Month: January 2021

Exploding Soap

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Exploding Soap (4)

Veronika was a bit bored as I was cleaning the kitchen this morning, and I wanted an activity that could occupy her quickly. Luckily, a bar of soap and a microwave are all you need for some quick STEM exploration!

I placed a bar of soap on a paper plate and then popped it in the microwave. Veronika helped me set the timer for 2 minutes.

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Stand back and watch it explode! Monitor closely, because you don’t want a messy microwave, but the soap will begin to bubble up and expand and do all kinds of exciting things. I’ve heard this activity described online using both Ivory Coast and Dial, but I don’t think it matters which brand you use.

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We removed the bubbly soap from the microwave and then began some careful exploration. Within moments, it will be cool enough to explore safely, but still soft enough that it no longer resembles a hard bar of soap. I placed the soap in a craft tray with a shallow layer of water and Veronika loved stirring around the soap flakes.

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Or mashing at the remaining cake of soap with craft sticks.

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She even washed her hands! So you can definitely say this turned out to be good clean fun.

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Move & Learn Shapes with a Ball + Tape

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Move and Learn Shapes (2)

I’ve combined shape learning with gross motor skills before, but this was a great twist on the activity. Veronika has added a few new shapes to her repertoire, and she’s also been interested in learning all the various ways that she can move a ball lately (kicking, bouncing, rolling). This activity combined both beautifully!

On the floor, I first made giant shapes with masking tape, adding one of each she knows so far (minus the circle, which is tricky to make out of tape!). We ended up with: square, rectangle, triangle, star, pentagon, and hexagon.

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I handed her a bouncy ball and let the game begin! From here, simply give your toddler instructions for both how to move the ball and which shape to move it to.

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“Bounce the ball to the triangle!” I told her. Or, “Kick the ball to the star.”

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Sometimes I let her pick a shape, and simply let her get the ball there anyway she wanted. But she had to tell me the shape each time!

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This was great for shape review, and I loved that it got her thinking more about kicking and tossing the ball, since her fall-back has usually been bouncing.

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Block Pick-Up with Tongs

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Block Pick Up Fine Motor (6)

Veronika’s at that beautiful age where she actually enjoys cleaning up; toddlers are easily roped into the task with a familiar song or rhyme. But if that’s not enough, here’s a fun way to add a little fine motor work into the process, too.

After some fun this afternoon building towers with blocks, it was time for clean-up. I decided to give her a novel way to get all those blocks back into their bin.

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Instead of simply asking her to toss them in, I handed her a pair of tongs and showed her how to pinch a block in between the tongs, carry it over to the bin, and then release it.

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There was almost endless joy to the repetition of this: pinch with the tongs, carry over, release, repeat!

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This was such a simple and fun way to clean up the blocks, and arguably occupied her longer than building the towers had. She loved the challenge of it, and I saw her testing out the method several times throughout the afternoon.

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What’s your family’s favorite clean-up game? Please share in the comments!

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Oatmeal Cookies

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Oatmeal Cookies (1)

These sugar-free oatmeal cookies are soft and chewy and a huge hit with the whole family. If you want to add a little variation, try stirring in 1 cup chopped apple or 1 cup chocolate chips in the final step before baking.

Ingredients:

  • 1 and 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 and 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup applesauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup apple juice
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  1. In a bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the applesauce and baking powder.
  3. Add the apple juice, maple syrup, and canola oil to the applesauce mixture, then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring just until combined. Let stand for about 5 minutes.
  4. Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Oatmeal Cookies (2)

Shiny Things in the Dark

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Glow in the Dark Bowling (5)

If it’s starting to feel a little dreary that the sun sets so early this time of year, make the dark exciting by deliberately setting things all aglow!

We did this in two ways tonight. First up was a round of Glow in the Dark Bowling. This is so easy to do: simply activate glow sticks and insert one per empty water bottle. The kids loved helping to crack the sticks…

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…and put them in the bottles!

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We set up a formation of the bottles and took aim. A glow-in-the-dark ball would have been ideal, but the bright neon of a tennis ball was the next best thing.

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Or sometimes Veronika just wanted to knock the bottles over by hand. Either way, everyone was delighted by the glow.

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Next, we went on a hunt for Shiny Things in the Dark. As Veronika and I headed up for bedtime, I handed her a flashlight and we found all sorts of things that were shiny and beautiful as the light hit them. Metal is obviously a big winner here, so look for items like foil pans…

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…or coffee pots and tea kettles. Appliances like the fridge and oven were neat, too.

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Upstairs in her room, she wandered all over with such careful footsteps and found items like toy cars and her music box.

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One thing is for sure: we made the night shine!

