Our morning started innocently enough… I thought I’d keep the munchkins happy and busy in the playroom with some morning painting while Brad took a conference call upstairs.
Category Archives: child’s play
AWESOME DIY Squishy Soap
With Sam home from the NICU, one of the things we’re extra on top of now is hand washing. It’s the easiest way to keep germs at bay and help ensure our little preemie boy doesn’t come down with something during cold and flu season, which could be really awful for him. To make the constant hand washing a little more fun for Miss G, I’ve been switching up our soap every now and then by adding different essential oils to it, putting it in a bottle with a foaming pump, and once even adding a drop or two of pink colouring to it {you do what you gotta do, right?} Thankfully Grae’s really great about it all, even though I feel like I ask her to wash her hands about 100 times a day.
St. Patrick’s Day Play Dough Kit
It’s been a long while since we put together our last play dough kit, so this week I finally made time to create a new one! And since I have a very hard time resisting anything rainbow, this time around we went with a St. Patrick’s Day play dough kit.
5 Fun Ways to Bring Your Favourite Children’s Books to Life
It’s no secret that Miss G and I adore books. We’ve got shelves and shelves of them and I have absolutely no guilt about adding a few favourites here and there. I add them to Easter baskets, they’re part of our Christmas Eve tradition, and they’re a staple birthday gift in our house… You just can’t have too many, in my opinion.
Rhyming Pairs Matching Game
One thing I’ve been trying my best to do since Sam’s come home is making a little time each day for Grae and I to do something fun together. Just the two of us, with her having my full attention. It’s not always easy as baby brother tends to be the type of baby who doesn’t love being put down, but so far we’ve been making it work. By request of Miss G, we’ve done mini manicures, we’ve cooked up some yummy treats, we’ve taken our babies for a walk outside {okay, so that one involved Mr. Sam, but by her choice}, and we’ve done some art.
DIY Science Kit for Kids
For the last week and a bit, Miss G’s been having a total blast experimenting with all sorts of open-ended science activities and challenges…
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And it’s all because of this book – The Curious Kid’s Science Book by Asia Citro. We are big fans of her first book, 150+ Scree-Free Activities for Kids {which actually inspired us to create a taste-safe sensory play kit for a friend last year}, and this second book certainly does not disappoint! What I think I love most about it is that it really gets little ones into the scientific process {but in a totally organic and child-led way} – asking questions, testing different methods, making observations, making adjustments, re-experimenting, and coming to conclusions. What I also really love about it is that at 5 years old, Miss G is very capable of leading many of these explorations completely on her own, giving her a huge sense of pride and independence. Win!!
So, when I asked my good friend what her little guy was into a few days before his birthday party and she responded with, ‘He loves doing science experiments!’, there was no question what we’d put together for him. A DIY science kit it would be!
Luckily for us, Asia {the author of the book} has made this part extremely easy by providing a list of the most common materials needed to do the experiments in the book both on her blog and on page 28 of the book itself! And in case you’re wondering, most of what’s on the list is really easy to find either at a grocery store or at a dollar store.
Here’s what Asia recommends including:
- salt
- sugar
- corn syrup
- cooking oil
- vinegar
- lemon juice
- baking soda
- pinto beans
- food colouring
- coffee filters
- plastic cups, short and tall
- zip-close bags
- straws
- masking tape
- cotton balls
- cotton swabs
- dish soap
- potting soil
- children’s safety goggles
We took a few liberties with our list, but included most everything {save the darn children’s safety googles that I waited too long to go out and find!} and also included one of Miss G’s favourite science tools – plastic pipettes. In the case where something came in a monstrous size bag that we felt was excessive for the size of our kit, we simply re-packaged the goods into smaller sets / bags and used some funky washi tape to pretty things up a little bit.
Next up, Miss G created a personalized book plate and stuck it just inside a copy of The Curious Kid’s Science Book.
Then we tied the book up with some baker’s twine and placed everything neatly into a pretty plastic bin.
