Category: 18 to 24 months

Leftover Art Streamers

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Veronika has been making big works of art lately, with full sheets of craft paper from our giant roll laid down on the floor. Unfortunately I have no place to store such big masterpieces, so usually I just crumple up the paper when the fun is done. Today we came up with this way to “recycle” the art as decoration instead.

First up was making art, and Veronika loved painting all over a big piece of paper just before bed. We used a mix of watercolors, regular tempera paint, and sponge brushes with shapes on them.

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“Lots of black stars!” she said proudly as she worked.

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I left it to dry overnight. The next morning, we covered a second sheet of craft paper with lots marker scribbles and drawings.

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Now, I simply cut each masterpiece into long strips. If you’re doing this activity with a preschooler, consider drawing lines for your child to cut along and practice their cutting skills. For Veronika, I simply handed her a pair of safety scissors so she could “cut” alongside me.

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My original plan was to hang these like streamers from an archway in our home, thinking it would be a blast for the kids to run under them and through them.

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I quickly realized this wouldn’t work because the streamers needed to be much longer. I held Veronika in my arms for her to feel the streamers, which made her giggle, but it wouldn’t make for solo play.

Thinking quickly, I taped the streamers all around the kids’ craft table. Now it was a secret fort and hideout for her!

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She loved to crawl inside.

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And play peek-a-boo through the streamers with me.

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And then find her way out again.

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These streamers would also look really pretty over a window as makeshift “curtains” in a kids bedroom.

 

 

Indoor Toys Outside

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We’ve been having fun lately finding ways to make old toys seem new again, whether by dressing them up or moving them from outside to inside. Here’s a third idea!

I gathered together a few indoor toys that I haven’t seen the kids play with much recently and took them outside. The best time of day for this game was in the evening, when the heat of the afternoon had passed. It was the perfect way to fill the after-dinner hour, taking advantage of these last weeks of summer sunlight!

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Veronika immediately got started playing with the items I’d arranged on a picnic blanket. The train set that she normally ignores was soon chugging around.

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And building blocks were fun to build with.

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Then she discovered the joy of tossing the blocks into the grass.

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She delighted in scampering down off the patio, retrieving a block, and tossing it again. She kept this up for quite some time.

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Travis, meanwhile, found new life in old stuffed animals once they were outside in the “wild”.

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There was a very imaginative game at work.

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Of course just by being outside kids can find inspiration for their games and toys. They stopped to watch insects, lay down to look up at the sky, or walked through the grass with bare toes. All while happily being entertained.

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I think we’ll bring a different batch of old toys outside tomorrow!

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Art Station in the Tub

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I’ve seen a lot of cute “art stations” set up in playrooms and bedrooms, but when I read about setting one up for kids in the bathtub I thought it sounded like a neat alternative. After all, there’s no where better to make a mess than the exact place where you’re going to clean off.

Oddly, I couldn’t find inspirational images of what to include in our tub art station when I searched online, so I sort of just rigged this together. I filled an art caddy with a few water-friendly “art” activities. We had all-natural bath crayons, a “soap fluff” that I thought the kids might enjoy smearing on the walls (or their bodies!), and a little set of animals with washable markers.

The fluff, it turned out, didn’t interest them at all.

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The crayons received lots of attention. I had laid down scrap paper to scribble on, but of course the tub itself was fun to draw on, too.

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The biggest hit turned out to be those silly animals and markers. Once the kids had covered the animals with color, we drew a bath and used water to “scrub” them clean.

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What would you include in a bathtub art station? Please share in the comments!

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Very Sticky Play and Recycled Sculpture

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It’s near the end of the month, which is when I sort through my craft bin, think about stocking up for the month ahead, and don’t mind getting rid of leftovers. With the end of a roll of contact paper left,  the morning was ripe for some sticky play! We combined a few old favorite ways to play with this material with some fantastic new finds.

First up was a classic “sculpture” on the wall. Veronika loved helping me sort through the craft bin as we filled a tray with leftover odds and ends like yarn, pieces of ribbon, cut up straws, small pom poms, and strips of crepe paper.

