Magnet Fishing

7 / 15 / 127 / 15 / 12

As we were playing with Gracen’s ever-growing magnet collection this morning, a little game we’ve not yet tried popped into mind… Magnet fishing!

It was a breeze to set up. We gathered up a few materials we had around the house – a bowl, magnets, scissors, embroidery floss (any string would do), a large paperclip, and a piece of drift wood from Gracen’s beach sensory bin (a twig, chop stick, or popsicle stick could easily be used instead) – and created a pond of magnet “fish” and a fishing rod.

These alphabet magnets, made by Gracen’s Auntie Roz, worked well because they were very strong but still light enough to be picked up by the paperclip. The only problem was that they were so strong that with a small bump of the bowl, they’d all cling together, making it hard to catch a “fish”. We did try her Melissa and Doug wooden alphabet magnets, but because of their weight and weaker magnets, they couldn’t be picked up by the paperclip. Ultimately, something in between the two would have been perfect (I’m thinking the plastic letter magnets may be the way to go).

WIth our fishing rod built and our pond freshly-stocked with fish, we were ready to go.

Caught one!

After she’d fished standing up for a while, she decided to try fishing while sitting down. Looping the line around the rod a couple of times made this a much more manageable task.

Caught another.

Gracen thought this activity was a lot of fun. As she pulled the magnets out of the pond, she’d remove them from the paperclip, announce their colour (older kids could do colours and letters), and add them to her caught pile (often giving herself an enthusiastic clap afterwards). She enjoyed it so much, in fact, that she insisted that it stay in her room until her Papa returned home from work so she could show him. And that’s exactly what she did.

Sometimes simple fun is the best kind.

♥

Moon Painting

7 / 15 / 121 / 19 / 14

I’ve had tons of fun little activities and cooking projects I’ve wanted to do with Miss G over the last couple of weeks, but all the gorgeous sunshiny weather we’ve been having has allowed for little more than bike rides, outdoor play, visits to the beach, and afternoons at the pool. Darn weather!

Though we’ve been soaking up every moment of our summer, today’s dreariness was a welcomed change. Our house was cool, and we stayed in all morning playing and having fun {without melting}.

The first little activity we tried was what I call moon painting. It’s super simple and involves three basic things everyone with munchkins probably has at home – a tray of baking soda, food colouring dyed vinegar, and a few old medicine droppers / syringes.

See why I call it moon painting? The vinegar and soda mixture bubbles up and leaves little crater-covered splotches when it settles back down again.

Gracen really, really enjoyed this activity. I demonstrated how to using the dropper, and she picked it up very quickly (although it did become harder near the end when there wasn’t as much of the vinegar mixture left). She’d drop a little vinegar onto her tray, then point in excitement as it fizzed up in mound of bubbles. Afterwards, she’d announce the colour of her newest splot.

Pinch…

Drop…

And watch the bubbles!

Moon craters in the making.

We did try using the syringes too, but we quickly learned that they led to great big swamps rather than moon craters, which caused less of a fizz.

So back to the dropper we went.

The end result was a tray covered in colourful craters and a little lady who would have done continued moon painting for the rest of the morning given the chance.

Here’s a little video of Grae hard at play:

And the best part about this activity? Because both vinegar and baking soda are very effective natural cleaners, clean up is a breeze! Who would have thought your little one’s art project would equal a newly-shined kitchen sink?

♥

Simple Fun: Pipe Cleaners Paired with a Strainer

6 / 13 / 121 / 4 / 14

On the one and only afternoon I need to get ready for an fancy evening event, my ultra routine 2-hour-nap-every-single-day girl wakes up after 50 minutes, ready to get up and get busy playing again. Ugh. I had only painted my nails in that time, let alone prepped dinner, had a shower, done my hair and make-up, or selected a purse to bring along. With some serious mommy time needed, I pulled out a little independent play idea I’ve had in the back of my mind for a long while now… Pipe cleaners and a strainer. Now, if you’re on Pinterest, you’ve most likely seen this idea circulate dozens of different times. And rightfully so. It’s ridiculously simple, it requires only two very basic supplies, it’s super engaging, and it is great for fine motor skill development. Just what the doctor ordered for a day like today (well that and some hot water, because when I went to have a shower I discovered we had not a stitch). I set Grae up in her room, gave her the brand new bag of pipe cleaners she’d picked out at the store a few days ago, along with our kitchen stainer, showed her how to put a pipe cleaner through a strainer hole, and let her be.

Let me tell you, she seriously loved it. There was probably about 25 to 30 minutes of silent, serious play that followed. In fact, it was so quiet, that I kept peeking around the corner to see what she was up to, and there she’d be, sitting in the middle of her carpet adding more pipe cleaners to her colander masterpiece.

♥