Jell-O Hands

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Gel desserts are the perfect food edible sensory play sessions with a baby. It’s squishy, it wobbles, and if little fingers get some of it into little mouths, it’s perfectly safe to eat. We love the vegan jel desserts from Simply Delish.

To make a fun mandarin orange version, drain one can of organic mandarin oranges (such as Native Forest) over a bowl. Place the orange slices in a large bowl and set aside. Reserve 1/3 cup of the juice and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Dissolve one sachet of jel dessert in the chilled juice. Add enough boiling water to equal 12 ounces and stir to combine. Pour the juice mixture over the orange slices. Let cool to room temperature, then transfer to the fridge and let set for 1 hour.

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I placed the jell-o on Veronika’s high chair tray.  She was quite skeptical at first!

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Once I demonstrated with a finger how it wiggled and wobbled, she was game!

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Little fists loved squishing and squashing through the jell-o.

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And she liked trying to hold on to slices of orange.

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Some of it made its way to her mouth, and a lot more ended up on the floor!

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The activity looked so fun that big brother Travis wanted to join in, too!

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Treasure Basket

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This game is so simple, yet sure to delight your six-month-old, who is probably new to sit-up playtime!

Fill a small basket or bin (ideally one that your child can lift with his or her own hands) with a few odds and ends. For Veronika, I added a rubber spatula, two soft toys, two foam blocks, a squishy toy, and a set of baby car keys.

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One by one, I showed her the toys, and described them. In this way, we emptied the bin and then I filled it back up again.

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The second time through, I let her rifle through the bin on her own and select the toys in any order she wanted.

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As she came to each item, I again talked about its shape or size or another feature. For instance, the spatula was perfect for talking about length.

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And the blocks were perfect for talking about color.

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I loved when she pulled out the square block and squishy circle and began drumming them together.

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She seemed so excited to have free-reign to rifle through the bin with nothing inside off limits. There’s something that babies start to love at this age about pulling things out… And we better get used to it, because there are toddler days ahead!

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Water Play

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It hit 75 degrees today, which meant I got my little girl out in her bloomers for water play for the first time in her life.

Everything about this activity was novel for my six-month-old, from the soft towel we spread out on the grass, to the basin of toys I set out.

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Fill a bin (or baby bath!) with lukewarm water even if it’s very hot out to avoid extremes in temperature, and add a few fun toys: I included bath toys, plastic spoons, and measuring cups.

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Then I simply sat back and watched Veronika go! She loved reaching her hands in…

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…and fishing out toys one at a time.

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The spoons were a big hit.

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You can add a little bit of bubble bath, too, for some foamy fun.

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I also showed Veronika how to pour water from a cup, or splash her hands on the surface of the water to make splashy sounds.

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Big siblings may want to get in on the fun, especially if it’s a perfect late spring day.

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Needless to say, Veronika was soon soaked, but loving it!

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She was having so much fun she didn’t mind one bit.

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Sing in a Silly Voice

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I love musical play with Veronika, but today when I pulled out the songs, it was less about rhythm and more about the giggles!

Sit with your baby and sing a few favorite childhood tunes. Each song you sing, use a different voice. For inspiration, I flipped through a small songbook we have with musical chimes. The chimes definitely held Veronika’s interest, sometimes more so than my voice!

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But she took notice and started giggling when I began singing oddly. Try a high voice.

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Or a low voice. Mom, you sound weird, her look seems to say here.

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I sang in silly accents, like country or French. And of course, I provided Veronika with a few baby instruments to play along.

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If you prefer, stick to only one song but switch up your voice each time. This might even help your baby anticipate the change! Another fun one to try is whispering the song.

Wright-Inspired Flyer

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After reading an informative article about the Wright brothers and the first flight, Travis was inspired to test out a poster board plane craft!

You’ll need a large piece of poster board for this project; ideally use two colors, but since I only had yellow, ours was a single-colored plane.

You’ll need to cut out five pieces: one that is 11 inches x 4 inches, two that are 9 inches x 1 inch, and two that are 4 inches x 1 inch. This was great measuring practice.

