Last year, Miss G had her own wall-hung Christmas tree to made of felt. I won’t go into the grossness that is the fact that our garage is home to mice (or the fact that her little tree wasn’t properly packed away), but needless to say, the tree is no longer.
Since Grae’s really been enjoying her felt board games lately, and since I have other plans for the little chunk of wall that held last year’s tree, I decided to make her a smaller Christmas tree felt board set this time around.
All it took was a big sheet of green felt (available in craft stores) cut free hand in the shape of a tree, a brown felt stump attached to the base of the tree with fabric glue (hot glue or craft glue would work just fine too), some ornaments cut from bright coloured felt, and a yellow star to top the tree.
And since Grae had a really nice long nap and I had finished all of the other pieces, I decided to cut out a couple of presents for her to place under the tree too.
Now she has a {new} little tree that can decorate again and again all by herself, regardless of the time of year.
See our other felt board ideas, as well as a tutorial on how to make your own easy felt board here.
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While we had our painter’s tape out for our indoor roadway, we also lined our hallway with this… A little series of jump boxes. Grae adores the jump mats they have at our Strong Start program, so she’s very pleased to be able to jump her way down our hallway now too.
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This afternoon as Gracen and I were working on our ribbon wand project, Miss G asked for a “biiiiiiiiiig” piece of painter’s tape. I obliged and asked her what she was going to do with it. Her response was, “Stick it on da floor”. Bright idea, my girl.
I’m not quite sure how it all happened, but before long, we were both sitting on the floor ripping off pieces of tape and creating this little indoor roadway.
As I snipped pieces of tape in half lengthwise and begun adding our lanes, Miss G gathered up her car and tractors.
She started driving her vehicles around on it as soon as she could and we even had a few “races” {and collisions}.
This is such a simple {and inexpensive idea}, yet it brings hours of fun and endless possibilities. Brad came home from work and immediately commented on our dead ends, so there may revamp in our near future.
Of course, when it’s not being used as a roadway for cars, it can aways be used as a roadway for people. ☺
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During our recent visit to Urban Source (I feel like a lot of my upcoming posts will start this way), Gracen selected several sheets of coloured acetate (basically a brightly-hued transparent film) to bring home. Right away, two activities came to mind… One of which was this window cling art.
During nap time, I used different objects from around the house as tracers to cut the large sheets into an assortment of shapes. I placed the shapes, along with a spray bottle filled with water, on a tray next to our large front window, and left it there for my curious little monkey to discover upon her awakening.
Of course she beelined to the tray the moment she was up. I explained that we could use water to help the shapes stick to the window, and she was off. A little mist….
And stick a shape on top.
Voila! Instant window art. Super fun and super easy.
It didn’t take her long to realize that looking through the shapes was pretty cool too… “Mama! Everything is all pink!”
Of course the previous method works well for seeing the outside world in pink, but this is much more effective for making your house turn pink.
The really cool thing about the fact that our shapes are primary colours is that they lend themselves to colour mixing very well. Grae was amazed at all of the colours she could make by simply overlapping two shapes.
And after experimenting with colour mixing, she tried sorting the pieces into groups based on shapes and colours.
And soon after that, the pieces started becoming pictures of things. The triangles stacked on top of one another became her tree and the tower of large circles became her snowman (if you look closely, you’ll see she is in the process of adding buttons to her snowman’s belly).
This was such a fun and simple activity and as long as you can deal with dirty windows in the name of play, it can stay out for several days to be revisited over time. The other thing I like about it is that if you don’t have coloured acetate just hanging around the house, you can always reuse project covers, plastic duo tangs (or, as I’ve learned from my American friends, plastic “prongy folders”), scraps of vellum scrapbooking paper, or even plastic packaging.
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On a side note, I know that I have seen this idea around the web before… Trouble is, I cannot for the life of me find the link I’m thinking of! If you know, please pass the info my way as I’d love to give credit where credit’s due.
After a very successful trip to Urban Source this morning, we had everything we needed to set up a little activity that’s been on my mind for a long while now… A building station!
This project is perfect for when you have some packaging styrofoam sitting around in your garage, but you can also find styrofoam {and floral foam} pieces at places like Urban Source, as well as at craft stores and dollar stores. (Perhaps knowing that the pieces can be used again and again will help you feel less guilty about purchasing styrofoam in the first place? I know…. It’s a stretch, but I’m trying.)
In addition to putting out our styrofoam pieces, we put out all kinds of wooden dowels, popsicle sticks, sucker sticks, and matchsticks, as well as some golf tees, pipe cleaners, rivets, and feathers. With Halloween not far behind us, we also put out a couple of pumpkin carving knives and a regular children’s knife too.
