Oh my goodness, did Miss G ever have fun creating this colourful, sequinned, drippy cardboard cake! Perfect timing too, as her baby brother’s first birthday is just over a week away and she’s absolutely vibrating with excitement.
Tag Archives: creative table
Snowman Building Creative Table
Last year’s Christmas tree decorating creative table just may be Gracen’s most talked about activity of all time. She’s literally talked about it multiple times each month for a year straight now. I’m not sure what has made that particular activity so loved, but we’ll definitely be doing it again this year. In the meantime, I decided we’d try something similar, but not exactly the same… This time, a snowman building creative table!
Bubble Painting
Yesterday Miss G and I finally got around to something that’s been on my mental activity list forever now… Bubble painting! Now if you cruise Pinterest, you’ll see that bubble painting is all over the internet and everyone seems to do it a little bit differently. Variations include all different sorts of bubble solutions, wands, and methods, so we just made up our own.
Sweet & Stretchy {EDIBLE} Marshmallow Dough
While Gracen napped this afternoon, I decided to finally put the bag of marshmallows I’ve been carting around for the last couple of weeks to good use. And oh my word, am I ever glad I did!
Building Sugar Cube Structures
Upon returning from my first ever weekend (and overnight, actually) away from Miss G, she immediately asked if we could open the last of her activity bags. She explained that she had already opened all of the other bags, but had saved the ‘bonus bag’ to do with me once I returned home.
She pulled the items out one by one and this is what we found inside… A box of sugar cubes, some white glue, and several pieces of thick cardboard. The note inside explained that the materials were for building structures, and Gracen wasted no time getting started.
First up, she told me she was going to build ‘biiiiig’ towers. ‘Big, big, big, big, biiiiiig ones’. And that she did. Layering a little squeeze of glue between each sugar cube allowed her to create several tall towers.
When her towers reached the height that satisfied her expectations, she asked for help with making a ‘rectangle’. I squeezed the glue out onto the cardboard in a rectangular shape, and she place the cubes along the path. We continued this pattern several times and finished off with a top layer that made the structure look castle-like.
With our sugar cube box running low, we decided we had enough left for one last structure. Grae decided on a pyramid with a fence around it (the fence was very important) and so that’s what we did.
I really love this activity because it can be very open-ended – the possibilities are endless! Grae loved it so much that she was quite disappointed when the sugar cubes were gone, so we’ll definitely be trying it again soon!
♥
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Contact Paper Egg Decorating
I set up this little creative table for Miss G this morning and she was so over the top excited about it that she could barely contain herself.
It was very simple to set up, but still took too long for Miss G’s likes. All I had to do is cut out a few large egg shapes out of construction paper…
Then cut smaller ones inside, leaving an outline a couple of centimetres thick.
Next I stuck the egg outlines onto some clear contact paper, and trimmed off the excess.
I quickly filled up some little containers with our homemade coloured rice, paper confetti, tissue paper circles, and strips of spring-themed ribbon, and set my impatient little lady loose.
She got started immediately, diving into the pastel ribbons first.
And the messy stuff afterwards. ☺
She immediately completed two of the eggs, and left the third one to a complete a little later. As of now, Miss G’s eggs remain as they were when she finished decorating them, but we may cover her designs with a second sheet of contact paper in order to make them a little easier to store.
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Face Painting Station
I thought of putting this little station together for Gracen to explore months and months ago, but only got to it today. Perhaps today just felt like a face painting sort of day? I don’t know…
Either way, I set out her step stool turned toddler bench in front of our closet mirror (of course a table top mirror would work just as well), laid out a couple of damp cloths and a jar of face painting crayons, and waited for her to discover her new station.
And when she did, was she ever excited! She didn’t quite know what it was all about, but she was excited none the less. I stood back and watched her take off her tights. Then she turned to me and asked, “Mama helps Grae Grae paint her toes?” Hah!
Once I explained that they were face painting crayons, she was even more pleased. And off she went, decorating her face.
She went through several changes during the process… First, she announced that she was a raccoon, and after adding a few more lines here and there, she decided that she was a kitty cat.
Here she is with her first finished look. ☺
When it was time to remove it, she tried using the damp cloth I’d provided, but it was quite tricky. Face paint is stubborn, but I knew just what would do the trick…. One of our very favourite body/household/cooking products – organic coconut oil! She dipped her fingers into it, started rubbing it on her face, and the paint literally melted off. Afterwards she was able to use her cloth and wipe her face clean – easily!
Miss G decorated herself for a while longer, then let me have the final turn… The natural choice? Papa eyebrows, of course! ☺ I don’t know who found it more hysterical – her or me.
♥
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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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Contact Paper, Tissue, Sequins, Confetti, & Glitter: A Creative Table
This creative table set up had a good long run in our house… It’s been worked on day in and out for over a week now, and I’m sure Gracen would still be adding to it if there was any sticky space left on the contact paper.
