Let’s be honest here… Who really has the patience to sit for ages making perler bead creations?? I wish I did. Miss G and I made a few little things the other day and had fun, but truth be told, what we really wanted to do was run our fingers through them – hah! That, or use them for something completely different {and less fine motor skill intensive} than what they’re intended for – like making a simple shake and search I spy bottle.
I know that it’s sort of hard to believe {even for me!}, but this past weekend I went out for a good 5 hours all by myself {the perks to having a NICU babe – he’ll happily take a bottle!} So what did I do with my time? Well truthfully, I got groceries and did a little bit of shopping, but since I went across the border, it meant Trader Joe’s and Target, which is super exciting in this mom’s books. ☺
After our rhyming pairs matching game, Miss G asked to play another homemade game this afternoon. With dinnertime nearing and a baby boy who needed one of his mama’s arms, it needed to be something super quick and easy to pull together, and that’s how this very simple coin sorting tray came about. Admittedly, it’s more of an activity than a game, but Miss G didn’t mind in the least. It meant that she got to play with money, which she’s been super interested in lately. That being said, since she’s spent the majority of her life living in the Middle East, Canadian currency is not something she knows much about just yet, so this was perfect for her.
After the success of last week’s play dough subtraction smash, I decided that we’d focus on another playful math activity this week, and since Miss G’s been all about getting going with Valentine’s Day stuff since we took down our Christmas tree, I thought we’d incorporate that too. While hearts were {of course} the first thing that popped into my mind, I wanted to switch things up a little, so an arrow addition matching game it was.
Since a home recycling service doesn’t exist here in Kuwait, I save all sorts of food packing items, hoping to find them some sort of second purpose before they end up in the bin. My hoarding usually serves me well and I’m almost always able to help out when fellow community members put out calls for recyclables to use in their classrooms, but sometimes my stash just gets out of control. Such is the current situation with my egg carton stash. It’s out of control, which means that there will most likely be many egg carton projects and activities in our near future, the first of which is a super simple egg carton letter sound sort.
{this post contains affiliate links}I’ve had a package of large foam craft sticks for a long while now, but have never really figured out a fun way to put them to use. Well, today as I was working on a project for CBC Parents, I realized that the cute flower-shaped buttons I was using coordinated perfectly with the colours of the foam sticks. Having had a reusable countdown chain on my mind for quite a while now, I knew exactly what I was going to do with them.
I’m absolutely thrilled to be sharing one of Miss G’s all-time favourite games over at I Can Teach My Child today {one of the very first blogs I ever followed!} We’ve made and played these super simple homemade matching games since Gracen was around 2, and they never get old. Over time, we’ve varied them according to the season and Gracen’s interests and abilities, which makes them perfect for all kinds of munchkins. Pop on over and see the full post here. ☺