Kids Craft: Caterpillar Greeting Card

While Thumbprint Caterpillar cards were fun, Ana, my 4-yr-old, seemed to want more. That's how this fabric-card caterpillar project came about.

Items Used: scraps of cotton fabric, card stock paper, craft glue, scissors, googly eyes, dried garden debris, pink fuzz

• Step 1: Cut some scrap fabric to reasonable size/shape


• Step 2: Apply some glue generously on card stock paper and paste the pieces of fabric willy-nilly covering the entire surface


• Step 3: Allow it to dry a little


• Step 4: On the backside of the card stock paper with glued-on fabric, draw little circles with some bottle cap, without much wastage


• Step 5: Cut out the circles as best as possible


• Step 6: Fold a card stock paper to required greeting card size; Glue these cut out circles onto it to make the caterpillar form; cut little antennae from the remains of the fabric-card or use twigs from the garden


• Step 7: Add fuzz, twigs, and other yard debris for texture; glue eyes with googly eyes or beads; glue pink fuzz or a piece of yarn or any other handy thing for a smiley mouth


• Step 8: Stand back and beam

Ana needed some help cutting out the circles - the card stock with glued on fabric was rather thick making it tough even for me to cut out.

Disclaimer: we were not aiming for anatomically correct reproductions, just something conjured up with some imagination and produced with available items at hand.

A variation: To get extra dimension and effect, we took little strips of card stock paper about 0.5cm wide by 1.5cm long, tri-folded it, glued one per circle on the back, then, glued the other end (flat surface) of the tri-fold strip on to the greeting card, for the standard "raised" effect.

Also glued leaves from the backyard tree for legs/hair, and Ana's touch: glue some green leaves for the caterpillar to eat. Of course, when the leaves dry out they will naturally fall off, so, make this card fresh and hand it over to the lucky recipient right away :)



And, when caterpillars are here, can butterflies be far behind?

This butterfly is Ana's imagination: There was enough fabric-glued card leftover from making caterpillars and Ana started cutting them up just like that. And, seeing that there were purple and pink pieces that sort of looked like butterfly wings, she started gluing the various pieces to resemble the butterfly form. There were leftover antennae pieces that she didn't want to throw away so they came in handy as well. I gave her the buttons just for effect.

Kids Games: Würfel-Zwerge

This charming little kids game, Dwarves and Dice, is quite popular with my four year old, so, I thought I could share it here... and hopefully get fellow moms to let me know about other simple kids games that is a hit with their little ones. Also known as Le jeu des nains (French) or Würfel-Zwerge (German) the game is made by Selecta^™.

It is a very simple game: 56 little wooden cards have pictures of dwarves wearing pants, shirt and hat of various colors. Three dice are rolled at once. The resultant color combination starts the race to find the one single card among the 56 in which the dwarf's pants, shirt and hat matches the colors from the dice roll. Whoever finds the matching card first gets to keep that card. And the next player takes turn to roll the dice and so on. The game has a few variations for older kids, but in the simplest version the game ends when the dice-roll results in a color combination already played (and therefore the card is not on the table anymore).

I fell in love with this game right away and haven't turned down an invitation from Ana to play so far. Ana is pretty quick if she is into the game, so, initially I take it slow and let her 'win' a few cards so she doesn't get frustrated...

This is not really a memory game, just needs sharp observation and quick processing.

The pictures of the dwarves on the cards are terribly cute with interesting facial expressions and poses. The first few times we played when Ana was three, she would just stare at the pictures and study them, not really getting the hang of the game. The colors are vibrant and eye-catching.

If there is one thing I would change about it, it is the same issue I had with Candyland: the red and pink tend to blend together in indoor light; I would make the red a little deeper and leave the pink closer to pale baby-ish pink. Invariably D confuses the pink and the red, and Ana and I have to help him relearn his colors :)

The Mom from Little Guru Skool

About 3 months back a Mom sent me a mail. She said "I have created this collection of bilingual Books and DVDs because I wanted to introduce my son to Indian culture at an early age. I feel that this is an issue that might be interesting to your readers. " and then she gave me her website address and some media articles about her and her company.

