Cookie Cutter Painting

This art project is great because it is easy, and it works well for any holiday or season. All you need is paint, cookie cutters, paper, and a flat dish for the paint. In the past I have used styrofoam trays from the grocery and tupperware lids. Here we're using jewelry trays from the recycling center.

This project was just for fun, so I let Nicholas have at it. In the end you couldn't really recognize the shapes, but he's still proud of his painting. We also did this for Valentine's Day to send to family, and I helped make sure only a few hearts made it onto each card so they were actually recognizable.

The paint washes off the trays easily, but for added washability you can add a squirt of dish soap. It's also best to use colors that will still look good when mixed together. We normally do this at Nick's high chair or little table, but he has been obsessed with being in the kitchen lately. (Something his future wife will no doubt appreciate!)

Flour Fun

This morning we baked cupcakes. Because Nicholas was helping measure out the ingredients, there was a lot of spillage. I dumped the spilled flour into a glass pan, added some small tractors and animals, and voila: Nicholas had a winter farm (actually, he called it a zoo). Playing with the "snow" kept him occupied while I cleaned up the entire kitchen. You could also use a cookie sheet. It is amazing how something so simple allows kids to be so imaginitive.

Tissue Paper Easter Egg

With a little under three weeks until Easter, I'll be devoting some of the posts in the next few weeks to Easter projects. I have always loved decorating Easter eggs, especially in new and interesting ways. This project is fun to do with toddlers on up - grade schoolers will even add their own twist and make pretty eggs this way

Materials:

eggs

tissue paper cut into small piece

glue

paint brushes or q-tips

jar lids

Boil the eggs first. Pour a little glue into the jar lids, and add a few drops of water to thin the glue. Kids should paint their eggs with glue using the brush or q-tip, and then place tissue paper on the egg. Preschoolers and older kids should smooth the tissue paper on the egg; toddlers will most likely just leave it sticking on in clumps - that's fine too! Show your little ones how to put more glue and tissue paper on the white spots. These eggs are really colorful and pretty when done!

Alternately, kids can dip the tissue paper into the glue and smooth onto the eggs. Also, older children can cut shapes and designs out of the tissue paper to glue on. Older children could also blow the eggs out first for more lasting designs.

Toddler Chopsticks How-To

Whenever we eat Chinese food, Nicholas begs to use chopsticks too. I finally came up with a super simple way to rig the chopsticks so he could use them. All you need is a short crayon and a rubber band. The trick to getting the chopsticks to work correctly lies in how you attach the rubber band: it must be twisted both above and below the crayon.

Place the crayon about an inch and a half from the top of the chopsticks. Wind the rubberband around both chopsticks and crayon, alternating right above the crayon and right below the crayon. Wrap around the top a few extra times to get the chopsticks to stay in the open position. Wrap rubber band until tight. Hand to your little ones and watch how proud they feel using chopsticks all by themselves!

Detail of hinge:

Breakfast Bars

These healthy breakfast bars are the perfect treat to make together with your toddler. If you feel your toddler is steady enough to stand on a chair, they can help you make this in the kitchen. Otherwise, s/he can sit in a highchair or at a table. Your little one will have fun helping measure out the dry ingredients and dumping them into the bowl. If you don't want any spillage, you can help dump ingredients - little ones still feel proud of helping.

Many thanks to my friend Liz for passing along this recipe!

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 375; Cook time = 30 minutes; Serves = 14 bars

2 Cups Oats

1.5 Cup Whole wheat flour

.25 Cup Wheat germ

1 Cup Dried fruit (craisins or dried apricots are good choices)

.75 tsp Cinnamon

6 Tbsp Brown sugar

.5 tsp Salt

1 Cup Apple or other juice

.5 Cup Mashed Banana (fat substitute...you could get creative and use pureed pears etc)

Directions: Spray a 9 x 13 pan with nonstick spray. Mix all ingredients, pat thinly on bottom of pan. Sprinkle with extra cinnamon and bake. Bake for 25-30 minutes and remove from oven when still a little sticky in center for softer bars. WAIT TO COOL before removing or they will crumble.

Paper Plate Aquariums

This is a cute and super simple art project. I did this with a group of about 15 toddlers and preschoolers, and they did a great job with only minimal help. Since I was leading I couldn't help Nick, and he ended up grabbing a glue bottle and completing it all on his own. He was 21 months old at the time, to give you an idea of how little kids can be to do this.

