Golden Nugget Cotton Ball Smash

I'm not going to lie, these didn't come out quite as pretty I was hoping, but they were fun. I've been wanting to try baked cotton balls as a project for a while now, and our recent snow day was the perfect time to try it out.

Trying to make it a little more fun, I decided to color them gold and add gold glitter  . . . but it's true they turned out a little funny looking.

10 Inside Play Ideas for Winter Vacation

In general I find that the winter vacation following Christmas goes by pretty quickly. We usually have family members to see, new things to play with, and some fresh snow to enjoy outside. Not to mention the fun of our Family Focused New Year's Eve to distract us only a week after Christmas.

But, just in case vacation stretches on a little too long for kiddos, it's always nice to have a few things up my "Mama" sleeve. Here are a few of our favorite inside or winter themed activities we may wind up trying this week. Most of them involve materials you probably already have on hand in your cupboard or playroom.

Watercolor in the Rain

Even though we like to mostly think about the better weather ahead of us, we've still had several rainy days these past few weeks. Now that the summer weather is here at least those rainy days can be warm.

After several rainy days last week, the boys were feeling a little cooped up and in need of something different. This lead us to watercoloring in the rain!

Homemade Race Car Coloring Mat

It's great to have a handful of go-to activities that you know your kiddos enjoy no matter the circumstance. Creating a homemade race car coloring mat is definitely one of ours. We've been creating them for quite a while now; they're great for rainy days, cold weather days, multiage groups, and just any time you need a simple, quiet ongoing craft for kids.

What makes this project great is the materials are simple and something we often have in the house. It can take as long or as little time as needed. Kiddos can take it in any direction they want on their own or get as much adult help as they need to create what they have in mind. 

Beading With 5 Household Objects

We enjoy beading here. I've loved it since I was a kid, and enjoyed passing on the activity to Big Brother. But not only can we create "beautiful" necklaces and bracelets, it's also a great way to develop fine motor skills.

I've mentioned fine motor skills before; they are small movements made by the smaller muscles in our bodies (like those you find in fingers and toes for example.) Helping kids to develop fine motor skills are important because they need to be able to use these muscles for important everyday activities (like zipping a coat) and academic skills (like writing with a pencil or cutting out a picture.) 

Beading is a great way to work on developing fine motor skills, as it's using repetitive small muscles, it's fun, and you create a finished product (which kids always love.) But you don't always have to use beads, there's plenty of household objects you can use. 

Switching up the object adds variety and interest for kids, but also means they're learning how to hold onto different types of objects. Here are 5 of our favorite household objects you can use below.

3 Ways to Play with Shells

Last week we had the chance to get away to the seacoast for an overnight. We all loved being on the beach, both for an evening picnic and a morning playing in the waves.

But our two small trips definitely didn't feel like enough time there. Everyone was rather bummed to return home.

So we decided to try and recreate some of the ocean fun here at home. Last weekend we started exploring some ocean fun and we've decided to extend it into this week too.

Our first three activities have all been sensory play based around shells!

Solstice Slime

This week we've been enjoying looking at all the great ideas from Fun at Home with Kids during their really fun Slime Week! On their facebook page you can find even more great ideas shared by other bloggers too.

We were inspired to try our own version of slime. In honor of this weekend's summer solstice we created Solstice Slime!

For our slime play, we used a traditional borax and white glue recipe. In my years of teaching I've seen this recipe also referred to as "space mud" or the other type of "Oobleck." 

Soap Foam Car Wash Bins

If you've been reading our posts for a while you know we love transportation play. The other day we were looking for a new way to play with our matchbox cars. Lately many of them have been spending some time in our sand and water table and getting a little dirty. This has been inspiring Big Brother to pretend to wash them. I decided it would be fun to set up some car wash sensory play.

In the earlier stages of spring we discovered soap foam play from Fun at Home With Kids. We turned it into some really fun clean mud. It's such a cool, easy way to create a different sensory experience for kids.

Quick Pick & Project of the Week: The Day the Crayons Quit Mural

The past week has been pretty busy with parent teacher conferences and a couple of other school meetings in the evenings. It's weeks like this that I am definitely aware of how many things parents (myself included) need to balance in order to keep things running smoothly. It reminded me that one of the reasons I started this blog is to give other people ideas on how to interact, connect, and create without too much fuss.

I also love discovering great kids books, and often create quick, easy to put together projects after we read something. This inspired me to create something new: The Quick Pick & Project of the Week. Each week I'll pick one great book and pair it with a no fuss extension project. I'll try to pick books which can be found at your library or easily bought online. Hopefully they inspire some of our readers to take a few moments, gather a couple of simple materials, and connect.

