Play Dough Suncatcher Craft

 

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You can never go wrong with a morning of play dough play, but to add a fun twist when I pulled out all the colors for Veronika this morning, I thought it would be fun to make suncatchers.

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I showed Veronika how to press small pieces of color into an empty yogurt container lid.

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She loved to help mush them in, which was great for fine muscle development!

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Even more, though, she loves to tear play dough into tiny pieces.

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That meant she unwittingly created the perfect size pieces for me to gather up and arrange in the lids, alternating colors as much as possible.

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We filled two lids this way!

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In order to hang them once complete, I cut two pieces of string and made a loop for each suncatcher, securing with an additional blob of play dough.

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Let the play dough harden and dry overnight, and then you can hang these the next day to catch the morning sunlight.

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At first I suspended them in the plastic lids. But then I realized the play dough had set enough that I could pop them out from these molds and simply hang in the window. Even prettier!

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“We Love You Because…” Scavenger Hunt

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This love-filled hunt was the perfect way to bring a smile to dad’s face this Father’s Day! You could also use this cute twist on a scavenger hunt for anyone’s birthday, or at Valentine’s Day.

I first traced hearts on construction paper using cookie cutters, making one large heart and 10 small ones. We used pink paper (for love of course) as well as orange because that’s daddy’s favorite color!

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Travis helped me brainstorm a list of all the things we love about daddy. I loved leaving this up to him, ranging from the big (he’s daddy so we love him!) to the small (like references to games they play).

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We then had fun secreting the pieces of paper all around the house in places that dad was sure to find them throughout his day, like on the coffee pot or near his desk.

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Then it was time to surprise daddy with the large heart, which read, “We love you because…” And off he went to find the 10 reasons. The kids looked so proud leading the way on the hunt, and of course their dad loved it.

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Who will you make a scavenger hunt for? Please share in the comments!

Tea Scented Ice Sensory Play

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We’ve been busy with ice lately during a heat wave, and today we added an olfactory element to the fun: ice cubes scented with tea! You’ll want strongly scented teas for the best results with this activity. Think flavors like cinnamon, maple, ginger, mint, or other bold scents.

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The night before, I brewed strong cups of 3 tea varieties, using 3 or 4 tea bags for each mug of hot water. Let cool and then pour into the compartments of an ice cube tray.

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Partly to add a visual sensory element to the game and partly just so I would remember which cube was which, I also color-coded the three different teas with food coloring. Yellow was for peppermint, red for cinnamon apple, and blue for maple ginger.

In the morning, it was HOT out on our patio and the ice was frozen solid, the perfect combination.

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The ice cubes came out of the tray within moments. I held each different scent up to Veronika’s nose in turn. Look how happy the maple ginger made her!

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She loved leaning in for a big whiff of each, asking for “more more” insistently since at first the cubes were too cold for her to touch and lift.

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Then she wanted to take a lick! She loved the peppermint best.

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As the ice melted, the yellow, blue, and red coloring began to trickle off. I couldn’t decide if I was glad I’d used color or not. The kids were more into the smells and tastes anyway, not the sensory look of the colors, and it just meant messier fingers. But oh well!

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And then they discovered that the ice on the hot patio melted in a matter of seconds.

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I guess this disproves the theory that watching ice melt is dull!

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Both kids loved smelling the tea and swirling the cubes and tasting until the last drop of ice had melted.

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A perfect sensory experience for a hot morning.

Shaving Cream Fingerpaint

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There’s more to this activity than just the sensory fun of shaving cream or the artistic fun of colors and “painting”; half the fun was doing the activity right on the tabletop!

I squirted about half a can of shaving cream onto the kids’ table, which immediately piqued everybody’s interest, Veronika and big brother alike.

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The curiosity grew once I added drops of food coloring throughout.

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Now it was time for the real sensory fun to begin! I demonstrated for Veronika that she could put her hands right in the mixture, either to swirl the colors around or just to get messy.

