Color Mixing + Car Painting

Color mixing is a fun way to learn about primary and secondary colors. Just squirt two primary colors (red, blue, yellow) onto a paper plate. Kids can mix the colors together using their fingers, a brush, a sponge - anything.

Slowly we're seeing some green on the paper! What better way to learn that yellow + blue = green?

No activity happens without N begging to use cars, so we took it a step further and made a car painting. N drove his cars and trains through the newly-mixed green paint, then drove them across paper to make tracks. He had fun experimenting with different cars and trains and seeing the fun designs they made. If you're looking for a quick, simple art project, give this one a try!

Goodbye, Wondertime Magazine

I began subscribing to Wondertime Magazine when I was pregnant. It blew me away from the start: Here was a magazine geared towards intelligent adults who happened to have children. The articles were long and well-written, examining topics from world travel to preschool humor in a thought-out, intelligent manner. Articles about getting kids to eat broccoli were hilarious, and the product recommendations were for toys that were out-of the ordinary, promoting creativity or enchantment or learning that isn't shoved down a child's throat.

Unfortunately, Wondertime didn't make it; this spring, publication ceased. This magazine was a Disney production, though completely un-Disnified, and archives can still be found on the website of their sister publication, Family Fun. I hope you'll check out their archives - you might just find an inpsiring idea or two.

http://wondertime.go.com/

Here are a few articles worth looking at:

5 Ways to Help Kids Love Books

Look Sharp: A Sharpie Chromatography T-Shirt Project

Stuff We Love

Dad On A Lark Blog

One Terrific Counting Book

One Duck Stuck: A Mucky Ducky Counting Book
by Phyllis Root and Jane Chapman
$6.99 on Amazon.com + free shipping on orders over $25






This book has it all! While it is first and foremost a counting book, it is also a book filled with rich language: rhyme, Onomatopoeia, alliteration, and predictive text. It has fun with language, and kids pick up on that. It's refreshing to read a children's book, let alone a counting book, that is so much fun to read. I also like that it includes animals we don't see as often in children's books, like moose, snails, and opossums.

Excerpt:

Four crickets

chirping in the thickets

leap to the duck.

Pleep, pleep.

No luck.

The duck stays stuck

deep in the muck

down by the pricky, sticky marsh.

Help!  Help!  Who can help?

Busy Toddler's Favorite Things

I've added an Amazon store to the Busy Toddler blog.  These are a collection of our favorite things, all in one spot on the Amazon website.  I'll occaisionally add new things to it.  Happy browsing!

http://astore.amazon.com/busytodd-20

Favorite Travel Toys

As promised a few weeks back, here are some of our favorite airplane toys. I've arranged them in order from easiest to schlep along to hardest. We generally bring only one carry-on for simplicity; either a small duffel bag or a backpack. All of the toys mentioned here fit, along with snacks and the items mentioned in my previous travel post.

Keep in mind these toys were brought along for a 9 hour flight plus 4 hour layover. We've found that for shorter flights, all you really need is one or two small toys to entertain your little one. Any of these are good picks.

I have to apologize for how boy-centered this list is! I'll try to gather some recommendations geared towards girls for a future post.

Stickers

Stickers are generally favorites with toddlers. The great thing is they can be stuck on anything - the tray, airline magazine, barf bag, or anywhere else. (I recommend removing them if you opt for the tray!) I up the entertainment factor by drawing a simple scene on a piece of paper. Tip: Remove the white part around the stickers until your little one gets proficient at removing stickers from the sheet, making it easier to peel of stickers.

Matchbox Cars

Ok, so this one is pretty specific to my kid, but give N two or three matchbox cars, and he's good to go for the next hour or so. I give him the minimum he'll accept (usually three) and he has fun driving them around his seat (and ours).

Mini Board Books

The more detailed the pictures are, the better. These are great for little ones to look at on their own, or together. Good ones include Dr. Seuss's ABC, Are You My Mother?, and Big Red Barn.

Sticker Activity Book

There are a variety of these; our collection includes Elmo, trucks, and an Usborne version. These books have stickers that go on specific activity pages. They are great books because they get kids to think a little bit, can be looked at independently or together with a parent, and keep your kids occupied for awhile.

Matchbox Cars Playset

Pictured above, this little playset has gone on every airplane trip with us. While I haven't seen this line in stores anymore (and it's now expensive on Amazon), they sell similar ones at Target for around $12. With just enough moving parts to engage car-loving kids, this will fill many hours - and help your child make friends on layovers, we discovered.

Melissa & Doug Maze Puzzle

This puzzle is flat, so it's really just a matter of how tall and wide your bag is. They're all around 10"x13", and come in a variety of themes: transportation, farm, colors, and shapes. There is also a numbers version in which one uses a magnetic pen to guide little balls around the maze. The best part of these is they have no removable parts, which means no scrunching down to find dropped items on the airplane floor. N essentially uses the transportation maze puzzle as a playset, telling elaborate stories about why the different vehicles are going to the different buildings.

