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Tag Archives: toddler activities

Gracen Tested: Sparked Kids Discovery Kit

3 / 15 / 133 / 21 / 13

IMG 5277Last month, Gracen and I were lucky enough to receive a discovery kit from Sparked Kids Crafts.  If you haven’t heard of them before, Sparked Kids Crafts is a Vancouver Island-based subscription service that delivers educational art activities, science explorations, and imaginative play activities aimed at 3 to 7 year olds right to your doorstep.  Pretty cool, right?

IMG 5280Gracen was thrilled to receive a bright and beautiful package full of fun goodies and I was thrilled with how quickly it arrived and how professional the package looked.

IMG 5283Sparked discovery kits come with everything you need to complete several projects right there inside the box – markers, paper, pencils and instructions included!  Our kit was pirate-themed and came with four easy activities…  A folded paper pirate hat to make, a wooden treasure chest to decorate, a treasure map to create, and a popsicle stick parrot puppet to assemble.

IMG 5291Grae was super excited to get started and chose to make the paper pirate hat first (talk about taking me back to my childhood!)

IMG 5296Though the finished product wouldn’t quite stay on her head, for us, projects like these are all about the process.  We spent time together, we worked as a team, and we had fun together, and that’s what’s important.  If we wanted to, we could attach some sort of elastic easily enough and add the hat to her dress-up station for future imaginative play.

IMG 5299Next up, Gracen chose to decorate her treasure box.  At first she began adding splashes of colour here and there and then she requested that I draw some shapes for her to colour in.  She thought decorating a wooden box was a blast and I loved that Sparked had included high-quality crafting products for us to use.

IMG 5304While we haven’t had a chance to make our treasure map yet, there are already plenty of things I love about Sparked Kids Crafts…

1.  It’s a Canadian-based business (yay for supporting local!)

2.  It’s run by two moms, one a savvy mompreneur and the other a teacher (go moms!).

3.  The kits come with clear, easy-to-follow instructions.

4. The materials included are good quality.

5. The activities included are not at all intimidating, not even for those who claim they’re not crafty (I promise!)

6. A single discovery kit contains several activities, which if spaced out a little can easily keep you and your munchkin(s) creating all month long.

7. Each themed kit comes with it’s own enhancement activities and recommended reading list on the Discover More portion of the Sparked website.

Overall, I’d say that’s a lot of pluses for a fairly new small business, wouldn’t you?  In the interest of full honesty, the only thing I’d say is that I did find the activities in this particular kit to be a little… uninspired?  That sounds too harsh.  Perhaps ‘ordinary’ is a better word?  I’m not sure. Now, I’m not saying that the activities were not enjoyable, because they certainly were.  And truth be told, for the most part, kids don’t really care how unique or innovative an activity is, they’re just stoked that someone’s taking the time to sit down and create something with them.  I guess I just felt like the activities were mostly things that I could pull together on my own without too much planning, shopping, or prep work.  But then again, I’m an elementary school teacher, an owner of a handmade goods shop, and in general, someone who enjoys getting creative, so maybe that’s not a fair assessment. 

What I do think is that a Sparked Kids Craft subscription would be an amazing help to parents who are super busy, parents who don’t have the time/energy/inspiration to pull together crafts on their own, and parents who don’t consider themselves creative or crafty.  I also think a subscription would make an awesome gift, because truly, which child doesn’t love receiving mail?!

 

WIN A SPARKED DISCOVERY KIT OF YOUR OWN

Sparked Kids Crafts has generously offered to gift a discovery kit to one lucky Canadian Mama.Papa.Bubba. winner.  The contest is open until Friday, March 29th and there are multiple ways to win (please be sure to leave a separate comment for each).

To enter to win a complimentary Sparked Kids Crafts discovery kit:

–> Visit their website and tell us one thing you like about Sparked Kids Crafts

-> ‘Like’ Sparked Kids Crafts on Facebook and come back here and leave a SEPARATE comment saying you did so (or previously did)

-> Follow Sparked Kids Crafts on Twitter and come back here and leave a SEPARATE comment saying you did so (or previously did)

-> Follow Sparked Kids Crafts on Pinterest and come back here and leave a SEPARATE comment saying you did so (or previously did)

–> ‘Like’ Mama.Papa.Bubba. on Facebook, come back here and leave a separate comment saying you did so (or previously did)

 

Obviously the more times you enter, the better your chances of winning. ☺  Don’t forget to leave your email address!  The winner will be announced on March 30th and contacted via email.  Good luck!!