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Travis loved drawing straight lines along the ruler!

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Glue the 11 inch rectangle in the middle of one of the 9 inch rectangles. Glue one of the small rectangles at the top, as the nose of the plane. Let dry.

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Glue the second 9 inch rectangle on top, so that the 11 inch rectangle is now sandwiched between them, as the wings.

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Glue a craft stick lengthwise starting at the nose of the plane and add a large paper clip. Let dry.

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Cut a notch in the tail-end of the plane; glue in the final small rectangle, upright, as the rudder.

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Let dry completely. When it’s time to take flight, put a finger on either side of the craft stick, and launch!

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Morning Exercise

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If you’re finding it hard to squeeze in muscle toning activities with a young baby, then make them a game for your little one. To be honest, I had more fun watching Veronika giggle and laugh when we tested these moves out, paying more attention to those gummy smiles than to my muscle movements. But if you incorporate thesee into a morning routine, you’ll both benefit!

For the first move, I put Veronika on her stomach for tummy time. Lie on your stomach facing baby, and lift up into a push-up. She had to push herself even higher to watch me do this – a muscle toning activity for us both!

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For the second move, lie on your back and place your baby on your stomach, belly-to-belly. Do crunches. You get toned and baby gets a ride!

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For the third move, I did leg lifts while Veronika lay on the ground in front of me. I put a hand on her belly, and gently rolled her from side to side.

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(Note: This would be great with even younger babies, to encourage a first roll). Veronika absolutely loved this, cackling with laughter.

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Which made it hard to pay attention to my leg lifting form!

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For the final move, I sat with her between my legs, lying on her back. Hold your baby’s hands, and gently pull him or her up to a sit.

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At the top of the move, she wanted mommy’s pajama pants string!

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I lowered her back down and leaned over her, which provided a nice final stretch.

Include Yourself in Photos

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Today’s activity for your six-month-old is more for you, parents, a reminder to take pictures not just of that adorable baby, but also of yourself!

For the longest time, I had a policy of zero pictures of adults on this blog; I wanted the focus to be on the kids.

That policy had to change slightly once Veronika was born. Since a newborn can’t support herself, and many blogs demanded her presence in my arms, bits of me began to creep into pictures.

But the more I thought about it, the more my insistence on kids-only seemed silly. We love to stage manage our children for pictures, but then we get left out of the memories!

This past weekend, on a family vacation, I made a point: To include myself in the pictures. To be part of the memories.

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Don’t worry if you haven’t had time to shower, or put on makeup, or if your shirt has milk stains and paint stains. These are all badges of honor of this crazy, joyful time that is parenting young kids. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So after more than 1,300 blog posts, here I am!

Include Yourself

Collagraph Prints

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Collagraphy (not to be confused with calligraphy!) is a print-making technique that uses textured elements applied to a rigid surface to make a picture. It’s a fun art process that will engage your preschooler with texture in new ways.

Before school, Travis and I glued various items from our craft bin onto a piece of cardboard. Sponges can be cut into smaller sizes and applied.

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We also added craft sticks, foam pieces, and buttons.

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Corrugated cardboard works especially well; try using the reverse side of a coffee cup sleeve for this!

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I asked Travis what kind of scene we should make, and he decided a spring garden. We glued down all our elements to make flowers, a tree, a fence, and “pebbles” on the ground (these were the buttons).

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By the time he was home from school, the glue was dry and it was time to paint! I set out cups with different colors. For the first round, we stayed true to nature: a yellow sun, green flower stems, red blossoms, etc.

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Press a piece of white paper over the print, making sure to press down hard on all your 3-D elements.

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We lifted up the paper for the big reveal. Travis was astonished and loved it!

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He immediately wanted to make a second version, but with different colors to see how it turned out.

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We’d run out of yellow for the sun and sky, so instead painted these parts black. As we lifted off the paper, I said it looked like a black rain cloud. But Travis said, “It’s a turtle with a smile!” Talk about glass half-full, what a wonderful answer!