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Interestingly, she was hesitant at first, but soon a little finger dipped in. Foamy!

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The sensation must have made her quite happy because it merited a little swirling dance.

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After that, though, I couldn’t quite tell if she liked the shaving cream or was a little afraid of it. She did lots of delicate dabbing, but never got as messy as I had anticipated.

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Big brother Travis tried his hand gladly and liked creating “animal footprints” through the shaving cream.

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Veronika preferred just having some of the shaving cream on her palms. She smooshed her hands together and admired both the creaminess and the color left behind. Then it was time to wash! And the shaving cream mixture wipes off of the table like a dream.

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Overall, this wasn’t the best version of fingerpainting we’ve done as far as producing art. But it was still a great sensory experience.

 

Pool Noodle Seahorse

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It was time for the last of our pool noodle crafts this morning, and it turned out to be the biggest and best yet!

To start, curl the end of one long pool noodle so it resembles a seahorses’s curlicue tail. Secure with garden Velcro strips.

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For the head, curl down the top 10 inches or so of a second pool noodle; secure with a garden strip. We then glued on two foam eyes (alternatively, use sticky-back foam and eliminate the need for glue).

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Travis loved helping with the mane; snip a piece of craft foam to create fringe, then make a slit in the seahorse’s head with scissors and insert the foam.

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Now tape the head and tail pieces together securely with duct tape. Our original seahorse seemed a bit too tall, so I cut about 6 inches from each noodle and then taped them. Now it was the perfect height. Travis was immediately galloping his seahorse around!

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Little sister loved it so much that we needed to make a mini version from just one pool noodle!

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As with the Ball Toss game we made, yes you could use the seahorse in a real pool, but the kids were ecstatic even on dry land. So don’t feel like you need to wait for water before making this craft!

Pool Noodle Sprinkler

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Here was the perfect project for a day that hit 90 degrees even before noon: turn a pool noodle into a sprinkler to cool off!

We’ve been having lots of fun with pool noodles the past few days, but this was the first time we added water to the mix. Travis loved helping with the set up. Use a sharpie to make dots on a long pool noodle, spaced about 5 or 6 inches apart. Poke through with a skewer.

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Cut a small piece of foam from a second pool noodle to plug up one end of the long pool noodle. Leave the other end open.

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Now it was time to get wet! We headed outside and hooked up a garden hose to the faucet, and inserted it into the noodle. Turn the hose on gently and increase the flow as needed.

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Both kids loved it right away!

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Our sprinkler turned out to be better for getting hands and feet wet than for running through, but they both seemed just fine with that.

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The “sprinkler” was also a little faulty; too little pressure and the water wouldn’t rise up through the holes. Too much and the plug on the other end flew out! (You can help avoid this risk if you use a zip-tie to secure the plug, but we had skipped that step).

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Nonetheless, the kids loved it, even when the hose came out wildly and added to the splashy fun. One thing is for sure: we’ll be using this sprinkler again as the hot summer continues!

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Salt Painting, Two Ways

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Today Veronika made art with salt! We tried two variations on this project, and I definitely preferred the former. But test them both out and see which one your child enjoys more!

For the first, you’ll need small empty spice containers, or any similar container with small holes in the lid. In each jar, I combined a little bit of salt with a little bit of powdered paint. Put the lid on securely and shake to combine.

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Veronika then helped squeeze glue onto dark construction paper. Squeezing glue bottles is great for strengthening little hands, so resist the urge to help out too much!

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Once we had a nice gluey canvas, I showed her how to shake the containers. Not only did they make a great noise, but she loved watching the colored salt sprinkle down.

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She liberally poured, but it was easy to tip the paper and shake off the excess when it was time to set her masterpiece aside to dry.

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Now on to version number two! This time, we made big blobs of glue on the paper. Instead of colored salt, we poured on regular salt.

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Then we added little pools of food coloring for her to swirl through with a paintbrush.