♥

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53 Comments

Simple Mud Kitchen

3 / 8 / 133 / 11 / 13

Simple MUD KitchenAfter this morning’s mud soup fun down at the beach, I decided it would be fun to set up a little mud kitchen for Miss G to play with in the backyard.  Now I don’t know if you too have seen the beautiful and elaborate mud kitchens that often pass through my Pinterest feed, but ours was nothing like those.  A few items from the kitchen, some dirt from the garden, and a water source all squished onto a second hand plastic table and Miss G was pleased as punch.  After all, playing with mud is supposed to be simple, right? 

IMG 6430IMG 6432IMG 6444IMG 6438IMG 6463Gracen poured water, added greens, and gently stirred hot soup.  She scooped soil, packed it down, and added pebble sprinkles to dirt cupcakes. She tended to gooey mud pancakes, flipping them every now and again.

IMG 6443And lucky for me, I was the chosen taste tester.

♥

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Balloons and Sharpies: A Creative Table

2 / 26 / 132 / 27 / 14
Balloons  Sharpies{this post contains affiliate links}

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.

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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!”

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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?”

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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.

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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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Impromptu Drum Circle

2 / 17 / 139 / 1 / 13

Household Object Drum Circle

Today as I was organizing the mess of mason jars in our hallway catchall closet, my curious Miss G spied some old wine gift tubes in the bottom.  Naturally, she yanked them out and began drumming on them.

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Before long, we’d yanked out all kinds of pots, containers, and bowls out and created an impromptu drum circle for the budding musician in our family.

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Maracas, rhythm sticks, wooden spoons, a xylophone, and background music were added in along the way too.

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Perhaps not the most neighbour-friendly activity if you live in a small apartment or have basement tenants below you (ours weren’t home), but great fun for a rainy day.

Here’s our little musician jamming out…

♥

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Sticky Wall Colour Matching Game

2 / 15 / 139 / 22 / 13

Sticky Wall Colour Matching Game

One of the little activities I set up for Miss and her friends to enjoy at our Valentine’s tea was this sticky wall colour matching game.  The idea came from No Time for Flashcards (an amazing activity resource for kids of all ages) and although I followed Allison‘s instructions pretty closely, I made a couple of little changes along the way.

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Needed for the project was construction paper in rainbow colours, a heart-shaped paper punch, permanent markers in coordinating rainbow colours, and clear contact paper {which can be purchased at dollar stores and home hardware stores}.

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First off, I punched out tons of hearts and mixed them up really well in order to make the activity more challenging.

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Next, I rolled the contact paper out on the floor (paper backing side down) and drew rainbow-coloured hearts inside one another on the non-sticky side of the contact paper (using permanent markers for this part is key).

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The following morning I peeled the paper off of the corners, and taped the sheet up to the wall before peeling the entire backing off.  As you can see, I attempted to make it look cute by taping it to the wall with my black and white polka dotted washi tape, but it simply didn’t cut it.  The ugly masking tape had to be brought out, but it worked perfectly.

When Miss G’s little friends came over, they began popping up the hearts all over the place {somewhat to Grae’s dismay}.  And though most of them didn’t get put in the ‘correct’ places, they had a lot of fun with it.  In fact, at one point I think we had 3 toddlers pressing their faces onto the sticky wall and slowly pulling them away before sticking them back on again. ☺

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Of course, once everyone had gone, she got straight to fixing things.  The beauty about contact paper is that the paper hearts can easily be removed and reattached if need be.

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Grae worked hard on her project for a good long while and it’ll stay up for the next while for her to revisit when desired, which I know will be often.

♥

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Mini Restaurateur

2 / 11 / 132 / 17 / 13

IMG 5371It’s no secret that Gracen loves to help in the kitchen.  So for a long time, we’d intended to buy her a play kitchen for Christmas.  But when going back to Kuwait became a serious consideration, we decided to put the kitchen plans on hold, buy one after the move, and opt for handmade felt food instead as it can easily be packed overseas.  

