Block Activity: Build a City

After doing our tape maze of numbers. The maze stuck [yes, pun intended] around awhile.

On one of those 'no-nap' days, Henry and I kept busy [while George was napping] with blocks and the tape maze and made a Block City!

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Sensory Activity for All Ages: Dish Soap Foam!

I knew when I saw this snow sensory activity from dish soap, from You Pinspire Me, when I collected the ideas for the Snow Collection, that it was something the boys would love and we just had to do it.

Dish Soap Foam!

So easy, your child could, and can, do it!
I put some dish soap in a measuring cup [just squirted a good amount] and added a tad bit of water.
Dumped that in my food processor, and let the kids foam it up!

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Baby Play : Baby Food Jars

Baby food jars and lids. 

Simple entertainment for a baby.

And it's something almost every mom has on hand.

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Fine Motor Activity : Pipe Cleaners

I know Henry's fine motor skills have never been his strongest trait.

So I do sneak in some fun here and there that works his fingers, such as the Dandelion Hat and Colored Vinegar and Baking Soda Experiment.

But this activity was not intended for Henry at all. 

I set out this colander and some pipe cleaners for George to explore.

I did have Tinkerlab's Colander Sculpture and The Imagination Tree's Pipe Cleaner Discovery Box in the back of my mind. But I completely intended for this activity to be about George exploring the pipe cleaners. Thinking that a pipe cleaner sculpture could be for another day.

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It's Playtime! : The Areas of Play

In yesterday's post, P is for Play, I went through a few of the ways I look at play, and how I believe it is an important part of learning for a young child.

Luckily enough, I find inspiration for all kinds of ways to play every week from It's Playtime! [Yay Playtimers!]

Here are your ways to play in each area of Play that I outlined yesterday.
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Free Play : DIY Road Map

Not sure why it took me so long to realize that I can draw on our play table.

But now that I have, Henry and I have created many road maps!

Roads are the biggest hit.
And since Henry can't reach across the table, the road always goes around the table.
[Its a 4x8 piece of plywood, and for some reason is a smooth white on one side.]


[Any white board would work for this, too. 
Or even just a sheet of paper, just tape it down on a table!]

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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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Free Play : Fabric

Yesterday's basket of fabric scraps that George explored, 

turned into some exploring from Henry, as well.

The entire basket, of course, was dumped onto the floor immediately.

Henry began sorting the fabric scraps by color.

At least that's what he told me.

He was collecting the blue fabrics. 

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Baby Play : Fabric Scraps

A new sensory item for George is a tub of fabric scraps!

I've had these in the cupboard for years, not being able to bring myself to throw them out, but not knowing what else to do with them either.

I brought them out one morning for George to explore, while Henry was at daycare.

I put a selection of the fabric scraps in an old wipes container.

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Outdoor Play : Tin Can Forest

A forest in the sandbox for the Forest Fiesta!

Henry and I made a real forest with upcycled tin cans, tree branches and a few plants.

Henry loves picking up sticks at Grandma's house. So that's just what he did. 

While he added the biggest branches he could find to Grandma's twig pile,

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Outdoor Play : Firewood Sculpture

Henry got to camp overnight with Grandma and Grandpa last weekend. 

We joined them for the night for fire-cooked pizzas and s'mores.

Before building the fire, a giant stack of firewood was begging to be played with.

Henry and I began to build a sculpture.

[Mostly assembled by myself, with Henry's assistance.]

Balancing the firewood to get it to stay took great care.

Finding the right place to set a piece up against, so the others didn't fall, did as well.

Henry didn't slow down with any frustrations, 

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Free Play : Carpet Doodles

Carpet doodling was an unexpected activity that came out of some free play.

Henry and I scored a bunch of old utensils and cookie cutters from my great-grandmother's house. They've been in a bucket around the house and played with nearly every day.

As we were playing one day, we discovered that they could make marks, or doodles, in the carpet rugs!

This lead to some exploration.

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Traveling Activities

This past weekend the boys and I went traveling with Grandma and [someday] Aunt Kim to visit my other brother's family.

How to entertain the boys during our travels?

I packed bags of activities to do! 

