Author: Gauri Kshirsagar
Our lives have all been affected by the Coronavirus/COVID-19 and things are still constantly changing worldwide. Besides adults having questions, your young children might also have questions, but don’t know how to ask or how to express feelings they might be having. Continue reading “BOOK REVIEW:Coronavirus: A Book for Children Illustrated by Axel Scheffler”
Author: Gauri Kshirsagar
Art has always had a big impact in my life. As a lover of all things beautiful, I want to make sure that my kids grow up willing and able to appreciate art, particularly classical art and good design. For me, one of the saddest things is seeing people whine about museum visits. Continue reading “Art Appreciation: Van Gogh and my Twins”
Author: Gauri Kshirsagar
The Twins had a “Market”- themed month in school, wherein one of them got this idea of making a pretend shop-front for school. And not just any shop she specifically wanted to make a ‘Perfume shop’. She was ready with a plan all meticulously noted down on paper – exotic named perfumes, their price, colour of the shop, name of the shop….and so on. She had her eyes on an amazon cardboard box which she declared was perfect for her and got us all on board. Me doing all the cutting and decorating of the box, their dad getting a stack of small perfumes bottles and the twins coming up with different perfumes names and making a price list.
Continue reading “DIY Activity 22: Pretend shop front made out of cardboard box”
Author: Gauri Kshirsagar
I had written about the debut of ‘One with Nature’ in Pune few days back in my post: Review: ‘One with Nature’, Fun Nature Fest for Kids and Parents! This year the second edition was held at Empress Garden on 1st and 2nd February and like its predecessor, it was filled with fun and ‘masti’.
Continue reading “Review: ‘One with Nature’-Pune 2020 – Edition 2”
Author: Gauri Kshirsagar
According to Richard Louv (2008 Audubon Medal Recipient and author of Last Child in the Woods), kids today are becoming more and more removed from nature, at the expense of their own psychological and physical well-being. Children are spending more time in structured activities and on electronic devices, leaving little time for unstructured play in nature. Understanding that many of us live the reality of a hustling, busy day-to-day life, I am not suggesting that we all pick up and move to the mountains, though the idea certainly seems appealing at times, but a short ‘nature’ trip can as well do the trick.
Many of us have heard of the Valley of Flowers in the scenic Himalayas, but how many of us know there is a similar yet smaller version of it in Maharashtra, a short drive from the bustling city of Pune? If you want to take a small weekend or day nature trip with your kids around Pune, this is the place for you. The Kaas Plateau, also known as Kaas Pathar, is a plateau situated 26 kilometres west from Satara city in Maharashtra, India. It falls under the Sahyadri Sub Cluster of the Western Ghats, and it became a part of a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in 2012.
Continue reading “Kaas Pathar: A Nature Lover’s Paradise in the Western Ghats”
Author: Gauri Kshirsagar
Girls’ empowerment, to be fair, has been part of the Disney princess marketing message. Ever since The Little Mermaid came out in 1989, Disney has been customising fairy tales to make them palatable to modern sensibilities — injecting some level of spunk or work ethic into one-dimensional characters, tweaking story lines so princesses could play at least some role in their own saving. But I have felt these efforts to be faulty given how the tie-in consumer products have turned out. Segregated toy aisles — Cars vs. Dolls, Lego Star Wars vs. Lego Friends, pink vs. blue, delicate toys vs. masculine toys — and the messages they send to both boys and girls about ambition, interests, and career possibilities. Their purpose is to primp, pose, and drum up a global appetite for bling.
Author: Gauri Kshirsagar
One of Pune’s biggest landmark, Empress garden in camp has been a host to numerable kid friendly activities over the past few years. One such fun fest was organized by Beyond Academics in December 8th and 9th 2018 called the ‘One with Nature’ which the twins attended (They were 5 years old then). With a Sprawling garden specializing in regional plants, with rare trees, flowers and a kids’ area, it was a day well spent with lots of kid oriented fun activities. Continue reading “Review: ‘One with Nature’, Fun Nature Fest for Kids and Parents!”
Author: Gauri Kshirsagar
If you grew up watching the Muppets or Punch and Judy, you probably understand just how magical puppets can be for children. Through these larger-than-life characters, young audiences learn important lessons and form long-lasting bonds. But it’s not just watching puppets that can make a difference in young children’s lives; playing puppets can have a profound effect on childhood development, too. Handing over a hand puppet or two to your child opens up a world of imaginative and open-ended play.
Continue reading “DIY Activity 21: Make your own Puppet Theatre”
Author: Gauri Kshirsagar
Floral crowns and tiaras are so pretty and dreamy to make for playing pretend fairy princess or are a simple way to dress up for a spring or summer party. From crowns made of fresh flowers to felt, crepe tissue, or paper, they just add a beautiful touch to the dress. Continue reading “DIY Activity 20: Easy-to-make fresh flower tiara, corsage and necklace in under 20 minutes!”
Hair loss after pregnancy is quiet common and distressing. This kind of hair loss generally begins about 1-2 months after delivery. Severity is much more in twin/triplet (multiple pregnancies). Onset is a lot of times sudden and a bunch of hairs are lost before even treatment is started.
Raising Twins™ 