Spider Lantern

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Halloween around here! Since Travis loves spiders, I knew this easy decoration would be a big hit. It was our first Halloween craft of the season, so as we made the lantern I talked about the creepy crawly things that come out on All Hallow’s Eve!

Cut the top off an empty 1-liter bottle of soda; tape around the rim to cover any sharp edges.

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Wrap the bottle in cheesecloth, draping the excess inside, then wrap colored yarn around the bottle. Kids can help with this step!

Once finished, tuck a plastic or rubber spider into your web. Add a battery-operated candle for spooky glowing decor come nighttime.

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S Week!

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Welcome to our S week of play! As always, thanks to Letter of the Week for some of the ideas below. Travis was funny about the letter, since my prompts that a word began with a “sss” sound made him think we were in C-week for soft c words. It turned into a joke, me pointing to our S poster, and him still saying “C!” Confusion aside, here’s some of the fun we had.

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Shadows: We kicked off the week with shadow dancing! It was such a magical moment that it merited a blog post all its own, so please check out the link above. Shadows are also great for making animal shapes against the wall, or just observing as you walk outside in autumn sunlight.

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Sun/Sail/Sand: A few Summer-y words made it a beach-y week here in the fall. Cute sun projects included making a sun on a stick (a yellow painted paper plate with orange construction paper for the center)…

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… and magic sun prints.The result was cool even for me as a grown-up!

We then set up an indoor beach day with blankets for water and sand (with our sun on a stick of course!) and pulled out sand toys for make believe inside. To add to the s-themed fun, we turned one of his blankets into a “sailboat” and sailed around the room.

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Meanwhile, there was so much to do with sand that I devoted a blog post to it. For simple sand play, just fill an indoor bin with a layer of sand and set out cars and street signs, then have your child draw roads through the sand with a stick or spatula.

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Soccer: This word was perfect for our gross motor play of the week. Get outside and kick around a ball!

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Shaving cream: As simple as can be; have some good old goopy fun and finger paint with shaving cream. Your toddler will thank you.

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Stars: We had fun making a starry starry night painting, using both cookie cutters and sponges in the shape of stars to stamp onto construction paper. Travis added moons too, making for a very creative night sky! To continue the star fun, put together a toddler-sized pair of binoculars and head outside to spot the real thing before bed.

A few other things we did this week:

Fine art: Make a sand anthill! You could do this by sprinkling sand onto glue and pressing down, but we used sandpaper for our hill, and added thumbprint ants. Travis had so much fun that our anthill was soon teeming with denizens.

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Food: Lots to choose from… we enjoyed both whole strawberries and strawberry pancakes for breakfast, and had soup one afternoon for lunch.

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Books: It wasn’t the right time of year to play games in the snow, but we talked about the word with the help of two books: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and Cat and Mouse in the Snow by Tomek Bogacki. Travis also enjoyed Sea, Sand, Me! by Patricia Hubbell and No Sleep for the Sheep! by Karen Beaumont.

Song: It was a no-brainer to introduce Travis to the Snowman, one of the most magical videos from my own childhood! More properly an instrumental video than a song, this classic hasn’t lost any of its beauty. Travis’s smile when the snowman came to life was priceless.

Math: I gently introduced the concept of subtraction with the help of a few more stars. Cut out paper stars and have your child make “shooting stars” flutter away one by one, counting how many remain. I promise it’s a coincidence that Travis was in his star pajamas!

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There’s always lots we can’t get to of course. You might also want to play with snakes or go on a safari, or have soapy fun with dish soap. Please add your other S ideas in the comments!

Magic Sun Prints

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I have to say, this little project was cool even for the adult in the room! All you need is a sunny day and dark construction page to make magic happen.

Arrange several items on a sheet of construction paper, preferably with interesting silhouettes. Travis helped me select a key, button, block, and CD case.

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Now leave the paper out in the sun for at least a few hours. When you’re ready, remove the items and voila! The sun will have faded the paper, leaving darker shadows wherever your items were on top.

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A neat little way to show the power of the sun…

Binoculars

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Now that night is falling earlier, the stars are appearing in the sky before Travis goes to bed. Tonight, we dipped outside just before bedtime with a very special pair of toddler-sized binoculars.

To make the craft, place plastic wrap over the ends of two toilet paper rolls, securing with rubber bands. Place the two tubes next to each other and attach with two additional rubber bands.