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The favorite turned out to be leftover wiggle eyes! ” A little eye!” she said with delight, and she promptly trotted over to stick this on the contact paper.

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To add a little learning, you can talk about all your various materials: textures, size, 3D versus flat ones, etc. If siblings are working together, it can also be a great lesson in collaboration.

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But honestly Veronika was so interested in the wiggle eyes that we didn’t end up with too much decoration on this wall version.

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So next, I taped the final piece of contact paper down to the ground, which is always fun for stepping on. “Sticky feet!” Veronika said.

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Encourage your kids to lie down too, or crawl across it for a novel sensation.

Here’s where the novelty kicked in; we decided to see if stuffed animals could stick and soon had dinosaurs stomping through swamps.

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Hmm, what about toy cars?

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Well now Travis discovered that if he wound up the car tires, they still could move forward on the sticky contact paper… but as slooooowly as a snail.

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This led to an hour of “racing” play. Even I thought it was neat!

Little sister Veronika wanted to add her tractor and bus to the mix.

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When the races were done, we used up all those remaining leftover art supplies. This time, tiny beads were the biggest hit, which the kids sprinkled by the handful over the paper.

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Travis asked for glitter. Oh heck why not, it was already such as mess that I handed it over.

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Travis loved this even more than Veronika!

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Although of course she loved it too. You know you have a happy toddler when they start rolling around in glee.

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And then I folded up their sticky “sculpture” and the mess was gone.

If you do have leftover bits of glitter on the floor, here’s a quick hack: a lint roller gets them up much easier than a dust broom. You’re welcome.

Water Play

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We suddenly had a day that was 60 degrees and rainy and felt more like fall than summer. And truth be told, I wasn’t ready for it! What do you do when you suddenly can’t head outside for water play, like you’ve grown accustomed to all summer? Bring the water play in.

I wanted Veronika to play for a while as I worked in the kitchen, so all I did was drag in the baby wading pool from our patio and place it on a towel on the kitchen floor. I added toys from our indoor bath, as opposed to beach toys, which instantly made the pool seem novel. Then it was simply a matter of putting her in a swim diaper and putting her in!

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She was initially hesitant to sit, until I added slightly warmer water.

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Once that was taken care of, she was happily scooping and pouring with cups, and enjoying other bathtub favorites like toy frogs and bath books.

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Next time I think I would add her plastic teapot and teacups, too! This is a great way to pass some time when those rainy days start to feel extra long.

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People Blocks

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Veronika hasn’t shown much interest in her building blocks lately. But you can add novelty to any set of blocks by adding family pictures. Suddenly each block has a name and a face!

I cut up old calendar pictures for this game, but you could also have a set printed cheaply at the drugstore. Cut out faces until they fit on your child’s blocks. I think classic rectangular wooden blocks would have worked best, but the game was fine on our foam blocks.

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I attached one relative’s face per block, using clear contact paper to stick them on, while Veronika was napping. She woke up to discover her family!

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This game was great for building of course, encouraging her to use the blocks for quite some time.

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It was also great for putting names to faces, especially for family members we haven’t seen recently due to coronavirus.

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All that aside, there was a definite silly factor. “It’s the daddy block!” she said, stacking the block with her dad’s face. “It’s the Travis block!”

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Her favorite was of a baby cousin, and she almost lovingly carried around the block for a while, cradling it and giving it the best spot in her creations.

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“Let’s but the baby right here,” she narrated as she played.

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This activity was a great way to make an old toy new again. We might have to try it on something other than blocks soon.

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Colorful Clothespins

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Toddlers often fixate on a category when they first learn it (animals, body parts, a new song, etc), practicing endlessly. And then just as suddenly, they drop it! I noticed that Veronika doesn’t name her colors often anymore, so thought that a quick review might be fun. A bunch of empty coffee canisters were the exact tool I needed!

I originally intended to make three sets of coffee can + matching clothespins in the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue. But I had no blue paint or paper! Instead, I painted two cans (red and yellow), and covered the third in purple construction paper. Either method works fine.