IMG 5367IMG 5377IMG 5372IMG 5366Unfortunately, we had a few snafus with our order and it only arrived a couple of weeks ago… Of course, for Miss G, who was spoiled at Christmas nonetheless and had no idea it was coming, opening the parcel today was the best surprise ever.

IMG 5370IMG 5384IMG 5376IMG 5382We laid out a blanket in the living room, grabbed a couple of stacks of plates, and she’s been whipping up meals ever since.

IMG 5373IMG 5383IMG 5374IMG 5379The funniest part is that every time we’re out and about and she spots a restaurant, she points to it and shouts, “Mama, a resdaraunt!  Grae Grae has one of dose at home in da living room.  Grae Grae has a resdaraunt station!!!”

IMG 5375IMG 5386IMG 5368It’s certainly no play kitchen, but our little sous chef doesn’t mind one bit.

♥ 

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Valentine’s Slime Sensory Tray

2 / 5 / 131 / 24 / 14

Valentine's Slime Sensory Tray | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

After putting together our ‘Will you be my Valen-slime?’ favours this afternoon, Miss G and I got out a few things and put together a really simple Valentine-themed slime sensory tray.

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Slime is just one of those things that never gets old.  Miss G’s spent quite a lot of time playing with it in the past, but was every bit as thrilled to play with it again today.

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Her favourite part of today’s set up was definitely the heart-shaped cookie cutters.  She’d imprint a bunch of hearts, watch them slowly melt away, and then loudly exclaim, “MAMA!  THEY DISAPPEARED!!” before making more.

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My favourite part was that because this batch turned out just a tad firmer than our last, there was zero mess.  It didn’t stick to her hands, it didn’t goop up the bowls and kitchen utensils, and it didn’t cling to her clothes.  (A seemingly messy activity sans the mess = win!)

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We left this out for most of the afternoon and evening, and Miss G came back to it again and again before it finally had to be sealed up just before dinner.  But before that happened, she wanted a guarantee that her tray and container of slime would be left out and ready for her to enjoy first thing the next morning.

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♥

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Animal Sink Bath

1 / 26 / 131 / 29 / 13

IMG 4828Since returning home from a long vacation 2 weeks ago, playing independently has been  a lot more difficult for Grae.  Instead of playing on her own, she wants to be right beside Mama {if not right on top of me} all. of. the. time.  When I explain that I need a little bit of personal space to get something done or encourage her to play, she responds with, “But Mama is the best…” or “But I just want to watch what you’re doing” or “But I LOOOOVE you!”  Oy.  It’s not easy.  

The one time she seems to be happy to play on her own right now is while I make dinner (thank goodness for that).  She often does puzzles, reads, or plays dress up, but tonight she set up one of her long time favourite games…  A sink bath for her animal friends.  She pulls up a stool, collects her sea creatures (sometimes it’s a baby or rubber ducks), and grabs a wash cloth while I fill up the sink with warm water, get out a squirt bottle or a sponge, and retrieve some soap or a little chunk of FUN.  Together we add a drop or two of food colouring to the water, and that’s it.  She plays and splashes and washes her animals in there for a good long time, and by the time she’s done, I usually have dinner on the table.  

A sink full of water… Who knew?  Works like magic every time.

♥ 

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Mini Treasure Hunt

1 / 21 / 139 / 12 / 13

Mini Treasure Hunt

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.

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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.)

IMG 4599After drying off the coins, we spread them out on a plastic serving tray…

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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).

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Voila – treasure hidden.

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Next, we gathered a few treasure finding tools.

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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.

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Searching…

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Found something… Jackpot!

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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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Shiny Condensed Milk Paint

1 / 8 / 131 / 14 / 13

Shiny Condensed Milk PaintA couple of days ago as Gracen was emptying and restocking Grandma Charlotte’s pantry shelves just for fun (obviously), she came across a can of condensed milk.  GC had no idea why she had it or what she’d ever do with it, but I had an idea… Shiny homemade paint!

I’ve made this paint tons of times to use at the painting station in my Kindergarten classrooms, and it’s always been a hit.  It’s bright and thick and glossy, and when used on an easel, it doesn’t drip.  The best part is that when it dries, it maintains its sheen.  Plus it’s super simple to make… In fact, Gracen made it mostly on her own – it’s that easy.