Here's what we took along:

• Imaginets - a magnetic white board case with magnet shapes to create. [Included some of Henry's Crayola washable markers that easily wipe off with baby wipes.]
• I Spy Bottle for either of the boys to find hidden shapes and letters in the rice.
• Stickers and construction paper.
• Portable DVD Player with a couple DVD's - I don't own a portable DVD player, so I checked one out for a week from my local library!
• Little toys that Henry packed in a small bag.
• Special snacks [like chocolate milk and trail mix].
• Travel Lap Tray for eating snacks and playing.
• Most importantly: Extra adults to play with the kids in the back. [Minivan needed.]

We also played a version of I Spy - we looked for semis! Henry chose a color of semi for each of us to look for, then we counted them. This ended up being more of a game for the adults than it was for Henry - he just liked to point out the semis [which was constantly, by the way].

Most of these ideas came from my Facebook crowd when I posed the question of what to do while traveling on a long road trip.

Other comments on activities for traveling [I couldn't take everything along]:

Make a Busy Book for Traveling : Teach Preschool Portable Art Board : The Imagination Tree iPhone/iPad - Apps for the kids! Paint with Contact Paper [mess-free] : Dilly-Dali Art Buy an Activity, such as Pipe Cleaner Creations : Let Kids Create Car Bingo Kid's Learning Laptop Activity Box and Activities for Traveling : Quirky Momma

The next topic idea?

How to get kids involved with Outdoor Gardening/Landscaping

-- Henry is 3 years old --

-- George is 7 months old --

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Baby Play : Mirror Reflections

Mirrors are fascinating to a baby!

George is no exception.

I sat George in front of a full length mirror.

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Outdoor Play : Dandelion Picking

On Mother's Day, we headed outside to pick dandelions at my mom's house and collected them in a basket. Not doing anything in particular with them.

Later that week, we went outside and did the same thing again at home.

Henry thoroughly enjoys picking dandelions. 

He gets excited when he finds them.

He says they're pretty.

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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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Playdough Noodle Threading Activity

Playdough is still Henry's favorite go-to activity.  

In need of new ideas for activities, I posted a discussion on the we teach : bodies to move board to link up your favorite fine motor skills activity. Nicole [The Activity Mom] linked up her Spaghetti Noodle Lacing activity that caught my eye.

To start, I made a few playdough balls and lined them up in a row. 

Mentioning the pattern [yellow-green-yellow] as I went along. 

I asked along the way, 'What color of playdough comes next?'

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Free Play Activity : Stirring and Mixing

Henry is sometimes all business and no play.

He thinks a lot of things are 'his job'.

As he often says, 'It's my job' in his best man's voice.

This day was no exception. 

[His facial expressions in all of the photos show exactly his seriousness of the day. No smiles.]

Time for some free play. 

I set out a bunch of bowls. One with some flour. One with some corn meal. I also set out a box of baking soda, a cup of water, a squirt bottle of vinegar and a set of old spices.

I believe it was Teacher Tom that I saw this from originally. He set out a bunch of materials like this with a classroom of preschoolers and gave them no direction. Step back to see what the preschoolers would create.

With it just being Henry, I have to play the part of another preschooler,

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Exploring Baby Food

Last week on It's Playtime! I featured some baby things to do.

The pudding fingerpaint [from Girl in Air] stuck in my mind.

A friend of mine commented on Facebook about using baby food, too!

That's just what I did.

George was fussy one afternoon while Henry was napping.

After failing all attempts to make him happy [feeding, diaper, napping]

I strapped him in his high chair

and poured some leftover peaches on the tray.

I was having a snack, so I crumbled some muffin on the tray as well.

Crying instantly stopped!

George squished, smeared and smashed the food.

Exploring the textures

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Stacking : Trial & Error

As we were playing the other day, 

I looked over, 

and saw Henry building this:

I was quite impressed!

Those are skinny blocks and they stood as tall as him!

I'm not quite sure what they are exactly, or where we even got them.

But this could easily be done with any kind of box. 

The thinner and taller the block, the harder it is.

I noticed as Henry was stacking them,

he began counting them as he put them on.

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