Summer Time with Toddlers!

I love that my kids are at an age to enjoy an activity - sometimes for great stretches of time even!   So while my blog has been pretty dern quiet this summer - don't fret lots of fun is going on!  Need a sampling?   Lots of ideas for you to enjoy with kids of all ages coming up!

SLIME

This activity from creation until it was time to eat lunch kept him in one place, entertained and fully engaged for over 90 minutes.  He probably could have gone longer, but his father had brought home lunch and so he reluctantly put it all away.   I got the recipe from our slime at Tot Treasures.  I got my liquid starch online at Walmart with shipping of only $0.97!

It was more sticky in the beginning but eventually worked itself together into almost rubber ball texture. 
Stored in a ziplock, the next day it was a bit stickier, but after working it again was back to 'normal' :)

ROADWORK 

Yes, playing with oatmeal is a huge hit in our house!  Break out the splat mat and go to town.  This time I dropped in a set of Cat trucks (they sell them at Target/Walmart/BRU for about $6) and while they played I had Ace attempt to follow the 'directions' in the book Roadwork.  The book is chalk full of onomatopoeia that are fun to listen to.  Ace was very patient when his sister was anything but a helper on the building part - she did great with demolition though!
 

On a different day we broke out the black beans and playdough to read through the same book and build different roads.

PAINTING

I recently invested in Colorations Liquid Watercolors and some blotter bottles (bingo markers?) and I absolutely LOVE these paints.   It doesn't take much paint to go far and even if gets all over them and they look like they'll be permanently stained - give them a bucket of water (or a bath) and they're squeaky clean without any scrubbing.    We've made several signs for birthdays, welcome homes, and the one below was the one they worked on for the 4th of July!

FIREWORKS!

Yes, what summer is complete without them!  This year Ace was super excited to be able to light some of his own.  Mae enjoyed a little action with her father, but for the most part was a sideline observer.   Overall it was a nice quiet 4th of July and while it was chilly - Ace's coat is a bit overkill, but he seemed happy enough. 

GARDENING

Breaking out the black beans again and this time they're building a garden.  Using some 'clay pots' that are actually silicone cupcake holders I found on clearance somewhere they played with some silk flowers, garden tools, some seeds (acorns) and some other garden friends.  They had a great 45 minutes spent with all this sensory fun!

BUBBLE BLOWING

Big bubbles, make your own bubbles, no spill bubble buckets!   They are a favorite and they are endless and pretty clean fun. 

MANIPULATIVES

Ace didn't have school this summer and so we still wanted to keep him busy, but not always requiring an elaborate project that requires a ton of prep or clean up work and so I invested in a few types of manipulatives for the kids.    Ace and his fancy headgear are working on tangrams.  I got the pattern cards and then foam magnetic shapes from Amazon, the white board I got at Target - it's back to school season so they're everywhere - I recommend 11x17 or somewhere around there... an 8x10 is too small to really make the pictures.  Mae is playing with some dominos, which she matches colors, stacks, and generally throws around.  :)  Ace uses them to count, set up and knock down (old skool, hehe) and match.

He REALLY likes that red/white shirt... these pictures aren't taken all on the same day. :)

 RAINBOW RICE

I was really excited about this one! :)  Just so much fun.  First after much pricing the Dollar Store is by far the best price to buy rice. I was a bit skeptical at first since they are 1.5lb bags, I though surely a giant bag at the grocery store would be cheaper - nope.  I used about 3 bags so about 4lbs of rice to accomplish this project.  I used the above mentioned watercolors to dye the rice - simply tossed in a bunch of rice into a sandwich bag, dumped in some watercolor (less than a teaspoon at first) and mixed until it was all mixed.  If the color wasn't vibrant enough I dumped in more and so on until the right color was achieved.  If I managed to put just the right amount of color in I was able to reuse the same ziplock over and over to complete the dying process.  I stored them individually in a ziplock tupperware.  I'm told you can use food dye also but then you have to use alcohol (or hand sanitizer) to 'lock in' the color.  We had no color transfer with mine - and some of my rice was dyed within an hour of play.   The tub is a '32 quart' tub that I simply used a piece of cardboard to divide it off so I didn't need MORE rice.