For our first one we used the book The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Dawalt and created a crayon mural.

We recently were given this great book by some family friends and already love it. Each color crayon writes a letter to young Duncan expressing their concern over how they're being used (or not used.) At the end he creates an amazing picture using all the colors in a variety of ways. We enjoy the humor of the story found in each letter and the Duncan's creative drawing at the end.

"Clean Mud" Soap Foam play

This past Sunday it was pretty rainy and chilly outside, which meant we were in need of something fun to do. I had seen this gorgeous rainbow soap foam pop up on my facebook wall earlier in the week and tucked it aside in my head as a must try.

This sensory play was super easy, fast to create, and fun for all!

Busy Boxes (Part 2)

This week both boys were pretty under the weather, which made for a long "vacation" week here at home. Both kiddos are such high energy guys, that sometimes one of our biggest struggles when they are sick is how to entertain them without a lot of movement and "on-the-go" play.

It seemed like the perfect time to create some new busy boxes for Big Brother. He was able to use them first when he was feeling sick, and needing some new quiet activities, and also later in the week when Little Brother was the one who was feeling more under the weather and needing more of Mama's attention.

This round of box ideas are probably best suited for preschool aged kiddos. As always, I tried to use materials we have around the house.

Sparkle Snow Dough

Today's rainy weather is definitely putting a damper on winter fun. No sledding, no snowman building, no using skates and snowshoes. So we decided we needed to bring some winter fun inside. I'd seen several recipes for "Cloud Dough" before and heard from other moms how fun it can be, so we decided to turn it into "Sparkle Cloud Snow Dough."

There are several different versions of cloud dough online. I went with a a flour based version. We tweaked amounts based on a couple of different recipes and added in glitter for a more wintery look.

Indoor Camp Out

We've been waiting for several weeks for a break in the forecast with the hope of camping out in our backyard. We've never taken Big Brother camping and he's been expressing an interest in trying it. We knew the backyard would be the perfect starting location . . . but unfortunately the few breaks we've had in the rainy weather have been few and far between. So today, as we were faced with yet another rainy day, we decided to put together an indoor camp out or camp in.

We set up Big Brother's play tent in the living room with his sleeping bag, pillow, and flashlight. We added our picnic blanket and firewood. 

Of course we needed a campfire too; which we created using orange poster board, 

markers, glue, and glitter. 

We "lit the fire" by placing the flames into the fire wood. 

We ate trail mix and read Curious George Goes Camping in front of the fire. 

Big Brother used the flashlight to search the area surrounding our campsite for skunks, deer, squirrels, and moose.

Big Brother was inspired to pull his pretend food out of his play kitchen. We cooked hot dogs and several different breakfasts over the fire. We used cotton balls and bamboo skewers for some pretend marshmallow play. 

We also enjoyed some real food at our indoor campsite, including a hot dog and veggie stick lunch and several snacks. The set-up kept Big Brother happily engaged most of the day. We even tried rest in the tent (which was unsuccessful and rest eventually moved to his room) but he played with it again when we woke up. Definitely a great rainy day diversion!

ABC Raceway

Using household materials, high interest toys, and a little bit of balance to explore letters:

ABC Raceway

Busy Boxes (Part 1)

The past few months many people have asked us how our transition from a family of three to a family of four has been. Of course the real answer is that we're still transitioning. In fact, I think we'll always be in a state of readjusting as both boys enter new stages and other family changes occur. It's just one of the many balancing acts of parenthood, how to stay consistent while also remaining flexible.

But, beyond that there are several things we did both ahead of and during the midst of the transition that have made some parts easier. One of these things was creating "busy boxes." During my pregnancy I noticed the term busy boxes on Pinterest and blogs. Busy boxes (also sometimes called "busy bags") are small boxes of activities, materials, projects, and kits which are meant to engage kids independently (and usually quietly.) They can be made from a variety of materials and individualized to fit a child's interests and developmental level.

I decided to create some for Big Brother to use when Little Brother arrived. I envisioned we would use them during nursing times. But I have found they are great for lots of different times: when we're inside for quiet nap times, when Little Brother needs my focused attention for bathing or going down for a rest, while I'm making dinner, sick days, and rainy days. Due to my maternity leave and the arrival of Little Brother in general we're spending more time home than we used to, so these can help break up the day. I keep them in a closet Big Brother does not use so he doesn't have steady access to them like other toys. They go back to the closet when the time period we need them for is over and we don't use them every day. Therefore they stay special.

