Day: September 6, 2020

Backpack Key Chains

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Backpack Keychain (8)

Travis is kitted out with notebooks and textbooks, but he won’t be completely back-to-school ready until his backpack has some homemade bling! We used up the last of a pack of craft spools for this easy DIY version.

First up was painting the spools and Travis chose red.

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I painted a second set in a marbled red and yellow.

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You’ll want to use acrylic paints so that the first rainy day doesn’t spoil your child’s craft. But since little sister Veronika wanted to get involved, I gave her some washable paints to smear around next to us.

Backpack Keychain (3)

Once the spools dry, thread onto craft laces. Travis chose blue for his.

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And of course you’re sneaking in fine motor skills when your child threads the spools onto the lace.

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We alternated these with wooden beads, then added a clasp at the top and knotted the lace.

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Backpack? Check. COVID-19 hand sanitizer? Check. Keychain? Check. He’s ready.

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Waterfall Game

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Waterfall Game (4)

A rather aimless Veronika seemed in need of entertainment of a Sunday morning, so I pulled out two simple items to create a game: pennies and a jar!

Waterfall Game (1)

I placed all the pennies on a tray and then filled the jar almost all the way with water. If you’re playing with big kids, turn it into a more of a competition. Take turns dropping pennies into the container. Game over when a player’s penny makes water spill over the edge!

Of course Veronika couldn’t have known we were playing a game against each other, but she did get into the rhythm of turn-taking. I added a penny, she added a penny, and so on.

Waterfall Game (2)

Then we just started adding pennies by the handful!

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I made a big deal out of it when we reached that point where water sloshed over, so she got excited too.

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Your toddler won’t get it yet, but there’s watery science at work here (surface tension! displacement!) that he or she will absorb (heh). Veronika loved watching the water spill.

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After that I dumped the water out so she simply had a jar and pennies. Now, she loved the ker-plunk of dropping in the coins and kept busy solo for a while longer.

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