Snow Day Activity Center

It's hard being stuck inside on a snow day. I often struggle to keep the kids occupied. This last snowy day, I set up an activity center on our dining table.

On one side of the table I set up some paint in ziplock bags. I've seen this activity done a ton on Pinterest. You just put some paint blobs in ziplock bags and tape them down. Buddy doesn't like getting his hands messy, so this was a good solution for clean play. Even still it took a little convincing because he dislikes paint so much. Of course, once we showed him how to draw letters in the paint, he was sold.

I set up some paper and crayons on another side while he warmed up to the idea of playing with the paint.
Once Jellybean was tired of pushing paint around, I brought out some salt dough. She loves dough, but Buddy is, again, a bit resistant because of the potential mess factor. His preschool teacher has recommended that we try to get him to do activities that will build the strength in his fingers. Playing in dough is a good one.

Yep, our hands are a little messy.

I had a bag of decorative rocks close by, so I brought those out to see if it would make the activity more interesting. To my surprise, Buddy loved sticking the rocks in the dough and was engrossed in it far longer than Jellybean. He didn't even get annoyed about his hands not being perfectly clean.

First, he concentrated on making a stonehenge of sorts.

Then he squished all of the dough together and created a monster.  When he was done with that he worked on hiding the rocks inside the dough. Weird how adding one new thing can change everything.

Well, that was one morning successfully managed. Here's hoping that there aren't very many more days that we're stuck inside this winter.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

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Artsy Play Wednesday

Play and Eat with Oatmeal

Occasionally, I'll be working on the computer and Jellybean will come sit with me. Because I'm often looking at craft and activity ideas to do with her, she likes to point at the screen and tell me what she'd like me to make or what activity looks fun to her.  Last week, she saw this post on Play Through The Day for an oatmeal sensory bin.  Jellybean wanted to do this activity so badly, that I couldn't turn her down.

This is actually my first bonafide sensory bin and an easy one to put together at that.  I had an old container of oatmeal that was expired, so I dumped that in and then grabbed my daughter's Fisher Price farm animals and tossed those in as well.  I also grabbed a couple of cans so that they could dig and pour.

Both Jellybean and Buddy enjoyed digging their hands in the bin and playing together with the animals. It's so fun to see them work so creatively with something simple.

I left them to their own devices until I noticed that the oatmeal was being thrown around the room.  That was my cue that the activity was over and it was time for snacks.  Guess what they wanted to eat? Oatmeal. No, we did not eat the oatmeal they played with. Just in case you were wondering.

Yum!

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

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Indoor Fun: Animal Color Bath

I've mentioned before that we just made it through a couple of weeks where we were basically house bound. Between illness and the heat outside, we didn't have much choice but to hang out indoors. With two toddlers, that gets old fast.  I scrambled to find some activities that were easy to do (I was sick after all) and that would keep the kids' attention for a fair amount of time. One activity that turned out to be a favorite was the Animal Color Bath.

I found the Color Bath Dropz at the grocery store. You can add one or more color tablets to change the color of the water. We experimented with the tablets and found that it was a fun learning experience. It's really fun to see how the water can change from red to orange by the addition of a yellow tablet or yellow to green by adding a blue tablet, etc.  The kids loved playing in the water.

They also loved washing their farm animals. I gave them each a wash cloth and a towel to dry the animals on.  It's absolutely amazing how something so simple can be so engaging.  They spent a good 45 minutes washing their animals and playing in the water. 45 minutes of peace, ahhh.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

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Water Gem Play

We were hit with a double whammy on Monday.  It was rainy outside and Buddy was sick.  So, we were stuck inside for the bulk of the day.  I'd seen a suggestion on another blog regarding water gems. I purchased a bottle of them and have had them waiting in a cupboard for quite some time.  Today seemed like the perfect day to get them out.

Water gems are really cool. They are little gel like balls that balloon up when they are left in water. I guess they are mostly used to make flower vases more decorative. You can purchase the water gems in dehydrated packets, or already hydrated in a bottle. I got mine at Michaels, but I imagine they are available at almost any craft store.  The hydrated version is a bit more expensive, but I decided to pay for the convenience of having them already ready and waiting for me. I'm not very good at planning.

I just poured some in clear tupperware and brought out spoons and cups. Then I added a tad more water. The kids loved them. We played with them for at least an hour. They enjoyed putting their hands in and feeling them, spooning them up and putting them in their cups and then pouring them out. They especially got a kick out of an occasional escapee. The gems, we discovered, are a bit bouncy.  I also brought out a flashlight and turned out the lights. It was fun shining the light through them.  I really wished that I had a light table. These would look awesome sitting over a light source. I'm going to rig one up for next time.  Maybe something like this. These would also be great in a sensory bin.  Clean up was a breeze. I just poured off some water and put them back in their bottle. I'd definitely suggest getting some water gems to keep around for indoor play.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

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I Can Teach My Child