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Then use paint or marker to color craft clothespins (i.e. the kind with no spring) in corresponding colors.

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I gave Veronika a whole jumble of the clothespins the next morning, and first she just wanted to play with them for a while.

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Then I asked her, “Where does your purple clothespin go? Purple goes in the purple can!”

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“Purple in purple!” she said with delight. After that, I really didn’t have to guide her on this; she loved matching the clothespins into the can of the same hue.

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Although of course sometimes there was a rogue yellow in the red, for example.

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I left the cans open, with no lids, so she could easily drop in the clothespins. That kept the focus on the color aspect of the game.

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That said, don’t forget that clothespins and coffee cans are also great for practicing precision (dropping through a hole in the lid) or for honing the pincer grip (if you use spring-type clothespins).

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To remind her of this, we did momentarily place the clothespins around the rim of a paper plate, which then became another fun activity all on its own.

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Fly Swatter Painting

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This art project is messy, so you’re going to want to take it outside. But I can happily report that it’s worth the effort!

I placed a long sheet of craft paper on our back patio, securing the corners with heavy rocks so it wouldn’t blow away. (As an alternative, you could clip craft paper to a fence or other outdoor surface that is upright).

Then I set out a tray with several different colors of metallic craft paint. You’ll need a nice puddle of paint for this project to work well, so don’t worry if the colors mix together.

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I dipped our fly swatter in the paint, making sure to coat it evenly, then showed Veronika how to say “Whap!” and slap it down hard on the craft paper.

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Well of course now “Whap!” was the most fun thing in the world to say.

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Dip and whap, dip and whap, dip and whsp.

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She loved every bit of this project, both dipping the fly swatter in paint, and seeing the marks she made.

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She wanted to whack the fly swatter against the rocks, too!

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Her little feet paraded all around the craft paper, making sure she covered her big canvas.

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As a bonus, our fly swatter happens to be flower-shaped, so it made beautiful prints!

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This project likely won’t get you a lasting work of art. But Veronika sure loved the process!

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Car Wash

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This is one of those activities that turned out to be just beautiful. I had originally intended the game for Veronika after a morning trip to have our real car inspected, but big brother Travis was eager to join in, too!

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We have a kid-sized Mustang that was perfect for the activity, but truly any kid “vehicle” would work, whether toddler ride-on toys, old tricycles, or bikes! Pull out the buckets, sponges, mild dish soap, and rags, and set your washers to work.

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Both kids immediately loved dipping little sponges in the bucket of soapy water and scrubbing gently all over the car.

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Travis focused on the exterior…

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…while Veronika liked cleaning the seats!

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When it was all soaped up, we rinsed with the hose. Then it was time to towel dry.

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And then of course we took the car for a spin!

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This was watery, soapy, sunshine-y summer magic at its best.

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Shredded Paper Sensory Play

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A recent tub of tissue paper was a fun sensory hit for Veronika, so today we tried it with shredded paper instead! We don’t own a shredder, but I actually wasn’t aiming for the small crinkles of paper that those machines produce. Instead, I use a roll of craft paper and just ripped up tons of it. Because the paper is so thin, I could quadruple layers of it and cut through with scissors, meaning it actually didn’t take long to get a big pile.

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I pondered which container to use (something large enough for Veronika to sit in!) and decided the laundry bin would be most fun. Once it was filled, in went Veronika!

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For the youngest toddlers, simply the sensory experience of all those paper shreds will be enough. Kids can crinkle it, stomp on it…

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…or toss it in the air to make it rain down.

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For older toddlers, consider encouraging a little imaginative play. To wit, Veronika happened to have little astronaut toys in her hands, so we decided this was a far away planet and the astronauts were brave explorers.

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She loved sifting through it with curious fingers.

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We also discovered we could thread bits of shredded paper through the holes of the laundry basket. So it turned out to be a great activity for fine motor skills, too.

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Don’t be surprised if it looks so fun that older siblings steal the bin for a few of their own games! Yes, big brother Travis’s Legos have taken over, in the image below.

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