Create a Compass

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Create a Compass (3)

This quick hands-on experience lets kids make their own compass with just a few household objects!

Cut a circle from a piece of craft foam, just a bit bigger than a paper clip. Set aside.

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Rub a metal paperclip with a magnet about 20 times, being sure to scrape in the same direction each time. Travis proudly counted this out! This step will charge your paper clip with a magnetic charge.

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Tape the paper clip to the foam circle, then place in a dish of shallow water. You’ll notice it wobble at first as the water settles, but slowly it will come to point true north. Test it against a real compass for the official results. Getting there…

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….North!

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Travis was thrilled this worked, all the more so because it stayed oriented north even hours after we left the dish on the windowsill. A simple but great way to show off the pull of magnetism.

 

Sprinkler Freeze Dance

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This game is perfect for a summer day! You’ll have water to cool off, tunes to jam to, and a little bonding and learning thrown in.

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We changed into bathing suits and set up the sprinkler in the yard… so nothing was out of the ordinary yet. But this time, I cranked up the car stereo so the tunes were playing!

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If the music was on, we boogied. When the music paused, we showed Veronika how to freeze. Older siblings will love showing a toddler how to do this; big brother Travis threw in some fancy hip moves and footwork.

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Veronika started to catch on. And as soon as the music began again, her whole body bopped along.

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As an alternative version, make the freeze about the water speed, not the music. When the sprinkler turns off… Freeze! When it turns on again, bring back those dance moves.

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Veronika’s signature move was stomping in puddles.

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Here’s a quick clip of her moves. She’s got style!

You’ll definitely want to enlist the whole family for this one!

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Ice Cube Bags

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If it’s going to be hot, then I’m going to put the heat of the sun to work for me! These ice cube sensory bags turn into a color mixing experiment the longer they’re out in the sunshine.

For set up, I thought it would be fun to freeze cube-shaped ice instead of ice in a standard ice cube tray. I colored one-third of them yellow with food coloring, one-third red, and one-third blue.

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In the morning, I set up three gallon-sized zip-top bags for Veronika: one had yellow and blue ice, one had red and blue, and the third had blue and yellow.

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At first, it was all about the sense of touch. “Ooh! cold!” Veronika said, squeezing her hands on the ice.

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It was fun to watch the ice cubes slip and slide around in the bag!

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As the cubes melted, the color mixing became more apparent.

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As mentioned, you can move the game outdoors to the hot sun to speed the process along. Pretty soon your primary colors will have given way completely to secondary colors!

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Chocolate-Dipped Fruit Activity

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Chocolate-Dipped Fruit (3)

Looking for a fun way to keep toddlers busy if big siblings are helping in the kitchen? Give them extra ingredients and chocolate to dip it into!

This activity can get messy but is bound to keep little fingers busy. I gave Veronika chunks of fruit (sturdy fruits like cantaloupe, strawberries, and bananas all work well) with a toothpick in each.

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In a microwave-safe bowl, combine 5 ounces chopped dark chocolate and 1 tablespoon vanilla frosting. Microwave at 30 second intervals until melted. Let cool slightly, then place on the high chair tray for your toddler, along with the cut fruit. Time to dip!

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I showed Veronika how to poke the other end of the toothpick into a Styrofoam block while the chocolate set, which is half the fun!

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After initially snacking on some strawberries, it turned out she was much more into this as artwork, spreading chocolate onto a paper plate with the toothpicks. But between nibbling at strawberry pieces and dipping fingers into the chocolate, it kept her busy while big brother cooked, which was all I needed!

Five Senses Car Games

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In general, Veronika is an easy child to travel with in the car. She loves to “read” books to herself, or listen to music, or even just look out the window. But I also like finding new ways to keep her entertained in the back seat! Here are a few fun suggestions that will engage all of your toddler’s senses.

Taste & Smell: Make a snack necklace. Remember those candy necklaces from the penny candy store? This is like that, only healthier. Thread o-shaped cereal onto string or a shoelace, and knot into a necklace.

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It was a little difficult for Veronika to understand the mechanics of biting off one cereal piece at a time, but once she figured it out, this was a big hit. And it’s way less messy than handing a bag filled with snacks into the back seat!

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Sound: Ahead of time, enlist other family members to help make a voice recording on your phone. When you then play the sound in the car, your little one will look around for where the voice is coming from! Big brother Travis was my cohort to record a few knock-knock jokes. Then we recorded ourselves humming Darth Vader’s theme song. Poor Veronika looked so confused when we played the jokes, not understanding why Travis’s real mouth wasn’t moving. But she grinned when the song began!

