Things may be a little quiet on the Polkadots blog over the next couple of weeks, but we will be in touch now and then and will all be back on board with lots of new blog adventures to share with you all in 2012!

It is a bit of a Christmas tradition in our family to go “Pixing” each year to families we want to share special Christmas treats with. Ashton has been really into cooking lately and was determined to make some cookies the other day. . .  so I asked him who he would like to share his cookies with and our pixie list was formed.

Now, traditionally a true “Pixie” would be that you sneak up on the house, leave the treats on the door step, knock on the door/ring the door bell etc. and then sprint your heart out to get away from the house before someone gets to the door and sees you. The idea behind it all is that you become an anonymous bearer of Christmas goodies.

So, this year we went a little less traditional since Ashton had made the list of who he wanted to gift his cookies too… they were all his friends and cousins and not only did he want to give them the cookies but he wanted to see them and play with them too. So we called ahead of time to make sure the kids would all be awake and let them know we were coming, but to keep it a surprise from the children. We did the typical sneak up and explained to Ashton we were going to give them a surprise and that he had to be really quite. . . so he tip toed the whole way, holding his cookies, whispering “Ssshhh, cookies!”

Once we had placed the cookies and knocked, we ran as fast as we could to our hiding places to wait for the children to find us. Ashton was  beside himself with excitement! It was like combining all of his favourite things into one activity, his cousins, treats and hide n’ seek! Life couldn’t get any better! When the children finally found Ashton the squeals of delight and excitement were overwhelming, as they they talked about the cookies that were left and the chase that followed!

Its these kind of activities that make Christmas so absolutely exciting and fun! Do you have any fun Christmas traditions of giving? Do share!!!  And Merry Christmas everyone, from POLKADOT CARLY!!!

Secretly approaching the house

The goodies getting delivered

The get away!

The hiding

The find and delight!

]]> http://www.polkadots.co.nz/blog/blog/2011/12/christmas-pixies/feed.html 18 http://www.polkadots.co.nz/blog/blog/2011/12/rainbow-biscuit-houses/ http://www.polkadots.co.nz/blog/blog/2011/12/rainbow-biscuit-houses/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:03:29 +0000 polkadots http://www.polkadots.co.nz/blog/blog/2011/12/rainbow-biscuit-houses/ Polkadot Ashleigh

Day 22 of my Rainbow Christmas Calendar, posted a few weeks ago, was to learn how to make rainbow gingerbread houses. It has turned into a bit of a tradition for my family to make gingerbread houses at Christmas. The problem is, we don’t really like the taste of gingerbread!  So, this year we decided to be a bit more creative and make our “gingerbread” houses out of our favorite biscuits and then of course decorate them with all the different Rainbow lollies of our choice.

We assembled the houses with icing, any thick icing will do. Then we each got crafty and started inventing our own houses, this is where (in my family) it gets a bit competitive. Everyone started to get really imaginative with his or her design and style of house and ended up making spectacular masterpieces! When we finished we covered our houses up and put them away so we could spread out eating them throughout the week so the fun last longer and no one felt sick eating their house all at once!

Maybe you could try this with your family and show us your own imaginative designs on The Polkadots Facebook page! Merry Christmas Everyone! From

Polkadot Ashleigh

I thought it would be fun to share a little of the Polkadotty madness that goes on in our house! My baby Ellie (just turned 2) is one of our biggest fans, and I think she might actually think she is a Polkadot! This blog will just add to that I’m sure!

Have you got any video footage of your children singing, dancing, playing or learning “Like a Polkadot”? We would love to see it if you do, post it on our Facebook page to share!!!

Life is surely always interesting working in a Polkadotty World! Fluro costumes . . . quirky elves . . . little monsters . . . It has has been hectic in the build up to the Extravaganza but it’s been such a lot of fun creating and living amongst our growing cast of characters. A little like a Polkadot version of the happiest kingdom of them all.
I had the Little Monsters finished and set up when the grandchildren came to visit with their friends. Mitchell and Levi. As they rushed into the room, they came quickly to a stop.
Mitchell: “W . . . wow . . . Polkadot monsters! They’re actually Polkadot monsters.”
Levi: “Yes, but I . . .I . . . I’m not scared because they’re very friendly monsters.”
Anika (stroking her green monster) “They won’t hurt you.”
Ashton (Staring at the orange monster): “Whoa . . . Carly monster!”

I have to admit, I love being a grandma that gets to play and work with my imagination and to see my grandchildren enjoying the results.

And now a very special thank you to everyone for all your support of Polkadots through the last year. It really has been an exciting journey and we’re looking forward to everything the new year holds for us.

Wising you all a very merry Christmas and a great new year.

Grandma Polkadot.

Can you find the little monsters hiding in my house?

In the words of one of my favourite Christmas songs by Celine Dion, ‘another year has gone by!’ It feels like just yesterday that my twin brother and I couldn’t sleep a wink waiting for our stockings to be filled to the brim with sugar free lollies, dairy free chocolate and my own chocolate vitasoy! (Doesn’t that sound appetizing?)

About 20 years down the track, it’s hard to believe that I have my own two girls’ stockings to . . . put out for . . . Santa to fill, with all the SUGARY goodness that a child could ever hope for at Christmas time. It’s hard to believe that I am now a parent! WHERE HAVE THE YEARS GONE? I swear I would never say that like my parents always have but there I said it!

