys are rated for 4-10 year olds. The sets include either small parts or tiny parts which make it difficult to keep these sets together.

For Camilla, Playmobil toys are hours of playing and a great intro into the world of constructing and engineering! The parts are realistic-looking objects used to create a functioning farm, or a pool, or a playground. She was able to get it together with my assistance. After that, she loves to take things apart, and mix and match to create her own worlds. This puts her in charge of building and new sensory experiences. The result is a total mess and work in progress lasting forever, but well worth it!

Just awesome for fine motor skills, creativity, problem solving, and language development!

In honor of Playmobil's 40th birthday, special value sets - limited 40th Anniversary edition are available on Amazon. They include special bonus sets in each of these 4 sets.
There are only limited quantities available. They are almost sold out!

 Knight`s Tournament

Compact Set + Cannon Wagon: Prepare for the joust by practicing with the training dummy. The weapon stand contains all sorts of medieval gear to help the knight protect the kingdom. When it's time for the competition, gallop into the arena on the royal stallion and greet the fans. After the tournament, protect the kingdom from foreign enemies with the bonus Cannon Wagon. Transport the functioning cannon using the horse-drawn wagon and keep enemies at bay. Compact set includes two figures, horse, training dummy, battle axes, armor, shield, and other accessories. Bonus set includes one figure, horse, functioning cannon, and more.

Pony Pasture

Compact Set + Pony Wagon (my favorite): Look after the ponies as they graze in the pasture, filled with trees, a small pond, flowers, hay, and more. After tending to the ponies, take an afternoon ride through the country in the bonus Pony Wagon with functioning wheels. Compact set also includes two figures, grooming tool, birds, butterfly, and other accessories. Bonus set also includes one figure, pony with harness, vegetables, basket, and more.

Fire Rescue

Operation Compact Set + Quad: featuring a functioning water hose. With the help of the bonus Quad, kids can respond to emergencies even faster. Just pull back the car and release to send it zooming to the rescue! Compact set includes three figures, working fire hose, fire hydrant, house, tree, flowers, and more. Bonus set includes one figure, pull-back quad car, rescue cable, and additional accessories.

Princess Island

Compact Set + Romantic Gondola (just great for building a fairy garden with all the fun little things. I love 2 pretty swans that can carry their babies): The princess takes a leisurely stroll on her private island, adorned with a beautiful rose arch and majestic swans. Enjoy a boat ride with the prince in the Romantic Gondola bonus set, which floats and can pull up along the Princess Island at the private dock. Compact set includes two figures, two swans and chicks, bird bath, doves, roses, and more. Bonus gift includes two figures, floating gondola, harp and other accessories.

I included affiliated links for your convenience. If you buy any of the products through these links, Laugh and Learn receives a small portion of the price with no difference in price for you. Thank you so much for your support of this blog!

The beautiful pictures of the fairy gardens can be found here: Fairy Gardens

I very much hope you will enjoy following our hands-on discoveries of the countries and cultures with these wonderful blogs!

All Done Monkey * Kid World Citizen * Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes * Laugh and Learn * LadyDeeLG * Head of the Heard * Marie's Pastiche * Mama Tortuga * Chasing The Donkey * La Cite Des Vents * Homeschool Ways * Melibelle In Tokyo * 30 Minute Crafts * My Twintopia * The Piri-piri Lexicon * MarocMama * Growing Up Gabel * Las Vegas Moms Blog * My Daylights

This post is a part of the World Cup for Kids project.
You can read more about it here: World Cup for Kids
Monday, June 16 Germany - Portugal
The post can be found here: Invitation to explore and build: the Brandenburg Gate
Saturday, June 21 Germany - Ghana
The post can be found here: Bremen Town Musicians
Thursday, June 26 Germany - USA
The post can be found here: German Engineering. Playmobil.
Monday, June 30 Germany - Algeria
The post can be found here: Playing with Bubbles
Friday, July 4 Germany - France
The post can be found here: Dance, Sing, and Create with Gummy Bears
Tuesday, July 8 Germany - Brazil
The post can be found here: Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a mighty German pirate.
Sunday, July 13 Germany - Argentina
The post can be found here: Party Time! Mud Bowl - Fruit Punch.
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