Teddy Bear Picnic

Several weeks ago, Buddy got an invitation to participate in a teddy bear picnic at kindergarten. The night before, while Buddy was carefully choosing his teddy bear (he picked Wooshie Bear btw), I could tell that Jellybean was extremely upset that she was not going to get to go to the picnic. So, I decided to invite her to a teddy bear picnic at home.

First thing the next morning she discovered an invitation.

She was so excited! I laid out my stoneware tea set from when I was a child and we brewed up some chamomile tea together. Then we spread out a blanket in the "soft room." It's one of the only carpeted rooms in the house. It should be a formal dining room, but we love playing in there instead.

She brought her Christmas Bear (a gift from her Great-Grandma) and chose a bear for me, too.

We enjoyed our tea, cookies and grapes and practiced our tea time etiquette.

Christmas Bear enjoyed his tea, too.

I decided that we should have some teddy bear related activities as well. The first was a color by number sheet. She is working on her number recognition right now, so it was perfect.

I spent a while the night before coloring this cute paper bear set. She didn't appreciate my effort, but I thought it was adorable. I cut it out for her and let her dress the bear.

And what was my little Teddy Bear doing while we were drinking tea and coloring?  Napping and then playing on his mat. Cute and content.

If the whole experience hadn't ended in a complete melt-down over my not letting her watch television, the morning would have been completely wonderful. It was still lovely spending some one on one time with my sweet little girl.

If you are interested in the color by number sheet or the paper bear cut-out, here are the links to both. I found them through a quick teddy bear picnic activity google search.

Color by Number Bear
Regency Paper Bear Doll

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

Balloon People

One of our favorite easy activities to stave off boredom around here: Balloon People.

I had the kids describe to me the features they wanted on their balloons and I went to town with a sharpie. They were both very pleased with their people.

Buddy especially loved his two creations: "Math Mouth" and "Opto." Jellybean talks to her's like they are real people.

They both had to have a 10 eyed alien as well. I swear that playing with balloons never gets old. I like to keep a bag of them around all of the time. Such an easy thing to whip out.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

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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