Shaving Cream Paint

January 28, 20171 Comment

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Travis has enjoyed making a mess painting with shaving cream before, but this time we added in a drop of paint to each cup of shaving cream to produce lovely pastel colors.

Travis had to help squirt out the shaving cream of course – he loves watching it foam! – and then helped stir in the paint we added.

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What a pretty blue we got!

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Then it was time to make a big globby mess. He wasn’t interested for as long as I thought, probably because, as mentioned, we have already done a game very similar to this.

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While he painted though, he told me he was drawing cupcakes. I added a nice round cupcake to our artwork bakery.

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For a novel spin, we brought the leftover paint into the tub at bathtime – it makes fun foamy decorations on the side of the tub!

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Cornmeal Play

January 27, 2017January 27, 2017Leave a comment

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Making finger sketches for F week inspired me to pull out the cornmeal later in the week for good old messy fun.

My original idea was to set up a dinosaur stomping ground, adding a layer of cornmeal and Travis’s collection of small plastic dinosaurs to a baking tray. I thought he’d enjoy making dinosaur footprints, and the fact that the cornmeal looked like Jurassic desert sand. Surprisingly, he was uninterested… until I added a small cone of paper to be a volcano.

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This piqued his interest, but he soon discovered that it was much more fun to sprinkle the cornmeal outside the baking tray than to stomp the dinosaurs inside it – a reminder that toddlers will make of games whatever they choose! He loved “sweeping” the cornmeal, and was happy doing so for quite some time.

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Finally the dinosaurs entered back into the game, with Travis burying them in a separate container under a layer of cornmeal.

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He started using the “volcano” as a funnel/scoop to bury them, which I thought was quite inventive on his part!

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The game turned out to be such a hit, even if not in the way I intended, that he asked to play again later in the afternoon.

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F Week!

January 27, 2017January 27, 20172 Comments

For an F week full of fun in your Letter of the Week curriculum, try out these ideas.

Firefighter/firetruck: Hands down the biggest hit of the week, start by pulling out any firetruck toys you have at home. Even better, I gave Travis a chance to play Firefighter with an imaginative put-out-the-flames chalk game, which merited a full blog post.

Flag: This word was the surprise hit of the week! We checked out a library book on state flags, and Travis couldn’t get enough of going through it and deciding which ones he liked best.

After that, we had to design our own family flag of course. Travis wanted me to do the drawing, but told me what symbols to include, and which colors to use. If you have craft items at home that begin with an F (feathers, felt), consider gluing those to your child’s flag creation.

Frisbee: For our exercise this week, we got out to the park and Travis enjoyed a basic intro to the Frisbee, giving a few nice tosses! You could also toss a soft football, if that interests your child more.

Finger: Use fingers only to make sketches in a shallow tray of cornmeal. You can encourage your child to draw letters or shapes, although Travis mostly just loved running his fingers deep through the tray.

Fan/feather: Fans are a favorite around here, because it’s always fun to see how objects blow in the wind (see my post from W week for more on this idea). This week, we let feathers go over the fan and watched them flutter.

Fort: What better excuse than the letter F to take out all your pillows and blankets and build a big fort?

Fish: As our field trip of the week, we visited the fish at a local aquarium. Travis couldn’t get enough of a catfish nearly as big as he was. Libraries and rec centers in your area may also have large tanks of fish for children to enjoy.

Foot: Here’s a word I thought would be fun, but which turned out to be a flop. I tried to get Travis interested in tracing his foot and mine, to show their relative sizes, and then thought he’d enjoy painting with his feet instead of a paintbrush on a large sheet of butcher paper… But he couldn’t be bothered! Instead, we read The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss, which always produces giggles.

Our weekly extras…

Fine art: As our art project, we folded paper fans. I showed Travis how to make them with very tight folds, and he loved flapping them to create a breeze. Although he wasn’t able to replicate the exact structure, he enjoyed folding sheets of paper in imitation.

Food: It was a week to dine on French fries and fruit salad… and then we had to make French toast!

Books: Our favorites of the week were: Little Rabbits’ First Farm Book by Alan Baker, Firefighter PiggyWiggy by Christyan and Diane Fox, Friends by Michael Foreman, and Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Songs: Although not a children’s song, a rousing rendition of Finiculi Fincula got huge laughter and clapping along. And of course there’s the children’s classic the Farmer in the Dell.

Math: Introduced fractions! A sandwich (or any food that can be sliced into portions) is the perfect opportunity to visualize fractions. Show your child the whole sandwich before cutting it in half, thirds, or quarters. Travis liked the demonstration so much that wanted his own piece of bread to practice on. As a perfect coincidence, he wound up “half” dressed in his pajamas that evening (bottoms on, top off) which he decided was hilarious.

Be on the lookout for an out-of-order V Week post in the coming weeks – I saved it on purpose so we could learn all about V with Valentine’s crafts.

Glitter Star Jars

January 25, 2017January 25, 20172 Comments

On a whim, we put together this glowing glittery project today, after spotting some glow-in-the-dark stars at the grocery store checkout.

