Radio Toni A Conversation with Kez with Kez Wickham St George

Talking Points Radio Toni – A Conversation with Kez

Author Lisa Forsythe with Simple Activities for Toddlers,

Forsythe is a teacher, a mum and author of Simple Activities for Toddlers: A Practical Play-At-Home Handbook for Parents.

Caring for her toddler Thomas, throughout the pandemic, gave her the inspiration to create @simpletoddleractivites on Instagram to offer other parents activity ideas. This has led to her writing her debut book to share her expertise to other parents.

Lisa holds multiple Australian university degrees in education. She has a Bachelor of Arts / Bachelor of Teaching, Honors (UON); Master of Education (CSU) and a Graduate Diploma in Teaching of Asia (ANU). She has been a member of the teaching profession for over 15 years and is passionate about play based education and learning. Lisa wants to share her educational knowledge with others to impart the importance of developing a child´s foundational skills before they´re ready to enter formal schooling. The best part is her book is full of fun activities you can easily do at home, predominately using recyclables and craft supplies.  

The book is designed to guide your toddler to develop foundational skills. There are 60 high quality activities that are open-ended, so it means that each time your toddler engages with the activity they can discover something new. These are activities that you will want to repeat. 

Another way to play, is all about reusing the same activity to teach a different skills or concepts with minimal preparation required, thus saving you time, resources and space. 

The activities strive for holistic development of your child. The five key elements are: 

1. Physical development –growing and developing gross and ne motor skills 

2. Social skills –interacting and communicating with others. 

3. Emotional development –identifying and learning about feelings. 

4. Intellectual development –cognitive, creativity and acquiring skills for learning. 

5. Environmental values –engaging with nature and concepts of reusing/upcycling. 

Welcome to the show Lisa! Firstly, Congratulations on the book, Lisa its great and so full of fun and activities for toddlers!

1. Firstly, what’s an Aussie gal doing in Madrid Spain in the middle of Covid with a toddler?

2. How difficult is it with a toddler in lockdown?

3. What inspired you to start writing?

4. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book?

5. What benefits do you want the purchasers of your book to gain by having your book?

6. How is the book organized? Why?

7. How did Thomas take part in the process?

8. Can you tell me about the photos in the book?

9. Tell us about the process of self-publication and what that has been like for you?

10. How satisfying is it to use all of those skills and education to produce such a beautiful book?

11. Tell the audience about the newsletter

12. Do you have any more books planned in the future?

NOTES

The activities in this book are of high educational quality that maximizes the best use of your time, resources, and space. These play-based activities help your child thrive and ensures that they get a head start in life. All the activities have been ´toddler approved´ or eld tested by Thomas. 

Lisa Forsythe has over 15 years of experience as a teacher across Australia, NZ&UK. Since becoming a mother to Thomas she has focused her time on developing simple activities that develop foundational skills toddlers need to learn before engaging with more complex concepts and understandings. This is a practical guide for parents that creates opportunities to bond with your child and make beautiful life-long memories. 

The activities predominately require things like recyclables, household items and common craft supplies; so, saving you money whilst being kind to the environment. There are a range of activities from sensory play, imaginative play, STEAM, crafts and games. They spark curiosity, enjoyment, motivation, deep learning, and creativity. The hard work of planning and ensuring that your toddler is equipped with the foundational skills they need for life has been done for you. 

Last year (2020) was challenging for many families. In March, Spain along with many other countries, went into lockdown. We were conned to our apartment with an almost 2-year-old. Suddenly, I needed to entertain my toddler all day whilst making sure I had a variety of activities and physical exercise in an apartment. I drew on my experience as a primary school teacher to create play-based activities to engage my son whilst ensuring he was developing holistically. I started an Instagram page, @simpletoddleractivities, to share some of the activities we were doing with friends and family to other activity ideas if they needed them.

Then, it became something to keep me sane during a challenging time. Finally, it grew into something much larger, a community of people who shared ideas and provided each other with play inspirations. 

Throughout this journey, I realized parents wanted some inspiration for play-based activities to keep their toddlers busy whilst giving them the best start in life. Being a primary school teacher and parent, I wanted to use my teaching expertise to create simple activity ideas that are attainable for other parents and yet achievable for their toddlers. I try to use resources that are easily accessible, like recyclables, household items and common craft supplies. Furthermore, I want to help reduce overconsumption that plagues many families and in turn, has negative impacts for the environment. 

Links for Jenn and Pao

LISA

Visit my https://lisaforsythe.com/ to sign up for a fortnightly newsletter and/or receive a freebie of ve fun learning ideas you can do at home. 

https://www facebook com/Simple-Toddler-Activities-108767527964318/

https://instagram.com/simpletoddleractivities

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdwH1oTuaTLkcjBQlG89I-w/

http://viewbook.at/SimpleActivities

www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-forsythe0