Mini Treasure Hunt

1 / 21 / 139 / 12 / 13

Recently, Gracen has become borderline obsessed with all things searching-based. She loves a good game of hide-and-seek, she adores playing ‘I Spy’, and there’s nothing better than a ‘Where’s Waldo?’ book. So this afternoon, after a busy morning filled with a morning walk, a first attempt at skating, and an impromptu hair cut, we decided to pull together a low-key searching activity indoors.

First, we rounded up some coins (aka treasure) and gave them a good scrub in hot soapy water {because money grosses me out}. (Of course you could always use something different as treasure…plastic gems, tiny toys, play money, etc.)

After drying off the coins, we spread them out on a plastic serving tray…

And hid the treasure with the coloured rice we made months ago (plain rice, sand, flour, dry pasta, beans, and cornmeal would all be good alternatives).

Voila – treasure hidden.

Next, we gathered a few treasure finding tools.

We laid our tray down on a towel for easier clean up, retrieved one of Miss G’s piggy banks for treasure collection, and the search began.

Searching…

Found something… Jackpot!

Clink! Into the piggy bank (cue Miss G’s ‘money, money, moneeeeey’ song and dance).

Grae had so much fun with this little game that I’m certain it will sit out in our living room for the next few days being enjoyed by our little search-obsessed girl time and time again.

♥

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Tong Transfer Game

1 / 19 / 131 / 22 / 13

Since returning home from vacation last week, we’ve been in a bit of a ‘getting back on track’ mode… While we’re pretty good at maintaining Gracen’s overall schedule while away, some things are harder to control. While on vacation, the time Grae’s left to find and engage in activities on her own is minimal – and for good reason as there are cousins and grandparents to play with! The trouble is, mix the lack of time to practice independence with a whole lot more media exposure (I’m learning that our television is on for, perhaps, an abnormally small fraction of the day), and by the time we return home, I’ve got a stage five clinger on my hands. And don’t get me wrong – I love having my little sidekick right next to me most of the time… But sometimes a mama has just got to do something on her own, without a little pair of hands in the mix. Not to mention that I think independent play is a very important skill for kids to learn.

So tonight, as I was whipping together some dinner, I thought of a little game that would allow Miss G (my purple dinosaur) to be right there in the kitchen with me, while allowing me a wee bit of space. Flipping some chicken using tongs caused me to remember the mini tongs we’d put in Grae’s Christmas stocking. I added two bowls and some shell pasta to the mix, and we had a game on our hands.

The goal? Simply using the tongs to pick up the shells from one bowl and transfer them to the other bowl.

Now this may sound ridiculously easy, but for a toddler who’s had minimal experience with tongs and whose motor skills are not yet fully developed, it’s quite a challenge at first.

But not for long. After successfully transferring all of the pasta pieces twice, Gracen asked for something new. I quickly scanned our kitchen and came up these honey mandarins.

I could already see that her tong transferring skills had improved this time around.

After a couple of rounds with the oranges, Miss G wanted to try something new again, so we dug these bells out of a craft box to use.

It is such a simple activity, but this little ‘game’ certainly kept my clingy monkey happily engaged until dinner was ready. And sometimes that’s just what a mama needs.

♥

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Felt Board Name Game & My Favourite Fonts

12 / 21 / 123 / 22 / 14

One of Grae’s favourite quiet indoor activities is playing with her felt board. It’s a good thing, because I love making new felt board games for her just as much as she loves playing with them. This is a super simple “game” that takes no time and very little skill to make, and is perfect for munchkins who are interested in letters or ready to begin learning to spell their names.

But before I begin, a few questions I’ve been asked about felt boards recently…

Where can I buy a felt board?

You can buy them at almost any teaching supply store (and even some toy stores that carry educational games), but it is very, VERY simple to create one on your own using a large sheet of felt (purchased at a craft or fabric store), a frame with with glass removed, and some glue. Making your own also means that you get to choose your size, felt colour, and frame colour, plus it’s a really inexpensive project – win! Here is a simple tutorial on how I made Miss G’s.

Dumb question, but do the felt pieces just stick onto the felt board without glue or velcro or anything else?

Yes! The beauty of a felt board is that felt sticks to felt, making felt board games good for hours of interactive fun. No glue, tape, or velcro needed. ☺

What kind of felt do you use for your projects? Is the cheap stuff found at dollar stores okay?