I was flicking through some old Polkadots videos and came across one of the first ‘Adventure Videos’ that Brookie and I did for our website. Watching this made me realise how much my little girl Brooklyn has grown up over the last few years. She was only 16 months old in the video. She is now 3! You just don’t realise how much they’ve grown until you look back! It’s such a strange feeling. I love looking back at old photos and videos with Brooklyn so she can see for herself how much she has grown. I guess we can do the same thing with ourselves too can’t we?

I originally wanted to share this video to show my little girl when she was a baby but there is also a pretty cool activity we did too! Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Many children in the United States, Great Britain or other Northern Hemisphere countries may not realise that downunder has a summer Christmas.  That makes celebrating the festive season very different.  Instead of it being cold and snowy, it’s sunny and hot and days are spent playing at the beach in the surf and having outdoor fun.

Listen to The Polkadots version of a summer Christmas.  We call it Jingle Bells – Kiwi Styles.

Round 2 of our Junior Explorer classes is about to come to an end this week with the children attending their very own DVD Premier event! Over the past 7 weeks the children have been Singing, Dancing, Learning and Playing like a Polkadot, as we learnt all about Chemical Change.

During each session the children are taught new singing skills and techniques so they can become more confident singers. They have also learnt the choreography for numerous Polkadots dances, but in particular they focused on learning the lyrics and moves to the Polkadots’ Science Seeker song “Mixing Stirring”. Each week the children were also able to engage in a different experiment which helped to develop their knowledge of what a Chemical Change is and what components are needed to create one. We made bread, salt dough, hokey pokey, and spent time just experimenting with various ingredients.

All of these activities have been filmed over the 7 weeks and all culminated last week for video week, where the children were able to make their very own music video to “Mixing Stirring”. They got all dressed up like Crazy Polkadot Scientists and did a fabulous job putting all they had learnt into action to make an awesome music video. This week they will get to celebrate and watch their efforts at the Junior Explorers Premier. Each of the children have been able to invite a special guest along and each will take home their very own copy of the Junior Explorers Journey on DVD to have as a keepsake and to share with their rest of their family and friends.

I have been very lucky to be the teacher of this awesome group of children and have loved watching their desire to learn and explore, and their confidence to sing and dance grow over the 7 weeks. Thanks everyone for being such an awesome group. If you want more information about the Junior Explorer Classes that will be starting up in the new year, e-mail info@polkadots.co.nz and we will make sure you are kept up to date with developments.

The Polkadots Christmas CD is the most played CD in our house, not just at Christmas time but . . . ALL YEAR! It’s fair to say that it plays for about ten months of the year and my girls never seem to get sick of it. Of all the Polkadots Christmas songs our ultimate favourite is “Aotearoa Christmas”. Its the most played christmas song in our house. We love singing the chorus really loud together . . .

“Aotearoa Christmas, Under a Pohutakawa Tree
Celebrations in the sun, bringing joy to everyone
Aotearoa Christmas, under a Pohutakawa Tree”

I love the song because it makes me feel so happy and so KIWI! When I listen to the song it reminds me of all the fun things that I love about an “Aoteroa Christmas” and all the things I love about how my family and I celebrate Christmas and the summer holidays. Christmas for us is spent with family, enjoying yummy food, swimming at the beach, camping at our favourite place in the whole wide world – the Kai Iwi Lakes, taking lots of photos, eating lots of ice cream, water skiing and wakeboarding, enjoying the hot sun, eating ice cream, singing and dancing . . . and did I mention eating lots of ice cream!!! : )

This week the girls and I built a Christmas Tree sand sculpture at the lakes to help us get into the “Kiwi Christmas spirit” and we were even lucky enough to find some Pohutakawa Tree flowers to decorate our tree with and of course, we had to add a dash of POLKADOT PURPLE to the tree to make it look extra fancy!

We’d love to know how you celebrate christmas and all the fun things that you do over the christmas season?

And because this is my last blog before christmas I hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas Day and enjoy celebrating, having lots of fun and eating lots of ice cream with all the people you love!

Love from Polkadot Sarah and my family xxxxx

Just so you know, I am quite loyal to the Apple brand. My desktop, laptop, iPad and iPod are all Apple products. If you ask me about a Apple product you would probably end up buying one because I become quite the sales man when I start talking about them (maybe they should make me one of their sales reps?) . . . I feel the same about The Polkadots.
So I was thinking about it and I have come up with 3 reasons why IPads are like The Polkadots!

1st Reason – Instinctive
As soon as children pick up the iPad they already know how to use them and what to do and they don’t want to get off either. Same as the Polkadots! As soon as kids see them Live in Concert or on DVD they know what to do, they start singing and dancing and can’t stop. You don’t have to teach them anything. They just follow their instinct.

2nd Reason – Multi-functional
The iPad has movies, music, photos, games, activities and is hours of fun. So are The Polkadots! We all know about the Wiggles and High 5 but they were so last year (or for some even 20 years ago). The Polkadots figured it was time for something fresh, new and from New Zealand. They now have over 70 original songs, 60 videos on youtube, heaps of photos on facebook and lots of fun games and activities you can do with your whole family right here on the blog. The benefits are endless.

3rd Reason – Awesome
The iPad is so awesome . . . So are the Polkadots!

So what are you waiting for. Don’t delay! Come and join The Polkadots band wagon TODAY!