Toddler Activity : Fine Motor Skills with Pom Poms

Toddler play with pom poms!

Grabbing, pinching and poking at these little items are great for fine motor development!

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Outdoor Winter Activity: Coloring Snow

We were graced with a warm day [32 degrees] with a light dusting of snow [a couple inches] just before Christmas. My Christmas wish came true! We barely had a white Christmas, but we did!

The morning the snow fell, Henry and I took a look outside the window...

... and I asked him, "Isn't it pretty?"

Henry's response...

"No. It needs color to be pretty."

So we colored the snow that afternoon to have a beautiful yard of colored snow!

I stocked Henry up with some supplies:

• A spray bottle with water and a few drops of green food coloring.
• A container of water with red food coloring added.
• Syringes, scoops and a turkey baster.

If it was super cold, I would have probably stuck to just the spray bottle so his fingers wouldn't get wet. But since it was a nice day and the sun was shining, I let him dip in the water and have a good time.

Henry took the color all over the yard.

I even made a Ho! Ho! Ho! writing in the snow, just in time for Santa to come.

Just be careful of cold fingers if they're getting wet.

Once we get snow again, we'll definitely be adding color to it some more! 

We'll have to get creative with how we do it if its too cold!

Snow painting is nothing new I created. Lots of kids are coloring snow!

• The Chocolate Muffin Tree painted snow here and here, and again here.
• Really Quite Lucky uses squeeze bottles of all sorts of colors to paint the snow.
• {Share & Remember} colors the snow with lots of kids!

Have you colored snow yet?

Shared at Come Together Kids Winter Fun Ideas Party!

Henry is 3 years. George is 1 year.

Current sponsors :  Fudoo Boards  :  A Mom with a Lesson Plan  :  CraftProjectIdeas.com

Design your own party invitations at Vistaprint.com

Sensory Activity : Spaghetti Potion

We turned The Imagination Tree's bug slime spaghetti [eww!] into a sensory activity, especially for Halloween!

I simply cooked up a package of spaghetti noodles, drained them and rinsed it with cold water to cool it down quickly.

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Art : Bubble Print & Leaf Collage

I feel like a successful hands on mom when my preschooler runs to me with bubble wrap in his hand and says,  "We have to save this and paint with it later!"

That's how fall leaf art collage came about.

We made bubble prints first in beautiful fall colors.

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Art : DIY Upcycled Crayons

Long ago, when there wasn't any reason to Beat the Heat.

My mom had a bucket full of old crayons with lots of bits and pieces.

So, Henry, Grandma and I made some upcycled crayons.

I read, somewhere at the time, about a tip for removing the paper on the crayons by soaking them in water.

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Outdoor Play : Scavenger Hunt

It has been a while since I made a scavenger hunt for Henry.

This time I wanted Henry to be more self-sufficient at it.

So I made a scavenger hunt guide with pictures [as well as the word].

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Art : Frozen Painting

Beating the Heat has been fun last week. 

Even though it was miserably hot, we used lots of ice to keep us cool.

So far, George has played with ice cubes [a simple sensory activity for babies] and Henry discovered a healthy snack of fruit in a frozen ice excavation.

We even managed to keep cool while creating art!

I've seen a lot of ice cube paintings out there, 

where you color some ice cubes with some food coloring.

It often gives a watercolor effect, often very pastel.

For this paint project, I was looking for a something a little more... vibrant!

So we got artsy with some frozen paint.

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Art : Homemade Window Paint Take 2

I love when Henry chooses the activity for the day.

This time he wanted really, really badly to paint the big window again!

When we made window paint last time, it was super sticky and goopy.

This time, I looked up a new window paint recipe from Home Spun Threads.

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It's Playtime! : Colors

Henry has learned his colors long ago.

He has also learned the different shades of green, blue, pink, purple and other colors.

We're just learning what happens when you mix two colors together.

[I do think he has what blue and yellow make together figured out though!]

There are lots of fun ways to implement learning about colors in your preschooler, 

These Playtime pals have given us great examples beyond just color recognition. 

There are an infinite amount of shades of colors, identify them in a color hunt. Sun Scholars uses paint swatches and sends the kids off to find the colors.

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Sensory Play : Flour Piping Activity

After seeing the sand piping bags at Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning, I knew it was a sensory activity that Henry would love to get messy doing. Minus the sand, we made our own flour piping bags. 

After our Free Play : Stirring and Mixing activity, I couldn't let Henry miss out on mixing together the flour and water.Henry measured and scooped flour into a large bowl and added some lots of water.

I poured some of the mixture into ziploc bags and added a bit of paint.

Sensory Play:
Henry squished the mixture together to mix the color in thoroughly.

I snipped a corner off the bag.

The mixture was very runny, and ran out of the bag immediately. 

Nevertheless, Henry squeezed it out and made large colored puddles.

When the red color was added to the blue, it didn't mix together to make purple.

Instead, it created swirls of colors.

Glitter was added as a finishing touch. [Lots of glitter, the shaker is now empty.]

Henry noticed as some of mixture ran off the paper : "a river!"

The glitter showed the flow of the river.

Henry created his own rivers of glitter all over the paper.

Of course, this ended in one very sloppy mess!

* linked up to some of these parties *

-- Henry is 3 years old --

-- George is 7 months old --

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Rolling Eggs & Balls Painting

I decided to take this art activity outside.

