Fall Sensory Tub

When I think of fall I think of apples, leaves, (I am originally from the south so acorns), and the beautiful colors of fall. I created this sensory tub with dried popcorn seeds, fake apples and acorns, leaf confetti and some leave gems. I add spoons, cups and small buckets for play.

Bubble art

This is a project I did a couple of weeks ago and forgot to post. I had been wanting to do this all summer and just kept procrastinating. My daughter loves to blow bubbles, so I got a couple recycled laundry lids and add some bubble solution and a couple drops of food coloring. Taped a piece of white paper to a box and let her blow the bubbles onto the paper. It was a little windy so the bubbles were popping or not hitting the paper as good. It also works good if you put the box on the ground so the bubble stick to the paper better. This is a defendant outside activity in old clothes. But alot of fun!

Wordless Wednesday the zoo

this is a day late but better late than never

Muffin Tin Monday: shapes

The theme for Muffin Tin Monday was shapes this week. We had oval grapes, rectangle veggie straws, circle peas, triangle quesidillas , square pop tart snacks, and star fruit leather. then I added some shape pokers and my daughter insisted on returning mickey mouse from last weeks movie theme at least he is a square lol

Wordless Wednesday

Pillowcase dress I made H.

Muffin tin Monday: Movie theme

The theme of Muffin Tin Monday this week was movies. My daughters favorite thing to watch is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Nemo. So I got all the characters from Mickey Mouse and put them on toothpicks for her. We had Mickey Mouse shaped cheese, "Nemo" goldfish, 5 star rating fruit leather, heart shaped grill cheese sandwiches cause most Disney movies are all about the love, Princess shaped Spaghetti O's and apples. there is no real reason for the apples other than she needed some fruit. lol

Dried flower collage

H and I walked down to the mail box the other day and noticed a pile of small dried flowers the wind was blowing, collected at the curb. So I got a ziploc and let her fill it up with the flower. When we got inside I gave her glue and she made a collage out of them. She was so proud of her work, and I was so surprised with how careful she was she put tiny little drops on the paper and then added a single flower to it. it was neat to watch I was expecting a glue mess. It was a really nice surprise.

Making bean bags and games to go with them

Bean bags are so much fun for kids and so easy to make! They can be made out of any scrap material and stuffed with lentils, rice, and beans. These are 5 in squares that are sewn wrong side material up and around 3 1/2 sides and then turned inside out and stuffed then I went around the whole top again from front to keep it in



Games for bean bags:
Shape toss all you need is beanbags and construction paper cut into various colors and shapes
What to do: lay shapes on the floor in a grid pattern. Have your child hold the beanbags and ask her to toss it into the red shape. Or ask her to toss the bag into the triangle. These games will help make associations between different colors and shapes.

Head to toe: Use the beanbags to help the child identify different body parts. Ask your child to put the beanbag on his or her head. Have him find various body parts and balance the beanbag on them (elbow, hand, and so on.) Variation: try balancing two or more beanbags at a time!

Toss course: you will need beanbags and containers (bowls, baskets, etc.) Start by setting up a course - either with or without the help of the kids. Use containers - waste paper baskets, buckets, empty shoe boxes etc - to be targets or “golf holes”.
Now the children take turns tossing their beanbag around the course and into the targets.
Variation: see who can complete the course the fastest, left-handed, etc...

1,2,3!: Have your child throw the beanbag in the air, clap his hands once, and catch it. Now he can try clapping his hands twice, then three times, and so on. How high can he go? Variation: instead of clapping, try jumping or spinning around


Princess races: you will need beanbags, clear space to race and 2 or more participants
Have each princess balance the beanbag on her head and race from the start to the finish. If the beanbag slips off, she must run back to the start, re-balance the bag and start over.
Variation: try the race wearing high heels and a boa or other princess dress-ups.

Over and Under: you will need beanbags, medium-sized container, chair
Have your child stand back and hold the beanbags. Arrange the container on top of a chair. Have them choose whether they throw the bag ‘in’, ‘out’, ‘under’, ‘over’, ‘behind’ or ‘in front of’ the char and container. See if they can toss the beanbag to the place they’ve chosen.