Before the kids started to dig into the rice they sat with great anticipation and read through Planting a Rainbow and pointing to all of the colors that matched.  Ace correctly pointed out that the "red" wasn't red at all but rather pink... I know, bud... sorry the red just was NOT happening.  It would have been ready to eat rice if I had added TOO much 'water'color! After initial presentation and mixing occurred we 'tore down' the fence (I saved it for another project.) 

GEOGRAPHY

When Loving Husband is away on a mission Ace typically is allowed one sleepover night in our bed.   This past mission I saved it for a particularly exciting and important night.  The Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics!   I broke out the fabric panel that I have of the world map along with his placemat of the world and he watched the Opening Ceremonies eagerly awaiting the country of Russia to walk in - it was the biggest! As the countries walked in we looked for them on the map.  I would find it on my map and point to it and then he would try to find it on his.  :)  He did a pretty good job considering the size discrepancy between the two maps! 

Alas in the Opening Ceremonies the countries walk in at the end and it was nearly 10:30 when the M-Countries were parading in and he was fading fast.   He was out by the end of the Ms and I shook him awake (he sleeps like the dead once he's out!) and he acknowledged it - but the thrill was gone.   He still enjoyed popcorn, candy, and lemonade in bed WAY past his bedtime though! :)  Looking forward to doing it again with him for the Closing Ceremonies when the Olympians walking in FIRST! :)

SPLISH SPLASH!

What's more fun that water!   Sprinklers, pools, you can't go wrong!  Got a little play slide, throw it in at the edge of the pool and you have a water slide!  The kids had a great time with theirs!  Happy summer, everyone!

Fall Themed Sensory Box

My favorite time of year is fall.  I love all the rich colors of leaves and decor - the new crisp days (at least in the NW) and the falling of the leaves.   Which is why I was so excited to make Ace's latest sensory box.    It also works out perfectly, as it will last us for the entire fall season - since with a move in the middle of our school time - I won't be making a new box until December.  

Inside this box is: hay (I bought a small size bale of hay, but the 'craft' size would have been more than sufficient,) a fake pumpkin, felt squash and felt leaves, silk leaves, foam turkeys and chipmunks, and foil confetti leaves.    A lot of similar items, yes - but in different shapes and textiles.  Provides plenty of opportunity to sort, sift, count, identify, etc..   Overall this box cost about $12 - although the felt leaves and squash (which were also coupled with felt pumpkins) were used in one of his trays so I suppose that I could not factor those into his box cost in which case this sensory box would be under $10 :)

Ace is enjoying this box - as is his sister.   We knew that it was only a matter of time before we'd have to rethink the best way to play with the sensory box now that sister is standing up and very proficient at mobility.   Yes Mae WANTS that box.  She wants whatever is it.  :)

Ace is of course a very patient and loving brother and doesn't care if sister is touching it as long as mom is nearby.   He's a smart kid to know that mom will keep track of her and that he doesn't need to worry.  He also knows if she tips it over it isn't his fault.  hehe.   

Birthday Themed Sensory Box

I was very excited to put together this months' sensory box for Ace.    The weather box didn't go over as well as I had hoped.  Mostly because of the staining your hands blue upon touching the rocks issue.   He didn't like that he couldn't do it, walk away, and return to it - hand washing had to be involved.     Since his birthday is in August, I wanted to do a birthday themed sensory box.  

Inside this box is: 2 bags of shredded crinkle paper as the base, sparkly pom poms, 2 bows, 1 curly ribbon bow, 2 different sets of candles, Happy Birthday confetti, noise makers, foil presents, two random octopus dive toys (they just looked fun!),  a #3 birthday candle, a balloon, and tweezers to pick through everything! It's a bit busier than his other two boxes, but that's ok - good to experiment with if more is better than less, etc. 

