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Horsey Ride

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Here’s a fun way to add a sensory element to a favorite nursery rhyme! Using the classic Ride-a-Cock-Horse as inspiration, I threaded small jingle bells onto a silver ribbon for Veronika. Make sure to secure these tightly, either by knotting the ribbon once finished or even sewing the bells on so no bells can come loose. This is especially true if your baby tends to put things in his or her mouth.

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As I recited the rhyme, I jingled the bells for her.

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Touch them to your baby’s fingers on the word “fingers” and toes on the word “toes” as you go through the rhyme:

Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross

to see a fine lady upon a white horse.

With rings on her fingers

and bells on her toes

she shall have music wherever she goes.

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We also turned this into a bouncy lap ride. Have fun playing around with the lyrics as your little once bounces on your knee and listens to the bells. Since Veronika was all in pink today, our horse was a pink horse instead of a white one!

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You can also substitute your baby’s name for the word “lady”.

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Reverse Peekaboo

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Today, Veronika and I mixed up our games of peekaboo. Unlike in the past, this time she played peekaboo with me!

Okay, perhaps not really, but this is a super-cute variation. First, to get her comfortable with the idea, I placed a see-through scarf over my head. Where’s mommy?

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Peek-a-boo!

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Now I draped the scarf loosely over her head. She looked a bit confused but delighted.

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Where’s Veronika? Peek-a-boo!

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Needless to say, we played many rounds, with different colored scarves for variation.

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This game was also a reminder what fun these see-through scarves are for tots. Wad it into a ball and hand it to your child, and let the fun begin!

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Snowstorm

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Here’s a fun and simple sensory jar for your baby: an instant snowstorm no matter the season!

Fill a small plastic water bottle about 2/3 of the way with rubbing alcohol. Drop in a few things to swirl in the snow; small buttons are fun, and I also added gold and silver sequins. Next add about 2 teaspoons white or silver glitter. Fill the bottle the rest of the way with vegetable oil.

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Note: you can also tint the alcohol blue with food coloring if you want, but I found that this makes it harder to see the “storm” and preferred a clear version.

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For security, duct tape on the lid. Now swirl for your baby!

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This works well if you roll it on the ground in front of him or her.

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Veronika also loved looking at it up in the air though.

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And wanted to snatch it from my hands!

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If you’re trying to encourage a first crawl, roll the bottle along the floor and see if your baby will go after it!

Ask Direct Questions

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So you know your baby is learning to talk (well, babble that is, for now!), but now it’s time to teach him or her to have a conversation! This activity prompt helped me remember to guide her gibberish towards her first real give-and-take in language.

Today, whenever asking Veronika a question, I made sure to truly ask her. Make eye contact, and slow down your words. If the question pertains to a direct object (a bottle, a toy), pause and show it to your baby.

“Which toy would you like Veronika?” I asked. “The puzzle or the bumble bee?”

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I gave her a moment to select her choice, both vocally and by hand (and mouth!).

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The real key is to pause and wait for an answer. You might not get one at first, but soon, your baby will realize that this silence is meant to be filled.

“Would you like a rice cake, Veronika?”

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Yes!

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“Would you like some oatmeal, Veronika?” That’s a no thank you!

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Keep this up, and it will not only teach your child the fine art of back-and-forth in conversation, but also help them feel capable and important for making decisions.

Adventure Pouch

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Travis has a few new animal figure toys that need to come along on all his adventures (of course). We needed a safe way to transport them and this adventure pouch craft from Highlights magazine fit the bill perfectly!

First, trace a pouch shape onto felt. I had Travis take the first try at it and just enlarged his version slightly since his original oval was a touch too small.

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Cut out, and trace the same shape onto a second sheet of felt so your pouch as two sides. Cut out.

Use hot glue to attach the two felt pieces together, leaving the top open.

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To decorate, Highlights suggested cutting additional shapes from other colors of felt and gluing them on. Since felt is tough for Travis to get through with scissors, we used neat ocean felt stickers, instead.

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Punch holes at the top of the pouch, and lace yarn or twine through the holes. Knot to secure, and pull up on the strings to seal it shut.

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Travis loved putting his animal friends in and out of the pouch, their new home! This pouch would also work great for collecting treasures on a nature walk.

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What will your child do with the adventure pouch? Please share in the comments!

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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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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!

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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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