Seeing Mingzhe, Wen Kai, and Wen Qi go out to play with Xiangxi and the others, Grandmother also called Liu Mama and Cui Mama to join Mingwei and Cuiqiao, who were about to head to the sewing factory. Ru Yi and Xiaoxue also went along.
They were going to clean and tidy up the three houses designated for Xu Mingxuan's comrades and their families. In about two to three days, those six families would arrive in the valley.
Preparations needed to be made in the valley in advance, but they weren't sure if the heavy snow would affect their journey.
However, Grandmother's words were indeed reasonable. Her original statement was: "Those houses can be tidied up sooner or later; they'll have to be cleaned eventually.
It's better to get them done now while we have free time so we can relax. No matter when they arrive, we won't be in a rush then! Don't you think so?"
Chun Cao's arm was still not fully healed from her injury, so she couldn't watch five mischievous children alone. Chen Lan had to stay home to help take care of the five little rascals.
Mother was by the kitchen stove, drying the wet cotton coats, boots, hats, and gloves of Mingzhe, Wen Kai, and Wen Qi, who had gotten wet from the snow.
Chen Lan watched the children playing with colorful balls and rattles on the carpet. Meanwhile, she opened the system with her mind, browsed the shopping page, and searched for educational toys suitable for children aged one to four.
The twins would be turning one year old soon after the New Year. Little Douzi was also over a year old, and Hutou and Xiaoshitou were nearing four years old.
Chen Lan noticed that the children didn't have many toys to play with; they only had colorful balls and rattles every day.
So, she decided to take advantage of her free time today to buy some educational toys for the children through the system.
She first looked at toys for babies around one year old. The first category was stacking toys, including stacking blocks, ring stacks, large blocks, and pull toys.
These toys not only trained children's hand-eye coordination but also their overall motor skills and their ability to recognize shapes and colors.
The second category was percussion toys, such as various musical instruments, which could develop children's hearing and hand-eye coordination.
The third category was educational toys, which were various "exploratory" toys, including toys with pegs and holes, busy boards, multi-functional game boxes, cloth books, and musical pull toys.
Cloth books could enhance a child's ability to recognize images and colors.
Building blocks could cultivate a child's logical thinking skills and help them develop multi-layered thinking when facing problems in the future.
Busy boxes could foster a child's concentration and patience.
Since there were already quite a few children in the valley, and Chen Lan planned to open a kindergarten there in the future, she unhesitatingly ordered a set of each type of toy.
There were many toys for four-year-olds. Chen Lan, considering the current conditions of the 1950s, ordered building blocks, painting supplies, and puzzles from the system.
Building blocks could not only strengthen a child's hand muscles but also develop their intelligence, stimulate their minds, and ignite their boundless creativity.
Painting supplies would allow children to observe and experience life more, and then use paint to record and express what they observed.
Perhaps in the future, they could even cultivate some young painters in the valley!
Puzzles could stimulate children's overall thinking and manual dexterity.
Chen Lan, not stingy at all, ordered one of each type.
Chen Lan said to Chun Cao, "Sister Chun Cao, please keep an eye on the children for me. I'm going upstairs to get something and will be right back."
Chun Cao quickly replied, "It's fine, I can watch them. Little Lan, go take care of your business!"
Chen Lan quickly ran upstairs and retrieved the pull-along duckling for Jiahui and the colorful busy box from the system's warehouse.
For Jiayao, she got a musical pull toy and a cloth book; for Little Douzi, a cloth book and building blocks.
For Hutou and Xiaoshitou, she got the puzzles and painting supplies they wanted the most.
She packed them in clean, slightly flawed cloth. Then, she hoisted the bundle and carried it downstairs.
Jiahui and Jiayao saw her and quickly crawled towards Chen Lan. They crawled incredibly fast!
Chen Lan hurried and said, "Come on, Jiahui, Jiayao, let's go sit on the sofa and play." With that, she walked towards the sofa by the window.
The two little ones braked in time, turned around, and quickly crawled towards the sofa by the window.
Chen Lan put down the bundle, bent down, and lifted the siblings from the ground. She first took off their dirty smocks and then placed them on the sofa.
She took out wet wipes from the system's warehouse and cleaned their little hands. Seeing the slightly darkened wet wipes, Chen Lan showed them to the siblings and said, "Look, are your hands dirty?"
The siblings nodded their little heads like pecking chickens, which was incredibly cute!
Chen Lan then asked, "Are you going to crawl around everywhere anymore?"
The siblings shook their little heads like rattles.
Chen Lan wiped their hands again with wet wipes. Then, from the bundle, she took out the colorful busy box for Jiahui and a cloth book for Jiayao.
She also handed a cloth book to Little Douzi, who was sitting obediently on the sofa playing with a colorful ball.
Xiaoshitou and Hutou, who were playing with building blocks, saw that Jiayao and the others had new toys. They dropped their blocks and ran to Chen Lan.
Little Shitou, the clever one, asked, "Auntie Xiaolan, do we have new toys too? We want new toys."
Hutou nodded repeatedly beside him and said, "Auntie Xiaolan, I want new toys too."
Chen Lan said with a serious expression, "Xiaoshitou, Hutou, you can have new toys, but you must tidy up your old toys and put them away so you can play with them next time, understand?"
The two little ones happily and repeatedly agreed, "Auntie Xiaolan, Auntie Xiaolan, we'll tidy them up and put them in the toy box right away."
With that, they ran to tidy up the pile of blocks they had scattered on the floor. They carefully picked up each block and put it into the bag for blocks.
Then they placed the bag of blocks into the large toy box against the wall.
Afterward, they went to the washroom to wash their hands. Then, puffing slightly, they ran back to Chen Lan.
Chen Lan took out the "Sunflower's Smile" puzzle and a box of painting supplies from the bundle and handed them to the two of them.
Upon seeing the yellow sunflower puzzle, the two little ones jumped with joy! "Oh! Oh! We have a puzzle too!"
Chen Lan asked with a serious expression, "Xiaoshitou, Hutou, are you going to play with the puzzle first today, or paint with the colors first?
You must remember what I'm telling you both today. You can play with puzzles in the living room, but you cannot paint in the living room; you must go to the small study. Do you understand?"
The two little ones nodded repeatedly and replied, "We understand! Auntie Xiaolan, Auntie Xiaolan, we remember!"