First, I showed Travis the shooting stars in the package, which he already thought were cool enough. When I asked him if he wanted to make a galaxy for the stars to float in, he couldn’t wait to get started.

Step one, filling a mason jar with corn syrup, was right up a 2 and 1/2 year old’s alley. Travis had to help with the gooey squeezing, and in fact ended up filling our jar a little too high (more on that later). Make sure you leave enough space at the top for your stars to fit.

Next we needed star dust aka glitter. We might have gotten a little too carried away with the glitter, but Travis insisted on dumping in a lot.

Next we shook up our galaxy, and watched as the glitter dispersed through the oozing corn syrup – Travis thought this part was too cool.

Finally it was time to add the stars.

Although your glittery jar will work best with the stars on the surface of the corn syrup, Travis’s favorite part of the whole activity was stirring the stars deep into the glittery goop, so we did that for quite a while (prepare to get a little sticky!).

Once the contents of the jar settled, the stars rose back up again, and at that point you’ll be able to “charge” your stars, whether by lamp or sunlight, so they glow at night. In the meantime, the jar is gorgeous just glittering by day in the sunshine! As mentioned, Travis made our jar very full of corn syrup, meaning less light could reach our stars, but the effect still worked beautifully.

This might make a neat project for a child who’s afraid of the dark, since the beautiful sparkles make a dark, bedtime room feel magical.

Cinnamon French Toast

January 25, 20171 Comment

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A sneaky mix of chia and hemp seeds makes for a rich batter to coat this vegan French toast. Your kids will gobble it up!

Ingredients:

1 cup vanilla almond milk
1 tablespoon chia seeds
3 tablespoons hemp seeds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sliced bread of choice
Cooking spray

In a blender, combine all of the ingredients except the bread, and process until smooth and thick.
Dip each bread slice in the batter, turn over and let sit for a moment, then transfer to a hot skillet coated with cooking spray. Repeat with additional bread slices as desired (the batter makes enough for about 6 slices).
Cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side over medium heat – make sure to wait long enough that the batter isn’t sticking to the pan.
Serve warm with a drizzle of maple syrup.

Firefighters

January 24, 20171 Comment

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Engage your child’s imagination and help him or her learn about what firefighters do with this adorable game.

To set up, paint “flames” in red, orange, or yellow chalk on a chalkboard easel. Note: If you’re playing the game in the summer, you can go bigger, and apply chalk to sidewalks or driveways!

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I told Travis we had a fire to put out and needed to race to the scene like firemen, then provided him with a squirt bottle (hose), bucket, and sponge.

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He couldn’t wait to help “put out the fire,” and I think it helped him understand what firetrucks and firefighters do for the first time; it’s a rather abstract concept just to see a firetruck racing quickly around town.

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He asked me to add more chalk flames again and again, and then started drawing on flames himself toward the end.

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In total, he played for nearly 45 minutes before growing bored – a big hit!

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Chocolate Leaves

January 23, 2017January 23, 2017Leave a comment

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What else do you find on a safari besides beautiful animals? Plants and leaves of course! Ok, so we didn’t really forage for leaves, but I loved the idea and replicated it at home as best I could. The project might feel more like a “safari” if you have your own garden from which to select beautiful leaves! Whether store-bought or from your home, be sure to choose leaves that are edible or non-toxic and not sprayed with any pesticides.

We made do with bay leaves from the store, so no real “foraging”, but Travis loved helping rinse the leaves off in the sink before we began, and patting them dry.

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Arrange your leaves on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.

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Meanwhile, melt your favorite chocolate in a double-boiler just until melted and smooth. We love the dark chocolate from Endangered Species Chocolate Company! Before you let your child work with the melted chocolate, make sure it isn’t too hot to the touch.

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We used plastic knives to spoon our chocolate over the leaves. You are going to get messy, but that’s half the fun!

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Once he discovered how good his chocolatey fingers tasted, it was time to use a spoon.

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We put the baking sheet in the fridge for the chocolate to set – it took a few hours, which turned out to be perfect timing for dessert.

Carefully peel the leaf off of each portion of chocolate – Travis was a super helper with this part, too!

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And then it’s time to eat the bountiful crop from your “safari” journey.

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Safari Tracks

January 22, 20171 Comment

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We tacked on one final craft after having fun with our recent Safari crate from Koala Crate – animal stamp foot prints!

To make the stamps, you’ll need sticky foam sheets from a craft store. Draw footprints on the sheets to look like various animals – pads with toes for lion’s paws, a hoof for a zebra, a webbed foot for a crocodile, and so on.

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Travis loved playing with the sticky foam while I drew the shapes, but wasn’t interested in drawing animal prints of his own.

Help your child cut out the shapes, and attach each print to cardboard squares. Voila! You have a stamp!

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Paint over the stamps with a foam brush, and press onto paper for animal tracks.

