AUGUST 8th is International Cat Day!
Of COURSE you can choose to make it Cat Day any day you choose.
International Cat Day is celebrated on August 8 around the globe each year. The day is a full 24 hours when we can worship our pampered pets. It began in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and other animal rights groups to celebrate the most popular pet on the planet. The Ecology Global Network estimates that there are about 600million small cats in the world.
Food ideas:
- A pancake makes a perfect cat face, cut ears out of another pancake, use blueberries for eyes, a cut in half strawberry for a nose & thinly slice celery for whiskers.
- A piece of toast can be used in the same way as above
- What about mini cat pizza’s check out this Mom’s gorgeous ideas on how to make them: http://www.bentomonsters.com/2015/03/cat-pizza.html
- Veggie cat faces, cherry tomatoes cut in half, cucumber thinly sliced for whiskers, half a black olive for a nose, cucumber cut into triangles become the ears.
- Watermelon can be cut into a circle, then cut three little circles, place them at the top of the big circle and it looks just like a paw.
- If you have a cat cookie cutter, then making some simple cookie dough and have your children cut out cat shaped cookies. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/basic-cookie-dough/
- Cheese sticks split easily into whiskers, a cherry tomato becomes a nose, three black olives become two eyes and a wee little mouth.
Craft ideas:
Using what’s available in your house or you may need to get a few things from the store.
Paper, pencils, crayons, markers, stickers, paint or pastels.
- set up a play area up as a Vet clinic
- set up a cat colouring station, see mandala cat colouring sheets below
- provide collars and leashes (for wrists only) for the children to be the cats (stretchy marking tape is great, neck ties, any kind of wool, belts)
- large cushions to be available for pet beds
- a small tent to be used as a dog house
- collect sticks on a nature walk for the dogs (children) to catch in the playground
- paper plate masks with whiskers and ears
- add pet stickers to your collection
- sing “BINGO”
- sing “How much is that doggy in the window”?
- visit a pet shop or SPCA/RSPCA
- make some baskets available for pretend cat carrying
- While outside ask your children to make pretend pet food out of mother nature’s offerings
- Use old hair bands and add ears to them
Book ideas:
Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes
by James Dean and Eric Litwin
by Dr. Seuss
by MATHEW VAN FLEET
Dewey the Library Cat: A True Story
by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter
Classroom ideas:
This section will be back in September xo
Mindful Minutes:
Time spent together doing something that acknowledges the day.
If you were to take a few mindful minutes today, I’m certain you could find a way to make your children smile, using Cat Day as your inspiration.
Cats purr, it sounds like an internal motor and to mimic it is not only fun, it assists our central nervous system by bringing it some peace. Big breath in, slow long breath out making cat purrrrring sounds. The out breath should take longer to be let out than the in breath.
Talk about the difference your child sees between cats and dogs, do they have a preference and why?
Going on a walk in your neighbourhood or while driving in the car, ask your child to count how many cats they see?
Snuggle me like a cat does, is a beautiful invitation to give your child.
https://staceytucker.wpengine.com/ there are two meditation stories that have cats in them. Busy house & Who’s awake. In busy house the child imagines they are snuggling on the couch & they peacefully observe the household pets going about their day.
In Who’s awake? The child imagines walking through a barn where each of the animals are sleeping peacefully and they spy a tabby cat with her kittens.
Doing fun things with our children creates a deeper connection with them.
With deeper connection we create opportunities to talk, to laugh & to be seen experiencing joy, which is so important! Love, Stacey
Putting PLAY into Parenting