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Now invite your toddler to decorate with crayons and star stickers. Travis loved selecting which stickers to use!

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And now it’s time for the magic. Looking through the binoculars produced wonder just raising them toward some star artwork in our apartment…

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Even better was heading outside, where we saw the first star of the evening (okay, it was probably a planet…but shhh don’t tell). “See that little glowing thing? That’s a star!” Travis said proudly.

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Healthier Carrot Cupcakes

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Perfect for school bake sales or birthday parties, these easy cupcakes are just the right size for a treat. Toddlers will love to help pipe on the frosting!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 and 1/2 cups grated carrot
  • 3 oz non-dairy cream cheese
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  1. Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl; set aside.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the canola oil, applesauce, and carrot. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
  3. Divide the batter evenly among 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool.
  4. When the cupcakes have cooled completely, whisk together the cream cheese and maple syrup. Spoon the frosting into a zip-top plastic bag and snip a hole in one corner; pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes in swirls or other designs.

 

Sand After Summer

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Summer is over, but that doesn’t mean the sand play has to stop! Aside from fun substitutes you can use to fill an indoor sandbox (like flour and dry oats), here are two relatively mess-free ways to play with sand indoors.

The first was to make a rainbow sand tray. Line the bottom of any shallow pan with strips of construction paper in the color of the rainbow, taping down so they don’t slide as your child explores. Cover with a very thin layer of sand.

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Now invite your child to start drawing in the sand with fingers or sticks – Travis was ecstatic when he saw colors appear underneath. “What’s in this corner?” he asked, before setting out to discover what shade would show up under each portion.

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The tray is then great for drawing shapes and letters.

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Next, we made an “everlasting sand castle.” To make a sand mixture that will last long into the winter months, mix together 1 cup sand, 1/2 cup cornstarch, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar, and 3/4 cup hot water. Let the mixture cool before you play with it!

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The mixture is very goopy and very fun. Have your child form it into a sand castle or any other shape. Travis loved filling fish and seahorse molds.

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We need to let the sand dry for 3 days before unmolding, so stay tuned!

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Update: I was amazed at how well this mixture sets! We have our sand molds tucked away for beach-y play all winter long.

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Shadow Dancing

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With late autumn sunshine pouring in through our windows, we were inspired to take our dancing up a notch!

Depending on the direction your windows face, play this game when shadows are best projected against the wall. If it’s a rainy day (or nighttime!) you can continue the fun by putting out all the lights in the room except one, and then angling one light to hit a wall.

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Have fun dancing up a storm, bonus points for songs that involve hand motions and gestures.

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Travis loves Shake Those ‘Simmons Down from Music Together, and it was an absolute delight to dance with our shadow partners.

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To continue the fun, I showed him how to make a few hand shadow animals, such as birds…

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…And ducks.

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Bonus points: our cat loved watching the action!

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Leaf Rubbing

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It’s Columbus Day weekend, and the perfect time of year for fall-inspired art. We took Travis on his first hike over the weekend, and returned with a few treasures for a craft at home.

Choose a variety of leaves, preferably in different shapes and sizes, and tape down to a sheet of construction paper (the bumpy veins should be facing up).

Cover with a second sheet of paper, then show your toddler how to rub crayons over the leaves to reveal the bumpy veins and stems underneath.

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Travis needed a bit of help, since his crayon squiggles weren’t always precise enough to reveal the leaves, but he loved the magic of it, lifting up the top piece of paper to check on the leaves underneath a few times. He was very excited every time our crayons “discovered” a new leaf.

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Make sure to hang in a prominent place on the fridge for the rest of the fall!

Update: The first time we played this game, Travis had a hard time getting the knack of holding a crayon sideways. Try it again in a few month’s time, and your little one might be better able to reveal the shape of the leaves!

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T Week!

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Letter T stands for so many things that Travis loves anyway that we barely had time to touch upon all the words I hoped during this week. I’ve listed highlights below, but further suggestions at the bottom of the post may suit your child’s interest more. Either way, T week was Terrific!

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Trains: We play with train sets all the time, so to keep things fresh, I pulled out old toys that had been relegated to the “baby bin.” It had been long enough that he was delighted with an old plastic train, Thomas the Train “rail rollers” and more. We live in a town with a real train station, so took a stroll by the platform (and got to see a freight train pass!). You might consider a field trip to your local station or even a short ride from station to station if you have time.