Another tossing game: you will need beanbags, masking tape
Make a grid of 4 squares on the floor with tape. Have your child stand in the middle of the grid and throw the beanbag into the square that is “top’, ‘bottom’, ‘right’, ‘left’, ‘forward’, ‘backward’, ‘front’, ‘back’, etc. Variation: for pre-schoolers, write numbers or letters on a piece of paper in each grid square and have your child throw the beanbag into the ‘B’ or ‘3’ square.

PB&J wraps

I like to do different twist on classics sandwiches so I tried to do a sorta banana wrap with peanut butter and jelly. H loved it and thought it was really funny.

Homemade musical shakers

I made these for H when she was about 6 months old and thought I would share it with everyone. The hospital suggested these bottles and I didn't care for them but they were $5 a bottle so I made them into shakers for my daughter (hot glue the tops closed). Now that she is two I see her using as play food in her kitchen more than music but she still dances with them too.

I can make my hands go clap

Here is a song that my daughter likes to sing. I thought others would enjoy

I can make my hands go
clap, clap, clap
clap, clap, clap
clap, clap, clap
I can make my hands go
clap, clap, clap
they're a part of me.

Repeat with
~fingers snap
~feet stomp
~nose beep

it is fun for little ones cause there is lots for them to move and interact with.

Wordless Wednesday visiting horses

Things we did this summer

Here is kinda a recap of our summer this year. We were so busy!

Fish at the creek

Summer Movies

lots of play dates

Zoo

Camping

Roasted Marshmallows

Pool


Bowling
Children's Museum

Splash Pad

Visit from Uncle Jason

Visit from NaNa and Paw Paw (the date is way off she wasn't even born yet.LOL)

Sedona

Sea World

The Beach

Disney Land


Feeding Horses

Making crayons

Today I got tired of all the broken crayon all over the place so me and H peeled all the papers off the crayons and broke them in to pieces. Then we sprayed a molded pan with cooking spray and she decided what crayons she wanted in each hole and filled the tin. I baked it at 170 degrees for 30 minutes. We talked about how they felt before and what she thought would happen to the crayon in the oven. After we put them in the oven we checked them every so
often to see if the crayons where changing and why do you think they change. (it took about half the time for you to really see them start to change just to let you know.) when they are done we let them cool for about 10 minutes and then took them out. to use.

Muffin tin Monday

Today for muffin tin Monday we had fruit leather in the shape of flowers, chocolate goldfish, cheese, apple slices, bean and cheese burrito and peas. H loved the cheese on the skewer, my mom saved it from her coffee on southwest when she flew in to visit last month.

unique ways to send mail.

I have been showing H how to recycle around the house and turn thing from old to new. My husband is going to visit his nephews soon and we wanted to surprise them to let them know he is coming. I got an empty water bottle and cut a hole in it 3 sides of a rectangle to make a flap. Then filled it with little toys: bouncy balls, stickers, sticky hands, ect. My husband wrote a note to the boys and I filled it with curling string to sorta hide the things inside to make it a mystery. After you finish filling the bottle put the mailing label on top of the hole and tape all the way around the bottle. write on bottle to remove address label to get into bottle. What little one would not like to get a surprise like this in the mail.


I filled the bottle with a lot more curly ribbon than in the picture

Homemade play-doh with Kool-aid

Play-Doh with Kool-aid
(home made is non-toxic)

1 Packet of Kool Aid
1 Cup of Flour
1/2 Cup Salt
3 tablespoons of Vegetable Oil
1 Cup of Boiling Water
some glitter (optional)

Mix dry this is important to make the play doh smoother
add wet and stir (parents do this part cause hot).
knead the dough on a sheet of waxed paper
add glitter and kneed in and play!

water sensory table

We recently went to the Sea World and the beach so we have been talking about water a lot so when I set up this water table i keep that in mind. I just used a storage tub on a end table. In the box I have rocks from a fish tank, cut up pearls and sequins. Also shoves, rakes, and buckets. I wanted to add more sea life stuff but did not have chance to go to the store to get some so a rubber duck will have to work for now. She had so much fun pouring, shoving rocks into buckets, feeding the duck and just splashing around. At one point she was separating the blue rocks and putting them in a bucket and sorting them by color.