Below are photographs of some I created for Big Brother and for a young relative who was also expecting a new sibling. Some great places for finding materials include the dollar store, craft stores, your junk drawer, and yard sales. When you're creating, think about your own kiddo. What tends to hold their interest? (Art, trucks, science, etc.) Developmentally what are they doing? (For example, if they still put a lot of things in their mouths than several of the ones below would not be recommended.) Is there a new skill or subject area they're interested in? (Bugs, counting, etc.) I find they work really well in small, plastic boxes with latch lids.

I'm calling this "Part 1" because I have several other ideas of busy boxes I'd like to create and as these lose their novelty I plan to introduce the new ideas.

 Busy Box Ideas

Beading Box: Large wooden beads and pipe cleaners. (Can also be used for color matching.)

Number Box: Large flat marbles, index cards with circles 1-6, and number counting cards for matching, counting, or other kid directed ideas. 

Funny fingers: Small ink pads, paper, and finger tips from office supply store (with raised dots for gripping.) 

Pattern box: Two sets within one box. Set A) Laminated pattern cards with small colored dots. More stickers or pompoms for recreating patterns. Set B) Laminated pattern strips with small foam blocks for recreating patterns.

Dino World: Floral rocks, small dinosaurs, and fake flowers. (Could also use fake insects or small zoo animals.) 

Construction Site: Floral rocks and construction vehicles. (Actually the same box as the dinosaurs, I just swapped in vehicles instead.)

Magnet Box: Magnet wand with magnet balls, cut pipe cleaners, paperclips, and random magnetic and non-magnetic materials. (Big Brother's favorite these days.) 

Sticker and Punches: Small punches, glue stick, scrap card stock and project papers, and stickers. (Big Brother loves to create bookmarks for the adults.)

Flower Fairy Garden: Aquarium rocks, small terra cotta pots, small buckets, foam stickers, and fake flowers. Fairies created from clothespins, felt, ribbon, and fake flowers.

Salamanders!

One great thing about rainy days is that it brings out the salamanders. As we had a lot of rainy days last week it proved a perfect time to go on a salamander search in the woods. I've loved searching for salamanders since I was a kid; my brother and I used to go together, combing our driveway after storms. And even now, whenever I run after a rainy spell I always stop along my way to move these little, orange creatures off of the road. But what was really special last week is we could do our search as a whole family.

First we read one of my favorite books for connecting kids to nature, called The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer.

Simple Joys of Splatter Paint

I still remember discovering the joys of splatter painting. I have a distinct memory of being in the painting corner of my playschool center and experimenting with splattering paint onto paper clipped to an easel. I loved seeing the different shaped blobs and noticing when colors overlapped. I also remember being encouraged later on to not splatter paint quite as much.

This week's forecast looks pretty rainy and splatter painting seemed like a great connection to rainy days. There's something about the way the paint drips across paper that reminds me of rain splashing against windowpanes. And although I figured it could create a mess, I couldn't wait to introduce Big Brother to the joys of splatter painting.

The materials are simple: paint, paper, and brushes. I scored these great paint containers with lids at a yard sale a few weeks ago, but any kind of container can be used. And we added to our paint color selection over the weekend, so we were excited to use purple and orange. But again, any range of colors can be splatter painted with. (I did use washable paints, because I knew we were going to get it on more surfaces than the paper.)

We read a cute book based on the traditional rhyme "Rain, rain, go away" which featured a lot of umbrellas. So I used a fine point sharpie marker to draw umbrellas onto the paper. 

I was planning on setting the painting up on the kitchen floor, and planned to just clean up A LOT afterwards, but the rain cleared up and we were able to head out on the deck. 

We found this easel in good shape in a "free" pile at the end of a road. It makes a great deck toy, as we already had an easel mounted in the living room. We always keep our eyes out for deals.

And now to begin splatter painting. I modeled how to splatter the paint and Big Brother's response was . . . 

"I don't want to splatter paint, I just want to paint." 

Bummer. 

But in an effort to encourage his own creativity I decided to let it go. (Despite being a mildly heartbroken mama who thought she was showing her high energy boy his soon to be favorite thing.) 

But then after some painting, 

on his own whim, he decided to give it a try. 

(I promise I didn't bribe him with chocolate, although I freely admit to using that in other situations like trying new foods and posing for a family photo.)

He really got into when he discovered the paint didn't just go onto the painting, it could fly in lots of directions. It was particularly amusing to us both when a huge blob of blue landed 10 feet away in the garden. Good thing it's washable. 

Little Brother watched from his seat, and yup, he even got a little paint on him. 

Big Brother experimented with different arcs and ranges of closeness. And he still did a lot of "smearing" after he'd splattered. 

Despite his initial resistance he enjoyed it. And I of course had to get in there and experiment a little too . . . together it was a lot of fun for this rainy morning. 

The last splatter painted umbrella of the morning.