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Travis got very impish splattering the green paint to begin with, but soon loved the way the brush felt over the bumpy raised footprints.

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Don’t forget the binoculars to explore which animals have made tracks in your home.

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Safari Crate

January 21, 2017January 21, 20172 Comments

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We had a nice leap in development when our Koala Crate arrived this month – Travis instantly recognized the company’s box and needed to know what projects were inside, before I’d even had a chance to peek at this month’s contents! Needless to say, we jumped right to it.

The crate did not disappoint. The safari theme included really only one craft, and two projects that were more games, and Travis loved it all.

First, we had to assemble our safari puppets (which you could DIY with felt and stickers from a craft store).

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Although I mostly set up the animals as they should look, Travis loved attaching the googly eyes and bellies, and we talked about how each animal’s belly felt different (the bumpy crocodile, furry lion, etc.).

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His favorite was the zebra!

I had to put together the cute little cardboard binoculars that were provided, although preschoolers should be able to master the folding/inserting on their own.

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Once assembled, it was time for our safari! Travis couldn’t wait to get started.

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I hid the 4 puppets around the living room, and Travis went off on his journey with his binocs. We needed to play four times in a row before he’d had enough, and he loved keeping tally on the checklist provided in our crate.

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The final game involved cards featuring the heads, torsos, and legs of the four animals, so kids can mix and match to make silly creatures. Travis actually preferred making the animals look the way they are supposed to…

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… but he giggled hysterically when I made silly creations and gave them equally silly names (Elezebracrocs).

Use the safari theme as a chance to introduce a few new vocab words, such as the groupings of various animals. Beyond a pride of lions did you know that it’s called a:

Dazzle of Zebras

Bask of Crocodiles

Herd of Elephants

Tower of Giraffes

Crash of Rhinos

Bloat of Hippos

(and my personal favorite) a Parliament of Owls

We finished our safari fun with books on the theme, including Travis peering at the book pages through his nifty new binoculars. Thanks Koala Crate!

G Week!

January 20, 2017January 20, 2017Leave a comment

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I had a bunch of activities planned for G in our Letter of the Week exploration, and anticipated good fun… Little did I know there would be some great favorites that I didn’t even expect. So without any further ado…

Garden/Greenhouse: As luck would have it, a local greenhouse was having a midwinter festival, so we kicked off the week with a garden tour! We strolled among the lush flowers in the greenhouse gardens – and got to hear a steel drum performance too.

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For a cute gardening story, we followed up at home by reading the Curious Garden by Peter Brown. See below for our indoor gardening project, which was our fine art activity of the week.

Guitar: Travis loves guitars, so I had to make sure the instrument was extra special this week. It felt meant to be that the aforementioned garden festival also featured… a guitar show for children! Travis was thrilled to watch the musicians strum the strings. Check your local listings for guitar shows; or, if you can’t find a local performance, share clips of guitar music online.

Giraffe: For no discernible reason, we own three puzzles that feature giraffes. Needless to say, I pulled them all out this week, and we read Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreaea to further explore the quirky anatomy of these tall giants.

Golf: This word was the prompt for our fantastic “field trip” of the week, to a local museum that has – go figure! – six holes of mini golf on the top floor. Travis took right to the game; I would hit the balls near-ish to the hole, and then he loved sinking them. For an easier take on the activity, you can set up shoebox golf at home.

Garbage: Travis has a toy garbage truck which he’s never paid much attention to… until I showed him a few YouTube clips of garbage trucks in action this week, and boy oh boy was he hooked. Garbage collectors are an oft-neglected category of “community helper,” so it was great to teach Travis about their work, and discuss the value of recycling. Then it was time to set up our town playmat; he drove his toy garbage truck around to collect the bits of “trash” we put down on the mat.

Goat: You could simply play with your farm toys that feature goat figures, but since we just did that with horses for H week, I also read recommend reading Billy Goats Gruff. After a cozy read, we acted out the tale with toy goats. Travis loved making them “trip trop trip trop” over a bridge.

And our weekly extras…

Fine art: We planted a grass-haired man (with a green face of course), for a delightful stint at indoor gardening. We have yet to see the grass sprout, but check back for updates on the separate blog I posted.

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Food: Grapefruit got a firm nope as too sour, but Travis enjoyed green grapes, granola bars, and green beans… and then we whipped up homemade graham crackers!

Songs: Share a clip of The Green Grass Grew with your child.

Books: We enjoyed almost too many wonderful titles to list this week! Check out: Giant Vehicles by Rod Green, The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, Goodnight, Godnight Construction Site, by Sherri Duskey Rinker, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, When a Grandpa Says I Love You by Douglas Wood, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff, and Duck and Goose by Tad Hills.

Math: Make a “greater than gator”! Technically, we used our A is for Alligator from another project, but I realized that it was easy to call him a “gator” instead and his open jaws looked just like a greater sign! I taught Travis that the gator could only eat green grapes from the plate that had a greater quantity, making for a a nice lesson on how 3 is greater than 2 and so on.

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