Materials - feel free to substitute or improvise freely

• blue paper or plastic plate
• glue
• goldfish crackers
• uncooked pasta shells
• Swedish fish (only if your child is allowed to eat them!)
• gummi worms (same as above)
• pretzels
• sand or crumbled-up crackers
• small pebbles
• green yarn
• optional: clear or blue cling wrap

You or your child will squirt glue in little blobs around the plate, then let your child glue down the materials you set out. Their hands will get a little messy, but glue cleans up easily with a wipe, or peels off when dry. To really make it look like an aquarium, wrap with cling wrap at the end. This project is great for giving little ones a sense of accomplishment.

Books that go along with this project:

• Swimmy by Leo Lionni
• Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle
• A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
• One Lonely Seahorse by Joost Elffers and Saxton Freymann
• The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
  

Sensory Play

The benefits of sensory play include:

• helps children make sense of the world around them
• builds connections in the brain
• allows children to experience cause and effect
• allows for creative exploration
• develops problem-solving skills
• provides practice with fine-motor skills
• develops math concepts like volume & equivalency
• can be calming for hyperactive children
• and finally, it promotes language development and vocabulary

For examples of sensory activities, click on the "sensory" link on the left.

Sand and Water Table....Minus the Sand and Water

When we first got our water table, I happily set it up in the kitchen, filled it with water and toys, and sent Nicholas to play. Boy, was that a mistake! The kitchen was swimming in water and my husband got in a big "I told you so".


Luckily there are plenty of other materials that will keep kids occupied at the sand and water table inside. While they still produce a mess, it is a mess that is easily swept up. (I just finished sweeping the kitchen, and one would never know what was going on in there this morning!)

1. Clean the water table. Our water table spent the past week outside. It has rained several times in that period, and it looked pretty dirty. Cleaning things is the perfect activity for little ones. Armed with a little non-toxic spray that I helped with (you could use dish soap and water as well) and a sponge, Nicholas had a blast spraying and scrubbing the table, then drying it out with a dishtowel.



2. Packing peanuts. Nicholas loves playing with packing peanuts in the water table. He spent the morning pouring, measuring, and scooping the peanuts, as well as driving his cars and boats through the peanuts. They are super easy to sweep up at the end.



3. Rice. As with the packing peanuts, your little peanut will love using all kinds of kitchen tools to play with the rice. This material is more fun to pour and measure, but the rice spreads a little farther than the packing peanuts do.



4. Ice. Ice is fascinating to toddlers. The day before, fill up some bowls of different sizes with water and freeze. Put the ice shapes into the table along with some toys - dolls, cars, anything. Kids will have fun playing with the ice and watching it melt. You can also give them a little cup of warm water to see how it speeds the process along.



5. Shaving cream. Squirt a good amount of shaving cream into the table, and let your toddler have at it. A smock or old t-shirt is good for this activity! For added fun and experimentation, squirt different colors of food coloring here and there and let your little one see what happens when the colors are squished together. You can also add kitchen tools to the table - measuring cups, mixing spoons, and rubber spatulas would be especially fun.

A few tips to make things go smoothly:

• Introduce the water table with an activity that is easy to clean up, like packing peanuts or ice. That way you can establish the guidelines before moving on to something like shaving cream or rice.
• When it seems like they've had enough, steer them towards a different activity or room. At first they will likely be absorbed in the activity. But the point will come when they are ready to move on, and they will likely show you this by throwing the contents of the table.

Discovery Bottles

Discovery bottles are simple to make, and can be used for babies up to early elementary schoolers. They can entertain, soothe, and teach. These bottles are especially useful on car trips. You will want to clean the bottle first and remove the label. These bottles are limited only by your imagination, but here are some ieas to get you started:

Find it! Bottle

Use a funnel to fill a bottle about 1/2 full with sand or rice. Then add small objects to the bottle: buttons, buttons, large beads, golf tees, toy jewelry, keys, and small toys, for example. Put the cap back on and secure with duct tape.

Nick loves turning and shaking the bottle to find the objects. For older children, provide lists of items to find, or ask them to find numbers of things or items that begin with a certain letter.

