How-To: Plastic Animals For Communication

Sometimes you see a project that is so simple and perfect, you can’t wait to implement it yourself. That’s how I feel about the latest offering from Camilla of Family Chic, who found a way to use plastic toy animals to remind her kids of simple tasks that can often be overlooked.

Everyday I ask my kids the same questions: “Did you flush?”, “Did you brush?”, “Do you know what a napkin is?” – it goes on and on. I wonder if they even hear my words. When it comes to communicating with children, I think it helps to create an element of humor and surprise.

Perfection! We do and say the same things in our house. My husband and I have a running joke that we must be living in the Twilight Zone, where our kids’ brains are zapped each night when they sleep, and they can’t remember that every day we brush our teeth, go to the bathroom, flush and wash hands (among other things). I love this way of taking the parental nag out of the equation, and showing the kids we like to have some fun, too. And even if you don’t have kids, the same technique Camilla uses to convert plastic animals in to card holders to use as place cards or to leave notes for friends and loved ones.