Day: May 19, 2019

Adventure Pouch

Leave a comment

Adventure Pouch (7)

Travis has a few new animal figure toys that need to come along on all his adventures (of course). We needed a safe way to transport them and this adventure pouch craft from Highlights magazine fit the bill perfectly!

First, trace a pouch shape onto felt. I had Travis take the first try at it and just enlarged his version slightly since his original oval was a touch too small.

Adventure Pouch (1)

Cut out, and trace the same shape onto a second sheet of felt so your pouch as two sides. Cut out.

Use hot glue to attach the two felt pieces together, leaving the top open.

Adventure Pouch (2)

To decorate, Highlights suggested cutting additional shapes from other colors of felt and gluing them on. Since felt is tough for Travis to get through with scissors, we used neat ocean felt stickers, instead.

Adventure Pouch (3)

Punch holes at the top of the pouch, and lace yarn or twine through the holes. Knot to secure, and pull up on the strings to seal it shut.

Adventure Pouch (4)

Travis loved putting his animal friends in and out of the pouch, their new home! This pouch would also work great for collecting treasures on a nature walk.

Adventure Pouch (6)

What will your child do with the adventure pouch? Please share in the comments!

Adventure Pouch (5)

Jell-O Hands

2 Comments

Mandarin Jello (4)

Gel desserts are the perfect food edible sensory play sessions with a baby. It’s squishy, it wobbles, and if little fingers get some of it into little mouths, it’s perfectly safe to eat. We love the vegan jel desserts from Simply Delish.

To make a fun mandarin orange version, drain one can of organic mandarin oranges (such as Native Forest) over a bowl. Place the orange slices in a large bowl and set aside. Reserve 1/3 cup of the juice and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Dissolve one sachet of jel dessert in the chilled juice. Add enough boiling water to equal 12 ounces and stir to combine. Pour the juice mixture over the orange slices. Let cool to room temperature, then transfer to the fridge and let set for 1 hour.

Mandarin Jello (2)

I placed the jell-o on Veronika’s high chair tray.  She was quite skeptical at first!

Mandarin Jello (3)

Once I demonstrated with a finger how it wiggled and wobbled, she was game!

Mandarin Jello (4)

Little fists loved squishing and squashing through the jell-o.

Mandarin Jello (5)

And she liked trying to hold on to slices of orange.

Mandarin Jello (6)

Some of it made its way to her mouth, and a lot more ended up on the floor!

Mandarin Jello (7)

The activity looked so fun that big brother Travis wanted to join in, too!

Mandarin Jello (8)

Treasure Basket

Leave a comment

Treasure Basket (1)

This game is so simple, yet sure to delight your six-month-old, who is probably new to sit-up playtime!

Fill a small basket or bin (ideally one that your child can lift with his or her own hands) with a few odds and ends. For Veronika, I added a rubber spatula, two soft toys, two foam blocks, a squishy toy, and a set of baby car keys.

Treasure Basket (6)

One by one, I showed her the toys, and described them. In this way, we emptied the bin and then I filled it back up again.

Treasure Basket (3)

The second time through, I let her rifle through the bin on her own and select the toys in any order she wanted.

Treasure Basket (4)

As she came to each item, I again talked about its shape or size or another feature. For instance, the spatula was perfect for talking about length.

Treasure Basket (2)

And the blocks were perfect for talking about color.

Treasure Basket (7)

I loved when she pulled out the square block and squishy circle and began drumming them together.

Treasure Basket (8)

She seemed so excited to have free-reign to rifle through the bin with nothing inside off limits. There’s something that babies start to love at this age about pulling things out… And we better get used to it, because there are toddler days ahead!

Treasure Basket (5)