If you have any recommended travel toys, I would love to hear about them! Bon voyage!

Handprint Frame

This craft makes an adorable keepsake.  You will need:

4 popsicle sticks, 1 sheet of white cardstock or paper, paint, glue, and markers or decorations (sequins, buttons, glitter, etc.)

1.  Glue popsicle sticks together to make a frame.

2.  Print out the poem below.  Have your child dip their hand in paint, then put handprint on paper underneath poem (it can cover poem a little).

3.  While handprint is drying, have your child decorate the popsicle stick frame.

4.  When everything is dry, glue paper to frame.  Be sure to put the date somewhere!

Poem:

Ten tiny fingers that always want to play,

That never stop exploring the wonder of today.

Ten tiny fingers that from the very start

Will reach out for tomorrow, yet always hold your heart.

Simple Handprint Craft for Mother's Day

This simple handprint craft is sure to brighten Mother's Day! Here are directions; materials are boldfaced.

To make it, trace both hands on construction paper or wrapping paper. Write your child's name and today's date on the hand. Next cut out a few leaves from green paper. Twist together and tape around a straw. As an added touch, you can fold a pipe cleaner in half, twirl the ends, and insert into the straw. (That part is optional.) Finish off with this poem:

This isn’t just a flower, as you can plainly see.
I made it with my hand which is a part of me.
It comes with lots of love, especially to say,
I hope you have a very Happy Mother’s Day!

Mother's Day Interview

Every mother likes something from her little ones on Mother's Day, but often dads are at a loss for what to do.  Here is a simple idea that can be turned into a sweet keepsake for Mom.

Someone (preferably other than Mom) asks the kids questions about Mom and records the answers.  It can be turned into a card, or just left as a sheet of paper to go in the scrapbook or baby book.  Depending on how little your child is, the answers might not make too much sense, but that's part of what makes it special!

*Disclosure:  I borrowed these questions from a Facebook note going around.

Here are some questions to get you started:

Mother’s Day Interview

1.           What is something Mommy always says?

2.         What makes Mommy happy?

3.         What makes Mommy sad?

4.         What does Mommy do that’s funny?

5.         What was Mommy like as a little girl?

6.         How old is Mommy?

7.         What is Mommy’s favorite thing to do?

8.          What is your favorite thing to do?

9.         What does Mommy do when you’re not around?

10.     What is Mommy really good at?

11.        What is Mommy not very good at?

12.      What does Mommy like to eat?

13.      What makes Mommy proud of you?

14.      What do you and Mommy do together?

15.      What does Mommy like best about Daddy?

16.      Where is Mommy’s favorite place to go?

Spring Toy Wash

Now that spring is here, spring cleaning is needed - inside and out. Since Nick's outdoor toys were in dire need of cleaning, we set up a carwash-style toy wash. Nick was very proud of himself for doing the whole process on his own, from filling the bucket to scrubbing the toys to wringing out the sponge (undoubtedly his favorite part). Of course he was soaked by the end, but that's where the fun lies, right?

Tips for Traveling with Toddlers

We recently returned from a trip to Budapest. This involved an 8 hour flight, a four hour layover, and another 2 hour flight. Here are some things we've learned over the years of traveling with Nick:

Preboarding can be a curse rather than a blessing. Imagine you are about to sit on a plane for a 4 or 8 hour flight. Would you rather A) Preboard and have an extra half hour of sitting still while you watch all the other passengers file on, or B) Have your child run, jump, and otherwise exert themselves in an effort to get rid of as much energy as possible before boarding? For us, the answer is almost always a resounding "B" - and Nicholas is usually quite ready to sit by the time we're on the plane.

For a longer flight, we travel with 2 sippy cups that we won't be upset to lose. We fill one and leave the other empty. Most airport security lines will allow a filled sippy cup onboard, but occasionally we've been asked to ditch one. I also regretted not having an empty sippy on a long flight when the milk soured, causing me to need to clean a cup in-flight. This was quite annoying. However, they do make bottle sanitizer wipes which can be handy to have along and can help in these situations. If, due to space, you can only bring one cup, you might want to wait until you are on the flight to fill it.

We use plastic baggies to organize our carry-on and bring a few empty ones as well. Snacks, small toys, a changing kit, and a change of clothes each get their own baggie. (The gallon-baggie changing kit removes the need to lug a diaper bag into a tight airplane bathroom.) Empty baggies get used for trash, keepsakes, dirty clothes, etc.

A note about the bulkhead: At times sitting here is desirable, at other times it's not the best place to be. If you are on a short flight or traveling with a lap child, the extra space provided by the bulkhead is wonderful. When I flew home alone from Germany on a full flight with Nicholas as a lap child, I was thankful to have floor space for him to play. Unfortunately, the armrests cannot be raised in the bulkhead, making it impossible for a sleeping toddler to stretch out on a long flight. We hated to trade our legroomy seats on our international flight for a middle row, but when Nicholas stretched out and slept for 6 hours of the flight, we knew we had made the right decision.

Still to come...
Favorite travel toys
Handy airplane snacks