Salt Dough Sculptures for Toddlers

Man oh man, salt dough is easy.  It’s 1 cup salt, 1 cup water, and 2 cups flour.  That’s it!  Just mix it up and add food coloring if you want.  Gigi and I made it together and it was so much fun.  She doesn’t have the whole mixing thing down quite yet but she’s getting there.  She loves to add food coloring to absolutely anything so that part was a hit.  We did a mix of blue, green and purple.

After we made our dough, I set up a carousel of art supplies including toothpicks, popsicle sticks, wood shapes, beads, sparkles and gems.  By far the biggest hit was the toothpick dispenser.  Gigi loved shaking it to get the toothpicks out.  She also managed to get a few beads on the toothpicks which was a nice surprise.  Almost two!

Water Beads for Little Ones – Great Toddler Activity

I’ve read about water beads and seen them countless times on different mom blogs over the past few months.  I can finally say I get what all the fuss is about.  These things are freaking awesome.  First of all, they are gorgeous.  I just kept staring at them in the bowl.  They look so juicy and delicious.  Second, they bounce, which I definitely didn’t expect.  I’ve been brainstorming all day on how to create some sort of plexiglass bouncy box for them.  Third, they feel so mushy and slippery you just want to jump right in the bowl.  As you can see, I couldn’t resist putting my foot in the tub.  Gigi did too but she wasn’t as into that part as I was.

Little d turned six months this week.  I can’t wait for her to get in on the action.

I’m not totally sure why I think this is science but I do.  I guess because Gigi was exploring new materials and watched a chemical reaction when water was added to these little suckers.  Yeah, that’s why.

*Note* If you are going to use water beads, I highly recommend doing it outside or putting down a sheet underneath your child.  This can get really messy and you want to enjoy them, not want to kill them.  I’ve read they are also super fun in the bath with or without water, but don’t let them down the drain.  Enjoy!

Science for Toddlers

Ok, this was seriously fun.  Again, I am so thankful to Play at Home Moms.  Their “Invitation to Play” post really changed things over here at our house.  It’s the weekend (yay) so I have plenty of time to set something up for Gigi before she wakes up.  I had ordered these great measuring containers and droppers on Amazon and have been waiting all week to use them.  I just added some food coloring and water to each container, cut up some water color paper to look like litmus paper and set out some square papers as well.  I love putting everything on a bench.  It’s the perfect table for toddlers!  When we do this again I will use liquid water colors but I didn’t have any so the food coloring worked fine.

Gigi had the best time playing with all her science tools.  It was a little difficult for her to use the droppers because she didn’t want to let go once she squeezed but it didn’t hinder her play.  Her favorite was definitely pouring the different colored water together and moving it around from container to container.  I had set up a shower curtain I used to use for verymeri displays behind her for pics.  About halfway into her science play, Gigi turned it into a whole play area for hide and seek.  She ran behind it over and over yelling “mas, mas.”  I love when she speaks spanish.  It kills me.  After peek a boo I was thinking maybe she’d be ready to move on but she got right back into the pouring.  It was really fun.  I am already brainstorming more ways to do science invites.  Any ideas?

Planting a Garden with Little Ones

It was super hot in LA this weekend.  Perfect weather for gardening and swimming.  Saturday morning we took a family trip to a local nursery and Gigi and Ev picked out plants and flowers.  We got oregano, cilantro, dill, lettuce and a purple flowering plant (Gigi’s pick.)  Gigi had a blast in the nursery running around all the flowers and putting her hands in all the fountains.  I wasn’t quite as enthused since I was carrying d and it felt like it was a million degrees outside.  I thought we were both going to pass out.  Poor little d.

After a good nap for everyone, we got out all the supplies.  I try to use real tools with Gigi as much as possible.  I know she prefers it and I think it adds more depth to her experience.  I know there are real philosophies about this, I just don’t know what they are but I’m sure I’d agree with them if I did.

The planting was a huge hit.  I think what will be even better is the ongoing learning and enjoying we will get from the garden.  I can’t wait to use some of the herbs in our cooking.  This is a project I’ve wanted to do for so long.  We got these amazing metal planters at an estate sale over a year ago.  So happy to put them to good use.  I think the second one will be dedicated to just moss so Gigi can play with little animals and gnomes on it.

After a full day of planting, we jumped in the pool.  What a day.  Truly blessed.

Invitation to Play – Unwrapping and Stacking with Blocks

I am a huge fan of the blog Play at Home Mom.  The moms who write the blog believe in play based learning and are really inspiring.  I recently came across their post about “invitations to play” and it made a huge impression on me.  ”An invitation to play is a way to either build upon existing knowledge and delve deeper into the interests and curiosities of our children, or a way to inspire engaged exploration.”  I have been doing so many activities with Gigi that I knew were worthwhile, but somehow reading this really helped me understand a deeper level of the importance of her play.  The idea of an “invitation” has challenged me to create interesting open ended activities and to be less attached to the outcome.  It’s been really nice.  I’ve been using a white board to set up different materials that I hope are engaging to her.  It’s really nice because I can set them up in the morning while she’s still sleeping, which gives me time to have a clear head while creating the board.  I used to set them up with her waiting and watching.  This works so much better.  When she sees the board she gives out a big “oooooh,” and it’s the cutest thing going.