As a finishing touch, we added a little label to the front of our kit, and it was done and ready to be given. ☺
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‘Mix It Up!’ Colour Exploration Kit
Yesterday, as Miss G and I were reading two of our favourite Hervé Tullet books {Press Here and Mix It Up!}, I was suddenly reminded of the fun colour exploration kit we put together months ago for one of Grae’s little friends. It was nearing the end of our time in Kuwait, so things were crazy with our upcoming international move and me being deep in the throws of early pregnancy sickness/exhaustion, so I never got around to sharing it, but after hearing Grae talk about it so excitedly yesterday afternoon, I think we may just have to whip up a similar kit for her to enjoy this weekend.
Dinosaur Play Dough Kit
A couple of weeks back, Miss G and I put together a fall-themed play dough kit, and it’s been getting a ton of use ever since. {Some of Grae’s dolls even got deliciously scented dresses early one weekend morning – hah!} It goes without saying that we love play dough kits, so we usually keep a few on hand, switching out the doughs and themes each season. Well, since we’ve only switched out the one so far, it was time for the Canadian Wilderness set and the ice cream set to go. And in in their place? This fun dinosaur play dough kit and a super awesome Halloween kit {which I’ll share later this week}.
Star Wars Play Dough Kit
Admittedly, neither Brad nor I are huge Star Wars fans… But Miss G? Well she’s recently become one thanks to this Cosmic Kids Yoga video. {Hah!} So when she heard that the birthday party we’d been invited to this weekend was Star Wars-themed, she was absolutely thrilled. Of course, when I asked what she’d like to get the birthday boy as a gift, she threw out ‘A STAR WARS PLAY DOUGH KIT!!!’ almost immediately {sorry friends, I promise to get her onto a non-play dough gift giving kick very soon} and then I realized how over my head I was…
Fall Play Dough Kit
As usual in our house, a new season means new play dough kits, and what better way to start off fall than with a fall-themed play dough kit?! Grae and I have been collecting little odd and ends for this one for the last couple of weeks, so we were really excited to finally put it all together and play with it this morning… {Fyi, It smells amaaaazing!}
Monster Slime Halloween Favours
This year Miss G was really torn between making spider web slime and monster slime Halloween favours for her preschool co-op friends, so we decided to both! I think they both turned out absolutely adorably, but I especially love the simple little faces Grae created for these tubs of monster slime.
Spider Web Slime Halloween Favours
Slime… It’s probably Miss G’s favourite thing to give to her friends when Halloween rolls around each year. I don’t blame her – it’s stretchy and gooey and just plain fun. In the past we’ve done mini mason jars of pink sparkly slime for her ballerina friends and little Franken-SLIME containers for the kiddos that live in our building, and this year we’ve decided on two new types of slime giveaways for her buddies – the first of which is these spider web slime halloween favours.
Our Playroom and Creative Space
After five {quite painful} days of looking for a new place to call home here in Vancouver, Brad and I {not surprisingly} ended up having different favourites. My choice, a 2 bedroom / 2 bathroom / 2 level townhouse, was small, but in a really lovely vibrant community filled with young families and coffee shops, restaurants, and other amenities that were all very walkable. His choice {and the one we ended up choosing}, was a big, old, quirky free-standing 3 bedroom + office / 1 bathroom home on the outskirts of the city in a less walkable neighbourhood… So what sold me on the house that in my mind meant more cleaning, more time in the car, and needing more stuff to fill it? Without a doubt, it was the spacious, beautifully-lit sunroom that I knew would make a perfect playroom and creative space for Miss G. And while it’s still a work in progress as we empty out our last few boxes and re-purchase a few of her items that weren’t worth shipping, it’s already become a favourite spot in the house.
Fall Nature I Spy Bottle
Ahhh…. Autumn. It’s something we haven’t experienced in the last couple of years, and though I certainly would mind being poolside soaking up Kuwait’s 40 degree heat currently, I’m loving seeing all of the beautiful fall colours pop up early around Vancouver this year. Of course, Gracen {my little collector of sticks, rocks, and all things nature} is loving it too. There are just so many fun things to be discovered outside right now!
Princess Play Dough Kit
Today was Miss G’s first birthday party back in Canada and she was thrilled that a) it meant she got to finally see one of the friends she’s missed terribly while away, b) that it was princess-themed and involved art, and c) that it gave us the perfect excuse to create a ‘princessy’ gift.