I put it out the Monday before his birthday and he was so excited to be able to open it and explore.  It now being Thursday he has already explored this sensory box more than the weather one in total.   He loves it.  Although he does want to light fire to the candles, which makes me a bit nervous... hopefully my explanation as to why that's not an option will suffice.  :)

He has enjoyed exploring, counting, tweezing, sorting and even digging, this week through all his festivities and when we're all done he'll get the octopus dive toys and the balloon as 'presents' - where as his other sensory boxes the contents of those disappear in the night and he always wonders what happend to them. :)

Ace Schooling - Practical Skills

With 'Space Week' being such a huge success and Ace appreciating the one on one attention and focus on learning new things, I decided to push forward and create 'school' for Ace.    I have been following a lot of blogs that observe the Montessori Method and appreciate what that philosophy's objectives are.   The grossly over-generalized idea being that it's 'child led' education.    In Montessori 'classrooms' the activities, 'lessons', and objectives are all out for the child to choose which activity they'd like to engage in as they choose.   Parents/Teachers rotate these over the course of weeks or months depending on their personal preference.     Since Mae is now mobile and given our limited space here in Mississippi, I had to come up with a more contained but still 'Ace accessible' method - which ultimately became drawers with 'trays' or letter boxes in this case within those drawers that he would take out one at a time to engage in.   Then when he was completed with the task/activity he would put it back and get out another one.

The last two weeks of 'school' we have been focusing on 'practical skills' that  help practice Ace's fine motor skills and provide him with some instruction for things he sees on a regular basis.   The following are the trays and/or activities for the last two weeks. 

First up is his sensory tub for the month.  My plan is to spend one week on 'weather' - I have been slow moving on getting all of my science and educational materials in order and so we haven't officially had that week yet, but in light of that his sensory tub is based on 'weather'.  :)  Inside the box it has aquarium rocks of two shades of blue to represent the sky (unfortunately the dye comes off on your hands, so it's not as free to play with 'whenenver' this time around), square glass beads to represent hail/ice, white pom poms to represent clouds, snowflakes, a sun, rainbow, and pipe cleaners in the shape of lightening bolts.  Ace has enjoyed it - but it's not as big of a hit as the space themed one.

Pencil sharpening was one of his trays the first week of Practical Skills.  He took a little bit of trial and error to get his hands to work just right, but he did successfully sharpen the pencil over a few attempts. 

Pouring.  This is something he does very well with at first but then forgets after time to hold the cup and the mess is made.  No worries, he also learns the art of cleaning up when that happens and practice can only make perfect. So while he's pretty good at the onset of pouring the follow through still has some improvement to be had. 

Cutting.  A while back I posted about obtaining a kitchen and play food for the kids.  This garage sale find came with a TON of food and some of my favorite food was the kind that is velcroed together which allows to teach the idea of 'cutting' and thus one of Ace's trays this time. 

Tweezing. Another fine motor enhancement skill is the art of tweezing objects.   We as adults think nothing of doing this type of activity, but for little hands it takes a lot of concentrated effort.   Therefore, Ace's tray for this activity was to tweeze each of the 12 cotton balls into each of the spots and then back to the center.  When he began he had to use two hands, one to hold the cotton ball and place it just right so he could tweeze it, but as he went on he was able to do it with just one hand.   It was really need to observe the improvement!

Table Setting.   Another important life skill is simply 'how to set a table.'   We put a table cloth on his table (a yard of fabric I had nearby)  and I brought over the supplies.   I had him observe as I set one of the place settings and then he mimicked that and set the other one.    After the two place settings were properly in order, he and his tiger set down for some dinner and he poured them something to drink... and practiced cleaning up a spill as well.  :)  After they enjoyed dinner Ace learned how to clear the table as well.

Bead Threading & Pattern Matching.   Another tray of Ace's that in the second week replaced pencil sharpening was beads.   This was a fine motor skill along with pattern recognition and duplicating.   He had to lace beads onto the string to match the one that I had set up for him.  As the week progressed when he was doing this activity he himself would create the pattern and then tell me to match it.  :)  It was cute and a great example of him taking the initiative to go to his school boxes, take out a tray and execute the task unprompted.  