It took Henry awhile to get into it.

At first, he only wanted to play with his dump truck and stack the paints in it.

I started by showing him what we'd do to spark some interest.

Henry joined me soon after.

This activity was inspired by Tinkerlab's Rolling Easter Egg Painting 

and Teaching 2 and 3 Year Old's Cars Down Ramp in Paint

But, Henry created and played with the paints in his own way.

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Paper, Paint & Vehicles

[After two other failed crafty attempts today]

Henry created this piece of art:

While I was getting supper on the table,

I handed him a piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper.

Color of his choice:

Green.

Poured some washable paint in a container.

And gave him his green paintbrush.

[A couple of months ago, Henry and I bought this basting brush together, 

I told him it would be for him to paint with. 

He has been so excited to use it, and talked about it for a long time. 

I completely forgot about it until today. His excitement returned!]

I set out a couple of vehicles for Henry to drive through the paint.

[note: I only set out a couple, notice the amount Henry added himself]

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Food Tracks & Layered Playdough

Making tracks with trucks and tractors in Play Doh is nothing new in this house.

Instead of vehicles, today we tried food!

[play food]

Craters made from grapes!

Corn on the Cob made nice rows.

And a fork?

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Fruity O's Rainbow

Laziness Nixed.

Fun Revived!

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KoolAid Paint with Fun Cleanup

Some crafts don't turn out exactly how you plan... 

[isn't that the cardinal rule of crafting with toddlers and preschoolers?]

but the process of doing it is still just as fun and educational.

Henry painted with ice cubes and KoolAid.

He sprinkled a couple packages of KoolAid on paper in a tupperware.

Added some ice cubes and shook it around.

[FYI: ahead of time set the ice cubes out earlier so they are already slimy]

The ice cubes didn't melt fast enough, so I eventually gave him a syringe of water.

He had lots of fun with the syringe. 

Learning to aim where the water went

was most of the battle.

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Our Valentine Recap

What I may love even more than doing the crafts and activities themselves. 

The outcome of the craft. 

Look at my mantel! 

All homemade crafts done by my very own 2 year old.

They may not be perfect - but they look pretty awesome all together.

Happy Valentine's Day!

[1] ABC = abc

[2] Shaken, not stirred, Painted Hearts

[3] Valentine Countdown Tree

[4] Yummy Edible Valentines

[5] Valentine Tissue Wreath

[6] Sorted Button Valentine Heart 

[7] Stuffed Heart Balloon

[8] Handmade Heart Bird Feeder

[9] Stamped Heart

[10] Patterning and a Heart Hunt

We've also been reading:

Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown

Sorted Button Valentine Heart

I know I said the Valentine Tissue Wreath was one of my favorites, but this is my favorite!

I absolutely love how this looks on my mantel right now. 

It glimmers and shines in the light.

Henry started with sorting buttons by color in a muffin tin.

(I was planning on only using reds, pinks, and whites)

I made a swirl design in glue around and around a cutout heart.

Henry added buttons to his desire!

(Henry wouldn't have it with my color selection and used every single color.)

... and kept adding ...

I added some in the tiny spaces.

Then I glued it to a pink scrapbook page and propped it up against a picture frame on my mantel...

and its oh-so-pretty.

Idea from Pink and Green Mama

This project has been included in The Heart Project.

Make a donation of $5 to the American Heart Association

and receive The Heart Project ebook as a free gift!

US $5.00 Donation to AHA

US $20.00 Order the Printed Version [$5 of every sale of the printed book will go to the AHA]

Scavenger Hunt - Indoor

Henry and I did an Indoor Scavenger Hunt. I came up with a list of things that he could find around the house and put in a bag... this was our first scavenger hunt and I wasn't too sure how well Henry would do, so we started out simple.


First we did some objects:
- Spoon
- Pen
- Mitten
- Comb
- Piece of Paper
- Ball


Then I tried to be a little pickier with those objects:
- a PINK car
- the letter 'V'
- a DIRTY sock
- THREE books
- ONE Kleenex
- a picture of your BROTHER


Then I tried just using descriptive words for items that were open ended as to what he could find:
- Something that keeps you warm
- Something blue
- Something that makes noise
- Something you put on your head
- A tool you use to measure things


I was impressed with what he knew to bring. 


The only fault I see to this - what do you do with the items once they've been collected? I felt like it was very open ended and needed something to be done with them.


So, I'm trying to come up with a 'daily' scavenger hunt to prepare for the day ahead.
- a book you'd like to read with Mom today


However, that's all the further I've gotten... everything else I've come up with, he can't get himself... I've thought about making flash cards with the choices and he could pick which one he wanted. But that takes out the 'scavenger' part of the game. Got any good ideas?


Eventually, I want to get into hunting for objects that start with a letter that I tell him, but I know we're not there yet. He does know what some objects start with, but that's only because we have books that say - L is for Lion - and he has those memorized. 


I didn't get any pictures of our hunt - but Henry really liked the challenge of looking for stuff. This is usually a problem he has when he thinks of toy he wants to play with - he doesn't usually try to look for it... he just assumes he can't find it. Hopefully this will teach him that sometimes you have to look around and dig to find what you're looking for.


Have you guys done any indoor scavenger hunts? I'd love to hear of objects that you have them look for.