IMG 4204Here’s what you need to start with… A can of condensed milk, some food colouring, some small bowls or cups (muffin tins work well too), and some teaspoons.

IMG 4207To get started, we poured a little bit of condensed milk into each cup.

IMG 4206We went with 5 separate cups this time around, but you can choose to do more or less.

IMG 4210Next, Grae squirted in about 5 drops of liquid food colouring (more for an extra vibrant finish and less for a more pastel look).

IMG 4213We stuck to the basics and added purple, but obviously you can create any colours you choose.

IMG 4214Then my little helper gave each a good stir.

IMG 4217Here’s what we ended up with.

IMG 4223With our new paints made, it was time to get creating.

IMG 4224I’d say she was pleased with the results, wouldn’t you?

IMG 4227The other fun part about these paints is that they drizzle really nicely due to their thickness…  And who doesn’t love some messy fun, right?

IMG 4241Here’s the end result.  A beautiful masterpiece created by our beauty. ☺

The parts that were just painted on regularly took a few hours to dry, while the puddles took about a day and a half to lose all of their stickiness, but it does eventually dry and it does stay very shiny.  Because of the milk and sugar content of this paint, I can’t say how long it will last for, but it looks lovely for now. 

♥ 

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Letter Writing Station

1 / 5 / 131 / 9 / 13

Letter Writing StationMiss G was so spoiled at Christmas that we’re still slowly pulling out new treasures, removing the packaging, and playing with them for the first time.  Early this morning, she went down to her room {here at Grandma Charlotte and Poppop’s house}, retrieved her little wooden Melissa & Doug mailbox, and asked me to play “mail” with her.  We exchanged the reusable postcards for the mailbox, taking turns being the sender and the recipient, for a full hour before we decided to turn the game into a little station that can easily stick around a few days.

IMG 4166In addition to the mailbox, we collected a few different envelopes, some paper (both lined and coloured), a notepad, some pens and pencils, and some stick on labels.

IMG 4171IMG 4175IMG 4169Miss G got busy writing letters, stuffing envelopes, and adhering labels right away.

IMG 4177Once a letter was done, she’d either pop it in the mailbox, deliver it straight to the recipient, or place it in the ‘to mail’ pile…

IMG 4172So far, she’s absolutely been loving writing letters and drawing pictures for all of those she loves…

IMG 4181Even Bella’s received mail. ☺

♥ 

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Magnet Exploration Station

12 / 9 / 1212 / 14 / 12

Today, Miss G and I did a great big deep clean of her room.  During the tidying, down came the epically successful styrofoam structures station.  It was time.  It had been played with every single day for nearly three weeks and was starting to become a giant mess of styrofoam dust and building junk .  Luckily, I had been preparing Miss G for the change for the last few days, so everything got taken apart and tucked away without any issues.  

Magnetic Exploration StationWhat I wash’t prepared for however, was the fact that as soon as her toy box top was cleared off and wiped down, she said “Mama tells Grae Grae ’bout da NEW toy box prajet (project)!”  Uhhhh… I hadn’t thought that far ahead.  Oops. I explained to Gracen that I wasn’t sure what would replace her beloved building station, but I would think of something FUN, get it ready during her nap time, and surprise her with it when she woke up.  No pressure.

IMG 3409Since I had about a gazillion other things I had planned to get done during my baby girl’s nap time, I knew the new station had to be something quick and easy to put together.  I dug through our little living room toy box in search of inspiration, came across her bar magnet, and that was that…. A magnet station it was.  I gathered up all kinds of small things from around the house – some magnetic and some not – and placed them on a tray along with the magnet.  At first, I thought I’d just leave it at that, but then I decided it would be fun to add a sorting element since Miss G loves sorting/matching games so much. I remembered coming across this post on Pinterest a long while ago, and though adding ‘magnetic’ and ‘non-magnetic’ jars into the mix felt a little bit too “academic” or teach-y (we don’t really do planned learning activities yet), I decided to give them a shot.  After all, they could always be removed if they were too much. I retrieved 2 mason jars, drew 2 quick sketches (one illustrating magnetic, and the other one non-magnetic), cut them out, and washi taped them onto the jars.  Done!