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Then he decided it would be silly to make an all-black print, very Rorschach test of him.

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In sum, this was a a fantastic art project and we would definitely do it again.

 

Early Explorers Space

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Travis’s penultimate package from his Early Explorers subscription was all about space and – forgive me for saying it – he had a blast with this one!

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The activity booklet this month was heavy on tracing (letters, shapes, names of planets), but I considered that a good thing, since it reinforces lessons Travis is getting in preschool. We might have liked to see a more detailed space craft or science project, though, since the topic lends itself so easily to both.

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Space Craft:

The craft was actually playing with the included keepsake this month (see below), a set of space-themed stamps and ink pads. The activity booklet included a blank page simply for “stamp fun.” Travis was thrilled seeing the images, including Jupiter, an astronaut, a solar system model, and more.

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Once that page was filled, he needed more paper!

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I loved watching his creativity as he stamped and then cut some of them out to play with.

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Space Science:

As mentioned, it was a bit of a disappointment that the booklet didn’t feature a scientific experiment. But for “science,” we headed out to look at constellations. We also headed out one night to glimpse the International Space Station, You can check out when it will be in your area here. Travis got to stay up late (a treat!) so we could catch an 8.34 fly by. Looking, looking…

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We think we saw it!

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Space Keepsake:

These were the space stamps, of course! See my notes above in the craft section.

Space Field Trip:

Although not recommended as a further activity, it seems only natural to visit a planetarium near you during this unit. Since Travis had done so recently on a school field trip, though, we headed to a fantastic local museum all about aviation, and focused on the final stretch of the museum: space travel.

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Travis has never shown much interest in this section before, but now he was enthralled. He got to simulate landing a space shuttle, see a real moon lander, explore a model of a future space station on Mars, and more.

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Space Further Activities:

First, we checked out NASA’s website to see what astronauts are currently up to. Travis is captivated by the rovers on Mars!

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Then, we found a blog post on Little Passport’s website about World Space Week. First we made a comet: attach aluminum foil around the tip of a craft stick to form a ball.

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Cut metallic-colored ribbon into pieces about 6 inches long; attach to the stick.

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Travis loved making his comet soar!

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Then we designed an alien. Let your kid’s imagination run wild here!

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Travis’s alien was green; he started with its belly, and said it had a belly ache which made it a mean alien – oh no!

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I took him in front of his Little Passport’s map and had him close his eyes and point (you could also do this with a spinning globe). His finger landed on Africa, and his challenge was to describe Africa to an alien who’d never been to Earth. This might be easier for younger kids if you default to having them describe their hometown.

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You can also bring space into your home with fun decorations. We traced stars and moons using a cookie cutter on construction paper, and also added glow-in-the-dark stars.

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I sent a secret loving message on one section of wall. Travis made a “comet” and the “big dipper” in his area!

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For some final learning, we went to the library for a books about space (he loved one about Mars, and another about the gas giants), and also found links online to learn more about comets and meteors, including this kid-friendly video.

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As I said, what a blast!

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Name Familiar Sounds

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Whenever I come across auditory activities for a baby, there’s a part of me that feels bored with the idea; I prefer activities that are craftier or cuter, I guess! But then I remember: if I don’t tell Veronika the name of a sound, who will? Everything at this age is new, including what might feel ho-hum to a grown-up.

So all that said, today Veronika and I focused on sounds. We started inside, finding familiar, noticeable noises. Some good candidates included: the tea kettle;

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The laundry machine;

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and running water.

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She was fascinated by my phone when I programmed it to make an old-fashioned telephone ring.

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Give your child time to absorb each sound, and name what it is, and some descriptive words about it.

Next, we headed outside for further exploration. The first thing we noticed was the wind rustling leaves. It was beautiful to pause and hear the whisper and whoosh together.

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We also paused to hear the splash of a fountain.

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My girl was listening intently!

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Other sounds included barking dogs, footsteps, and chirping birds. She got to hear several modes of transportation, including cars and a train roaring by.

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There was even a helicopter making noise overhead.

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What else did you hear on your exploration? Please share in the comments!