Bubble Bottle

Pour water, dish soap, and a little food coloring in the bottle. Babies and toddlers will have fun shaking it and watching the colored bubbles pile up. I made mine almost a year ago, and it still works!

Alphabet Bottle

Pour corn syrup into the bottle, about a half inch deep. Add alphabet beads. Preschoolers and kindergarteners will have fun finding the letters in their names; older children can make words.

Serenity Bottle

I used this bottle when I taught Kindergarten as a time-out tool. Pour 1/2 inch of corn syrup into bottle and add food coloring (optional). Add items such as glitter, beads, buttons, googly eyes, etc. Secure cap firmly with tape. Little ones will be mesmerized by the slowly-flowing liquid and objects.

Magnet Bottle
Fill a bottle 1/3 full of sand or salt. Add small, metallic objects such as paper clips, fridge magnets, and keys. Secure cap with duct tape. Then tie a strong magnet to the outside of the bottle, and teach little ones how to "fish" for the objects with the magnet.

Color Bottle
Ask for the kids' help on this one! Find small objects all over the house in a certain color to add to a bottle.

Collection Bottle
A wide-mouthed bottle like a Gatorade bottle is best for this one. It is especially well-suited to vacation, but works just as well in your backyard or park. Give the bottle to your child, and have them put in anything that captures their interest: small twigs, stones, seashells, leaves - anything! Later on, ask your child to tell you all about what they found.

Ocean in a Bottle
Fill a bottle halfway with vegetable oil, then top off with water. You can add blue food coloring, if you like. As always, seal cap with duct tape. It is fascinating to watch the waves as you roll the bottle around, and kids love watching the liquids separate again after shaking the bottle. If you have any lightweight, floating objects, they are great to add. I tried adding some tin foil, but it didn't work out - Nick asked me why I added garbage to the bottle!

** If there is a lot of residue from the label, you can try rubbing vegetable oil on the sticky part to remove it.

Books and Music that Get Kids Moving

From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
Eric Carle's trademark cut-paper illustrations are always charming, and children will have fun with the text. After bending their necks like giraffes, arching their backs like cats, and kicking like donkeys, they will have gotten a little workout!







Caps for Sale by Ephyr Slobodkina
In this funny story, some naughty monkeys steal the caps right off a peddlar's head! It is through having his movements imitated that the peddlar gets back his caps. Naturally, kids will not be able to resist imitating the movements as well.







Kids in Motion: Songs for Creative Movement by Greg & Steve
I have yet to hear a better CD for getting kids dancing and moving. With songs like "Animal Action," "The Freeze," and "Body Part Rock," even kids who are timid will join in the fun. Most of the songs give directions for the kids to follow and also leave a little space for free movement; a few songs allow kids to dance however they want. This is perfect for the days when you're stuck inside and want the kids to move a little bit. You can't go wrong with any CD by Greg & Steve.

Rice!

There are times, the fifth day of indoor weather, for example, when I will resort to just about anything to keep the little ones busy - even if it means creating a royal mess. This is an activity for those days. Luckily it is a dry mess, so it can easily be swept up.

This activity is as simple as filling several bowls and pots with uncooked rice. The kids will have a ball sifting pouring, and measuring the rice with any kitchen tools you provide for them: measuring cups and spoons, strainers, funnels, whisks, cooking spoons, and anything else you might find hiding in your drawers.

You might be surprised how long this activity keeps toddlers and preschoolers busy. If you want to up the entertainment factor a notch, try this: add surprises to the bowls before adding the rice. When I did this with T & G, I added "dinosaur eggs," a.k.a. "Magic Grow" capsules that you put in water until they release a spongy dinosaur. You could add any small toys.

If you are feeling especially brave, you can let the little ones assist in cleanup afterwards. This has real mess potential (or at least wetness), but on days I'm feeling especially desperate - or generous - I go for it. There are times when controlled mess is better than uncontained chaos!

Now, you don't necessarily want to share this with the kids, but as with every activity that engages kids, they are practicing valuable skills:

• math skills like volume & equivalency
• sensory activities help boost brain development
• fine motor skills are needed to pour, sift, etc.
• stimulates imagination
• calming for hyperactive children
• as always, if you talk about this activity later, it promotes language development & vocabulary