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Dear friends. I laid off my translator (me) because she was very bad. I am very sorry I will not be able to continue with the bog, but if you are interesting you can follow us in our Spanish blog because our pictures talk by themselves. Thank you for your time. Love María.

Frightening away night monsters. Inhabited curtains.

It seemed a peaceful night, until a shattering scream from upstairs startled me. You know that moms can identify a change in our kid breathing behind two locked doors and a floor apart, while we obviate the sound of a blown glass on the floor in the middle of the night. That cry had awakened the laziest father... but it did not. I went flying in my interstellar rocket and found myself face to face with a terrible invasion of monsters in the room of my little Daniel. I think my presence frightened them and took them out of Dani´s eyesight. To ensure the successful monster flight we sprayed everything with the most effective  monsters repellent: water with drops of lavender essential oil.

Once solved this annoyance, I returned to bed with the taste of the mission accomplished. Only an hour later, I felt in my heart the same cry, just seconds before hearing it with my own ears. Dani told me between sobs that "nousemonsters" had disappeared but in their place, a horde of "tinymonsters" who invaded his bed, had emerged. The best remedy against "tinymonsters” is a friend sizable monster in the bed of the infant. So we did, "Little Monster" stood by Daniel, with eyes wide open, guarding his sweet dreams.

An hour before what is called day, "gigamonster" moved across the threshold of Dani´s door, while shaking all at his feet and he issued our beloved "Little Monster" to shiver under the bed. I promised Dani to solve the problem for the subsequent night. And so I act, I placed a magic curtain that frightens monsters in threshold of the door. (Bought at Imaginarium.)

The evening was looming placid until midnight when a band of "flymonsters" went through every window and slipped into the room, knocking lamps and other equipment. That had already taken more than thorny ways and only a radical solution could end so many setbacks. Dani and I conclude that the best way to scare off all these undesirable monsters was with a monster repellent battalion of cuddly toys. So we proceeded, I sewed three shades with spread trenches that were conquered by stuffed animals. And finally we eliminate our latest weakness and we put away all these odious visitors ever.

WEEK 8. Playing brainstorming to develop our mind.

Lamarck: "Function creates the organ."

Brainstorming is a group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution of a problem. There are four basic rules in brainstorming.

1. - Focus on quantity: The assumption is that the greater the number of ideas generated, the greater the chance of producing a radical and effective solution.

2. - Withhold criticism: In brainstorming, criticism of ideas generated should be put 'on hold'.

3.-Welcome unusual ideas: To get a good and long list of ideas, unusual ideas are welcomed. They can be generated by looking from new perspectives and suspending assumptions.

4. - Combine and improve ideas: Good ideas may be combined to form a single better good idea, as suggested by the slogan "1+1=3". It is believed to stimulate the building of ideas by a process of association.

Our week activity is to play our particular adaptation of a brainstorming. This game can be played at spares times as the way to school, in the waiting rooms ... It consists on saying "solutions" to a question.

I have created a pack of cards with three thematic groups:

1. - Green Cards: Naming real entities (objects, things, actions, sounds ...) (Download)
Ex: "Let's say carnivores."
2. - Yellow Cards: Name invented "entities". (Download) Ex: "Let's invent the sound each animal makes when laughing."
3. - Red Cards: Provide solutions to issues or outcomes of changed stories. (Download) Ex: "What would happen if the third little pig had not built a brick house?"

Process:

Once printed the cards in the corresponding color cardboard, cut to make the card pack. Then take a card and try to think on possibly solutions alternately, to one of the points. To encourage our particular game we can make funny comments on the other´s solutions (though in a theoretical brainstorming, criticism is not allowed.) Our goal is to make our child think.

I'm going to write, as an example, what Dani and I did today in the car on the way to school.

M (Mom): Dani, Do you want to play inventing things brainstorming?
D (Dani): Yes, yes ... Let's invent ... Let's invent ... Caves!
M: Caves...? "Caves...? Can you invent caves?
D: Sure mom, begin.
M: Well I will. I make up a cave ... a cave ... in a cloud.
D: But you're going to get wet.
M: No, because I have a rain coat.
D: Okay. Now I, I make up a cave of gelatin.
M: And what color is it?
D: It's green.
M: But if you eat it, the cave will fall down.
D: No because it is very large and you would have a stomachache before.
M: Okay I make up a cave in the bottom of the pool.
D: But you cannot reach it.
M: Yes, because I dive and there is an air cavity where I stop to breathe.
D: But you better go in a submarine ... Well I invented a cave made of acorns.
M: But squirrels could eat it.
D: No because I put them in a cage.
M: Okay, so I invent a crystal cave.
D: But then you will not get out.
M: Yes it has a door.
D: But you can cut yourself.
M: No, because they are harmless sheets of glass. But I could be discovered.
D: I think that is not a good idea mom. I make up a cave in a tree for birds.
M: How cool! And it can be communicated through a passage with another cave in another tree ...

(We continued with a dozen caves of different materials, sites, smells ...)

Happy Valentine's Day.



I hope that today we all feel a little in love ...

This red plush is called Passionate and it is one of the six stuffed animals of the project I am preparing: "Plush thinkers." It's my little children practical adaptation of the methodology of the book "Six thinking hats" from Edward de Bono.  I want to make a small and fun introduction to the creative thinking techniques, used with great success by many multinationals and government agencies. Happy amorous day!