I was thoroughly impressed, a Mom, a MBA and an entrepreneur with such a creative idea. I was so smitten that I asked her for an interview by e-mail. She readily obliged. I was still more impressed, she had done a lot of the artwork and content for the line of books and DVD and those books looked write on target to get a kid growing up in a foreign country acquainted with India and its culture and also the language

My Mothers Day post which is way late is dedicated to Pooja Pittie Goel the founder of Little Guru Skool. Kudos to her for pursuing her dream

Below is the interview she did for Desi Momz Club

1. What prompted you to start Liitle GuruSkool ?

I was inspired to create Little GuruSkool because I wanted to introduce my son to Indian culture at an early age. I could not find any books or DVDs in the market (either in the US or in India) that were appropriate for pre-schoolers - educational and entertaining at the same time. I wanted to expose my son to Indian languages, music, art and nature in a fun and interactive way. When I talked to other parents, I discovered that I was not the only one facing this problem. So I decided to create the products myself!

2. Were you inspired by Baby Einstein series ?

I think we have many products in the US for preschool children that are interactive & fun while being educational. I admire Disney's Baby Einstein range of products - they are brilliant! Since similar products don't really exist for this age group in India, I drew inspiration from my childhood memories in India while developing Little GuruSkool. Everyday objects, colors, music and nature that represent India to me - things that I want my son to be aware of and relate to - they are my inspiration.

I like to think that Little GuruSkool books and DVDs provide a good balance of Indian and American culture. The material isn't too "ethnic" - the color sensibility & illustration is quite modern.

3.Which age range do you target ?

The current products are targeted towards the preschool age group - 1 to 5 years. However, I have had parents use them for older children too - it depends on how much exposure the child has had to Indian languages and Indian culture. My son turned 6 last October but enjoys reading the books (now he reads them himself!) and looking at the illustrations and listening to the music.

4. Who writes and illustrates for the board books as well as the DVDs ?

I have created the storyboards and illustrations for the books myself. I am an amateur painter so this is a great creative outlet for me! I have also produced the DVDs myself - I worked with a film production studio in India. I traveled there often and spent weeks at a stretch - I was involved in every aspect of production from script writing to graphic design to filming & editing.

5. I see the books are bilingual. What about the DVD ?

The books feature words in English, Hindi (in Devnagri script) and transliteration in English. The DVDs are bilingual too - one can choose either an English or Hindi soundtrack from the main menu.

6. How old is your son ? Does he enjoy this line of product ?

My son turned 6 in October 2008 - I have used all the books and DVDs with him and he enjoyed them a lot! Even now, he enjoys reading the books himself, looking at the colorful Indian illustrations and learns new Hindi words each time he watches the DVDs.

7. Tell us a little about yourself and how you ventured into this business. It might inspire many more Moms you know

My academic background is in Accounting and Finance (I'm a Chartered Accountant from India and a CPA). I got my MBA from the University of Chicago GSB in 2005 and worked in Brand Finance at Unilever's Dove hair for 1.5 years thereafter. In March 2007, I left Unilever to pursue Little GuruSkool full-time.

I have no prior media experience but as an Indian mom living abroad, I have a clear idea of what I want my son to learn about India. This vision is what guides me as I build and grow Little GuruSkool!

The response to the products has been thrilling - it is very satisfying to answer my son's questions about Indian culture as he reads a Little GuruSkool book and I hope that parents around the world can enjoy exploring this exciting culture together!

Do check out her web site nad products and send comments, ideas and suggestions at pooja.goel@littleguruskool.com

Parents, WATCH your kids please!

I was asked by Sandeepa to contribute to a Mothers Day special at Desi Momz Club (love this site with its wonderful contributions). Yes, my previous entry was in a way dedicated to mothers, but I felt I needed to say something else... not just a personal entry on what happened between me and my little one. Well, last night something happened which prompted me to write this...

It was a beautiful, sunny evening and I was preparing dinner, when at around 6 pm, there was banging on the front door and someone ringing the bell frantically. Turned out to be the 14-year-old boy from across the street, clutching his 10-month-old sister (the fifth child of our neighbors) - asking if I had seen his other sister - a beautiful 5-year-old with curly blond hair and greenish blue eyes. She was nowhere to be found, he screamed - could we join the search party please?