For felt board games, the inexpensive stuff made of recycled bottles is perfect. It costs about 30 cents per sheet, comes in tons of different colours, and can be purchased from dollar stores and craft stores.

Do you cut out every shape freehand or do you have a website where you print out shapes to trace onto the felt for cutting?

To be honest, I cut out many of the shapes freehand just because for me, it’s easier than finding a template online, printing it off, and using it as a cutting guideline. That being said, if I’m creating something more complex, I sometimes draw on the backside of the felt (the slightly shinier side) with chalk (it’s easy to wipe off afterwards) before cutting. For letters, I always print them off using a word processing program first and use them as a guide (as I did for the name game below) because I find them trickier. If you’re not a super drawer/cutter, you can always use Google images, search for your desired shapes, print them off, and use them to make the cutting process easier.

Okay, so here’s how I made Grae’s new name game…

First off, I gathered the materials… Some felt, straight pins, scissors (smaller sharp ones work best for felt), and the letters of her name printed in 300 point Illuminate font. (See some of my other favourite fonts below.)

Next, I quickly cut out around the letters, getting rid of the extra paper.

With the letters prepared, I pinned them onto my felt pieces using a single pin per letter. (Pinning right on the letter as seen in the case of the ‘r’ and the ‘e’ makes life easier… do it that way instead of pinning in the centres of the letters.)

Next, using my small, sharp scissors, I cut the letters out, cutting through both the paper and the felt at once.

The last step involves taking the pins out and removing the paper.

Voila! Easy felt letters. Now it’s time to play.

Depending on the age and interest level of your child, you could add in the letters for their middle and last names, or cut out all of the letters of the alphabet, allowing them to experiment with making other words too.

To see more easy to make at home felt board activities, click here.

Another thing I’ve been asked about a lot lately is about the fonts I use regularly here on Mama.Papa.Bubba., so I’ve put together a little collection of some of my current favourites, including Illuminate, the one I used for this project. All of them are free and Mac-friendly. Simply click on the links below to download them.

My Own Topher // Penna

SPRINGTIME // MARI & DAVID

appleberry // LoveLove

Aria Penci Roman // geeker

Matilde // SIMON SCRIPT

Janda Safe and Sound

Illuminate // Girth Control

arsenale white // HEAVY WEIGHT

MARKUS INK // RETURN TO SENDER

Elsie Tall n Skinny

Lavanderia // ANTELOPE

♥

Sticker Matching Game

12 / 20 / 1212 / 9 / 13

This morning I woke up to this post from Kiwi Crate in my inbox, which turned out to be a perfect afternoon activity for Miss G. The moment I nonchalantly mentioned a ‘sticker matching game’, she was ready to go.

Luckily, this little activity takes very little prep work. Miss G helped me gather some paper, some dot stickers, a Sharpie, and some scissors.

To get started, I folded a green sheet of construction paper in half, and cut out a tree shape freehand.

Next, I used the Sharpie to draw 15 unique shapes onto the dot stickers (the original post uses letters instead of shapes, but I thought this would be a better starting point for Miss G).

Next, I drew matching shapes on the tree. And that was it. The game was ready.

Then I let Miss G go. All I said was “Do you want to try this sticker matching game?” and she started peeling stickers off of the backing. I wasn’t sure what she’d do, but she automatically placed the polka dotted circle sticker on top of the polka dotted circle drawn on the paper. Smart little cookie! ☺

And from there, she powered through the rest of the stickers.

Let me tell you, Miss G adores matching games. Mix in stickers, which she also adores, and this game couldn’t be more perfect for her.

Done!

Of course, the second she finished her tree she tilted her head to the side and said, “Grae Grae does anover sticker matching game, Mama?” And really, how can you say no to that? This time, we went with something a little different… I cut out a quick gingerbread person and used the stickers as body parts and decorations.

She loved this one too and pleaded for another.

This time I decided to try the letter idea.

I wasn’t sure if it would be too much for her, but off she went and carefully started making matches.

It definitely took her a little more time, but she happily worked on it on her own as I tidied the house.

“Mama, Mama! All done!!!”

This was such a fun and simple activity that we’ll definitely be doing it again soon (VERY soon – as in tomorrow – if it’s up to Miss G).

♥

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Christmas Tree Felt Board

12 / 3 / 123 / 22 / 14

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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Felt Board Jack-O-Lanterns

10 / 26 / 123 / 22 / 14

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.