IMG 3412When Gracen woke up, she asked about her new project immediately (this girl doesn’t forget a thing).  I brought it in, explained that it was a magnet station, and let her jump in.

IMG 3420After a couple of minutes of exploration, I explained the jar drawings to her.  Without hesitation, she started placing things in the appropriate jars.

IMG 3402She was so into it that it didn’t feel like too much at all.

IMG 3403Before long, she’d sorted every last item into the jars and announced, “All done! Dump ’em and do it again!”  (A sure sign of success, I’d say. ☺)

♥

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Colourful Plastic Window Clings

11 / 23 / 1211 / 26 / 12

Colourful Plastic Window Clings

During our recent visit to Urban Source (I feel like a lot of my upcoming posts will start this way), Gracen selected several sheets of coloured acetate (basically a brightly-hued transparent film) to bring home.  Right away, two activities came to mind…  One of which was this window cling art.

IMG 2723During nap time, I used different objects from around the house as tracers to cut the large sheets into an assortment of shapes.  I placed the shapes, along with a spray bottle filled with water, on a tray next to our large front window, and left it there for my curious little monkey to discover upon her awakening.

IMG 2728Of course she beelined to the tray the moment she was up.  I explained that we could use water to help the shapes stick to the window, and she was off.  A little mist….

IMG 2730And stick a shape on top. 

IMG 2734Voila!  Instant window art. Super fun and super easy.

IMG 2729It didn’t take her long to realize that looking through the shapes was pretty cool too…  “Mama!  Everything is all pink!”

IMG 2739Of course the previous method works well for seeing the outside world in pink, but this is much more effective for making your house turn pink.

IMG 2733The really cool thing about the fact that our shapes are primary colours is that they lend themselves to colour mixing very well.  Grae was amazed at all of the colours she could make by simply overlapping two shapes.

IMG 2745And after experimenting with colour mixing, she tried sorting the pieces into groups based on shapes and colours.

IMG 2743And soon after that, the pieces started becoming pictures of things. The triangles stacked on top of one another became her tree and the tower of large circles became her snowman (if you look closely, you’ll see she is in the process of adding buttons to her snowman’s belly).

This was such a fun and simple activity and as long as you can deal with dirty windows in the name of play, it can stay out for several days to be revisited over time.  The other thing I like about it is that if you don’t have coloured acetate just hanging around the house, you can always reuse project covers, plastic duo tangs (or, as I’ve learned from my American friends, plastic “prongy folders”), scraps of vellum scrapbooking paper, or even plastic packaging.

♥

On a side note, I know that I have seen this idea around the web before… Trouble is, I cannot for the life of me find the link I’m thinking of!  If you know, please pass the info my way as I’d love to give credit where credit’s due. 

 

 
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Styrofoam Structures {A Building Station}

11 / 22 / 126 / 26 / 13

Styrofoam Structures 2After a very successful trip to Urban Source this morning, we had everything we needed to set up a little activity that’s been on my mind for a long while now… A building station!

IMG 2616This project is perfect for when you have some packaging styrofoam sitting around in your garage, but you can also find styrofoam {and floral foam} pieces at places like Urban Source, as well as at craft stores and dollar stores.  (Perhaps knowing that the pieces can be used again and again will help you feel less guilty about purchasing styrofoam in the first place?  I know…. It’s a stretch, but I’m trying.)

In addition to putting out our styrofoam pieces, we put out all kinds of wooden dowels, popsicle sticks, sucker sticks, and matchsticks, as well as some golf tees, pipe cleaners, rivets, and feathers.  With Halloween not far behind us, we also put out a couple of pumpkin carving knives and a regular children’s knife too.

IMG 2622Of course, when you’re constructing, safety’s got to come first – so goggles were also included. ☺

IMG 2635Instead of giving instructions, I simply asked Gracen, “Do you want to build something?” After an enthusiastic “YES!”, she got to work.  

IMG 2639I was pretty amazed with how quickly she figured out that the sticks could be used to attach two styrofoam pieces to each other.  She worked away on her masterpiece, concentrating first on the top portion, and later on the sides.

IMG 2642The only tricky part was the whole cutting thing…  While I do let her cut things when we cook together, she hasn’t quite mastered the sawing method yet.  Instead, she opts for pushing her knife straight through the objects, which may work well with bananas, but doesn’t work so well with styrofoam.