Gigi’s grandma Libby is responsible for this invitation.  Thanks gram! She sent the girls these great abc blocks from FatBrainToys.  Fortunately for Gigi, maybe not the environment, they came individually wrapped in tissue paper.  I thought she would enjoy unwrapping each one and playing with the tissue paper.  She did and it added an enthusiasm to the play that I think would have been missed if I just placed the blocks on the board.  After she unwrapped all the blocks she stacked them up and knocked them down, her favorite part of course.  We talked about the different letters and colors on the blocks and then moved on to who knows what.  I’m really looking forward to future invitations and am constantly on the lookout for new materials that might be interesting.  Tomorrow’s invitation will start with old game pieces and a spinner.  I have a feeling the spinner is going to be a big hit.

Painting Table for Toddlers

Now that I’m back to work, the weekends feel more precious than ever.  We did art all day Saturday.  It was sooo much fun.  First, I covered a bench with a table cloth.  Benches are the perfect height for toddlers and work great for a play date.  The kids can be on both sides and it’s long so there is plenty of room.  Ikea makes cheap plastic white shower curtains that we use for table clothes all the time.  Then I put out a few paints, a roller, some pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, paint brushes and corks.  Gigi went to town.  The roller was a huge hit.  I will definitely bring it out again.  I also found some old heart cut outs that we used as a stencil.

Gigi was busy for almost 45 minutes.  It was great.  Next step is to buy a binder to put all of the girl’s artwork.  I can see this getting out of hand fast.  There’s only so many placemats we can make.

It was a great Saturday.

Valentine’s Day for Toddlers #2 – Contact Paper Collage

 

 

I got this great idea from play create explore, a great blog with tons of ideas for little ones.  First, Gigi and I went on a nature hunt and collected some leaves and flowers, etc. When we got home I put contact paper over a piece of wood and thought she would love sticking the leaves on the board.  Yeah, she wasn’t into it at all.  So later that day I set her up with a bunch of craft supplies, determined to make this activity a success.  It looked like so much fun.  The crafts were way more successful.  I covered a tray in contact paper sticky side up.  I duct taped the back so it would stay on the tray.  I gave Gigi tons of supplies and just let her dump them and stick them all over the tray.  It wasn’t a lengthy process but she did enjoy it.

Afterwards, I covered the sticky part with another piece of contact paper, cut a heart border from construction paper and glued it onto the contact paper.  Then I just cut around it so it would take the shape of a heart.  We hung it on the back door and she loves it!  It looks really pretty through the window with the light coming in.  But then came the real fun.  While I sat admiring her artwork, Gigi discovered the glue stick and went to town.  She must have worked with the glue stick on a piece of paper for twenty minutes straight.  She loved it!  Funny, what you think will be such a hit takes all this prep and all the kid wants is a glue stick.  Well, good to know.

 

 

Beads and Pipe Cleaners for Toddlers

This was a mama assisted activity.  There was no way Gigi was going to get those beads on the pipe cleaners without my help.  I didn’t realize how small they were.  Though she did have fun assigning me people to make bracelets for.  There was one for mama, one for dada, one for Flor and one for little d.  We’re all wearing them proudly.  (ps don’t do this one if you’re child is big on putting things in their mouth)

Match Game for Toddlers

This is a toddler version of the original match game.  I made the backs match as well as the front so Gigi can match the pictures as well as the colors.  Mine got a little crazy with all the washi tape but you can do this with any kind of card stock.  You can even use an old deck of cards and glue the pics on the back.  I used a collage of instagram pics printed 2.5 x 2.5.  I cut the card stock 3 x 3.

Full disclosure, I ended up using a paper cutter because the scissor was too time consuming, but it would work fine if you don’t have a paper cutter.

Here are the steps:

1.  Print out photos you love 2.5 x 2.5.  Two of each.  I used 16 total.

2.  Cut out card stock squares 3 x 3.  Two of each color.

3.  Decorate the card stock with washi tape.  Trim the excess off the edges with a scissor or wrap the tape on the other side.  Do the same design on the matching colors.

4.  Glue the matching pics on the matching colors.

5.  Place all the cards picture side down and have your child try to match the pictures by turning them over.  They can also match the colors and designs.

Gigi liked sorting through the pile to find the matches.  It didn’t stay organized for long.  She’s only 20 months.   But still great for sorting, color recognition and fine motor.

I will probably end up laminating these at kinkos since Gigi’s hands are constantly dirty and I want them to last.

Everyone got in on the fun.

Washi Tape Building Blocks – Fav DIY

I know I’ve posted about these washi tape blocks before but I’m having so much fun with my new photoshop skills from BlogshopLA that I am posting about them again.  This was the most satisfying DIY to do when I was 9 months pregnant.  I barely had to move.  I could just sit on the couch with a big basket of blocks and my washi tape collection and just tape, tape, tape.  We play with these soft giant building blocks all the time.  Gigi loves to stack them and jump off into Ev’s arms.  It’s kind of the best.