Of course, when you’re constructing, safety’s got to come first – so goggles were also included. ☺
Instead of giving instructions, I simply asked Gracen, “Do you want to build something?” After an enthusiastic “YES!”, she got to work.
I was pretty amazed with how quickly she figured out that the sticks could be used to attach two styrofoam pieces to each other. She worked away on her masterpiece, concentrating first on the top portion, and later on the sides.
The only tricky part was the whole cutting thing… While I do let her cut things when we cook together, she hasn’t quite mastered the sawing method yet. Instead, she opts for pushing her knife straight through the objects, which may work well with bananas, but doesn’t work so well with styrofoam.
With cutting being a little too challenging, she moved onto enhancing her styrofoam disc instead of deconstructing it. I found it very interesting that she began using the rivets as enclosures for other materials.
After a good long hour of constructing, Grae decided it was time to tip her structure over on its side to do some more ‘work’ there.
Here’s what her structures looked like after nearly and hour and 20 minutes of play. Pretty cool, right?
At this point, she asked me what her project was called, and I explained that it could be called a structure. Her response? “Stuc-ture? Dis is a house.” Okay then, goose.
Grae’s beloved building station has since been tidied and the building has been put on hold, but only with the promise that it’ll stay out on her toy box for more play tomorrow, which is just fine with me. More than fine, actually…
There are so many great posts about styrofoam structures that I don’t remember where the inspiration behind this activity originally came from, but check out this post, this post, this post, and this post for more great styrofoam ideas.
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One of my favourite memories is the many family movie nights that filled the weekends of my childhood. They often involved treats (um, hello blue fish, shoestring licorice, and pink popcorn!), floor beds, and cheesy feel good movies, which landed them firmly in the extra special category as far as family activities were concerned.
Since having Grae, the idea of starting a little family movie tradition of our own has always been something I’ve looked forward to. While Grae doesn’t have a whole lot of experience watching television and is still a little young for movies, our dreary Vancouver weather brought about a spontaneous first family movie afternoon today. (Okay, it was more like a first movie 30 minutes…but who’s counting, right?)
With a couch-turned-bed, heaps of pillows and blankets, a ridiculous amount of stove popped popcorn, we settled in to the original Toy Story (which was the Pixar movie I found with the lowest age rating on www.commonsensemedia.com). It was Grae’s first ever movie, my first ever Pixar film, and our very first attempt at a movie afternoon as a family of 3. It lasted for as long as it took Grae to fill her belly with popcorn, but I’d say it was a perfect beginning to a tradition in the making.
This is the SIMPLEST little game ever, but Miss G loves it. And we’re talking loves it so much that she squeals and shrieks the entire time we play and shouts “More pillow pass, Mama!” whenever she thinks the game is going to end.
Basically, all we do is toss a pillow back and forth. Seriously, that’s it. A pillow is easier to catch than a ball, it’s as soft as can be (even when you get whacked in the head repeatedly), and apparently throwing a pillow around is hilarious.
A couple of weeks ago, Gracen and I attended an awesome Halloween-themed story time at Pottery Barn Kids. (Who knew, right? It happens every Tuesday at 11 a.m. for those of you who are in Vancouver.) Afterwards, the kids got their Book Club passports stamped and were each {very generously} gifted a Kiwi Crate to take home.
I’ve seen Kiwi Crates on a few of the blogs I read and I’ve always thought they were very neat, so I’m not sure who was more excited about the gift…Gracen or I. (If you’ve never heard of them before, they’re basically little boxes that arrive to your door each month and are filled with all of the materials/instructions/inspiration needed for hands-on projects. Some are science activities, some are arts and crafts, and some are geared towards imaginative play.)
This afternoon we took out our crate, opened it up, and found all of the materials needed to put together a window garden. Needless to say, my little gardening enthusiast was thrilled.
Included was a clearly laid out instruction card complete with diagrams, and a sweet little observation booklet for Miss G to draw in.
We carefully set up the garden, referring back to the instruction card after each step. Gracen, Miss ‘Let’s Do a Project!’, loved it and took her work very seriously.
With the exception of really making sure the suction cups were stuck to the window and printing the words “mint” and “basil”, Grae was able to do everything on her own, which was lovely.
We now have a sweet little garden set up right in our living room and I can’t wait to help Grae water it each day and watch as our fresh herbs grow. ☺
Because we enjoyed our Kiwi Crate so much, and I sincerely think they are a great way for parents and children to try new things together, I contacted Kiwi Crate and asked if they’d like to share the love with one of our readers. And guess what? They do! One Mama.Papa.Bubba. reader will receive a complimentary crate of their own, and will have the option of selecting a regular crate or one of the new holiday-themed crates.
The contest is open until Monday, November 26th and there are multiple ways to win (be sure to leave a separate comment for each).