Of course, my heart started pounding and I was stunned. We live in a very safe neighborhood in the suburbs of Houston, where people leave their doors open and the children walk or cycle to school on their own. And yes, people do let their kids play unsupervised on the front yard. That was something which always bothered me. The little girl would play everyday all by herself in front of the house - on her bike or walking their poodle. My first thought was "Oh God, someone has snatched this pretty little girl away from her front yard" - not because I am paranoid and never let my little one alone (and that is true - I am with her if she decides to play in the front yard), but because this is a reality which has repeated time and again to so many families across the world. Little ones lost because some creep found it easy to stop, chat and whisk them into cars.

The next 20-25 minutes were a blur - all the neighbors outside, the mother screaming and wailing down the street and banging on every door to ask if their daughter was inside playing, and the older siblings rushing around on bikes searching the jogging trails in the area. My husband joined them, but the first thing he did was to go inside the neighbors house and look through closed cabinets, inside the pantry, inside washing machine and dryer and checked the bayou which ran behind their home. He tried to ask the couple if they had searched every room in the house for he was wondering if she could be hiding somewhere inside. The mother and the father were too upset and hysterical to answer questions. The cops came. And then as suddenly, the little girl was found. She was, indeed, hiding inside the house!!!!!!!! What joy, what relief. And what a jolt to the tranquil suburban lifestyle. I bet her mother will keep an eagle eye on her from now on. I will see if she is allowed to play unsupervised from now onwards.

There are plenty of scary statistics out there on how many kids get abducted (see National Center for Missing & Exploited Children too). To quote one "In 80% of abductions by strangers, the first contact occurs within a quarter mile of the child's home. In many cases, the abduction does too.- - 1990 U.S. Justice Department". You will get plenty of information on how to keep your child safe and what to do if one does go missing. We should all take the time to read these. And pray that this experience NEVER happens to you, to anyone you know or any other child you don't know. But this is beyond our control. While there are disturbed people with bad intentions, this will continue. Think of Madeleine McCann. Did the parents ever imagine their child would be taken from their bedroom at a resort? No. She's still missing.

I think, as mothers (and I say mothers first because statistically they are higher in numbers than dads who stay at home or take their kids to the park) and fathers, the one thing we can do is keep an eye on our children!! Don't assume they are safe just because they are playing outside your home or with the neighbors kids. Talk to them about safety issues, and pay attention to your kids if they tell you they don’t want to be with someone or go somewhere.

Here are some tips we all can follow.

What are the most important things parents should tell children about safety?
- Always check first with a parent, guardian, or trusted adult before going anywhere, accepting anything, or getting into a car with anyone.
- Do not go out alone. Always take a friend with when going places or playing outside.
- Say no if someone tries to touch you, or treats you in a way that makes you feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused. Get out of the situation as quickly as possible.
- Tell a parent, guardian, or trusted adult if you feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused.
- There will always be someone to help you, and you have the right to be safe.

I will end now. My thoughts are with all those who are still searching for their missing kids. Good luck and may you have the strength to go through this terrifying situation. And for the others, hope these tips will make us at least more aware of the harsh reality of a world where things can go terribly wrong... in a matter of seconds.

What it takes to be a good mother

My choice of mothers for the Mother's Day event at DMC may be a little unusual, but bear with me...

Many years ago, on a shivering cold, rainy monsoon day, a cat landed up at our drawing room window. At the time we stayed in a government bungalow which had deeply recessed windows at an almost 2 foot depth, so it sheltered the cat very well from the rain and she gave birth to two kittens. One of them died that very night, sadly, but the other one lived and graciously allowed us to look after him whenever his Royal Majesty pleased.

We observed after some time that our cat, Sphinx, was always highly alert on Saturday mornings, at about 10:00 am. I don't know if he could tell time, but we could have told it by his behaviour. Bang at 10 am, every saturday morning, Sphinx would clamour to be out in the garden, and would sit there, every muscle focused, whiskers quivering with excitement. And every Saturday morning, without fail, dropping all her other commitments, his mom would come, on the dot of 10 am.

