Category: 18 to 24 months

Rain Walk with Kids

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Rain Walk (10)

We woke up this morning to a summer rain storm, the barely-drizzling kind of warm rain that’s perfect for walking in. So no sooner had the kids eaten breakfast than I knew what we needed to do: Take a rain walk!

We put on rain boots and rain jackets just for fun, since Veronika has new rain swag for the fall. But honestly it wasn’t even cool enough to need them.

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Off the kids headed, intrepid rain explorers!

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It was so beautiful just to watch their wonder. I encouraged big brother Travis to notice what was different after a rainstorm, whether the obvious (puddles to stomp) or the subtle (spiderwebs covered in wet drops).

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Veronika loved the sensory elements of the walk. I pointed out leaves covered in raindrops which she could pop like bubbles.

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And gently shook the raindrops from a tree onto her head.

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And yes of course, the biggest hit was finding puddles to stomp.

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And stomp.

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And stomp.

 

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Round and Round the Garden

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Round and Round the Garden (1)

I’m on a kick lately of teaching Veronika nursery rhymes and adding props to the fun. Here’s another classic that we did today, which ends with a delightful tickle:

Round and round the garden

With my teddy bear.

One step, two steps,

Tickle him under there!

On the first two lines, circle baby’s palm with a fingertip. On the third line, walk your fingers up baby’s arm. Then end with an armpit tickle!

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You can add this second verse with the same actions:

Round and round the haystack

Runs the little mouse.

One step, two steps,

In his little house!

So to make it hands on, we brought a few stuffed teddy bears into the action! Veronika walked “round and round” with her teddy, dancing around a toy garden set. Needless to say, the props then could keep her busy for solo play while I got things done around the house.

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Ice Sandbox and Block Play

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Ice Blocks (16)

The heat wave continues in our area and that means so does the icy fun. How did we play with ice today? Think boxes and blocks.

First up was an ice “sandbox”, a fantastic riff on at-home sandbox play. But this time I filled a shallow tray with crushed ice instead of sand.

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I added a few beach toys and we headed out to the back patio. From there, it was the coolest beach day ever! We decided to squeeze on food coloring for fun, but you can skip that part.

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Veronika then loved scooping through the ice with a beach shovel and using it to fill up little toy boats and sand pails.

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She also loved hopping a frog through the ice. And feeding the frog some ice! It must have been thirsty.

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But those tiny ice chips melt fast when it’s already 80 degrees at 8 a.m., so we needed something more solid. Luckily I was prepared.

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The night before, freeze water in an empty milk container. I added a few drops of blue food coloring to this one for an ocean feel, then trapped a few toys inside (an activity that the kids never tire of).

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No need to chip away at the ice with a hammer on this day, though; the sun did all the work and melted her little toys free!

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Even neater, the water in our almond milk carton hadn’t frozen entirely over night, leaving a crystal cavern of water in the middle.

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Big brother Travis delighted in this particular ice game even more, picking apart the block and releasing the toys inside as each portion melted.

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Finally, I had filled a bunch of water balloons the night before and then popped them in the freezer!

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These were a fantastic hit. Veronika held them and bounced them liek yo-yos…

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…and giggled at how cold they felt when she held them.

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And of course we could smash them to the ground to crack open like icy eggs.

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Now we were all cooled off!

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Grandmother’s Glasses

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Grandmother's Glasses (3)

I love nursery rhymes that lend themselves intuitively to hands-on play, and this one definitely fits the bill. If you don’t know this rhyme, here are the words:

These are grandmother’s glasses,

This is grandmother’s hat.

See the way she claps her hands

and folds them in her lap.

These are grandfather’s glasses,

This is grandfather’s hat.

See the way he folds his arms

and takes a little nap.

For grandmother, use a high, soft voice, and for grandfather, use a low, loud voice. You can also mime all the gestures. Circle your fingers over your eyes for glasses, pat your head for the hat, and copy the arm movements of each grandparent.

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But for extra fun, today we turned the rhyme into a prompt for dress-up! I put on a different pair of sunglasses and silly hats for grandmother and grandfather, first on me, and then on Veronika.

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She loved modeling all the accessories! And she got the giggles when dolls dressed up, too, to get in on the action. Long after the nursery rhyme fun was done, she was busy playing dress up.

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Super Simple Color Collage

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Simple Color Collage (7)

This is a great activity for a toddler who has just learned his or her colors, and it’s quite simple to set up. I laid out pieces of construction paper, and for each one I tore up scraps of paper in the same color and arranged them on a tray.

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So as not to overwhelm your toddler with too many colors at once, I recommend starting with one background color at a time. “What color?” I asked her, pointing to the paper. “Red!” she said.

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She was way more into the glue stick I gave her than in selecting which color of scraps to add from the tray, but I guided her back when I could. “Let’s add the red scraps!” I suggested simply, reinforcing her knowledge that the paper was red.

In this way, she worked through adding red scraps to red paper, yellow scraps to yellow paper, and so on.

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Towards the end, I made it sightly harder and showed held up a scrap of paper. “Which color should we glue this one on?” I asked. She’d gotten the gist, now, to glue green onto green.

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So as the title suggests, this activity was simple to set up, simple for a toddler to do, and simple to clean up. The trifecta!

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Small World Forest Play

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Small World Forest Play (5)

I’ve always loved those detailed fairy houses that kids (and grown-ups!) craft from found items in the woods. Veronika is too young for it, but here’s an activity that’s suitable for a toddler and a precursor to that kind of imaginative play down the road.

First up was a quick sortie into nature to gather all the sticks we could find. She helped collect a handful, and a few tiny pinecones, too.