To enter to win a complimentary Kiwi Crate:
Leave a comment below telling me something you love to do with your kid(s).
For additional chances to win:
–> ‘Like’ Mama.Papa.Bubba. on Facebook, then come back and leave a second separate comment saying you did so (or that you had previously).
–> ‘Like’ Kiwi Crate on Facebook, then come back and leave an additional separate comment saying you did so (or that you had previously).
–> Follow @jkossowanon Twitter, then come back and leave a separate comment saying you did so.
–> Tweet about the giveaway and leave an additional separate comment saying you did so.
Don’t forget to leave your email address! The winner will be announced on November 27th and contacted via email. Good luck!!
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Kiwi crate did not ask me to write this post, nor did they compensate me to do so, but in the interest of full disclosure, I did sign up to be a part of their affiliate program. This means that when Kiwi Crate products are purchased through the links i’ve provided, I get a small kickback from the company.
What do you do when it’s {long past the} time to pack away the Halloween things for the year, but your toddler has developed a particular affection for the battery operated votives that previous lit her jack-o-lantern?
Create a new use for them of course! Er, at least that’s what we did…
Here’s what we used… Mod Podge (regular white glue watered down with water works just as well), a jar, some tissue paper squares (we bought ours pre-cut, but you could just as easily cut or rip up large pieces), glitter, a pipe cleaner (perhaps 2), and a foam brush.
Grae started by painting part of her jar with Mod Podge.
Then she carefully placed tissue paper squares into the glue.
She continued adding Mod Podge and squares until the entire jar was covered. I actually couldn’t believe how into this process she was. She took the job very seriously and did every last bit on her own.
Once she was done covering the jar, I gave it a gentle once over with Mod Podge to smooth everything down. While the jar was still wet, Gracen sprinkled a light layer of glitter over the entire thing.
Then we placed it right side down on some parchment paper and let it dry.
Once it was dry, Grae used some clear glue and sequins to give the lantern a little bit more sparkle.
Then we let it dry again.
Afterwards, we used our pipe cleaners to create a handle for the lantern.
And that was it. A new place for G’s beloved votives to call home. ☺
Today Miss G and I tried making and playing with the ridiculously fun {and equally messy} substance called Oobleck. It’s made out of only 2 ingredients (or 3 if you want to add a little colour), and it isn’t quite a liquid and it isn’t really a solid… In fact, it behaves like both.
While teaching in Kuwait, my team members and I always made Oobleck with our first grade classes during our solids, liquids, and gasses unit and it was definitely one of the favourite lessons. Today, Grae enjoyed it just as much as my 6 and 7 year old students did, so this is definitely something that can be done with children of all ages.
All you need in order to make Oobleck is water and cornstarch, plus food colouring if you wish.
I like to start by adding the colouring to the water first because it’s a lot easier to stir colouring into water than into the finished Oobleck.
Plus, this way you get to watch the colouring disperse into the water, which is always kind of neat.
Start by giving your water a little stir to make sure the colouring is evenly dispersed.
Then add your cornstarch a cup at a time, stirring it into the water as you go.
When the mixture is nice and thick and you’re not able to pour off any excess water, your Oobleck is ready.
Now go ahead and play! Watch what happens when you touch the Oobleck quickly with a lot of pressure, versus when you touch it slowly and gently.
Be prepared to get messy – it’s more fun that way! Putting a towel or tray under the bowl of Oobleck should catch most of the spills, and since Oobleck is best played with with hands, you won’t be left with a sink full of dishes afterwards. ☺
Here are a couple of quick iPhone videos I managed to take of us playing with our Oobleck…
Oobleck
1 cup of water
3 cups of cornstarch
1 or 2 drops of food colouring
Start by colouring the water with food colouring. Add the cornstarch a cup at a time, stirring in between additions. The Oobleck is ready when the mixture is thick and excess water cannot by poured off.
(Many recipes on the internet will say that for 1 cup of water you should only need between 1 and 2 cups of cornstarch, but my experience has been that the 1:3 ratio works out perfectly every time. My suggestion is to add slowly after the second cup and see what works best for you.)
Enjoy!
To learn more about Oobleck, click here. To see where Oobleck got its silly-sounding name, click here.
After making each of her little dance class friends a mini mason jar filled with pink sparkly slime, plus giving out another 40 slime packets at Strong Start this morning, Gracen was excited to get her hands on a batch or two of her own. So today, between the Halloween festivities, we carved out some time in the afternoon to set up a very simple little slime station.
Here’s how we set up the station… Slime in three colours, a handful of small containers, a strainer spoon, a sand sifting shovel, plastic cutlery, some bowls all on a plastic tray.
Gracen quickly settled on the blanket next to her tray and began exploring. She wasn’t so sure about really diving in at first, but before too long she was picking up full batches of slime at a time and watching them slip and stretch out of her hands.