The two of them would have a gala time, running and chasing each other by turns, jumping through the tall grass in our somewhat overgrown garden, leaping up at flowers, playing roll-me-over, giving in to the irrepressible joy of meeting again in the most physical way possible. And then, the two of them, tired out from the hullabaloo, would curl up in the shade of the peach tree, all snarled up so you couldn't tell where the mother cat ended and the baby cat began, and take a peaceful nap, before momma had to get back to her usual job.

It was amazing to see with what regularity this happened, and to feel the joy of the two cats. All too often, one hears that cats are unemotional, practicalt creatures, more conscious of their own creature comforts than anything else. But this instance was almost an object lesson, about creating quality time for your child, and letting nothing - no deadline, no dead mouse - come in the way.

Years later, our servant had kept a Spitz as a pet but once it got pregnant, he realised that he didn't want to spend the money on getting her proper treatment through the process so my sister took on the job. We had to rush her to a vet all the way out in NOIDA, a good 1 hour's drive away from our then home, not to mention feed her motion sickness pills and later give her lots of vitamins and supplements to replace those she didn't get as a young puppy. She had 8 puppies, two male and 6 female, though one of the males died soon after birth.

We put out a cardboard box lined with an old, soft, cotton sari for the puppies, and the mother took amazing care of them. She was barely a year old herself at the time, much too young to have kids. She used to sit with them for the first couple of weeks, and then, as they grew up a little, she loved walking around the huge lawns of the house. Every time she came anywhere near the pups, all 7 would start mewling at her in the most plaintive way and she'd have to lie there and feed them for hours. As they became older and stronger, we could tell that she was getting really irritated with the whole feeding process, not to mention tired out, but apart from a few teeth-baring incidents, she did her job as a mom. This actually carried on till we took her to the vet for a postnatal check and found out that since she hadn't been given the right supplements when a baby, her feeding the pups was actually weakening her own bones.

Watching her in action with the pups was incredible. One may say whatever one wants about animal instinct, but she, at her young age, was so giving of herself, literally and figuratively. It was a great lesson about what it takes to be a mom - dedication and the ability to put someone else's welfare ahead of one's own.


We wound up adopting her and her son, since the servant didn't have the means to take proper care of them. We're grateful we still have this mother around, a matriarch now at 14 ( 98 dog years), and only hope she stays on with us a little longer. And though since then she's gone on to bite almost everyone in the family at least once, except Dad, we still rate her one of the best moms ever!

Mothers Talk related to Kids Social skill

From CNN,

Mothers often get blamed for the way their children turn out, and a new study gives additional weight to that accusation.

Research from the United Kingdom shows that the way mothers talk to their children at a young age influences their social skills later in childhood.

It also says,

But social understanding does not guarantee good behavior, the authors said. Children who showed the most sophisticated social skills in this study also behaved the most negatively toward their mothers in the team task of steering a model car around a race track. This suggests that social understanding isn't everything and must be used in beneficial ways, Yuill said.

Looking for a Nanny???

This is just a random post, nothing to do with Mothers Day or anything.

It is some information about Nannies that I wanted to share especially for people living in the Tri-State area. Some of these nannies are willing to re-locate within the US too.

If you are looking for Indian Nannies, try putting an ad in Indian news papers from NYC like India Abroad etc.

There is this Bangladeshi newspaper called "Thikana". You can fax them your ad and pay $25-$35 for an ad run for a week. Most Bangladeshi and Indian nannies in NYC peruse this newspaper for job openings and chances are your phone will be ringing non-stop

There is an agency in NYC whose name I don't know but the Ph. # is 718-205-9870. They are a good point-of-contact for Indian nannies too.

I have no ties, links, sponsorship from any of the above sources and I do not vouch for them either. Hire someone at your own discretion

Before you hire someone though, do a thorough background check, get several referrals, check out the family they have worked for before, spend a week or two with the nanny & your baby at your home after hiring, keep random checks by popping up un-announced and go with your instinct.