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Sight & Touch: For a whole new view of the world (literally!), make mini toddler binoculars. I cut empty toilet paper tubes a little shorter than actual length, and then hot glued two pieces together for each set of binoculars.

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Cover the front of the tubes with a sheet of colored cellophane.

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The world could be pink! Or purple! Or green!

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These were the biggest hit of the day, and I could hear her little fingers crinkling along the smooth slippery cellophane with interest, too, adding an element of touch to the game.

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Note: These cellophane sheets are great for changing up the “view” at home, too, You can have your toddler peer through just one color…

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…or overlap two colors to see color mixing. Veronika likes to look from object to object. “Orange Baby!” she might say, or “Orange Mommy!” Be sure to supervise this game closely so cellophane doesn’t obstruct breathing.

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After all that sensory play in the car, you might just get this:

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Does your toddler have a favorite car game? Please share in the comments!

Frosting Flags

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This craft-turned-snack is meant to let toddlers make “flags” in the run-up to the 4th of July. Will your toddler really be able to make a snack that looks like an American flag? Most likely not, but it’s never too early to introduce a little patriotism and show your child that our national colors are red, white, and blue!

Scoop vanilla frosting into three paper cups. Add a few drops of red food coloring to one cup, blue to the second, and leave the third as is. Stir and repeat with more food coloring until you have the desired hues of blue and red.

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I gave Veronika these cups along with craft sticks as “knives”. Ideally, have your child then paint the frosting onto graham cracker sheets. Because the store was all out of vegan graham crackers, we used saltine crackers instead!

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It turned out that Veronika was way more into snacking on the crackers than spreading the frosting!

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To capture her attention, I scooped the frosting out of the cups and let her spread the colors around this way. Now it became more like edible art!

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All in all, a delicious first lesson on our flag.

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Patriotic Balloons

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Even if your family can’t wave balloons at a real parade this year, I loved this idea (spotted in Country Living magazine) to make easy patriotic balloons for fun at home.

I blew up big blue balloons (and red or white ones would obviously also work), then added the letters U, S, and A out of star stickers.

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You can use small office star stickers, but we found big sparkly ones that added to the fun.

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While I decorated a few balloons in this way, the kids loved adding stickers to a few extras. Stars all over!

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We can’t wait to wave these at home while we watch the virtual fireworks.

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Sky Colors

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Travis’s latest issue of Highlights magazine included an interesting article about why the sky appears blue even though sunlight contains all colors. (Spoiler: nitrogen and oxygen scatter blue light more so than the other colors). We then played with this quick way to visualize what’s going on right here at home!

Fill a clear plastic cup with 12 ounces water.

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Place the cup on a sheet of white paper in direct sunlight. We immediately noticed that a bright spot of white light (a.k.a. all the colors) appears on the white paper.

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Now we added three quick pours of almond milk to the cup. This makes the water a little blue-ish, because now blue is scattered more than the other colors just as in the air. The color on the paper, on the other hand, changes to orange, since this is opposite from blue on the color wheel.

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I explained to Travis that this is a lot like what we notice at sunrise and sunset, when reds and oranges are allowed to come through.

Even though we could see the blue tint/orange paper a little, it wasn’t terribly pronounced. We’re wondering if perhaps this trick works better with dairy milk? If you use cow’s milk, please share your findings in the comments!

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Sunflower Seed Butter & Banana Smoothie

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My toddler doesn’t want solid food for breakfast very often, so we’ve been big on smoothies in the morning lately! This one packs in protein and potassium.

Ingredients:

  • 2 ripe bananas
  • 1/3 cup sunflower butter
  • 1/3 cup apple juice
  • 2 cups plain almond milk
  • 2 teaspoons agave nectar
  1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

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Fireworks Printing

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We’re busy decorating for the upcoming 4th of July, and this was a fantastic way to make prints that looked just like exploding fireworks!

I had a few plastic scrubber sponges which I knew would be perfect for the craft. (Note: look for these in the cleaning supplies aisle of the supermarket).

I set out black construction paper for the night sky, along with paper plates containing red, white, and blue paint. Using one scrubber sponge per color, dip in the paint and then press to the paper.

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“Pop!” I said, as I demonstrated to Veronika. “We made a firework!” Saying “pop!” was half the fun of the game, and Veronika proceeded to pop pop pop her fireworks all over.

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In this way, we  filled up the black paper rather quickly!

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That meant this was a great art project, but definitely not a way to keep your toddler occupied solo.

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Even though we can’t watch real fireworks this year, at least our home will be spangled with them!

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