When it began, it looked like this… A piece of clear contact paper, sticky side up, tacked down to one of our vintage apple crates (it could just as easily be taped down to a table top), and a few little jars of decorating goodies, as Miss G calls them.
Included were sequins, confetti, tissue squares, and a container of glitter.
Although I often set up Gracen’s creative tables while she’s sleeping, this time around she helped me set up, selecting the glitter (of course) and the sequins to be part of it.
When we’d finished gather our materials, she began creating without direction or instruction… Carefully adding each item, one at a time, and pressing them down onto the sticky paper.
The lovely thing about contact paper is that because everything sticks to it, projects (even when they include a full bottle of glitter) never get wildly messy.
Grae revisited it daily, adding a little bit each time, until today when we decided it was time to switch things up a little.
Now we could have easily called it quits at this point, because art like this is definitely about the process and not the finished product, but Grae had announced early on that she would be hanging her finished piece on her bedroom door. In order to preserve it a little better, we took out our contact paper once again and cut a piece the same size as the original one.
I then peeled the backing off of just the top edge of the new sheet, carefully lined it up with the art piece, and pressed the two sheets, sticky sides together, down. Afterwards, I pulled the remaining backing off in order to cover the entire piece.
Here’s what it looked like with everything sealed in. We could have left it as is, but Gracen chose to cut it into two hearts rather than keep it as one large rectangle.
Here’s the finished product. She very proudly hung it on her door turned art gallery, but it would be super pretty hung in front of a window where light could shine through too.
To learn a little bit more about how we do creative tables around here, visit this creative table post and this one too. Or, pop by Tinkerlab, where Rachelle, the creator of the Creative Table Project explains.
♥
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Berry Jello Play Dough
A couple of days ago, Miss G and I experimented with making a couple of changes to our scented Kool-Aid play dough. I don’t know if Kool-Aid is just on the way out (surely it should be ☺), but our grocery store only stocks a few colours. So as an alternative, we decided to give Jell-O crystals a shot.
We followed our original scented play dough recipe *almost* exactly, but added a packet of Jell-O mix instead of Kool-Aid mix.
We also added some fine glitter because…. Well, because Grae said so. That’s why.
We mixed everything up and added our wet ingredients, going a little bit easier on the water this time. While we absolutely loved our Kool-Aid play dough and it kept great when somewhere cool, we did notice that it got a bit mucky when stored in a cupboard near one of our heat vents, so hopefully the reduced amount of water will help fix this problem.
The result was a soft, smooth, yummy-smelling play dough that Miss G was just dying to get her hands on.
We made two batches, one raspberry, one strawberry, and added some cookie cutters, a mini rolling pin, and a mini baking pan for a fun creative table set-up.
{No-Cook} Berry Jell-O Play Dough
- 1 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup of table salt
- 1 packet of Jell-O (we used the sugar kind)
- 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon of glitter (if desired)
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon of glycerine (optional and readily available in the first aid section of most grocery stores)
- 3/4 of a cup of boiling water
Place all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add wet ingredients, saving the boiling water for last. Add the water and give the mixture a few quick mixes, banging off your whisk every once and a while. Leave the semi-mixed dough on the counter to cool. Once cooled for about 10 minutes, dump the mixture onto the counter and knead really well. Knead for about 3 minutes, or until the dough smooth and well-blended.
Enjoy!
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Ice Cream Shop {Using Ice Cream Dough}
After making a few batches of ice cream dough this afternoon, Gracen and I set up a simple little ice cream shop in the living room. We used an old wooden apple crate for her table top and made sure the floor was protected with a large bath towel.
Then we went around the house to collect a few other items. First up – ice cream cones. Yes, the real ones… We had them on hand from her 2nd birthday party and they’d never be used otherwise, so may as well use them for some fun pretend play, right?
Of course, for customers not partial to cones, you need to have a bowl option. These silicon baking cups did the job perfectly.
Next, we gathered up some spoons and an ice cream scoop…
As well as some buttons, beads, and straw pieces for candies and candy sprinkles.
And with that, our little ice cream shop owner got to work.
There was plenty of scooping, touching, smelling, and exploring to be done.
Of course the ice cream treats rolled out of the shop one after another too. A hazelnut ice cream cone for Papa…
And a strawberry ice cream cup {with extra candy sprinkles!} for Mama.
This was such a simple set-up, but I can already tell that she’s going to get hours of fun out of it. Of course, it’s more than just fun… This little ice cream shop incorporates pretend play, a sensory experience, and creativity too.
♥
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{Pretend Play} Cooking Station
First off, I have to say that I just love setting up fun play invites for Gracen to discover. The way her little face lights up when she finds something new just melts me. And she dives in so enthusiastically that I seriously could just stand back and watch her play forever.