What I like so much about this sort of slime (besides how cool it is to play with), is that despite the fact that it looks like it can get pretty messy, it’s very easy to tidy. Because it acts more like a solid when removed from little people, dishes, and blankets, it just kind of clumps up and comes away clean. Plus, it doesn’t stain skin and it washes off of clothes and blankets without any effort. Messy play being easy to tidy? A definite win in my books.
Tonight Gracen and I whipped up some insanely easy “paint” to amp up this evening’s bath time fun. The best news? It only contains two ingredients.
Before getting started, we rounded up a few things… Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castile Liquid Soap (ours is almond scented), some traditional liquid food colouring, a couple of paintbrushes, and some paint containers.
With our materials gathered, we got started by pouring some of our liquid soap into our containers.
Next, Gracen squeezed a few drops of food colouring into each.
And gently stirred the colour into the soap.
That’s it! Less than two minutes later and we were ready for bath time.
Once in the tub, Gracen happily painted the tiles with “numbers” and “zigzags” using her homemade paint. It was a messy, drippy, bubbly good time.
Another perk? We ended up with a blue and purple bubbly tub full of water.
And a squeaky clean toddler who smelled deliciously of almond.
When it came time for bed, we took the shower head down, gave the tiles a rinse, and watched all of our designs melt down the drain with almost no effort. I must admit, our white grout is tinted slightly pink and blue in a few places, but meh – it will fade with time. All in the name of good fun. ☺
Two Ingredient Bath Tub Paint
4 tablespoons of Dr. Bronner’s pure castile liquid soap
After our most recent tea party with a pot filled with “tea”, I realized that I haven’t really given Gracen many opportunities to practice her pouring skills (with the exception of cooking and sensory bin/bath tub play, I guess). So tonight, just before I began making dinner, I set up a little water pouring station for her. All it took was a towel on the floor, a plastic serving tray, some measuring cups/jars/pitchers, and some coloured water. Gracen was thrilled, of course.
She transferred water from one container to another, watching the colours change and muddle for the better part of an hour, which was the perfect amount of time for me to prep dinner, clean the kitchen and wash a big load of dishes. Doesn’t get much better than that. Afterwards, clean up was a breeze. The towel went into the wash, the dishes got rinsed, and that was that… Another ‘Mama needs to make dinner’ activity to add to my {mental} list. ☺
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If you don’t feel comfortable letting your little one handle glass jars and measuring cups, you could always replace them with plastic ones instead. Switching out the water for dry goods like lentils, beans, and popping corn would be fun too!
Here’s a new {Halloween-themed} felt board activity I whipped up for Miss G this afternoon while she napped. It was a super quick project and couldn’t have been more simple to put together.
All you need is some felt (I just use the cheap craft store stuff for felt board activities), a really good pair of scissors, and maybe some fabric glue if you want make your pumpkin stems green like I did.
I often cut out my shapes freehand, but since I wanted 3 distinctly different pumpkin shapes, today I quickly sketched them out first.
Next, I cut out my pumpkin shapes, as well as some green stems for the tops.
Using Aleene’s OK To Wash-It fabric glue, I attached the stems to the pumpkins and set them aside to dry. Of course, you could stitch them on or use regular craft glue for this job instead. Or, another thought…you could not attach them at all and let adding stems to the pumpkins be part of the designing process.
While the glue dried, I worked on cutting out some jack-o-lantern eyes, noses, and mouths. I did this freehand, making up the shapes as I went along. Folding the felt in half in order to make symmetrical noses and mouths / two eyes at once made the job a lot faster and easier.
When Grae woke up, she was super excited to find her new felt board jack-o-lanterns waiting for her and got to playing right away.
She designed and redesigned the jack-o-lanterns again and again, sometimes very cautiously and sometimes more abstractly. She even ended up using eyes as eyebrows and upside-down mouths as moustaches (two things I wouldn’t have thought of!)
♥
For an easy and inexpensive felt board DIY, click here.
Looking back on my childhood, some of my favourite times were the ones when we got to play with “the real thing”. Using Dad’s real tools, playing with Mom’s real make-up, creating a store using real pantry items and real money… Those times were the extra special ones.
So today, Gracen and I set up a little tea party using some real things… Real snacks for one, and while I’m not quite ready to let her drink real tea, real water was a substitute she was perfectly happy with.
Sure, her tea pouring skills haven’t yet been perfected and most of our blanket and snacks were covered in little “tea” puddles as a result, but at the end of the day, blankets can be washed and puddles can be wiped up. What matters is that our little lady spent a special afternoon tea-ing with Mama and Sophie and got to practice all kinds of everyday skills by playing with ‘the real thing’.