Tag: Toddler

Dear Reader,

I’ve been saving these lids for some kind of hidden prize activity or the like, but I just haven’t had time to put the game together and my kids just needed some extra lap time, today, so I handed them the lids while they hang out in my laps. I have a few different shapes and colors, but they’re all from wet wipes. They stayed sticky when I pulled off the plastic that houses the wipes so I simply stuck them together so they king of open like books. That also gave them 2 different ends that opened. It was a super simple project, but it allowed me to get my work done while still having little toddlers in my lap. And for that, I’m claiming victory. Eventually, I’ll cut out the flaps and put pictures inside the flaps and make the eye-spy or match game or whatever I finally decide to do with these, but for now, they make a great distraction and fine-motor toy.

Dear Readers,

As I have stated before, my kids love water. We are always looking for new ways to play in the water.

Today we decided to add sponges to our bath. My toddlers loved scrubbing the wall and each other.

You can use sponges to add another layer of sensory play. Another way to use sponges is to help your toddler learn the different body parts.

“Scrub your leg.”

“Now scrub your arm!”

All you need is sponges and a bath. You can add other aspects, we chose to add bubbles and color. It was so much fun!

Dear Readers,

With grandma coming for a visit we needed something simple and fun to do. With the weather being so nice I thought it would be the perfect time to go to the park.

My girls love the park, and had a blast. The best part about the park is that there are so many options on what to do. There is the slide, or swings, or even the splash park when it is warm enough. There are also fields so if we had brought a ball we could have played with that, or climbed trees.

Not all parks are equal, but the chance to get outside is always a plus. And like I said there are lots of options you can do at a park, even if they don’t have a playground.

Dear Reader,

Coffee filters are pretty useful. They make great snack holders, because they don’t dump the contents all over the room when bumped or pushed. They’re good for getting streak-free windows. And they’re great for crafts. While my preschooler and I were working on a big craft project today, I needed something to count as a toddler activity, and something that entertained the toddlers enough to get our craft done! So, I handed them some coffee filters. I figured they’d wrinkle them and crumble them, but they were definitely more interested in separating the filters than anything else.

After I crinkled up a few, it kinda became more fun to crinkle them, but really, they just liked playing in the paper more than anything. It doesn’t crinkle the same way as doctors-office paper, so I guess they would have had more fun with that? But a) I had coffee filters, and b) they still were exploring and working on hand-eye coordination by separating the layers, so it was still a fun activity for them, even if it wasn’t what I anticipated. Just goes to show you, when you’re planning an activity for toddlers, a but of flexibility is required.

Dear Reader,

My girls love ice. They also love painting. Putting the two together made for an interesting experiment on my part.

Most of the colors started out bright enough to be seen, but for some reason only the green and yellow worked after the paints melted a little.

I think what I learned from this is that I need to put less water (don’t fill my ice trays as full) and more food coloring.

The girls loved this activity and it was easy clean up as well. A win win in my opinion.

Dear Reader

My kids love finger Play Songs! I think (though I’m not in their heads) they like that they can follow along with something and be part of something even if they’re not super great at communicating, yet. They get so excited to know what to do in the song.

So far, our favorite finger play Songs are definitely Itsy Bitsy Spider and Pattycake, but some old classics that are super fun are Wind the Bobbin and Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

The interesting thing is how each of my babies (all of them, not just the two that came together) have loved a different part or action. The oldest loved to throw the cake in the oven, with big wide hand gestures. The middle child liked clapping. One twin likes to “roll it,” and waits to that part of the song to even act interested, though she is listening and waiting. The other twin likes to mark it with a B, although I have no idea why. I mean, I can see personalities in all the other choices, but why marking it with a B? We do a big trace of a B with our arms, so it kinda looks like a bunch of arm flaps. I wonder how that ties with personalities?

But, I’ve just gotta say, watching little fingers try to do Itsy Bitsy Spider is one of the cutest things ever!

Dear Reader,

Today I decided I was going to take a chance and make moon sand. Moon sand, for those of you who don’t know, is just flour and oil. These two items mixed together make a material very similar to kinetic sand.

The sand is fluffy, soft and fun to play with. My girls had so much fun experimenting with it.

The recipe I used called for 8 cups of Flour and 1 cup oil. I do not have the bread mixer that they suggested I use to mix it together, but I tried mixing it in a few different ways. First I tried to mix with a spoon, but it didn’t mix very well. Then I tried to mix with a blender, but It wasn’t blending very well. Finally I just decided to use my hands. This worked wonderfully.

The amount made would have been a great amount for all three of my older kids (Toddler included). Sadly the girls spilled about a third of it on my carpet. That is why I can tell you that it can be vacuumed up, though I wouldn’t recommend it for your vacuum.

You can change things up by adding a little color. It is suggested to use cake food coloring not regular food coloring because the cake food coloring is oil based whereas the regular food coloring is water based. Another option is to use colored chalk dust. I don’t like this option as much because it wouldn’t be as taste safe for littles.

I would suggest playing with the sand outside or on tile or hardwood floors, it makes for a much easier cleanup. It was relatively easy to sweep up the moon sand that had spilled on the concrete to be used again. I would recommend washing hands after use because there is a fine dust that will cling to the hands. Also it does coat the clothes too if your child is not careful, which mine aren’t.

To sum up: It is a fun homemade material that is like kinetic sand. It is affordable, made from things most people have in their homes already, and easy to make.

Dear Reader,

I don’t know what it is, but my toddlers are *obsessed* with my laundry baskets. I have a few different shapes and they love them all. It doesn’t matter if there is laundry in them. They’ll climb up onto the laundry and throw the pieces out one at a time. If they’re empty, they’ll fill them. And once they fill them, they will climb up into the basket, on top of all the toys or clothes or whatever they filled the basket with, and throw those out one at a time, too!

Today’s favorite thing to fill the basket with: lids from applesauce pouches. I’ve been saving some of each color to come up with some kind of game, eventually. But the girls just like playing with them, so no game is necessary, I guess.

That being said, I knew I wanted some game while they were playing with baskets and I couldn’t think of any “on purpose” game until my mom told me to flip the basket over this afternoon. The lids go between the holes in the basket really well, so, I spent a few seconds showing them to poke the lids through the upside down basket, and they played with the basket that way for a few minutes.

The nice thing about flipping the basket is the extra hand/eye coordination it takes to fit a lid through a smaller hole. And it was a new game, so it was worth thr little extra work for them to want to keep at it. I’m sure they’ll still play with the baskets like before, but maybe they’ll get a little extra hand/eye practice in now that they realize they can flip the basket over, too!