I set up this little cooking station on our butcher block tonight while Miss G was having an early bath. I knew I’d be making dinner once she was out and that Brad would probably want to get some dishes done, so having a fun activity right in the kitchen where we’d be would allow for some family time while all working on our own projects.
Gracen got all kinds of really cool cooking and baking supplies for Christmas this year, so I made sure to include them, but you could easily just use regular-sized bowls, pans, and utensils.
For the ‘food’, I filled up some small jars and bowls with dried goods from our pantry and added in a couple of spice shakers, one filled with rice and the other with some of the coloured epsom salt we used as a sensory experience before Christmas.
Of course our observant little girl noticed the cooking station within 10 seconds of exiting the bathroom, long before she had completely dried off or put clothes on. After retrieving a shirt, some underwear, and a hat (weird doodle!) it was time to play.
Pie anyone?
She whipped up concoction after concoction, offering us tastes along the way. ☺
She had so much fun that at the end of the night I simply tidied things up a little, made them looking inviting again, and left them out for her to explore again tomorrow.
♥
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Valentine’s Creative Table
One of the things I’ve been doing to encourage independent play {and creativity} in recent months is keeping a fun, inviting, and well-stocked ‘creative table’ for Gracen. All it is is her little table (or sometimes a tray or even the floor) with an assortment of materials available for her free use. Sometimes it’s paper and glue and embellishments (like in our Christmas tree creative table), sometimes it’s play dough and cookie cutters and decorations, and sometimes it’s a tray of baking soda with droppers and dishes of different coloured vinegars. Naturally, some creative table set-ups are more open-ended and some lend themselves more to a finished product, but either way, the purpose is for Gracen to explore materials, experiment, and create freely while enjoying the process.
Today, Miss G and I did a little bit of shopping for this year’s Valentine’s Day projects (yes, we’re thinking about it already), and though I intended on holding off on a Valentine’s themed creative table for a while yet, my little lady popped up from her afternoon nap and her first words were, “I want to craft now. Grae Grae gets her new craft things!” And that was that. A Valentine’s creative table it was.
Together we gathered up all sorts of pink and red craft supplies… Smelly markers, sparkly foam shapes, bingo dabbers, stamps and a stamp pad, doilies, construction paper hearts, and some glue.
As she does with most creative projects, Grae dove right in.
The immediate favourite? The foam stickers. She plower through the initial stash and asked for more right away.
Throughout the afternoon and evening, she came and went as she pleased, adding to her pieces as she wished.
Here are a few of the pieces she declared ‘finished’…
While it won’t be around until the big day (I try to change up our creative table supplies every 4 to 7 days or so), there’s no doubt it will be enjoyed, added to, and revisited for several days to come.
♥
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‘Sewing’ Station {a creative table idea}
For the last few days, Miss G has really been enjoying the new set-up she has happening at her creative table (for a little bit of background info on the whole idea behind her creative table, click here). While it would probably be more appropriate to call this a beading and lacing station, Gracen saw it and immediately cheered, “A sewing station!” To her, needles equal sewing, so a sewing station it is.
The sewing station consists of things we mainly already had on hand… Two types of beads (pony beads and meltable beads like these), a couple of plastic yarn needles strung with wool, a few steel yarn needles strung with embroidery floss, some Wikki Sticks…
And some homemade lacing cards (simply made by cutting shapes out of card stock and cardboard, and punching holes around the edges).
When Grae originally discovered her new sewing materials, she was by far most excited about the needles and thread, and got to beading right away…
After a couple of days, she had completed not only a bracelet for herself (I helped with the tying of course), but one for her Mama too!
After that, she begun working on the lacing cards. Right now she’s working on a lacing circle that has beads woven throughout. She works on it a little each day, moving onto something else when she feels like it and returning when the urge returns.
Something that often happens when it comes to her creative table {and sensory play} is that Grae adds to the materials as she goes. These mini cupcake liners were all her idea. 
This is her most recently completed project… A bracelet for Papa! He couldn’t be left out, now could he?To see some of Miss G’s other recent creative table set-ups, click here.
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Christmas Nature Wreath
For the last few days, Gracen’s been working on these sweet little nature wreaths at her creative table.
It started out as a very simple painting station with a few cardboard o’s and some paint in different shades of green.
When the paint was dry, I added a few other things into the mix… Glue, mini pinecones, bits of evergreen tree, and dried out red berries from her autumn nature shelf.
Though this creative table set-up didn’t take off quite like the paper christmas tree one did, it’s been something that she’s come back to each day. She’ll spend a little bit of time adding to one of her wreaths, move onto something else, and come back another time.
This morning, after walking past the wreath on our door, she asked if she could have some bows for her wreaths, so I brought out my glue gun, cut up some ribbon, and added a few to the table.
After adding her bow, she put on the finishing touches…
And voila! A beautiful little Christmas wreath made of things {mostly} found outdoors.
♥
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