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Unfortunately this project got goopy very quickly. I would use less glue and less food coloring next time! But she enjoyed the messy process, and seemed very curious about the thick mixture tangled in the bristles of her paintbrush.

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Which one did your family like best? Please share in the comments!

Kindergarten Home School Week 14: Thursday

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We did it! My son is a Kindergarten graduate and I successfully taught seventy days of home school. There were tears and smiles, tantrums and triumphs, and lots of learning along the way for everyone involved. Thank you to the readers who have followed along on this journey, something I never intended to do or blog!

It would have been cruel to make it a full school day for Travis, knowing that summer was mere hours away. So here’s a quick rundown of the morning.

9-9.30: Workbook pages. Travis had only a few pages left in his workbook, including: ELA (adjectives and a poem), math (addition), and social studies (map reading). He zipped through them and put all the final stickers on his progress poster.

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9.30-9.45: Math. We got in exercise and math by skip-counting as we tossed a ball. We did this by both 10’s and 5’s to 100, a perfect review before summer!

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9.45-10: Specials. Travis recorded himself singing his favorite song from Music this year. He then watched a final story in Spanish (The Three Little Pigs) and an Adios song.

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10-10.30: Snack/storytime. Travis’s teacher had sent links to 2 final books to watch: Mrs. Bindergarten Celebrates the Last Day of Kindergarten and This Year Was Different.

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Well how about that! We needed to celebrate with vegan ice cream, of course.

 

Pool Noodle Ball Games

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After making marshmallow launchers with pool noodles, today we got even craftier with them, setting up two silly sports: a Ball Toss and a Golf Game.

For the former, you’ll need to first make the “hoop”. Fold three long pool noodles into a circle and secure with Duct tape. Travis was so proud helping me with this step, definitely a two person job. Repeat two times, for three rings total.

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Use garden Velcro strips to attach the three rings together in sort of a triangle, as shown.

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To make the ball, cut a pool noodle in half vertically. Tie each half into a knot, and fold the ends in.

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It was a bit tricky to get the knot tight, but the tighter it is, the rounder your ball.

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Time to slam dunk!

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This game would of course be awesome to play in a pool, but we loved it even on dry land.

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As you can probably guess, the ball and rings alone were great fun to play with, even when we weren’t keeping score.

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Then we repurposed the pool noodles to set up the latter game outside. Highlights magazine billed this as golf, but it looked more like croquet to me! For your wickets, fold a pool noodle into an arc and anchor into the ground using two wooden skewers.

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For a club, cut a notch near the bottom of one long pool noodle. Bend and secure with duct tape to hold the curvature in place. Travis thought this was fun, but then declared it too easy! We’ll have to think of ways to make it trickier.

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Looking for other ways to get moving at home this summer? Check out some of the simple “sports” we set up last week.

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Feather Painting

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It’s fun to give toddlers something other than a paint brush to paint with, whether a cotton ball, an ice cube, or even just their fingers. Today, Veronika got to try painting with feathers, plus a few other items from nature!

I had some brightly colored feathers from the craft store that were perfect for this activity. To set up, I filled three cups with different colors of paint and added a little glue to each, making the mixture slightly sticky.

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Veronika loved dipping the tips of the feathers in the cups…

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…and then transferring over to her paper. She loves to say “dot dot dot!” as she paints and watches the color appear. The feathers themselves fascinated her, too.

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Whenever one became too limp and saturated with paint, we simply added it to the painting and grabbed a fresh “brush”. As the gluey paint dries, the feathers will stick and become part of the final masterpiece.

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We then decided to try the activity with other items, this time truly from nature and not a craft store. In the yard, we found “brushes” from pine needles and leaves.

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Time to repeat the process! Dip the edges in the paint, use them as your brush, and whenever one gets too painty, it becomes part of the artwork!

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These turned out so pretty! I loved that the tactile feel of the different nature items was just much a part of the activity as the paint was.

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