Art.  This past week we enjoyed doing an art project that involved stamping with pencil erasers.  Ace had a lot of fun with this unconventional tool and creating something out of nothing.   He made a dragon and what I find most successful is that this activity kept him still and focused for over 10 minutes!   I've been reading that for a three year old, if they concentrate for 3-4 minutes that's GREAT!  To not expect more than that - so it's always a thrill when he will focus on one task for longer. 

Overall, Ace's school time is going great.  It's a lot of fun to come up with new things for him to do and it's even more fun to get excited about doing them!  Learning in the process (right now) is just the added bonus. Weather week is still to come, as is our previously post poned Dr. Seuss week! 

Mae's Sensory Basket

Mae is getting curious with her world and so finding ways to entertain her and help her explore her world is ideal. I like the idea of exposing Mae to various textures, colors, and sounds and I happened across the idea of baby sensory baskets. Ace loved his Space themed sensory tub - and so I wanted to make something for Mae that helps her explore similar textures, sounds, and colors.

I created a basket for her filled with a few toys, but also lots of objects from around the house. Mae's basket includes: cloth rattle, toy winkel, ball, crinkle elephant, luvee (soft) frog, jersy fabric strip, whisk, a new kitchen scrub sponge, a cloth book, a head of lettuce from Ace's toy food, a wooden spoon, a plastic spoon, a jingle rattle, a terry cloth giraffe toy, and a teether with a ribbon attached.


Since finding the idea for sensory baskets/buckets, I started looking into a bit more behind the idea. The 'WHY' - You see my legal researching skills, while dormant tend to find ways of still escaping and what better place for an outlet than the betterment of my children? After finding the idea, I delved a bit further and found the term 'Heuristic Play' which is a concept rooted in children's natural curiosity. Providing a basket allows Mae to make her own choices and discoveries. Sounds like a good thing to encourage to me, and so I was excited to get Mae started with her basket. I set her down on her blanket while Ace and I built robots and she had a blast picking through her basket and exploring things with her hands and mouth. I have given her this basket several times since then and she loves to take things out and play with them every time. Her favorite is the kitchen scrub sponge.



She loves all the various noises that her toys make. She loves to mouth the whisk and feel the cool metal on her mouth. She makes a silly face sometimes too which is cute. :)


Overall the sensory basket is a hit and I think we'll rotate various objects every couple of weeks to help her continue to explore new types of things. Although we'll see how still she stays once she realizes that she can go places. :)

Space Week Begins!

It's really hot here... and it's only going to get hotter and while Ace enjoys running around and playing in the heat, I am less of a fan and Mae even LESS of a fan... so I have been researching fun things to do indoors. I mean there are plenty of home schooling moms that do it every day, right? Indeed! So I set out to find something that Ace would find entertaining. As previously mentioned I happened upon Counting Conunuts. She had a whole lot of great ideas dedicated to outer space, and it was very inspiring! I've used several of her ideas for this week's worth of fun!

So on Sunday I got to work and started to sew some felt planets and Pluto the now deemed 'dwarf planet', I printed out some flash cards on the moon and got them laminated, and I prepared Ace's sensory box 'space themed' - Ace was very excited for 'school' to start on Monday morning (after double checking he wasn't GOING to school away from me... siigh) and was eager to sit down on his blanket and get started.

Loving Husband and I agreed we needed to help provide him with some perspective of where outer space was and so I came up with a nine block photo using Bing aerial maps to show pictures of our house, neighborhood, city, state, the nation, the world map, a picture of earth from space, and then finally outer space. We imagined we were flying higher and higher to get there! And after some repetition he was able to recognize and identify each of the 9 squares (6 of which he retained today) next up I brought out the sun and the earth. I talked about how our planet rotates around in a circle every day and that's what causes the sun to 'rise and set' because we're turning away from it as the day goes on. Next up I had him say the month of the year while I rotated the earth around the sun and explained that is how long it takes! He was really excited to hear that (well really he was just excited in general.)

