Month: August 2020

Mayflower Soap Ship

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Here’s an easy history lesson for “summer school”, if you’re helping kids transition back towards an academic mode for the fall. It’s a project that’s equal parts history, STEM, and play!

To start, I wanted Travis to learn a bit about the Mayflower ship that carried the Pilgrims to America, and we found an online read-aloud for kids on YouTube. Travis was thunderstruck (pun intended) by images of the voyage across the ocean as the ship was caught in storms and waves.

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Once he finished the video, it was time to create our own ship! Ideally you’ll want a bar of soap that floats for this project and be careful because not all do. Ours was a heavy soap and had a tendency to sink, but we could always nudge it gently back to the top.

To make the sails, cut construction paper (Travis chose blue) to the same size as the soap bar, and tape these “sails” to toothpicks.

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Insert the toothpicks into the soap.

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Travis sent his boat out to sea! Blow gently on the sails and watch the boat move.

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Again, this was tricky since we had to rescue our soap from the bottom of the basin a few times, but Travis loved that he could move it along, and learned a bit about how real sailboats operate.

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And then of course he gave his Legos a ride!

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Finish the project with a drawing of the boat to add in a little art to the mix!

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Shredded Paper Sensory Play

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A recent tub of tissue paper was a fun sensory hit for Veronika, so today we tried it with shredded paper instead! We don’t own a shredder, but I actually wasn’t aiming for the small crinkles of paper that those machines produce. Instead, I use a roll of craft paper and just ripped up tons of it. Because the paper is so thin, I could quadruple layers of it and cut through with scissors, meaning it actually didn’t take long to get a big pile.

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I pondered which container to use (something large enough for Veronika to sit in!) and decided the laundry bin would be most fun. Once it was filled, in went Veronika!

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For the youngest toddlers, simply the sensory experience of all those paper shreds will be enough. Kids can crinkle it, stomp on it…

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…or toss it in the air to make it rain down.

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For older toddlers, consider encouraging a little imaginative play. To wit, Veronika happened to have little astronaut toys in her hands, so we decided this was a far away planet and the astronauts were brave explorers.

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She loved sifting through it with curious fingers.

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We also discovered we could thread bits of shredded paper through the holes of the laundry basket. So it turned out to be a great activity for fine motor skills, too.

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Don’t be surprised if it looks so fun that older siblings steal the bin for a few of their own games! Yes, big brother Travis’s Legos have taken over, in the image below.

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Cloud Dough with Vehicles

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It’s been a long time since I made cloud dough, which is basically just a super soft play dough requiring only flour and oil. In the past I’ve made this with baby oil, but this time I used regular vegetable oil.

Cloud dough should be 8 parts flour to 1 part oil, so I used 4 cups flour and 1/2 cup oil. Mix with a spoon or your fingers until incorporated.

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To add purpose to the play, we added Veronika’s construction vehicles. I also gave her two little cups that I thought we could use to mold sandcastles, but she preferred to use them for scooping, pouring, and filling up her trucks.

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Or vice versa, using the trucks to fill up the cups!

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It was fun to drive trucks through the dough and make tracks.

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Or just to sift through with her fingers. This stuff is always so soft and fluffy.

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It’s also nice for play because it clumps together enough to momentarily hold a shape.

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And when she tired of the game, a quick rinse of cold water got the vehicles clean!

Cork Printing

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Veronika and I have played around with several ways to make dot paints recently and since I had a few corks left over, I figured we’d test out how they worked.

I set out a craft tray with several different colors of metallic craft paint, construction paper for Veronika to dot onto, and the corks.

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It turned out the corks were the perfect size for little toddler hands to hold!

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She loved to dip in the paint…

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…and dot on the paper.

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She tested out all the different colors in this way.

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Then she tried dotting two of the corks together, with a look of very serious concentration on her face.

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This didn’t keep her busy for that long, but it was a cute alternative to a paintbrush, and we always like testing new tools around here.

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Go Bowling

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When there’s an extra two weeks of summer to fill because of coronavirus, it’s time for a Camp Mom field trip. What I really wanted was to take the kids out bowling, but the idea didn’t feel safe. What was Camp Mom to do?

Bring the bowling alley in!

There are so many ways you can bowl at home (empty bottles, glowing empty bottles, etc.), but for maximum impact, it was time to splurge. A giant unicorn bowling set cost as much as a single afternoon at the regular bowling alley, but this one will last us much longer.

Needless to say, the unicorns themselves were a pure delight.

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As I inflated the set with a hand pump, the kids each grabbed one and began to run around. Travis paraded them and tossed them in the air. Veronika was about the same height as a unicorn, and would just run up to one and yell “whoa!” and then knock it over.

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They loved holding them by the horn and trotting them around.

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Once the set was fully inflated, we set the pins in a classic triangle, and took aim with a giant rainbow ball. Travis soon had the hang of rolling it…

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…or kicking it.

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He loved watching the unicorns topple! We played inside today while the grass was wet, but we’ll be heading outside with this one soon.