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Telephone: Much as with old trains, a few baby toy phones had been put away, but he showed renewed interest when I pulled them out early in the week. Aside from just letting your child press buttons and dials, phones make for great games. Bring a toy phone in the car and ask your child to call the place you’re going, or ask them to “call” a family member and see what he or she says!

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Teddy Bears/Tea Parties: I’m listing these two together because how could we not have a t-errific teddy bear tea party and listen to the song Teddy Bear’s Picnic? Travis adores the song, which I’ve played a few times in the past, so we recreated the fun with our own picnic. He played games of Ring Around the Rosie with teddy…

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…And we even crafted teddy bear ears for him to wear, a simple craft of crayons, paper, yarn, and a stapler.

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Tree: Our T week overlaps with the beginning of autumn and fall foliage in our area, a nice coincidence! We attended a beautiful program for toddlers on Monday morning featuring a nature walk through the trees. Travis was fascinated that he could step on trees in places where the roots poked through the ground. Look for similar nature programs in your area, or just head outdoors for a walk and talk about the trees!

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Trucks: Another everyday favorite that we paid a little extra attention to this week. To keep things novel, I pulled out bubble wrap and taped it to the kitchen floor so our trucks could pop and vroom over the bubbles. Don’t be surprised if your child wants to then jump on the bubbles with bare toes! And of course trucks were great for loading up and carting toy tools.

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Tent: There’s lots you could do with this word, depending on your child’s age. Preschoolers may enjoy an overnight “camping” out in the living room with a toy tent (or makeshift tent of blankets), but Travis is too young for that. He did love helping me construct a tent using old baby blankets. We even had a handy campfire set (thanks to Koala Crate!) to play with underneath.

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Tennis: For gross motor play, introduce the idea of this racquet sport, using toddler-friendly paddles. Attach a wooden stick to a paper plate, then have a rally with balloons! I wish I could have gotten some action shots, as this was the most magical moment of our week, but Travis was moving too fast!

A few final ideas:

Fine art: We put together a double-T project: tissue paper triangles! This was a little advanced for Travis, but I’m glad we stuck with it. After originally wanting to smear glue everywhere, he got the concept of spreading glue only inside the triangle. You can stick on the tissue paper with a neat trick: wrap around the end of a pencil, then stick the pencil on the glue and pull up, leaving the tissue paper behind. After watching my example, he tried it himself and got quite good at it! Our final creation wasn’t perfect, but perfection was not the point of course.

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Food: We enjoyed a few T-treats: tangerines at breakfast one morning, tomato toast for a snack, and a tofu taco at dinner one night!

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Books: I used very few books from the library this week, as favorites like Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle and train books live at home already. Travis also enjoyed Trucks by Anne Rockwell and The Tree by Dana Lyons.

Songs: Aside from the aforementioned “Teddy Bear’s Picnic,” Travis loved watching Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. He has a toy star that he “twinkled” along as we watched. “I’m a Little Teapot” was fun to sing during our tea party, teaching him the actions for handle and spout.

Math: Triangles of course! We did so many triangle activities that I compiled them into a separate blog.

As mentioned, there are many great T words we couldn’t get to. You might also want to play with any toys/books you have featuring tigers or turkeys, or play a Turtle game!

We’ll S-see you for S week…

Triangle Fun

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Travis is great now at recognizing basic shapes, so I wanted to take things up a notch; what is it that makes a triangle a triangle, aside from simple visual recognition?

We started our play with a very cute rhyme, care of 365 Toddler Activities That Inspire Creativity, and introduced “Tommy Triangle.”

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Tommy Triangle is the name for me

Count my sides: one, two, three

It seemed a little silly to me, but Travis loved Tommy, carrying him around for the next couple days, and wanting him to hang on our fridge when not in use. The “one-two-three” rhyme was really helpful for learning. I’d ask Travis to count Tommy’s sides, and he kept wanting to go by rote up to 5. Soon it dawned on him that he needed to stop at 3, and that each number corresponded to a side of “Tommy.”

To continue the fun, I hid triangles in various materials (paper, felt, pipe cleaners) around the house, and Travis “captured” them in a net.

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Don’t stop there – photos and paintings around the house are great places to look for “hidden” triangles, so lift your toddler up and go exploring!

Finally, we put all of our triangle finds into a collage, which he loved gluing down.

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You could focus on just about any shape with these games, making up different rhymes and characters for circles, squares, or other familiar shapes.