Next up I broke out the 7 other planets (Pluto will make an appearance Wednesday, when we learn about dwarf planets) I put them in order and we went through and learned one fact about each of them. After he learned those facts, we talked about the sizes of the plants and we stacked them to show their size variation. Next up we listen to two different songs regarding the planets that I found on Amazon here and here. These were the least annoying... which is impressively sad.

After we listened to some music and Ace had some free play with the planets, I introduced him to the sensory box. Another great item that I found on Counting Coconuts. It was iffy on if it would hold his attention, if he'd be too old for such an activity and not find much enjoyment in it, but so far it is a great success and I think I will try and create a new box each month to let him explore, count, sort, seek, identify, etc. with! Because let's be honest, I love thematic things and to create miniature worlds in a box fits right in with that! We'll have to see what will occur once Mae gets big enough to crawl and stand - Ace himself might be put into a protective circle to do his sensory tub time. ;-) But we'll cross that when we come to it. For now Ace is just enjoying the loosely space themed sensory tub!



So curious where Mae is during all of this? She's around us - either actively watching or doing her own thing near by. Occasionally she's down for a snooze.

After about two hours of this fun and a short break for some more breakfast, we met up with Loving Husband who had an extended lunch break and we went to the library to procure some books on outer space. We found about 8 that we can use, then headed to lunch, and nap time. After nap time Ace wanted to play with his sensory tub some more and did until his dad came home from work.

This morning I was woken up around 7am with Ace carrying the 9-picture poster wanting to learn about space. "Can we learn about space now, mom?" I appreciated his enthusiasm but the hour wasn't cutting it for me, and so I sent him to watch some educational programming on PBS. After some morning time outside before it got too hot and a small breakfast we began Day Two of Space Week! He was so excited!

We began again reviewing the 9-picture poster and all the planets. Ace after a few rounds of repetition was able to recognize all of them except Saturn and Neptune. He takes a bit of a prompt for Uranus (which he calls Urweenus, hehe) by remembering its name after I say "It's the coldest planet" He got it! :) Next up we put all the planets away except Earth and I brought out the moon. We again talked about how the Earth rotates in a circle each day and how it orbits the sun over the course of a year. Then I introduced the moon and talked about how it takes about a month and the moon orbits the Earth. Next up came the visual aids, which I got here and a book (which is really good explaining in kid terms the concept of the moon phases over the course of a cycle.)


After reading the book to Ace and showing him the poster with the cycle of the moon, I then got out the flash cards and laid them out in a row in the order and then handed him a stack and told him to match them. I thought he'd need more guidance but nope he did great! He matched them all correctly except two of them.


Next up was learning about the galaxy, with the help of another library book and I broke out our 9-picture poster of our home, neighborhood etc. and walked him through the concept that this time Earth is our home, and the planets are our neighborhood and that the Milky Way Galaxy is the 'nation' and that there are LOTS of galaxies within outer space. I think in general that concept is a bit harder to grasp, so we moved on pretty quickly to do a craft project and make a galaxy! I forget where I got this idea, but somewhere out in bloggyland is where it came from. The original concept is to use glitter, but I am anti-glitter so I used sequence. :) Ace got to put together a galaxy using oil and sequence and mom affixed it with some teal duct tape to ensure oil wouldn't go flying.



After we made the galaxy it was time for more breakfast and during breakfast I put on Wall-E so that he could see some good visuals of space. Upon the first rocket launch when they first enter space they showed a galaxy and Ace was like "LOOK MOM IT'S THE GALAXY!" I am so excited he soaked it up in enough to translate it from the pictures in the movie! Since the movie has been on he's gone back to play with his sensory tub, asked over and over again "Now can we do space, mom?" and finally said he "I started school, mom" on his own by breaking out the planets and putting them in a line. So I think that Space Week is off to a GREAT start and he loves to learn about it. Other things planned for the week: Learning about dwarf planets (introducing poor Pluto), learning about NASA and astronauts, creating a jet pack, and astronaut ice cream! Lots more fun to be had, so stay tuned! :)