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Magic Letter Learning

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Magic Letter Learning (5)

This game can be tailored for toddlers who are just starting to recognize letters, preschoolers who know them well, or even big kids who are reading early sight words!

To start, write out the alphabet (or the above-mentioned sight words) with white crayon on a white piece of paper.

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Now to reveal the letters magically, I gave Veronika a cup of water and we stirred in a little red food coloring. She curiously brushed this magical mixture over the paper. At first she thought we were just painting, but she gave a little squeal of delight when she realized the white crayon showed up like a secret code.

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As her “paint” revealed each letter, I told her the name of it. Once the full alphabet was uncovered, we sang through the Alphabet Song together! That made this a great lesson for a toddler just starting to realize that each letter shape has a name attached to it. As mentioned, though, you can make this more like a hunt for preschoolers who know their letter names and have them shout out each one as they paint over it.

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In sum, this was quick and simple letter learning for a rainy morning.

Potty Pals

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Potty Pals (3)

Veronika has shown an early interest in the potty, but although she knows all the potty steps (sit, wipe, flush, wash!), she has yet to actually go on the potty. Given that we have even more hours to fill indoors this COVID winter than a normal one, it seems the ideal time to potty train.

To make the potty exciting, try this simple trick: I cut smiles and eyes from construction paper, then adhered these to larger pieces of contact paper which could stick to the underside of a toilet lid. I also attached a set to her training potty!

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When I brought her into the bathroom, she was delighted! “It has a smile!” she exclaimed. “The potty has eyes!”

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Of course she immediately wanted to sit.

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If you want to get more graphic with the method, tell your toddler that the potty is thirsty and he or she can help fill its belly each time he or she goes!

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This likely won’t be enough in and of itself to potty train her, but she’s young and we’re in no rush. Right now, the goal is to ease any anxiety about the toilet and make it seem friendly and fun.

Learning Letters Lineup to Squirt

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Learning Letter Squirt (11)

I’ve noticed Veronika singing the alphabet to herself a lot lately, and she’s starting to identify a few of the letters correctly by name. This little game seemed like a fun next step to test her letter knowledge. After all, what toddler doesn’t love to squirt things with water?

Ideally, I would have done this activity on a chalkboard so it could be repeated, but I don’t own one large enough. Instead, I wrote out the alphabet in white crayon on a thick piece of black poster board. I then set out a tray with the magnet letters from our fridge and handed her the first one as a test.

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“What letter is it?” I asked her. She correctly identified V, and then I asked if she could find the corresponding V on the poster board.

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Once she matched each magnet letter to crayon letter, I told her she could spritz her target. Whoa, permission to spritz! She immediately loved this game.

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It was eye opening to see which letters she knows (m, v, and i are early ones), and which ones she wasn’t sure (s, r).

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Either way, she could always pair a magnet to its corresponding crayon shape even if she didn’t know the letter’s name, simply by matching them, and much more quickly than I would have guessed!

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And then came the fun chance to squirt.

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This was a great set-up to leave out for her all afternoon, as she happily mixed and matched the magnets or scribbled some more on the “chalkboard”.

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Easy Winter Sensory Bin

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Easy Winter Sensory Bin (1)

If you need to occupy a toddler on a cold winter day, simply throw a few items that seem “wintry” onto a tray and call it a winter sensory bin!

Yes, this really was as simple as that, just some odds and ends to keep Veronika busy for a short while. I raided the craft bin for items that fit the theme and ended up using: packing peanuts for their snowy white color and puffy texture; sparkly silver and gold ribbon; white and blue pom poms that were like mini snowballs; and some sparkly silver and blue chenille stems that seemed like icicles.

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The mix of textures, sizes, and shapes turned out great! Veronika could pretend she was sifting through snow with the packing peanuts and pom poms.

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For a little fine motor work added in, I also set a couple of spring-type clothespins on the tray and encouraged her to pinch some of the items.

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She proudly lifted a pom pom! The crinkly ribbon, meanwhile, made a wonderful sound and was great fun to lift up and then let “snow” down.

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Her bin was a mess by the end, the sure sign that she’d had some tactile wintry fun.

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No-Bake Banana Cookies

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No-Bake Banana Cookies (4)

These sweet treats aren’t actually cookies at all, but sugary bananas are a wonderful secret imposter in many desserts. This particular sweet treat is so easy that your toddler can help with every step!

To start, I poured about 1/2 cup Annie’s bunny grahams into a zip-top plastic bag ((or use regular graham crackers) and showed Veronika how to tap with a rolling pin until crushed.

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Next, we added slices of ripe banana to the bag. Seal the bag and shake shake shake!

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Arrange the bananas slices on a plate and your “cookies” are ready. Even better, there’s no wait for the oven required!

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