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Road Signs

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Travis is officially a bike rider! It’s an exciting milestone, but it also means it’s time for him to learn basic road safety. Here’s a fun game to help kids learn the signs they might encounter as they are out and about.

First up was a real bike ride, with the special assignment to pay attention to any signs he saw. Travis took note of several we passed, including stop and yield.

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I then printed out pictures of common signs; once we were home, we could role play! Travis buckled on his helmet (for safety of course…and little sister too!) and then the “bikes” were off. As I held up each of the signs, the kids had to do a corresponding action.

Green light meant jog forward.

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For a left turn arrow, he practiced making the left turn hand signal (arm straight out to the left) and spun circles to his left.

If I held up a right turn arrow, he made the right turn signal (left arm in an L pointing up) and spun to the right.

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Stop sign meant he stopped and made the stop hand signal (left arm in an L, pointing down).

The yield sign meant to look out for oncoming (little sister) traffic!

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He could only walk in one direction if I held up One Way.

And finally the favorite: if I held up the Slippery When Wet sign, it was time to wiggle and slip and slide!

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This was a great way to get kids thinking about road safety in an approachable and fun manner.

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Toddler Brag Book

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The “brag” in the title of this post is meant in the best way possible; toddlers are so proud as they near two-years-old about people and things that are familiar favorites. Here is a homemade book that lets Veronika celebrate things she loves. And yes, she is so proud every time she leafs through it!

To set up, I cut pictures from an old homemade calendar featuring family member’s faces. I also added a few pictures of current favorites, like sorbet and stuffed animals.

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Glue each picture onto a rectangle of colored construction paper, then cover each page with clear contact paper for durability. Veronika loved being my helper as I worked!

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Punch holes in each page and secure together with string.

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It was time to read through her book. Veronika loved spotting faces (“It’s Mommy! It’s Daddy!” she exclaimed).

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“It’s Travis!” She seemed genuinely surprised and delighted each time. Note: This little book also just happens to be the right size for the car, so it’s a perfect way to keep her entertained en route to a favorite destination.

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DIY Sprinkler

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Childhood + summer + sprinklers pretty much never gets old, but if you need a quick sprinkler reboot after the umpteenth hot day of the summer, here’s a homemade version that will delight toddlers and big kids alike.

Use a hammer and nail to make holes in the bottom of an empty gallon water jug. I worried the plastic would be too thick, but this is actually remarkably easy to do. That said, the nail made very small holes so we did then widen them slightly with a rotary tool.

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To then transform it into a sprinkler, insert a hose, turn on the water and the water will rain down through the holes.

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I simply held this by hand, but you could also rig it up for lasting fun; anything tall like a basketball hoop or tree branch would work, in which case you might want duct tape to hold it all in place.

The kids loved to take turns holding it, too, turning it into almost a watering can over the bushes…

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…and sidewalk.

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Veronika loved stomping in the leftover puddles!

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Travis was thrilled he could make patches of mud.

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And of course they loved catching the water drops as they rained down.

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My kids are hesitant about actually jumping right under a sprinkler, but yours might want to shower directly under the spray!

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Scented Edible No-Cook Fingerpaint

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Kool Aid FingerPaint (4)

All jokes aside, no we don’t drink the Kool-Aid around here. But sometimes for coloring craft projects, it’s the best option to achieve bold, bright colors. I knew Veronika would probably end up eating some of the “paint” for this craft, therefore, but a little doesn’t hurt!

To set up, spoon non-dairy yogurt onto plates or cups (I didn’t measure exactly, but would guess I used about 1/2 cup yogurt per color). Add a packet of Kool-Aid mix to each portion, and stir to combine.

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I then dolloped smaller portions of the paint onto parchment paper in front of Veronika as her artist’s palette. I only made three colors, but you could easily set up a full rainbow!

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I encouraged her to swish fingers through the paint and smear it over the craft paper I laid out. We turned the blobs into fun shapes like a yellow sun or a red flower.

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Of course she did also very quickly discover that the paint was delicious. Which means we had some of this…

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…but an equal amount of this.

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Well, snack time and craft time were both taken care of!

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Painting Bag

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Here’s a quick variation on an old idea, a safe way to let a toddler paint with no mess. In the past, I’ve sealed paint in a zip-top bag for Veronika, but this time there was a secret piece of colored paper underneath. A colorful surprise was waiting with each line she made!

To set up, place a piece of colored construction paper in a gallon-sized zip-top bag. Squirt in paint, making sure it is a different color from the paper. The higher the contrast the better, like yellow paint with blue paper or green paint over red.

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Seal the bag tightly, then show your toddler how to make marks in the squishy paint with a finger. The colored paper underneath will be revealed!

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This definitely earned little sounds of surprise, and Veronika liked making shapes and wiggles appear. Of course she also just liked squishing it.

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Or stepping on it.

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Since she’s becoming more sophisticated with her own drawings and understanding of art, she also really enjoyed when I “painted” trucks or other recognizable shapes in the bag.

Mostly, though, I let her entertain herself with this one!

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