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Inside, I wanted to fill the bottom of a shoebox with play dough, which would be the base for all the “trees” in our forest. I did have play dough on hand, but it was in vivid shades of purple and blue and I wanted something more realistic. Here’s a quick recipe that literally takes 5 minutes and cooks up like a charm:

In a saucepan, combine 3/4 cup water, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon oil. Heat over medium heat, until warm, but not boiling.

Meanwhile, stir together 1 cup flour and 1/4 cup salt. Add the flour mixture to the hot water and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture pulls from the sides of the pan and is no longer sticky.

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Let cool on wax paper. Once cool enough to handle, pat into the bottom of a shoe box. Now we arranged all our little sticks like trees!

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We added Veronika’s Duplo people to be the little forest inhabitants. She loved that they left footprints behind in the play dough!

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She also liked rearranging the sticks in various patterns, or scooping up bits of play dough with the sticks as shovels.

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This was a great activity for engaging the senses and the imagination.

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Bubble Wrap Printing

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Bubble Wrap Printing (7)

Extra bubble wrap is always great for play, and today we even turned it into part of an art project.

To start, I taped down various pieces of bubble wrap to the craft table securely. We’ve gotten a nice variety in packages lately, meaning our bubbles ranged from the very tiny to puffy big ones.

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I then set out cups of paint for Veronika (in shiny metallics just for fun).

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She trotted over immediately and started painting. “Ooh, pink! Ooh blue!” she said as she worked.

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I could tell she enjoyed the bumpy feeling of running her brush over the bubbles. She stopped now and then to pop some, too.

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Once our bubbles were covered in a nice layer of paint, I pressed a piece of poster board on top, then lifted it up to show her the print. “Bubbles!” she said with delight.

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We repeated the process so we ended up with two neat prints. This is a simple craft, and perfect for toddlers.

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Tape Collage

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Tape Collage (5)

If your toddler is at all like Veronika, then he or she loves tape. Sticking it onto things, making roads from it, you name it. The only problem? She gets impatient waiting for me to tear off a new piece for her!

Today, to head off the problem, I made her a tape holder of her very own. I used an empty frozen juice can, which are nice for kids because they have no sharp edges. Any similar can or container would work fine. I stuck pieces of colorful tape all around the rim, using tape with different textures, such as washi tape in several colors, masking tape, and duct tape.

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Then I gave Veronika her new tape dispenser and a piece of construction paper, and it was time to create.

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She looked so pleased that she could pull the pieces off solo! Occasionally she still needed a little grown-up rescue when a piece of tape get stuck on her fingers.

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She concentrated hard on where each strip of tape should go on her paper, and then she jumped up and declared, “Markers!” I love that she had decided all her on her own what her artwork needed next.

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A little blue marker and her masterpiece was finished.

Tissue Paper Collage

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Tissue Paper Collage (8)

You won’t get a lasting piece of artwork with this toddler project, but you will introduce your little one to interesting materials and novel methods of making art!

First, lay a long sheet of aluminum foil down on the ground. This immediately caught Veronika’s attention, and she wanted to walk across the shiny sleek surface.

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Then I gave her a little cup filled with oil. Baby oil would work well, or any neutral kitchen oil like canola. I showed her how to use a paint brush to smear this on the foil.

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I started tearing bits of tissue paper for her (although your toddler might prefer to tear these him- or herself!), and showed her how it instantly stuck to the oil on the aluminum.

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She liked sticking them down and picking them back up again, and looking at the smears of oil left behind.

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Trial and error showed that flat pieces of tissue paper adhered to the foil much better than crumpled pieces, although the crumples did add fun texture.

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She also loved dropping bits of the crumpled tissue in her cup of oil and stirring them around!

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In sum, there was lots to like about this one, both in terms of texture and creativity.

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Make Your Own Reading-Inspired Activity

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MYO Reading Activity (1)

I am loving storytime with Veronika these days; at long last she’ll sit in my lap and snuggle for a story (although she still prefers to “read” solo!). One other way to keep her engaged in a book is to add a hands-on element, bringing the story to life. Books about food are especially fun for this, so here’s how we played today!

We started out with a read of Blueberries for Sal, one of my personal favorites. I gave Veronika a plastic cup and some blueberries, intending for her to ka-plink ka-plank ka-plunk along with the book. Lots of dumping and pouring of blueberries, ensued!

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I had enough extra berries on hand that my intention was to make blueberry muffins thereafter, cooking in the kitchen just like Little Sal and her mother. But a certain big brother ate all the blueberries!

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Oh no! I had already promised the kids muffins, so I searched online for a recipe that was quick and used only pantry staples. Veronika loved scooping flour and spices with a set of kitchen utensils while I did the real baking.

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Well, it turned out these last-minute muffins were so good that the kids delighted in running back and forth from living room to kitchen for bites with huge grins on their faces, while shouting out, “Mama Moose’s Muffins!”

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That made us think of another kiddie lit classic, If You GIve a Moose a Muffin. So we read that book over our muffin snack!

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As a result, here is my recipe for “Mama Moose’s Muffins”, which might just become a classic around here.

Ingredients:

  • 3 and 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 and 1/3 cups sugar
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • Scant 2 cups plain almond milk
  • 1/2 cup melted Earth Balance butter
  • 2 Ener-G eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2/3 cup raisins
  1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
  2. Pour the cider vinegar into a liquid measuring cup, and add almond milk to equal 2 cups. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add the almond milk mixture to the dry ingredients, along with the melted butter, Ener-G eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the raisins.
  3. Divide the mixture evenly among 12 jumbo muffin cups coated with cooking spray.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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