IMG 2658With cutting being a little too challenging, she moved onto enhancing her styrofoam disc instead of deconstructing it.  I found it very interesting that she began using the rivets as enclosures for other materials.

IMG 2665After a good long hour of constructing, Grae decided it was time to tip her structure over on its side to do some more ‘work’ there.

IMG 2673Here’s what her structures looked like after nearly and hour and 20 minutes of play.  Pretty cool, right?  

At this point, she asked me what her project was called, and I explained that it could be called a structure. Her response? “Stuc-ture? Dis is a house.”  Okay then, goose.

Grae’s beloved building station has since been tidied and the building has been put on hold, but only with the promise that it’ll stay out on her toy box for more play tomorrow, which is just fine with me.  More than fine, actually…

There are so many great posts  about styrofoam structures that I don’t remember where the inspiration behind this activity originally came from, but check out this post, this post, this post, and this post for more great styrofoam ideas.

♥

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A {Kiwi Crate} Window Garden {& a Giveaway!}

11 / 17 / 121 / 23 / 13

A couple of weeks ago, Gracen and I attended an awesome Halloween-themed story time at Pottery Barn Kids.  (Who knew, right?  It happens every Tuesday at 11 a.m. for those of you who are in Vancouver.)  Afterwards, the kids got their Book Club passports stamped and were each {very generously} gifted a Kiwi Crate to take home.  

IMG 1857I’ve seen Kiwi Crates on a few of the blogs I read and I’ve always thought they were very neat, so I’m not sure who was more excited about the gift…Gracen or I.   (If you’ve never heard of them before, they’re basically little boxes that arrive to your door each month and are filled with all of the materials/instructions/inspiration needed for hands-on projects.  Some are science activities, some are arts and crafts, and some are geared towards imaginative play.) 

IMG 1861This afternoon we took out our crate, opened it up, and found all of the materials needed to put together a window garden.  Needless to say, my little gardening enthusiast was thrilled.

IMG 1865IMG 1903Included was a  clearly laid out instruction card complete with diagrams, and a sweet little observation booklet for Miss G to draw in. 

IMG 1868IMG 1871IMG 1878IMG 1877IMG 1885IMG 1888We carefully set up the garden, referring back to the instruction card after each step.  Gracen, Miss ‘Let’s Do a Project!’, loved it and took her work very seriously.

IMG 1892IMG 1896IMG 1897With the exception of really making sure the suction cups were stuck to the window and printing the words “mint” and “basil”, Grae was able to do everything on her own, which was lovely.

IMG 1898IMG 1900We now have a sweet little garden set up right in our living room and I can’t wait to help Grae water it each day and watch as our fresh herbs grow.  ☺

Because we enjoyed our Kiwi Crate so much, and I sincerely think they are a great way for parents and children to try new things together, I contacted Kiwi Crate and asked if they’d like to share the love with one of our readers.  And guess what? They do!  One Mama.Papa.Bubba. reader will receive a complimentary crate of their own, and will have the option of selecting a regular crate or one of the new holiday-themed crates.  

The contest is open until Monday, November 26th and there are multiple ways to win (be sure to leave a separate comment for each).

 

To enter to win a complimentary Kiwi Crate:

Leave a comment below telling me something you love to do with your kid(s).

 

For additional chances to win:

–> ‘Like’ Mama.Papa.Bubba. on Facebook, then come back and leave a second separate comment saying you did so (or that you had previously).

–> ‘Like’ Kiwi Crate on Facebook, then come back and leave an additional separate comment saying you did so (or that you had previously).

–> Sign up for Kiwi Crate’s fun-filled newsletter, then come back and leave an additional separate comment saying you did so.

–> Follow @jkossowanon Twitter, then come back and leave a separate comment saying you did so.

–> Tweet about the giveaway and leave an additional separate comment saying you did so.

 

Don’t forget to leave your email address!  The winner will be announced on November 27th and contacted via email.  Good luck!!

♥

Kiwi crate did not ask me to write this post, nor did they compensate me to do so, but in the interest of full disclosure, I did sign up to be a part of their affiliate program.  This means that when Kiwi Crate products are purchased through the links i’ve provided, I get a small kickback from the company.

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