Floating Balloon Play for Babies

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Oh my goodness… At nearly 3 and a 1/2 months corrected, baby bubba is so much fun these days! Beyond being super social and chatty, he’s really starting to play now, and I just love it.

Indoor Balloon Badminton

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This may very well be the easiest activity to throw together ever, but Gracen thoroughly enjoyed it. All you need is a couple of paper plates (ours are made of styrofoam, which I absolutely despise, but they, along with many other party supplies, were in the cupboard when we moved into this house, so I don’t feel quite as badly about using them), 2 large popsicle sticks, some masking tape, and a balloon. To create simple racquets, all you have to do is tape popsicle stick handles onto the bottom sides of the plates… Then you’re ready to play! Partner pass, keep it up, and distance contests are all fun.

This is a perfect activity for a rainy day and great for helping your toddler burn off some energy if getting outside isn’t an option. The other perk is that it is relatively quiet (especially when played independently), so it could make a good quiet activity for an older sibling whose little brother or sister is napping.

♥

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Balloons and Sharpies: A Creative Table

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This morning as Gracen was playing in her room (aka tearing everything off of every shelf and pulling everything out of every drawer) and I was doing a little bit of tidying, I decided to quickly load up her creative table with some new supplies. We’ve had balloons floating all around the house since her half birthday balloon bath, so I grabbed a couple of soup bowls, placed a couple of balloons inside, and put out a little jar of my {coveted} colourful Sharpies.

Without a word of exaggeration, upon coming into the room, Grae’s eyes lit up, she punched both fists into the air, and squealed “Yaaaay! New crafting stuff!”

She found it pretty hysterical that she was allowed to draw on balloons, and asked several times, “Mama, it’s okay to draw on dese balloons?”

Once she accepted that it was most certainly okay to draw on the balloons, she dove in. Her favourite was a ‘game’ she asked me to play with her… I was to draw dots all over the balloon and she was going to colour over top of each.and.every.one.

While the thought of balloons popping did cross my mind, day old {and therefore slightly squishy} balloons and well-used Sharpies = success.

So what do you do with balloons that have been drawn on? Well, all of the things you do with a regular balloon I guess… Play keep it up, have a game of indoor volleyball, try kicking it really hard to see how far you can make it go – the usual. Unless of course, you’ve drawn a face on it – then you can attach cardboard feet and have a little balloon person hang out around the house. Like I think the majority of kids’ art should be, this is all about the process. ☺

See some of our other creative table ideas here.

♥

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{Birthday} Balloon Bath

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This is ridiculously easy way to amp up the bath time fun, but it may just be Gracen’s favourite of all time. I wish I had a video of the shrieking, jumping, splashing, and balloon batting just to illustrate what a hit it was. Lucky for us, our tub has sliding glass doors, so the crazy was at least contained. ☺

I decided to try this tonight for Gracen’s half birthday, but it make a great regular birthday bath, and would be just as well received any day of the year I’m sure.

Just fill up the tub nice and full, add some bubbles and a bunch of balloons (I think 10 is a good number if you want it nice and full) and let the fun unfold.

♥

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Two and a Half.

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Today my baby girl is officially two and a half.

One of the little traditions we started when Gracen was born was the celebration of her half birthday. Because well, why not really? That extra ‘half’ is a big deal when your age is still in the single digits. It’s nothing fancy… Just a fun day with “cupcakes” after dinner. This year was extra special as it fell on a weekend which meant Papa got to join in on the fun.

It started with Miss G waking up to a doorway full of balloons, ended with chocolate coconut banana muffins topped with freshly whipped cream and candles, and had muffin making, playing in the rain, an awesome presentation of The Cat in the Hat, and a sushi dinner sprinkled throughout the middle.